20 best fighting games for Android

Fighting games may not be the most popular genre anymore, but the people who still love the genre are among the most loyal gamers. Unfortunately, fighting games haven’t been as popular or successful on Android as many would’ve hoped, and there aren’t many amazing options available. There were some pretty big releases in 2018 and some more since. However, you’ll still want an emulator if you want something competitively fun. In any case, if you want to give it a shot, here are the best fighting games for Android.

We’d also like to give an honorable mention to Footsies (Google Play). It’s a very simple but addictive fighter.

The best fighting games for Android

One Punch

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $40.99 per item)

One Punch is a newer addition to the old genre of fighting games. It’s a fun, simple, and addictive fighting game with simple tap controls. Despite its simplicity, the game is exceptionally well-made, with cute characters, vibrant pixel graphics, and a goofy soundtrack. It has a single-player mode as well as a PVP mode. Give it a try; it’s a great time killer. The ads are the annoying part of this game.

Brawlhalla

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($5.99 – $49.99 per item)

Brawlhalla is a surprisingly fun fighting game. Think of it like a mobile version of Super Smash Bros. The stage is a platform with edges from where you can fall off. There are unique characters with different abilities. Your job is to use your characters to the best and push the other player off the stage. There are almost 50 characters to choose from, and there are still more to come.

The controls are easy to learn and highly customizable. It gives you a few different game modes. The game is fun, especially when played with friends, and can get super addictive at times.

EA Sports UFC Mobile 2

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $99.99 per item)

EA discontinued their original UFC mobile game in early 2022, and now we have its successor. The game differs quite a lot from its predecessor. The controls are less granular and more arcade-like. There is also an RPG progression where your fighter gets more powerful as you level them up. Some other game features include a gacha element to build a perfect team of fighters, signature moves from big fighters, and more. It’s definitely not as good as the original, but it did take the original a few years to hit its stride, so we hope EA improves this one too.

Dragon Ball Legends

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $79.99 per item)

Injustice

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $99.99 per item)

Injustice is a popular game title. On mobile, Injustice: Gods Among Us is available. It falls short when compared to its console counterpart. The fighting mechanics are questionable; it’s mostly just tapping the screen until someone wins. But putting this aside, there’s a decent roster of DC Comics heroes, tons of stuff to do in the game, and online multiplayer.

THE KING OF FIGHTERS-A 2012

Price: $2.99

A few King of Fighters games are available on the Google Play Store. What makes this version the best is that it’s a direct port of the console version. That means there’s no gacha system, and the controls aren’t just tapping on the screen. The game is basically in single-player mode, but there are different modes available, like 1v1, 3v3, a training mode for practice, a challenge mode, and an endless battle mode. It’s just the pure classic version of the game. You have most of your favorite characters on the roster; a total of 34 characters are available. You do need to pay for this one.

Punch Boxing 3D

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($1.99 – $99.99 per item)

Punch Boxing 3D is the first of a few boxing games on this list. As with most boxing games, the gameplay is a bit slower when compared with combo fighters, and you rely more on block and strike moves than movement. The graphics are all right, and the controls seem to function as intended. Unfortunately, your controls are essentially confined to block and punch, but that’s how it sometimes goes. The audio is also pretty bad.

Real Boxing 2

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $99.99 per item)

Real Boxing 2 is another boxing game on our list. It takes you on a journey to become the champion of the world. There are different modes available; you can choose to improve your career in the single-player mode or engage in an endless MMO fighting experience in the multiplayer mode. There are also KO tournaments and a ton of other events. Your character is fully customizable, from the appearance to the traits and the fighting style. The graphics are great, the controls are neat, and overall, there isn’t much to complain about. You do need to pay to remove the apps, and pop-ups can be annoying for some people. Another issue is the occasional crashes, which disrupt the game experience.

Real Steel series

Price: Free

Real Steel is a series of robot-fighting games from Reliance Games. Unlike most, these titles feature arcade-style fighting controls. That means you’ll have to move and hit on your own. There are four games in the robot fighting series, each with its own set of mechanics, looks, and stuff to do. The most popular one, Real Steel World Robot Boxing, includes customization, multiplayer, and a couple of other play modes. The latest game in the series is World Robot Boxing 2, and it has reasonably decent reviews. These are on the higher end of the fighting game spectrum.

Prizefighters

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $4.99 per item)

Prizefighter is a fun timekiller. It’s a retro game similar to those from the SNES era (the 1990’s). It features simple controls, player and ring customization, a progression system, social features, and more. The developers also promise online multiplayer at some point. That should elevate an already above-average experience. This is a good one for fans of retro-fighting games. The in-app purchases aren’t as bad as competitors, either.

