Unsurprisingly, the biggest draw in fighting games is its roster of fighters. Most of them are distinctly different from one another and tend to represent something memorable, like a country or a subculture as seen in the upcoming Street Fighter 6 or its predecessors. But seeing the same faces over and over again being battered and bruised can get old.
A bigger roster of playable characters in fighting games should translate to better replayability and more variety. Or not, and they're just prioritizing quantity over quality. Still, big numbers are appealing, and while popular franchises like the recent Street Fighter, Tekken, Mortal Kombat, etc. have dozens of awesome fighters, their numbers are dwarfed by these following games' more massive tournaments. To make it fairer for other franchises, one title per franchise or series was included.
10 Marvel Vs. Capcom 2: New Age Of Heroes - 56 Characters
- Release Year: 2000
- Platforms: Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, iOS, Arcade game, Xbox 360, Xbox
One would expect a huge crossover like this to have a legion of superheroes and superpowered anime characters duking it out, but the roster is actually a bit more modest at 56 characters. Still, that restriction arguably made them feel more memorable.
Simply seeing Chun Li trading blows with Thanos more than justified the price of admission. On top of the characters from both licenses, there are also original ones like Ruby Heart, Amingo, and Abyss, which is the predecessor's antagonist.
9 Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - 59 Characters
- Release Year: 2011
- Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U
Surprisingly, the Tekken title with the most characters would be Tekken Tag Tournament 2. It has 59 characters in total or 60 if players include Devil Jin in the fray. Like many Tekken games before it, it was also released for the arcade, and it sadly had a smaller roster on that platform.
The reason why Tekken Tag Tournament 2's roster is so large is due to its format; it's more about putting all the available Tekken characters in one tournament regardless of the canon. Tag is also a more casual experience.
8 Mortal Kombat: Armageddon - 64 Characters
- Release Year: 2006
- Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox, Wii
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is similar to Tekken Tag games in that they also feature all the playable characters from the previous games regardless of their status and existence in the canon. It's also the seventh main installment in the Mortal Kombat franchise.
Armageddon is supposedly the final chapter in the original Mortal Kombat canon back then, hence the title. It's especially lauded as the first Mortal Kombat game in the series to allow players to create their own custom Fatality.
7 The King Of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match - 66 Characters
- Release Year: 2009
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Neo Geo, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Amazon Luna
Barely making it onto the list is The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match with its roster of 66 playable fighters. Some of these characters are also clones of one another with some considerable variations to make them stand out as their own thing.
This iteration of the game is crowned with having the biggest roster in the long and plentiful history of The King of Fighters. Thus, hardcore fans of the franchise will find plenty to like here, as it likely includes any obscure or canonically dead favorites they might want.
6 Def Jam Fight For NY - 74 Characters
- Release Year: 2004
- Platforms: PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox
Def Jam Fight for NY is a peculiar title since it's a fighting game based on hip-hop culture with real, actual music stars and artists as playable characters. In other words, it's a typical Grammy Awards night, but with fewer safety rules.
If players ever wanted to see Ice-T beat up Busta Rhymes in a fist fight instead of a freestyle rap battle, this is the game. There are also original characters here, adding up to a total of 74 characters (base game with DLCs and expansions). Danny Trejo is also here for some reason.
5 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - 89 Characters
- Release Year: 2018
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate presents another strong argument for why the Nintendo Switch is a necessary device for gamers. They wouldn't want to miss out on this massive pop culture crossover that has been going strong for than four years.
Smash just kept adding to the character roster, and they are now up to 89 playable fighters from Mario to Bayonetta. Most of the Nintendo staples are also here to duke it out in a deathmatch that decides who gets to sit on ol' Nintendo's golden lap, if that's how the players want to see it.
4 Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi 3 - 98 / 161 Characters
- Release Year: 2007
- Platforms: PlayStation 2, Wii
The third game in the Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi series, this entry prides itself on having the most characters, which some fans count as 161 but some of those are second forms of the base 98 playable characters. In any case, Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi 3 deserves to be here.
It's a 3D fighting game that pits the most popular characters and fighters in the Dragon Ball series (back then). The game also includes some lovely Easter eggs for Dragon Ball fans since it showcases some Great Ape forms of Saiyan characters that weren't present in the anime or manga.
3 Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 - Road To Boruto - 121 Characters
- Release Year: 2016
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Of course, Naruto wouldn't back down from the fighting game roster race since Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 - Road to Boruto now has 121 characters. Granted some of them are clones or the same characters in different ages, but they're still varied enough.
Sure enough, the Road to Boruto update adds the titular character into the mix so that Naruto can give Boruto something to cry about in traditional Asian parenting. As far as fighting games go, Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 has plenty of unique interactions and abilities present only in the anime, like Wall Running.
2 Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs. Full Boost - 131 Characters
- Release Year: 2012
- Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4
Even Mobile Suit Gundam has a fighting game and rightfully so. There are so many mech models in the franchise that pitting them against one another is inevitable. Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs. Full Boost edition has a roster that's as much as a mouthful as its title.
To date, it features 131 total playable Gundam models though a big chunk of those aren't present in the arcade version, only in the PlayStation 3 and 4 versions. If players ever wanted to clash their favorite Strike Gundam against those unsightly Zakus, this game offers that in spades.
1 Tobal 2 - 200 Characters
- Release Year: 1997
- Platforms: PlayStation
For a 1997 game that only ran on the oldest PlayStation, Tobal 2 actually looks decent. It's one of the more well-known Tekken competitors and in terms of playable characters, it actually beat Tekken by quite a lot since it had 200 at the time of release.
Players can also undertake the game's Quest Mode in order to capture and unlock enemies in NPCs since they have special characters tied to their existence. Sadly, Tobal 2 didn't quite get the same popularity as its competition since it was only released in Japan.