The 20 Best SNK Fighting Games

The Fatal Fury series gave the Street Fighter franchise a run for its money thanks to an equally exciting cast of worldwide warriors and a unique mechanic that lets players change planes on the battlefield to gain an advantage. Fatal Fury 2 is one of the more sold entries in its own right, but it's its updated rendition of that game called Fatal Fury Special that's worth checking for instead. On top of everything great about the second Fatal Fury, this improved rendition remains a top favorite due to a faster combat feel, the introduction of a combo system to the series as a whole, and a greatly expanded roster (Wolfgang Krauser and Duck King will forever be goated in our eyes!).

The World Heroes franchise grabbed our attention during its heyday once we saw its roster full of time-traveling characters based on real-life historical figures (this game's version of Rasputin always gives us the creeps!). The final installment in that series just so happens to be the one that everyone plays or needs to play if they haven't already. World Heroes Perfect irons out a good portion of the issues present in its predecessor World Heroes 2 Jet while also adding in new special moves for every character and new playable characters Neo Dio & Gokuu). Taking the fight to our unlucky arcade rivals with Hanzou Hattori and Muscle Power was and still is a good time!

Now could we make it past the third character we were pitted against anytime we played this game? No, because the CPU is hard as hell to make a dent in! Even still, we have a special place in our hearts for Art of Fighting 2. The extra large character sprites from the first game make their return here and the weighty combat feel still feels amazing. The sense of the high impact that comes from landing this game's "Desperation Moves" blew our minds back in the day. Series returnees such as Ryo, Robert, and King are awesome here. But it was newcomers such as Yuri and Eiji that appealed to us in this sequel the most.

The next Fatal Fury series installment we simply have to highlight here is Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers. While the changing lanes mechanic wasn't featured here, the single-lane gameplay was good enough to keep longtime fans satisfied. The combat mechanics of the original Real Bout and the visual stylings of Real Bout Special come together wonderfully here to offer the finest renditions of the franchise as a whole. When it comes to debuting roster members, our favorite will always be the swift pugilist Rick Strowd (who needs to make a comeback in a future Fatal Fury or King of Fighters game, SNK!).

You wouldn't be crazy for thinking that X-Men vs. Street Fighter is the inaugural tag team fighter that lets players put a two-person team together and allow for tag-outs mid-battle. But that honor belongs to the super obscure Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle! By stepping onto a specified section of the battlefield, players can switch out to their background brawler and keep the battle going. That mechanic was pretty awesome to witness back in the day and played well into the strategic parts of this slept-on fighter. If you're ever wondering where Neo Geo Battle Coliseum's King Leo and King Lion hail from, look no further than this game!

When the OG version of Samurai Shodown hit the arcade scene, tons of fans of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat took notice. Its implementation of weapons-based encounters and blood-soaked death battles. Both of those signature features got even better with the iconic sequel Samurai Shodown II due to more refined gameplay, new movement options in the form of rolling, and the debut of parrying. Seeing as how one of our favorite characters from the series Genjuro made his debut here is reason enough for us to solidify Samurai Shodown II as another one of the best SNK fighting games ever made.

Another high point for the Samurai Shodown series is none other than Samurai Shodown V Special. In comparison to the vanilla version of this game, this updated edition is miles ahead of it thanks to retooled gameplay, the return of "Overkill" finishing moves, and a bigger emphasis on the more gory effects that occur when characters land big strikes on their latest victims. The playable appearances of Amakusa, Zankuro, and Mizuki provide a different array of boss characters to encounter and extra playable characters to master. Do yourself a favor by picking up the Samurai Shodown NeoGeo Collection so you can play this and the unearthed upgrade to that game called Samurai Shodown V Perfect.

We've always been shocked that Haohmaru and the rest of the Samurai Shodown gang never got the chance to be featured in a crossover fighter with the cast & crew of SNK's other weapons-focuses fighting game series. That series is The Last Blade, which is most recognizable for its fan-favorite character Hibiki Takane. The Last Blade 2 is easily the best series entry - the "EX" mode that offers a combination of the pre-match selectable "Speed" & "Power" combat focuses and the debut of awesome combatants such as the aforementioned Hibiki & the super slick-looking Setsuna solidifies this game's status as truly goated.

While some bottom-of-the-barrel Street Fighter II copycats were flooding the market during the '90s golden age of fighting games, there were a few picks here and there that were a lot better than anyone could have anticipated. One of these games is Breakers, an SNK-published and Visco Corporation-developed 2D fighter. The version of that game that gets the most play these days is Breakers Revenge, which does a fine job of rebalancing the original game while still retaining the solid combat mechanics that made fans fall in love with this obscure fighter in the first place. Major props to this game for giving us Saizo the ninja and a playable version of the boss character Bai-Hu!

One of the most obscure fighting games ever made is this odd little gen called Waku Waku 7. Published by SNK and developed by Sunsoft, this fighter is equal parts serious and humorous thanks to a refined combat system & a roster full of anime character parodies. Any JoJo Bizarre Adventure fan can easily spot who Dandy-J is supposed to be a knockoff version of, plus roster members Rai Bakuoh & Arina Makihara give off heavy "main manga/anime protagonist" vibes with their character designs. Sunsoft's Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors isn't really our bag, to be quite honest - we much prefer the overall wackiness that Waku Waku 7 provides.