Shadow Fight Arena

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $149.99 per item)

Shadow Fight Arena is the latest in a long-running series of popular fighting games. This one is a little different from its predecessors, but it’s still a good fighter. You play a character and duke it out against the AI and other players. The controls are a bit simple, and hardcore fighting fans may find them lacking. However, there is more than enough here for casual players. The franchise’s previous games are also quite good if you want to play the older ones.

Skullgirls

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $99.99 per item)

Skullgirls is a bit of a diamond in the rough. It’s not mentioned in the same conversations as Street Fighter or KoF, but people seem to like this one. The game brands itself as a 2D fighting RPG with mechanics from both genres. You collect a variety of characters, level them up, and then use them to beat up other people. The game is a bit heavier on the RPG elements than the fighter elements, but there are enough controls there to scratch that itch. The online PvP has some problems, including the occasional lopsided match-up, but otherwise, it seems like an enjoyable little RPG fighter.

Street Fighter IV Champion Edition

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $4.99 per item)

Street Fighter IV Champion Edition is one of the big fighting game releases of 2018. It’s not without its problems, though. The full game features a decent selection of characters and actual fighting mechanics. It also includes several somewhat broken but functional features, like Bluetooth controller support and online PvP. We’ll be honest, this one still needs some work. However, Capcom seems up to the challenge, with a swath of updates in the first few weeks of release. Most of the problems were fixed in its first year, and the Google Play rating seems to be turning around from its insanely low score from back then.

Streets of Rage 4

Price: $8.99

Streets of Rage 4 is a remaster of the original game from 25 years ago. It includes the classic beat-’em-up mechanics. You pick a character, roam around the level, and fight bad guys while avoiding being hit. The remaster includes several characters, a few different game modes, secret levels, and more extra stuff. The gameplay is reasonably smooth, and it’s what you expect. You move horizontally across a level while bad guys periodically spawn to take you out. Use your best moves to take them down and finish the fight.

The game has a few flaws. Some users report a tendency to crash on startup, although we didn’t run into that issue during our testing. The only thing we noticed was the occasional frame drop when a lot of stuff was happening on screen.

Vita Fighters

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $8.99 per item)

Vita Fighters is a more traditional 1v1 fighter. The game includes over 30 characters, 16 stages, boss fights, controller support, and more. The gameplay is like the fighters from the 90s and 2000s. You move around to dodge attacks, hit combos, and try to outsmart and outplay the opponent. The controller support is really helpful since it lets you do moves a little more effectively.

There are some goofy elements as well. The characters are modeled after famous characters from other franchises, so you’ll likely see some characters you recognize. It’s a surprisingly good fighter, especially for traditional fighter fans.

Dual Souls

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $8.99 per item)

Dual Souls is another 2D fighting game on our list. There’s a roster of 11 characters to choose from. The positive things about this game are that the fighting mechanics are good, the controls are like what a fighting game should be, the animations are great, and it runs very smoothly. The negative thing is that some users might not like the visuals. You can enjoy the game in story mode, online, or in arcade mode.

Bloody Bastards

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($3.99 per item)

Bloody Bastards is a one-of-a-kind fighting game. It’s based in medieval settings, and the story revolves around you fighting hordes of different enemies with knives, daggers, swords, and tons of other stuff. The game has great ragdoll physics, and the graphics are a mix of 2D and pixel art. The controls take some getting used to, but it’s fun overall. Solo-player is challenging and addictive, but it also has a multiplayer mode. It does contain ads, but you can pay to have them removed.

Final Fighter

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $99.99 per item)

Final Fighter is another unique game on our list. It combines the elements of a fighter game with light strategy, cards, and a role-playing game. It kind of reminds you of Tekken on console, but on mobile. The game has better fighting mechanics compared with others in its category. The graphics and visuals are amazing. The multiplayer features are good, and there’s also a guild system. Overall, it’s great, but we would love it if the developers worked on the crashing issues. There are also ads, but you can pay to have them removed.

Mortal Kombat

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $99.99 per item)

Mortal Kombat is a very famous franchise. The game is known for its character designs and savage finishers. The mobile version differs a bit from the console/PC version; the gameplay is a little different because of the fighting mechanics and, obviously, the controls. But it’s still worth mentioning on our list. The game has the potential to be better. The developers really need to work on their network issues because there’s no point in good graphics if the game doesn’t load. 

Emulators

There were a ton of games on the old console; they were pretty famous. You can play classic Street Fighter games with an SNES emulator, Soul Calibur on a PlayStation emulator, or King of Fighters on SEGA emulators. There are many emulators to choose from, with a bunch of games for each platform. Most of them also have controller support, save and load states, support for cheat codes, and other features.

The controller support lets you enjoy the swipe-and-tap nature of mobile fighters. Mobile fighters are super simplified, and if you’re not a fan of that, then emulators are definitely for you. We have John NESS (SNES and NES) linked at the button or our full list of the best emulators here.

If we missed any of the best fighting games for Android, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists.
Thank you for reading.