Top 10 Common Fighting Game Character Types

Fighting games love their habits, and after enough matches, you start spotting the same familiar roles walking onto the screen in different costumes. You see the flirt, the cheap menace, the obvious copy, the oddball comic relief, and the walking eyesore long before the announcer tells you to begin.

That is part of the fun. You are not just picking a character. You are picking a vibe, a gimmick, and sometimes a red flag with a health bar. This list looks at the patterns that keep showing up across the genre, the ones that make you laugh, groan, or immediately say, "Yep, I knew this type was coming."

The Top Ten

  1. The Clone

    You know the characters who are copies of already existing characters, with almost all the same moves and only a few slight changes.

  2. The Ninja

    Every ninja character in Mortal Kombat, Kage-Maru from Virtua Fighter, and Ibuki from Street Fighter.

  3. The Sexy Female Character

    It's pretty much expected to see sexy female characters in almost every fighting game, with way too many to name.

    Street Fighter: Poison

    Soulcalibur: Ivy Valentine

    Darkstalkers: Morrigan

    The King of Fighters: Mature

    And more!

  4. The Playable Character with an Unfair Advantage

    If Dhalsim were the main antagonist of SFII instead of some Kato wannabe, you wouldn't have to play as someone with reach beyond regular reach.

  5. The Martial Artist

    You really can't have a fighting game without at least one or more characters who are into martial arts.

  6. The Bruce Lee Lookalike

    It's not surprising that so many fighters in video games were inspired by none other than Bruce Lee. Just to name a few: Liu Kang, Marshall Law, Fei Long, and Kim Dragon.

  7. The Joke Character

    You know those characters that either don't belong in the game, are comic relief, are pathetically weak, or are characters you just can't take seriously.

    "GA-D'OH-KEN!" Dan Hibiki from Street Fighter.

    SHINGO KICK!

  8. The Karateka

    Ken, Ryu, Mizoguchi, and Yuri. Karate is about everywhere.

  9. The Monster

    Goro, Motaro, Sabrewulf, Youkai Kusaregedo, and almost all the Darkstalkers characters.

  10. The Boxer

    11. The Newcomers
  11. ?

    The Mutant

  12. ?

    The Shoto Clone

    Street Fighter, for starters, has Ryu, Ken, Sakura, Akuma, Dan, Seth, Oni, and Sagat

    13. The Contenders

  13. The Ugly Character

    Street Fighter II is loaded with them in the playable characters group.

  14. The Robot

    Best examples: the robot characters from Mortal Kombat, Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke, plus Fulgore from Killer Instinct.

  15. The Cruiserweight

    The high-risk, high-flying, acrobat-like combatants who jump off the turnbuckles and ropes to attack from above.

  16. The Character Made All Wrong for Their Alignment

  17. The Old Fighter

    They may look weak, but they can still deliver a good beatdown.

  18. The Swordsman

  19. The Spoiled Brat

    Chun-Li, Annie Hamilton, and Carol from Savage Reign are all spoiled to the core.

  20. The Tank

    Someone who's big and slow, but can take a lot of damage and deliver pain to their opponents.

  21. The Wrestler

    Zangief, Mike Haggar, Reiko Hinomoto, Hugo, Muscle Power, King, and Wolf.

  22. The Super Heavyweight

    Q, for some reason, is one of these in Street Fighter III.

    The kind of 300 lb.+ mountain of a man who towers over opponents and throws them everywhere in the ring.

  23. The Submission Specialist

  24. The Tag Team

  25. The Brawler

    The sort who beat the snot out of opponents.

  26. The Kicker

    Almost all, if not all, of their moves use their legs or feet. We have Juri from Street Fighter, Kim from The King of Fighters, and Eddy from Tekken, just to name a few.

    I think they are elusive and flexible. Just take Chun-Li from Street Fighter, for example.

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