10 Best Fighting Games on Nintendo Switch (2025)

When entertaining friends, whipping out a fighting game is often the best bet for a fun night. But you can play fighting games solo, too, sharpening your skills and mastery over slick combos.

While fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter dominate gaming, there are far more options worth considering. Yes, even on Nintendo Switch, you’ll find plenty of worthwhile entries, from the classics to modern entries. Check out the best fighting games on Nintendo Switch below.

What is a Fighting Game?

A fighting game pits one character against another. Each character has a different set of moves and skills that you use against the opponent. Overall, your toolsets range from light to heavy and special melee attacks, with often powerful finishing moves you build up to, as well as blocks and combos.

Best Fighting Games on Nintendo Switch

Handheld gaming feels perfect for close-quarters combat, with the best fighting games on Nintendo Switch delivering the most engaging matches.

10. Streets of Rage 4

Streets of Rage 4 is a beat ‘em up fighting game with a retro look and aesthetic. It feels very much like you’re at the arcade, bashing into enemies’ heads. Stages are set in the streets of urban cities, where your chosen character fights the opponent to the beat of electronic dance music. Over the years, the series has evolved in graphics and gameplay, but the core moves, kicks, and fighting mechanics remain timeless.

9. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy

As cinematic as the battles in Naruto look and feel, so do the scenes in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy. Special powers and effects are majestic, covering the entire battlefield in splashes of bright colors and explosive action.

Meanwhile, the characters are so diverse, including the ones you fight against, ranging from humans to beasts. With the trilogy packaging all three games in the series, as well as DLCs with additional missions and costumes, you should enjoy great value for money.

8. Brawlhalla

Do check out Brawlhalla, which combines intense fighting with platforming. It’s like Mario going head-to-head with the enemies of the Mario universe. Thus, battles are zoomed in and given more focus on timing and precision of the attacks and defenses you use to fight the greatest warriors of Brawlhalla.

7. Under Night In-Birth II Sys: Celes

Under Night In-Birth II Sys: Celes might be less popular among the best fighting games on Nintendo Switch. But anyone with the slightest experience with fighting games should quickly find their footing. And if you’re a fan of anime, you should feel well at home fighting across stages dashed in dramatic and stylish pixel art graphics. The inputs are simple enough; combining them into powerful combos is where the work and skill come in. 

6. Dragon Ball FighterZ

Similar to Naruto are the dramatic anime fights of Dragon Ball, translated into fighting game form in FighterZ. The action never stops, as you jump from one spectacular fight to another. You choose from 45 fighters, simulated in high-end anime graphics. 

Uniquely, you can try out the 3v3 multiplayer mode, tagging support characters from your team. The characters have to sync to win, leaning on each other’s strengths and weaknesses to beat the opponent across ranked matches and more varied online modes.

5. Skullgirls 2nd Encore

Skullgirls 2nd Encore follows the same principles of fighting games. However, its graphics and style are pretty unique, with a colorful but dark aesthetic on the character models and environments. Characters are animated by hand and fully voiced, giving them unique personalities. Meanwhile, both casual and competitive matches are full of personality, unraveling via fluid gameplay and challenging you to master deep mechanics for the win. 

4. Mortal Kombat 1

Mortal Kombat 1 should give you the most modern and up-to-date gameplay, where the roster is diverse and every character has been crafted to have technical depth and prowess. You might enjoy the story campaigns, trying to stop Kronika from rewinding time and rebooting history.

But the multiplayer mode is where the fun is, challenging friends to fierce battles. Controls are fluid and snappy, and the variety of combos you can pull off for each character is overwhelming. Meanwhile, there are thousands of weapons and gear you can unlock and customize for your characters as you progress in their abilities and ranking.

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is absolutely perfect for brawling. And in The Cowbunga Collection, you enjoy a most thrilling adventure, playing through 13 classic TMNT games. It’s the perfect opportunity for curious history buffs to walk down memory lane and appreciate how far the series has come. The graphics are true-to-word, faithful to their original releases, donning a retro but timeless look and feel.

2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

It’s still wondrous to comprehend the feat Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has pulled off. Gathering a whopping 89 playable fighters from the Nintendo franchise. You’ll no doubt find your favorites, whether Kirby, Samus Aran, Donkey Kong, or Link from The Legend of Zelda. As you can imagine, their fighting styles are all vastly different, ensuring endless replayability. 

Furthermore, the stages drawn from various Nintendo games help keep fights refreshing. What’s more? There’s an option to change stages mid-fight, which you can use tactfully to take advantage of a stage’s unique platforms and environmental vantage points.

1. Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection

You might have guessed Street Fighter to be the highest-ranking of the best fighting games on Nintendo Switch, particularly the 30th Anniversary Collection. A whopping 12 games, all in one package; all taking us back to the arcade days of endless brawls. Most of the matches remain true to their original forms.

However, the collection adds a historical overview of the development of the series that history buffs might revel in. Thirty years is certainly a long time to learn how the genre has evolved, as well as influenced fighting games of today.