While some may believe that there aren’t any good fighting games on Android, due to touchscreen controls, that’s actually not true.
Once you buy yourself a console-style gamepad for Android, fighting games are much more enjoyable on mobile, and there are numerous fighting games that take advantage of gamepad support to offer the arcade-style fighter gameplay we all love.
In this article, we’re going to highlight some of the best fighting games available on Android, especially for players who enjoy 2 player games similar to Tekken and Mortal Kombat.
If none of these games pique your curiosity, you may also want to check out some great mobile action games here that you can play in a browser, no installation necessary.
Article Breakdown
Fighting Tiger – Liberal
Predominately a level-based beat em up game, Fighting Tiger – Liberal features a solid range of martial arts styles with grapples, weapons, and special moves. The gameplay is reminiscent of old school 3D arcade fighters, or more compared to the Force Mode found in Tekken 3 / Tekken 4.
There’s also a campaign mode that features a progressive storyline, and the game is entirely free, with ads.
The King of Fighters ALLSTAR
The King of Fighters franchise has a long history dating back to 1994’s The King of Fighters ‘94 for Neo-Geo arcade systems, which featured characters from SNK’s previous fighting games, The Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury.
The King of Fighters ALLSTAR features quite a large roster of characters, with over a hundred characters to unlock, though it relies a bit on gacha mechanics. There are even numerous crossover characters from franchises such as Tekken, Gintama, Samurai Shodown, and even WWE superstars.
It’s a bit of a button-masher, though it’s gamepad compatible, and the game features online PvP and co-op gameplay, as well as a campaign mode. Overall, KoF ALLSTAR is a pretty solid fighter for Android.
Shadow Fight 3
Shadow Fight 3 eschews the silhouette graphics of previous titles and introduces full 3D models and backgrounds, though the gameplay mechanics are pretty much the same as SF1 and 2, with a few tweaks. Players are able to customize their character’s appearance, and choose from several weapon fighting styles, as well as mix and match unique armor, each piece of equipment having its own shadow abilities.
Overall, this is a great mobile fighter game for players who want a good bit of customization and tons of options for creating their own unique fighter and playstyle.
Skullgirls
A great 2D fighter-RPG that flies a bit under the radar, Skullgirls is actually worth checking out. While the gameplay leans more towards RPG mechanics, in that you collect fighters and level them up through matches, it has a great combo system that makes hopeless button-mashing rather futile in online mode, so a gamepad and learning the character skillsets is highly recommended.
If you aren’t very competitive you’ll want to stick to offline gameplay, but if you’re a fan of games like Street Fighter and Tekken as far as PvP matches go, you’ll surely enjoy Skullgirls.
Street Fighter IV Champion Edition
One of the most popular fighting games of all time is available on Android, and while it isn’t perfect, it should satisfy mobile gamers looking for a big-name fighting game.
There’s a decent selection of characters, and fully-functional arcade-style controls, so a gamepad is recommended. Capcom has been releasing a lot of updates to address the bugs that plagued the game when it was released, and it’s been quickly gaining a higher rating and following on Google Play.
Of all the games on this list, Street Fighter IV Champion Edition is most similar to Tekken, being that they’re both arcade-style competitive fighting games with a long history in arcades and on consoles.