- Ultra Instinct Goku “Dragon Ball FighterZ”
To start off our list we have Ultra Instinct Goku, or UI Goku for short, who has some amazing tools that allow him to execute his gameplan extremely well. However, it was not always like this. Before the August 2024 patch, UI Goku was considered a weaker character. The developers saw this and decided to improve every aspect of the character, making him one of, if not the strongest characters in a game full of contenders.
- Chun-Li “Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike”
Chun-Li was the best character in 3rd Strike by far. In terms of Oki, damage, mix ups and neutral, she was on top and there was no close second. As a result, she possesses no losing matchups, or how good a character is at fighting another character and cemented herself in fighting game history.
- Testament “Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R”
Having access to some of the largest and fastest buttons in the game, Testament can keep you at a distance and use his nets to trap you on approach, making him by far the best zoner (long range character) in the game. His nets not only allow him to play safe, but use them to access his infinite in corner, instantly securing the round win.
- J.P Polnareff “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future”
In HFTF, the top-of-the-tier list completely topples anyone under them because of their insane strength and mixes, making the opponent guess between a high or low attack. Polnareff is no exception.
- Sol Badguy “Guilty Gear Strive”
Sol is a Strike/Throw (a mix up where you make the opponent guess between a hit or a grab) character possessing incredible damage and unreadable mixups. Sol has sat in the upper echelons of the cast ever since the game debuted. Recent optimization from players like Gauro, the best Italian player, have successfully secured his spot in the top five.
- Goldlewis Dickinson “Guilty Gear Strive”
Guilty Gear is a series known for its fast and aggressive top tier characters. Goldlewis has a slow and methodical game plan, cashing in on massive damage when he spots a gap. To avoid being put back into this slower style of play, he has access to one of the most insane Oki (short for Okizeme, which means using a move while your opponent is knocked down to reset your pressure) moves in the game. Thunderbird is a small slow moving drone projectile that will approach the opponent and hit multiple times before disappearing, allowing him to reset his forceful pressure game and repeat this cycle.
- Akuma “Tekken 7”
Akuma is traditionally a streetfighter character, however, he makes a guest appearance in Tekken 7 and completely steals the show. The main aspects of why he rules this roster is the fact that he has access to a traditional streetfighter super bar and has access to overdrives and supers, something that Tekken characters traditionally lack, meaning he has the strongest kit in the game by far and has no losing matchups.
- Steve “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate”
Steve can build his own platforms in a platform fighter. Letting him turtle with walls or render recoveries useless for free by building a ceiling. He can upgrade his tools allowing higher damage and earlier kills. His powered rail minecart kills can grab and set up for an unblockable kill confirm. His powered rail minecart kills incredibly early, he has insane ledge guard, insane damage (iron and above), can get his resources quickly and can defend in a way that other characters can’t get in. His smash attacks kill early. Anvil is a great kill at ledge. All of these contribute to solidifying his spot as the king of SSBU.
- Johnny “Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2”
The main aspect of GGXRD people remember to this day is simply Johnny. This character is busted in so many ways that he is the centerpiece of the entire game. Many people argue that Johnny’s mist finer combo tool is the best move in a fighting game, no exceptions. He has access to unblockables and extremely ambiguous 50/50 mixes that make it impossible to keep him outside of your defenses.
- Noriaki Kakyoin “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future”
Kakyoin possesses some of the grimiest disjoints and incredible Oki in fighting game history. Possessing cross map mix-ups, unblockables and the crown jewel of his kit: Kak nets. Kak nets allow him to freeze the opponent in place and get a full combo which will often lead to a TOD – which stands for touch of death, meaning knocking out your opponent from full health to zero health without dropping your combo – making it essentially impossible to beat Kakyoin in any scenarios and solidifying his spot at the top of my list as the best fighting game character in history.
