I was pleasantly surprised with Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero. It looks spectacular in motion and really captures the scope of the franchise’s wild fights. With its many counters, fast movements, explosive field effects, and incredible blast moves, it makes you feel like you’re fighting for your life against relentless enemies.
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash is a tiresome game that is only good for some completely mindless action for diehard fans of the anime.
Under Night in Birth II SYS: Celes looks similar to its predecessors, but visual cleanups, new mechanics, and improved online make it stand on its own.
There's a wealth of wonderful fighting to be had in Tekken 8, and it's a fantastic place to take your first steps into Tekken.
Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections is good mindless fun, but folks looking for depth (in story & combat) should look elsewhere.
Mega Man X Dive Offline offers fun bite-sized Mega Man action that you can tackle with a near-endless wealth of unlockable characters.
Mortal Kombat 1 looks incredible, has several fun play types depending on what you want to do, constantly rewards you for the time you spend on it, and offers so much customization to the combat through the Kameo system.
Pocket Bravery is an impressive fighter with a great roster of complex characters and a suite of fun modes and helpful tools. If only the characters looked as good as the flowing moves and strikes.
Double Dragon Gaiden tries to make itself interesting with roguelite mechanics, but these sabotage its chances to be great.
Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 continues to make its lovable child cast endure its (satisfyingly) challenging combat and the harrowing emotional challenges of war.
Street Fighter 6 offers fantastic new characters and systems to create exciting matches for long-time fighting game fans while also opening the game up for newcomers to play and have a blast in their own way.
The Switch version of DNF Duel is a wild, ridiculous fighter with some neat systems to keep you invested in each battle. It's still the weakest release among all platforms, though.
The Breakers Collection is a pair of highly entertaining fighters with a roster of varied characters with wild, funny, and impressive moves.
The Rumble Fish 2 is a fun fighter with a slew of interesting mechanics that give you many options to use on defense or offense. Mixing these mechanics with some compelling characters makes for a solid fighter, although not one that will likely stand against the giants of the genre.
Bloodrayne Betrayal: Fresh Bites features fast, bloody battles that are unfortunately hamstrung by some annoying design elements.
Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster may initially butt up against your nostalgia if you have fond memories of the original, but over time, I really began to appreciate seeing its visuals and sound explored in creative ways.
Fuga: Melodies of Steel is a game filled with constant tension. Seeing all of those adorable children didn’t prepare me for how much fretting and consideration that would go into my every move. How a handful of bad tactical decisions can result in your tank getting blown to pieces or worse, seeing one of the main characters die permanently to save the others.
Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster respectfully builds upon the classic game's foundation while making tweaks that drastically improve its pacing.
Cotton Reboot is a remake of 1993’s frantic “cute ‘em’ up” Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams. Well, cute in a Castlevania kind of way, as you’ll be blasting all kinds of ghouls, zombies, and undead monsters as you try to get a few pieces of candy. And save a kingdom or something. Not exactly a big concern for our lead witch, Nata, who’s only interested in laying waste to hundreds of living creatures if there’s some tasty treat involved.
Samurai Warriors 5 gives you a sense of incredible herculean power as you play through it. Few other action games give you such an ability to cleave through crowds of foes that stand in your path, and it’s undeniably satisfying to be able to swat a few dozen people aside. Not that this series and other Musou titles don’t give you that same play style and feeling, but the mixture of political intrigue in its story and the striking new visual style make this entry well worth playing.