Key Takeaways

• Combining fighting games and RPG elements can lead to a unique gaming experience for players.
• Customizing characters and utilizing RPG mechanics adds depth and creativity to gameplay.
• Games like Injustice 2 and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 expertly integrate fighting games with RPG elements.

Many things pair well together. Bacon and eggs. Sunshine and reading. JRPGs and urban fantasy. Gaming subgenres often form out of a continued “Eureka” moment where players and developers realize that two distant genres actually work quite well together. Survival games are about struggling to exist against impending threats from the natural world, and horror games are about struggling to exist against impending threats from the unnatural world. Combine them, and you have the survival horror genre, and many instant classics within them.

Fighting games and RPGs are not, at first glance, this kind of thematic match made in heaven. RPGs usually have a much greater emphasis on character than fighting games – but ComboFiend of Capcom USA fame once infamously described fighting game characters as “just functions” and everyone really hated that – so clearly, fighting game players can hold just as much attachment to their characters as RPG players. And it’s here, in this love for building up characters, that some fighting games have made the seamless and brilliant move into the territory of RPG mechanics.

6 Injustice 2

Character Customization And Alternate Endings Make For A Great Fighting Game

Injustice 2 greatly expanded the scope and scale of this iconic DC fighting game. DC superheroes were the perfect pick for an intensive fighting game filled with environmental attacks, powerful finishers, and incredibly overpowered fighters. One of the ways this title expands upon its predecessor is with the inclusion of character customization, allowing players to alter the moves and stats of their favorite superheroes and villains.

This element of customization allows players to outfit heroes into various niches in terms of their overall purpose for each fight, whether that’s becoming a hard-hitting combo breaker or an agile mid-ranged fighter. The story itself allows for some freedom on behalf of players as well, with an ending dependent on a specific choice from the player.

5 Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

Live In The World Of Dragon Ball Z: From Arcs To Filler Episodes

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a celebration of the Dragon Ball Z anime, manga, and the long line of video games that have come to help define what this series means to a lot of people. This is a game that lets players, predominately, participate in fights from across the animated series in a dynamic, beautifully rendered style, but it also allows players to engage in many RPG elements as they build up their favorite characters throughout the story.

An expansive game like this can leave players overwhelmed on the direction they should be taking, but the slice-of-life elements like cooking and training are just as important and lovingly detailed as the colossal boss fights that define much of the game’s playtime.

4 Super Smash Bros 4

Character Customization Brings Many RPG Elements With It

Super Smash Bros 4, encompassing both a 3DS and Wii U variant, took the monolithic platform fighter series in a lot of interesting new directions. Today, the game sadly exists in the shadow of the incredibly popular Super Smash Bros Ultimate, but there were many mechanics in this game that are entirely unique to it, or at least, entirely unique to the older games in this series before Ultimate decided to streamline it somewhat.

One of these features is the character creation component, which allows players to take Miis and turn them into fighters. This RPG-style character creator has characters select a class for their fighter, as well as equipment and clothing, and with a special amiibo compatibility, players can have their Miis steadily gain experience and grow stronger in a similar RPG style.

3 Soulcalibur 6

Libra Of Souls Is An Excellent Roleplaying Experience

Soulcalibur has a huge variety of game modes across all of its titles, but within each of them shines an incredibly satisfying and dynamic fighting game with a large emphasis on swordplay. There’s enough depth to the fighting to keep veterans of the genre happy, but it’s simple enough to grasp that newer players won’t be scared off.

The Libra of Souls game mode entices new and old players alike, providing an RPG experience where players, with their custom character, travel the world, gain equipment and skills, and slowly build up their avatar’s strength.

2 Street Fighter 6

World Tour Mode Is The Ultimate Street Fighter RPG Experience

World tour mode is an expansive love letter to the Street Fighter genre, allowing players to train under the most iconic characters in the Street Fighter series as their own, uniquely created characters. This allows their character to grow and gain experience, engaging in an RPG experience unique to this game.

Gaining experience through fights to put to use in increasingly intense fights, utilizing new skills earned through attaining higher levels, there’s a slew of RPG mechanics in world tour mode that let players feel like their character is an integral part of the Street Fighter world.

1 Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2

It Doesn’t Get Much Better For Fighting Game RPGs

Few games provide as dazzling an experience as Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. Players will be able to embed themselves within the pantheon of legendary Dragon Ball heroes with their own unique design, stats, and of course, powerful ki moves.

Whether players want to turn Super Saiyan or fight as a Namekian or even a Majin, there’s so much overwhelming creativity in this game and its core focus: the story mode and missions that see players gaining more experience to put to use with their character.