10 BEST Capcom Fighting Games

The 10 Best Capcom Fighting Games

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re taking a look at the 10 greatest Capcom fighting games ever made!

“Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein” (1998)

At launch, critics were pretty harsh towards “Plasma Sword” for some reason. While the game received praise for its visuals, some critics got too caught up in the comparisons between it and Namco’s “Soulcalibur”. However, there is more depth here than it was given credit for. It combined the meter-based mechanics of “Street Fighter” with weapon-based combat, and what we got was a super-powered fighter that gave even the arguably weaker fighters equal footing with the more powerful ones. Be it with friends or against the CPU, “Plasma Sword” is indeed one of Capcom’s best fighters, and we certainly hope the company will revisit this IP sometime in the near future.

“Darkstalkers 3” (1998)

The “Darkstalkers” games are great in general thanks to their simple controls and unique visuals. Really, you can play any one of them and have a good time! But “Darkstalkers 3” gets the spotlight because of it being a mash-up of the first two games. You get access to all eighteen characters from both games as well as some extra characters like Dark Talbain and Marionette. The visuals are also a bit crisper than the previous games. In the end, though, “Darkstalkers 3” really comes out on top for just having more content than the other games. But if you want online functionality, well, hope you picked up “Darkstalkers Resurrection” on Xbox 360 or PS3.

“Street Fighter 6” (2023)

Some may have a problem with calling this one of the best Capcom fighting games. At the time of this video, the game is just starting its third year of post-launch support. Although, we’d argue that “Street Fighter 6” was great even before the post-launch support. In addition to your usual arcade and online modes, we had the single-player World Tour mode where you can take your custom character around the world and learn moves from different fighters. This was a creative take on fighting games with story modes, and we sincerely hope other fighting game developers take note of SF6’s World Tour mode. Plus, punching random NPCs into a fight is stupid hilarious.

“Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3” (2011)

Tag fighters can be intimidating for some folks on account of needing to know the moves of many different fighters. It’s a lot of information to attain over a lengthy period of playing the game. But UMvC3 helped simplify things with a new control scheme. You still had a punch and kick button, but you now had a button specifically for launching and even a button for tagging fighters in and out. It helped make tag fighters easier to understand and get a hold of while also adding in a bunch of new characters not featured in the initial version of MvC3. Our only complaint was the lack of game modes. Heroes & Heralds was neat, but we were hoping for more ridiculous modes like the Galactus Mode.

“Project Justice: Rival Schools 2” (2000)

Since we’re finally talking about tag fighters, let’s give “Project Justice” its flowers because it's been long overdue. Whereas the first “Rival Schools” game kept things basic with its two-on-two format, “Project Justice” goes above and beyond with the evolutions. For starters, you now have to choose a third member for your team before going into each fight. You got triple the chaos and triple the amount of skill required to play now. Secondly, just about every combination of characters offers a different playstyle with each character having their own Party-Up ability and Team-Up Specials. And third, you can play through the story mode with your own custom team or experience the story with specific team setups. Really, every time you think you’ve seen everything in the game, another cool new part of it pops up.

“Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike” (1999)

If you want to know why “3rd Strike” is so great in a single clip, you have to go check out the famous “Daigo Parry” moment from EVO 2004. While parries are a dime a dozen in various genres of video games, “3rd Strike” found a way to make parrying feel rewarding while still adding some complexity to it. See, a regular parry isn’t just the solution to every single problem. You also have air parries, guard parries, and even perfect guard parries, or “red parries”. And while each of them can save your skin and maybe turn the tide of the fight, landing that perfect parry is key to besting your opponent, and it feels insanely good to pull off. It’s really hard to execute, but that tight window is what makes playing and watching “3rd Strike” matches so much fun.

“Power Stone 2” (2000)

While the original “Power Stone” was great, it did feature some problems in its balance and repetitive arcade mode. “Power Stone 2” is…questionable in balance when looking at characters by themselves. However, it did give players a bit more agency in gaining the advantage in fights. In addition to boasting more weapons and gadgets in the first game, there was also more interactivity in the arenas between auto-scrolling segments, NPC enemies, turrets, and more. The single-player aspect also incentivized a bit of co-op play as the last two fighters standing would progress together. So, you could ideally work the system in your favor by intentionally not KOing a specific fighter, thus making future fights easier.

“Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millenium” (2000)

Of all the tag fighters we’ve ever played, none have come close to being as complex and experimental as CvS2. On the surface, the massive roster of Capcom and SNK characters is already plenty of reason to play the game. But once you begin to learn the different Grooves, it becomes an entirely different game. Each Groove grants a different set of mechanics taken from other Capcom and SNK fighting games, and they can drastically change the way you play as certain fighters. This level of malleability is why some would even go so far as to call CvS2 the greatest tag fighter ever made. Though, we beg to differ as you’ll see in a bit.

“Street Fighter II: The World Warrior” (1991)

As fighting game fans, we owe a lot to “Street Fighter II” in terms of what it did for the fighting game genre and the competitive scene. The fast-paced nature of the game and the way characters could string attacks together paved the way for combos to become a main staple of the genre. And while we make fun of the game for having a hundred different iterations over the years, each version manages to reinvent the wheel just through minor tweaks, balance changes, and introductions of new mechanics or characters. The only reason why we won’t say it’s the best Capcom fighting game ever made is because of age; SF2 is just a tad hard to play because of the AI and how the controls aren’t as tight as later “Street Fighter” games. No, the best Capcom fighting game ever made is…

“Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes” (2000)

This game is just legendary. When Maximilian Dood helped start the #FreeMvC2 movement in 2021, it wasn’t just because “we want our favorite game back” like so many other movements in gaming are based around. MvC2 was a revolution in designing fighting games when it came to experimentation and blending hardcore and casual play. Any permutation of characters and their assist types created a new style of play to learn, and while the game is essentially a button-masher of a fighting game, it’s a level of button-mashing that helps novices begin to pay attention to what they’re doing on the controller. And once they start actually learning the game, that door begins to open for them to learn other characters, and eventually, other fighting games. MvC2 sparks the interest, and despite its simple controls, it still features a ton of depth with its Hyper Combos and meter-building to keep players learning every aspect of the game. To this day, no other fighting game has come close to being this innovative, creative, or influential in design.

Which Capcom fighting game is your favorite to play? In case you couldn’t tell, MvC2 is by far one of my favorite fighting games ever. No matter how many times I play Arcade with Cable, Morrigan, and Venom, I just do not get sick of this game. It’s that good. But let us know what you think down in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!