While 2024 may have felt light in terms of new fighting game franchises, the past year still delivered plenty of excitement for fans of the genre, especially thanks to the release of new entries in some of the most celebrated series in gaming history, such as the Tekken and Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi series. Whether you prefer going head-to-head with your opponents using your iron fists, unleashing ki blasts, pulling off perfect piledrivers, or knocking them off platforms while wavedashing toward them, 2024 offered plenty of opportunities to unleash your fighting spirit against.
Previously on Wccftech’s Best Games of 2024: Shooters, RPGs, Indies
Tekken 8 (9)
The wait for a new King of the Iron First tournament has been long, but the wait has been repaid in full, as Tekken 8 is a game worthy of being part of one of the best fighting games series ever. While the game does leave something to be desired when it comes to single-player content, especially compared to previous entries in the series, and the netcode doesn’t always deliver a smooth experience if both players don’t have a flawless internet connection, the amazing learning tools it offers and the diverse character roster, which has started expanding beyond the boundaries of the franchise with the introduction of Final Fantasy XVI’s protagonist Clive Rosfield, make it one of the best fighting games of the generation for the competitive-minded players. Here’s what I had to say about the game in my review:
Featuring cutting-edge visuals for fighting games and exceptional learning tools, Tekken 8 stands out as one of the best releases in the fighting game genre over the last few years. While the netcode is generally acceptable, regrettably, it falls short of replicating the seamless offline experience, a drawback that significantly affects the overall experience way more than the limited amount of single player content and somewhat diminishes the effectiveness of the game’s outstanding learning tools, particularly for those unable to engage in offline multiplayer matches.
WWE 2K24 (8)
The WWE 2K series has had it rough in the past few years. After stumbling badly with WWE 2K20, the series by Visual Concept had to take one year off to find its footing again, which it somewhat did with WWE 2K22 and WWE 2K23, whose formula, while far from being the best, showed some promise. With WWE 2K24, however, the series finally made a proper comeback from its dark age, with fun new mechanics and match types and a great selection of play modes. The core action could still use some refinements, but it definitely seems like Visual Concept is on the right track to bring the series back to greatness, to the joy of all WWE fans all over the world. Here’s what Nathan Birch had to say about the game in his review.
With the release of WWE 2K24 this series no longer feels like a carny outcast amongst the other big sports franchises. While the game’s core action could stand to be even further refined, fun new mechanics, match types, and a fully-developed suite of modes, including significantly improved Showcase and MyGM offerings, are worth cheering for. While maybe not quite the total package just yet, WWE 2K24 feels like it’s ready for the bright lights.
Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO (9)
The Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series has long been left dormant, but it is still considered one of the best series based on the massively popular series created by Akira Toriyama. Topping the third main entry in the series was far from being easy to accomplish, but developer Spike Chunsoft outdid themselves with a game that not only feels great to play but also takes advantage of modern gaming technology and engines such as the Unreal Engine 5 to make players feel as if they were indeed part of the Dragon Ball universe. Sure, the game may be a little unbalanced, but it wouldn’t be Dragon Ball if the power levels wouldn’t range from 10 to over 2,000,000. Here’s what I had to say about the game in my review:
Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO is undeniably one of the best games based on Akira Toriyama’s series. With an engaging story mode that includes intriguing what-if scenarios, a combat system that’s easy to learn but challenging to master, a massive character roster, and impressive attention to detail, Spike Chunsoft has created a must-have for Dragon Ball fans. If you’ve ever wanted to be Goku and scream your heart out before unleashing secret techniques, this is the game for you.
The MARVEL vs. CAPCOM series took the world of fighting games by storm before it was actually called so with the release of the first tag fighter ever made by CAPCOM, X-Men vs Street Fighter, and seeing it end so ingloriously with the average Marvel VS. Capcom Infinite was truly a shame. Thankfully, it seems like the two companies are still open to working together, and released this year the MARVEL vs. CAPCOM Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, a new collection that includes the first two main entries in the series as well as the other games made by the creator of Street Fighter featuring Marvel Comics characters like X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and the side-scrolling beat’em up The Punisher. While the collection highlighted how some of these games haven’t aged as well as others have, it also highlighted how others, like MARVEL vs. CAPCOM 2, are still a joy to play. Too bad for the lack of cross-platform play, especially on PC where there are more popular options to enjoy these classics. Here’s what I said about the collection in my review:
The MARVEL vs. CAPCOM Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is a fantastic celebration of the series, showcasing some of the best fighting games released by the Japanese publisher in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Although the lack of cross-platform play reduces the collection’s appeal, the additional options and extras are welcome enhancements that make playing these timeless classics on modern hardware even more enticing, especially on consoles.
Rivals of Aether II
With the latest entry in the Super Smash Bros. series having been released six years ago, many other platform fighters got their chance to shine, filling the void left open by the series that essentially created a whole new sub-genre. Among the few platform fighters released since, Rivals of Aether II is the one that capitalized the most on this situation, becoming the go-to game for those who cannot live their gaming life without dash dancing, wavedashing, shield dropping, and so on. Instead of attempting to do things differently, which doesn’t always lead to the best results, the game developed by Aether Studios went all in on the formula made popular by Super Smash Bros. Melee, making it easier to perform some of the advanced tech listed above to allow players to focus on the fun. While on paper, this may detract from the game’s identity a bit, the developer masterfully weaved together these elements with the cast’s diverse moveset to provide a game that will only grow in popularity as time goes on.
Sadly, the lack of single-player content prevents Rivals of Aether II from being a must-buy right now for those looking for some casual fun, but hopefully, this issue will be addressed as the game expands in the future.
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Honorable Mentions
2024 also saw the release of other solid fighting games that deserve to be mentioned. Among them, a few deserve to be mentioned.
