The fighting genre is usually hit or miss year to year. Without your heavy hitters like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter or even Tekken or Soul Calibur, there’s usually not much else. Rarely does a new fighter make waves or is any good, but this was actually a good year for all of these things. Mostly anime-based fighters, but they were good even if you weren’t into the source material.

Guilty Gear -STRIVE-

-STRIVE- is not just the best Guilty Gear game to date, but it’s just a rock solid fighting game with fan favorite characters and a couple of new ones that are fun to play as. While it doesn’t break the fighting genre mold it’s just damn good to play. Amazing visuals and smooth controls whether you’re a button masher or move memorizer.

Runner-Ups

Melty Blood: Type Lumina

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Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles

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