5 Upcoming Fighting Games That Look INCREDIBLE

2026 is a big year for fighting games. 2XKO, Invincible VS, and Guilty Gear Strive 2.0 kicked off a jam-packed year that's been continued by the releases of Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. With the Mortal Kombat 2 film out and the Street Fighter film looking like a lot of fun (sue me), I'm thinking I'm back to embracing the moniker of Fighting Game Papi™.

I want to keep the fighting game hype going and talk about five upcoming games that are worth keeping an eye on in 2026 and beyond. But let's not just talk about the big stuff. I have 4 indie picks brimming with personality to start off this list. Then I'll close out this list with a big upcoming title that has potential to change the game.

Let's start with a cool one.

Saturday AM Battle Manga

The story behind this game is cool. Saturday AM Battle Manga is based off of Saturday AM, a digital magazine filled with original webcomics. Saturday AM was founded back in 2013 and their website brand them as “the world's most diverse manga-inspired comics”. Flipping through some of the pages of the digital magazine, it certainly seems like that’s true. For example, there’s a featured series called Clock Striker which is about a 12 year old black girl named Cast who dreams of becoming a warrior and engineer. Another Nigerian series called Apple Black features black fruits that create sorcerers. You get the gist.

It’s worth highlighting the amount of variety present in the Saturday AM series because judging by the footage of the game that’s been released so far, that variety translates as well as the comic's overflowing style. This upcoming 2v2 tag fighter has so much flair in its presentation already, evoking a bit of a mixture of ArcSys’ 2D art with a sprinkle of indie dev Aerial Knight. Keep an eye on it.

Generic Fighter Maybe

The other day I was playing Guilty Gear Strive and sat in my seat admiring the artistry of ArcSys' masterful art direction. Generic Fighter Maybe will have you doing exactly that in a different sort of way. Stunning is a weird word to use, yet appropriate when describing just how detailed the quirkiness of this game's animations are. It's a 2D fighter akin to many in the genre, but its commitment to fluid, yet lo-fi visuals makes it come off like a meme. But it's a meme I really want to play!

Press play on the video and decide for yourself. Its hand drawn animation gives the low detail of its characters a lovable cartoon-like visual identity. It feels like watching a Newgrounds animation made by a team that could make a Cartoon Network show if they really wanted to. If you're anything like me then Generic Fighter Maybe's personality will speak to you... and if you're not like me, don't judge me for liking weird shit sometimes.

Poly Fighter

I have a confession about this game. I was a hater at first.

Poly Fighter is a single-player, roguelike, fighting game. As a fan of fighting games, single-player gameplay has typically not been my favorite option. I'm typically more focused on the PvP competitive modes, because what's the point of these games if not taking down other players? Sure, story modes like Mortal Kombat and Tekken’s have been raising the bar for storytelling, but at the end of the day I personally don't have as much fun fighting a bot. And even though I love Roguelike games, we get them CONSTANTLY.

After watching more gameplay of Poly Fighters, I've become a believer of the concept. In this game, you'll choose your fighter, fight opponents, and learn your opponents moves. It's like if Kirby just kept sucking up enemies and accumulating those abilities. It's an inspired system for making progression fun. The game also has personality and style sprinkled throughout. I like the 2.5D style, maybe because it equally evokes Tekken as much as it does Street Fighter (shout out to Street Fighter X Tekken), and coming from a fresh new indie dev, Heartloop Games, I have hopes that Poly Fighters will inject a fresh energy into fighting game campaigns.

Combo Devils

I believe Combo Devils has big potential. It’s a platform fighter (a la Smash Bros) with a focus on competitive gameplay. I’ve played a build, and it’s certainly got a gameplay feel that is impressive, especially for not being made by Nintendo. It feels thoughtful in its included mechanics. A Directional Shield means you need to purposely choose where you’re blocking, Platform Tech Cling can reduce your velocity if launched through a platform, and familiar mechanics like wave dashing, grabs, and parries are here.

Combo Devils will also come with a co-op PVE roguelite, adding to the list of fighting games experimenting with how to make campaign-style content interesting. I think Combo Devils will be a nice surprise for those who enjoy games like Super Smash Bros or Rivals of Aether.

Virtua Fighter Crossroads

I said I was going to close on a big one.

I've had a recent fascination with Virtua Fighter. I grew up with Tekken and Soulcalibur being my main 3D fighters, and when I picked up Virtua Fighter for the first time on my PS3, I was immediately like “wtf is this, why does this feel this way” - as if I was trying to play a game in a new language that I didn't understand. Fast forward to Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. releasing last year, and even years of more fighting game acumen under my belt couldn't fix the fact that this series demands a unique understanding of how to play. And honestly… I'm wildly attracted to this.

Virtua Fighter Crossroads looks technically immaculate. The reveal trailer shows what appears to be a highly choreographed fighting sequence that certainly can't translate to how an actual game would play... right? But the more Sega continues to show off Virtua Fighter Crossroads, the more it seems to potentially live up to the promise of being an impressive display of fluidity in animation. Even in its single player campaign mode shown off during Summer Game Fest, the cinematic presentation seems to be the star of the show which is impressive for a game that I also associate with having a really technical fighting system. If RGG is able to pull this off, I genuinely believe that Virtua Fighter Crossroads has the potential to be one of the best fighting games of the generation.