The Best PS1 Fighting Games

The PS1 was one of the better consoles for fighting games. It was home to the Tekken series along with instalments for tons of the biggest fighting games. These are all titles which still receive play at some tournaments and are great to jump back into, even after all this time. If you’re looking for retro fighters, some of the best are PS1 fighting games.

Fighting games for PS1 had a unique set-up compared to earlier consoles. The device can handle limited 3D as well as 2D. This opened up new horizons for fighting games. The PS1 fighting game era is really where we start to see the limitations of classic arcade fighters getting left behind. These are some of the best fighting games for PS1.

Best PS1 Fighting Games

7. Warpath Jurassic Park

This one isn’t the most serious PS1 fighting game, but there’s something really special about fighting dinosaurs! Rather than focusing on hand-to-hand combat, players are attacking each other as their favourite dinosaurs here. It might not ever be featured at EVO, but this is one of the most fun fighting games for PS1.

6. Bushido Blade

Bushido Blade is a PS1 fighting game that has a focus on realism. Players use realistic weapons and the game is built around how they actually handle, at least for highly trained samurai. It’s one of the best fighting games on the platform.

5. Mortal Kombat Trilogy

This is a collection game which sums up what’s happened with Mortal Kombat games up until now. The trilogy is the first 3 games before the series made the jump into 3D. That means it’s home to the gameplay that made it famous and half of the best Mortal Kombat fatalities. This might just be a collection, but it still ranks as one of the best PS1 fighting games.

4. Street Fighter Alpha 3

This is one of the best Street Fighter games on the platform. It had a bigger roster along with the new gameplay twists replacing the Manual and Auto in the Alpha series. It’s one of the best packages in this sub-series of Street Fighter games.

3. Mortal Kombat 4

This is the second of the fighting games for PS1 from this franchise, but it’s still worthy of inclusion. This Mortal Kombat game follows up the first in 3D for the series. It isn’t the smoothest transition, but 4 is definitely more polished than the one immediately before it. It manages to keep the combat fast-paced and combo-focused, being an impressive step forward for the series here.

2. King of Fighters 1999

This is a unique game even on the best PS1 fighting games. It came at a watershed moment for the series. The developer of King of Fighters, SNK, was heading for bankruptcy. Yet, they were still pumping out King of Fighter games which hit new heights for the series. Improvements and refinements to the mechanics and characters that made it one of the most fun to play across the entire franchise.

1. Tekken

The home series of fighting games for PS1, Tekken has had a huge impact. This is the game that started it all. It’s the PS1’s own fighting game. Kind of. It might have originated in the arcade, but it became the most popular over on the PlayStation 1, taking advantage of the extra power. It’s what lead to the series being a mainstay and an easy pick for one of the best PS1 fighting games.

PS1 fighting games are some of the places where we saw the game take its biggest steps forward. Each of these games contributed something to the development of the genre overall and left its mark on fighting games as a whole.