We'll always refer to Garou: Mark of the Wolves as the Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike of the Fatal Fury saga. That's because this GOAT-tier 2D fighter spotlights a time jump in the series' storyline, brings back just one familiar fighter from the franchise's past, and fills out the rest of the roster with a bunch of new faces that have gone on to become cherished icons by SNK devotees. The easy-to-learn, hard-to-master mindset behind this game is due to simple battle mechanics supported by the signature "T.O.P" and "Just Defense" systems, which do enough to deepen this fighter to a positive degree. Being introduced to Rock Howard, B. Jenet, and Gato thanks to this game easily makes it one of the best SNK fighting games of all time!

Handheld ports of console fighters tend to be a total bust and are gimped from a gameplay perspective. That's shockingly not the case with the Neo Geo Pocket Color rendition of one of the most important fighting game crossovers of the last century, SNK vs. Capcom. The 8-bit chibi-stylized characters hailing from both camps look better than expected here. Then there's the 3v3 team elimination, 2v2 tag team, and 1v1 combat options that produce the same fun results as The King of Fighters, Marvel vs. Capcom, and Street Fighter games. SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium plays like a dream when you consider previous attempts at handheld fighters. This game is considered by many as an amazing companion piece to Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000.

We'd be crazy to not include a single King of Fighters release on this list of the best SNK fighting games of all time, right? Exactly! The first one that deserves mentioning is The King of Fighters '97 Global Match, which attaches a supremely stable rollback netcode implementation for players who love to squab it out with their favorite custom team setups. On a base level, this game was awesome during its '90s heyday and still is now - one of the reasons for this game being such a revered hit is its "Advanced" and "Extra" playstyle, which give players different methods toward gaining meter and performing "Super Special Moves." KOF '97 just so happens to be where the "New Faces Team" trio of Yashiro, Shermie, and Chris made their debuts and became beloved by the KOF fanbase from that point forward.

Just like the last game we mentioned, this version of one of the most treasured KOF games is in its best state to date thanks to its reliance on rollback online netcode. The base game is practically a "Dream Match" compilation of the series' most celebrated characters up until its initial release. Just take a look at the familiar faces that got a second lease on life here - Vice, Mature, Heavy D!, Lucky Glauber, Brian Battler, Heidern, Takuma Sakazaki, Saisyu Kusanagi, and Rugal Bernstein. KOF '98 marks the first time in the series where the ongoing "Orochi Saga" got put to the side for a bit of All-Star fun.

Now we're ready to big up the next game in the KOF series that adopted the All-Star roster lineup of KOF '98 to present its brand of 3v3 team-elimination theatrics. Of course, the version everyone should play nowadays is the rollback netcode-assisted The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match. The original game is great in its own right, but it's the remake that came with the Unlimited Match moniker that made such a great fighting game damn near perfect. A massive total roster count of 66 characters composed of series regulars, evil clone versions of Kyo Kusanagi, playable versions of infamous bosses, and more make this KOF sequel such a major destination point for fans and curious onlookers who want to give the series a try.

While The King of Fighters 2003 marks the first time the franchise allowed players to switch out their characters mid-match to maintain a Marvel vs. Capcom-like flow to the action, we prefer its vastly improved follow-up The King of Fighters XI. Flashy combat mechanics such as the "Quick Shift," "Saving Shift," "Skill Bar" and "Dream Cancels" deepen the gameplay while simultaneously maximizing the fun factor attached to pulling off exciting combos. This game's 40-person roster is one of the best in KOF history as it features debuting Garou regulars (B. Jenet and Tizoc), tons of familiar faces, and a nice lineup of PS2 exclusive characters such as Hotaru Futaba, Mai Shiranui, & Geese Howard.

The next game that easily earned its placement on our list of the best fighting games is The King of Fighters XIII Global Match, a rollback netcode-powered edition of one of the most gorgeous 2D fighters ever made. After the utter disappointment that is The King of Fighters XII, KOF XIII arrived to right all of its wrongs. An expanded roster, an actual plotline to follow, the addition of an "EX Mode" that gives each character more powerful versions of their super moves, and the debuting "Hyper Drive" mode that provides unlimited "Drive Cancels" for a limited time. Now that this game comes feature-rich with improved online capabilities, you can experience it with a community full of loyalists who live and die by its greatness.

SNK reentered the fighting game arena way back when with its welcome revival of The King of Fighters series. This 14th entry in the mainline series features a massive roster filled with familiar faces and likable newbies. Diehard fans were overjoyed at the sight of veterans such as Kyo, Iori, and even Samurai Shodown's Nakoruru. Then they were pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of cool additions such as Blu Mary, Rock Howard, and King of Dinosaurs. While its visual palette may be hard on the eyes these days, the exciting gameplay supplemented by cool systems such as "Max Mode" makes The King of Fighter XIV still worth a few extended play sessions.

The 2019 return of SNK's fighting game staple Samurai Shodown marked another celebratory milestone for the weapons fighter that originated in the 90s. SNK did a phenomenal job with this quality re-introduction by respecting the series' cherished tradition of slower-paced, methodical clashes supplemented by plenty of blood and gore. But SNK also made sure to throw in some fresh ideas via debuting combatants with fun playstyles, a "Rage Explosion" mechanic that acts as a last-ditch save, and the all-powerful "Lightning Blade" attack that finishes your opponents in style.

It's pretty wild to sit down and fathom how SNK's signature 3v3, team elimination fighter has been around long enough to be on its 15th main series entry. But thank the fighting game gods because it managed to turn into a quality 2.5D fighter that respects the series' past while also pushing forward into the future. Our expectations were certainly shattered due to the return of formerly deceased characters such as Ash, plus the usage of new mechanics such as the "Focus Attack"-like "Shatter Strike" and "MAX Mode" variations. Pulling off big combos is easier, the game's roster is amazing, and the super flashy "Climax Super Special Moves" all add up to make playing The King of Fighters XV feel like a dream.