The 10 Fighting Games With the WORST Metas

“Mortal Kombat” (2011)

“Mortal Kombat” has always had a history with cheap characters, but that was mostly with boss characters like Shao Kahn and Noob Saibot. In an age where competition is more fierce than it ever has been, though, MK9 has seen the worst of it in the franchise’s post-Midway era. For the longest time, it was common to come across Kabals spamming Nomad Dash, Sheevas exploiting her broken Stomp move, and every Cyrax main seemingly knowing how to execute touch of death combos. Things got worse when Freddy Krueger was added into the game and proved to be an exceptional zoner. Basically, there was never a reason to jump into the online portion of MK9.

“Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3” (2011)

The thing about MvC is that there are so many characters with unique movesets to choose from that you would expect players to want to experiment with different teams. Alas, that was not the case with UMvC3 nor its initial version. Even today, you are bound to come across several players using Vergil, Zero, Wesker, Magneto, Morrigan, Nova, Doctor Doom, Wolverine, or Spencer. The reason for this is because each of these characters boasts excellent speed or zoning abilities. Sure, they are also just super fun to play in general, but when most tournaments are showing this same group over and over and over again… Man, we’d have more fun watching two dudes fight each other with Big Zam in “Gundam: Battle Assault”. At least watching the infinites can be interesting sometimes.

“Tekken 7” (2015)

While great in several different ways, the online scene for “Tekken 7” felt like it was rarely ever in an interesting spot. At launch, many folks were bullying others with Akuma’s tactics, which broke just about all of the fundamentals of “Tekken”. However, the game found itself in a dire state throughout Season Three when Leroy and Fahkumram were added into the game. Leroy was trouncing so many players with his parries that it nearly killed the game, especially after EVO Japan 2020 was nothing but Leroy matches. As for Fahkumram, he was getting tweaked for months after launch with one patch being solely dedicated to nerfing him. “Tekken 7” did get into a better state afterwards, but those of us who were playing at the time still go through those flashbacks every now and again.

“Shrek SuperSlam” (2005)

This may seem like a bizarre game to cover, but “Shrek SuperSlam” does have a dedicated playerbase as small as it may seem. Trust us, the meta here is just as awful as our other entries. See, “Shrek SuperSlam” as a pretty meaty roster of twenty playable characters. And yet, only four or five of them are ever considered to be viable to compete with, those being Fiona, Robin Hood, Gingy, and Dronkey. Red Riding Hood is also in that mix, but is often banned from tournaments. But all five of these characters have consistently shown to be more versatile between their exceptional speed, damage, and Slam powers. You may see Luna or one of the A-tier characters every now and again, but for the most part, you’re going to see a lot of the four aforementioned fighters in the competitive scene, which can excite or bore you depending on what you’re looking for.

“Persona 4 Arena” (2012) & “Persona 4 Arena Ultimax” (2013)

Despite how it may appear, “Persona 4 Arena” is one of the easiest fighting games to jump into no matter your skill level. Getting more people into the genre is great! However, this blessing is also “Persona 4 Arena’s” curse as some characters wound up becoming too easy to use, thus creating a really bad meta. Aigis was a strong fighter in both versions, same with Mitsuru. However, Yu was frequently selected and often cited as the strongest character in the game, which quickly led to P4A becoming a spin-off specifically for Yu. It’s really like the rest of the cast didn’t even exist.

“Injustice: Gods Among Us” (2013)

NetherRealm Studios found themselves in hot water again after MK9, and it got to the point where “Injustice: Gods Among Us” was given the nickname, “Injustice: Zoners Among Us”. Indeed, this was a problem that should have been expected from the start given that this is a superhero game starring characters that have long had gadgets, guns, and the sort. That said, everyone was bound to have at least a couple of ranged attacks. Unfortunately, that is still no excuse for what transpired. Players found very little reason to actively engage in close combat when they could just spam projectiles until someone got bored or timed out. The scene got even worse when Scorpion entered the fray with his teleporting ability as well as some moves that excel in zoning. Since then, NRS has struggled in mitigating players from exploiting zoning across most of their games. “Injustice 2” was just as egregious.

“BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger” (2008)

For the most part, “BlazBlue” has been relatively okay at keeping the game balanced. You may hear folks complain about the Ruby-Gord meta that plagued “Cross Tag Battle” or whine about Kokonoe for the hundredth time. However, “Calamity Trigger” was honestly the worst that things ever got with “BlazBlue”. Back in the days when “Calamity Trigger” had a more lively online scene, you would very often run into one of two characters: NU-13 or Ratchel. NU-13 had an immensely strong keepaway game with a litany of ranged attacks, but was poor in close-quarters. In other words, she was a glass cannon, though a glass cannon that was really tough to break than most. Ratchel was deemed the most effective counterpick to deter NU mains. Some were able to do fine with Jin, Tao, or Bang, but for the most part NU-13 and Ratchel were stars of BBCT’s online scene.

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

Normally, we try not to double up on games in one particular franchise for lists like this, but full admittance, MvC2, for as insanely fun as it is to play, is infected with a meta worse than UMvC3. For starters, almost every competitive player uses at least one of the Four Horsemen, those being Storm, Sentinel, Cable, and Magneto. As for the other one or two slots for their team, it’s almost always Cyclops, Doctor Doom, Strider, Iron Man, War Machine, Dhalsim, or Blackheart. Variety is pretty much dead in MvC2’s competitive scene, and while matches can still be fun to watch, the meta leads to boredom much quicker than UMvC3.

“Super Smash Bros. Melee” (2001)

You know, you hear about how “Melee” is supposedly this superior game compared to the rest of the franchise and how it plays so much better. More often than not, the folks repeating this sentiment are the same ones playing the same four characters every single match. How many tournaments have we seen that are just littered with Jigglypuffs, Marths, Falcos, and Fox mains? Yes, they have been proven to be the best fighters across decades of competitive “Melee” tournaments, and sometimes, you’ll see a few Peach mains, Sheiks, and Captain Falcons. Even so, you eventually wish to see someone suddenly shake things up with someone weird. Or maybe an organization say “hey, low-tier characters only”. It’d at least make things interesting for a moment.

“Dragon Ball FighterZ” (2018)

Of every fighting game to ever exist, “Dragon Ball FighterZ” may have the worst metas or meta history. Ever since launch, it just seemed like Arc System Works could never get the balance just right, and the playerbase suffered greatly for it. To its credit, every character is pretty strong overall, but once you get into the nuances, then you see why only a few characters would be frequently picked online. Goku Black, SSGSS Vegeta, SSGSS Vegito, Lab Coat Android 21, Nappa, Trunks, Super Saiyan Vegeta, and SSGSS Gogeta players were a dime a dozen to the point where playing online got boring in a matter of minutes. Game is fun to play. Just gets old seeing the same few characters get picked over…and over…and over…and over again.

Which fighting game do you think had the most egregious meta? Did it make our list? Let us know down in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!