The 2010s was an amazing decade for fighting games and so far has been much better than the 2020s. This is thanks to many recent fighting games' poor online play, and the competitive scene being crippled during the pandemic, but that wasn't an issue in the 2010s. The FGC and Smash community rose to new heights in this decade, and many amazing fighting games arose from a plethora of series.
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Quite a few of these games are considered the best in their respective series. Some titles revolutionized the genre, but this was also the era where many games launched empty, only to be packed with content years later.
10 Street Fighter X Tekken
While Street Fighter X Tekken was subject to many controversies, it's a really underrated fighting game. Developed by Capcom, it's a perfect mix of Street Fighter 4 and Tekken Tag Tournament. Street Fighter 4 didn't have tag battles, so this was refreshing to the series.
It was a lot of fun, but the competitive scene didn't last very long. Around release time, many didn't buy the game because it turned out that the paid DLC characters were actually on the disc. That's pretty heinous, but if you're willing to go back and try the game out for yourself, you're going to have a blast.
9 Dead Or Alive 5 Last Round
In terms of what most DOA fans think of as the best entry in the series, it's Dead or Alive 5 Last Round. Even with DOA6 out, 5 still has the most content in the series thanks to its plethora of modes, tag battle feature, and the number of characters playable. Tag battle mode is one of the big highlights in the series, and it's a shame DOA6 doesn't have it.
Last Round infamously introduced a free-to-play version with only four characters to play as. This must have worked as DOA5 became the most-played and highest-selling entry in the series. It received many years of support, unlike DOA6. Out of the games in the series that were released in the 2010s, Last Round is the top DOA game.
8 Divekick
When Divekick was first announced, nobody knew the impact that this game would make on the genre. It was initially marketed as a joke game, only using two buttons and no joystick. The developer Iron Galaxy even went out and sold a fight stick that was just two comically large buttons. However, when the game was released, it changed the genre. It was the first fighting title that was heavily geared toward people new to fighting games with its low complexity.
For many, it was just too intimidating or daunting to go right to Street Fighter because it was so much to learn. Anybody can play and get into Divekick right away. It is a fighting game that loves the mind games two players partake in while in a match and cuts out all the other barriers to entry for non-fighting game fans. After this game, many more fighting titles got released with more simplified mechanics aimed at people new to the genre.
7 Killer Instinct
After 17 long years, Killer Instinct finally returned alongside the release of the Xbox One, and not only did it match the hype, it was the best game in the series. KI is among the most satisfying fighting titles, and the online play was some of the best of the era. It even got to the point that when the pandemic hit, many people in the FGC suggested online events should bring back Killer Instinct.
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The reason is that KI had far superior online netcode to many popular and even more recent fighting titles. That's how ahead of the curb it was. Unfortunately, like some other fighting games, it launched with little content, exclusively on Xbox, when most of the FGC was using PS4s. After a few years of updates, that issue was resolved, but it never recovered from this poor launch.
6 Tekken 7
One of the more content-rich fighting games of that decade has to be Tekken 7. Launched in 2015, the game has received over six years of support, which is a lot for any game, not just a fighting game. Tekken has always been the leading 3D fighter, and it simplified some elements of the genre.
Special moves are less complex to perform than in Street Fighter, but tight timing still exists. Tekken is less complicated than DOA and Street Fighter in terms of the inputs it demands but still feels extremely deep. Due to this, if you can't get into Street Fighter due to the circular motions it demands, Tekken might be more your fit.
5 Dragon Ball FighterZ
Arc System Works has always made great fighting games, but many of their titles weren't as popular as the top fighters in the genre. With Dragon Ball FighterZ, that all changed. It was arguably one of the top three most popular fighting games in the FGC alongside Smash Ultimate and Street Fighter 5. The Dragon Ball franchise is incredibly popular, but the game itself is an excellent three vs. three fighter.
It's not good as the classic Marvel vs. Capcom games, but it's still one of the best fighting games in this style. FighterZ isn't for everyone, though, as if you're not a Dragon Ball fan, you might not get interested, and getting steamrolled often at the beginning makes it hard to get into. You're basically watching a cutscene, at that point, and it feels much worse to lose. But if you can improve and learn its system, it's an incredibly deep and fast fighting game.
4 Street Fighter 5
The launch of Street Fighter 5 was a disaster. It only launched with basic online play and training mode. However, since the game's launch in 2016, it's now jam-packed with content. There are actually more characters now than there were in Ultra Street Fighter 4, and arcade mode is fully featured.
It's also a fantastic fighting title with so much depth, and it's amazing to see the evolution of the competitive scene since its release. Capcom did have a bad habit of releasing stages and costumes that were so distracting they were banned from competitive play. Something that was far rarer in Street Fighter 4. However, this title is still one of the best fighting games to play and is a competitive fighting game fan essential.
3 Mortal Kombat X
Three mainline Mortal Kombat entries were released in the 2010s, and out of them, Mortal Kombat X is the best overall. Mortal Kombat 11, while improved in some areas, also had a lot of unwelcome changes. The progression system was way too grindy and simply not a lot of fun. Mortal Kombat X doesn't have that.
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This entry is when NetherRealm really upped its game and delivered an amazing competitive fighter. MK9 did that, too, to a certain extent, but MKX is when the developer fully delivered. Before these games, Mortal Kombat just wasn't seen as an active competitive fighting title. MKX often goes on sale for dirt cheap on online storefronts, and it's absolutely worth picking up.
2 Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is considered one of the best fighting games ever made, and while MVC3 isn't as good, it's still one of the best fighters of the decade. The game is beginner-friendly, with mechanics being easy to learn but hard to master. It has a great and diverse cast of characters, and the art style is visually distinct, with an awesome comic book ascetic.
Many characters are overly powerful, but they ride that fine line of never feeling outright broken. Ultimate MVC3 has an amazing community to it. Despite being released toward the end of 2011, it was featured as a main tournament of EVO until 2017 with no major content updates. That shows how strong the player base was, considering most other games would have died out in popularity by then.
1 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
The premier Nintendo fighting game, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, is what many think is the best in the series. Beating Smash Bros. Melee is a tough act to follow since that game still has a competitive tournament scene over 20 years after its launch. However, with every character from previous games included and tons of DLC fighters, it has a lot of content, more than any other game in the series.
Ultimate is much more balanced than the Wii U entry, which had Bayonetta steamroll almost everybody. Time will tell if Ultimate will still see competitive play 20 years on, but today, it's the most fun fighting game for both casuals and pros. It's not the cheapest fighting game, though, with the total package, including all its DLC costing over $100.
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