There are a lot of broken fighting game characters out there. This genre lives or dies by how annoying a character can get. People who dedicate their lives to learn these games try to extract the most toxic bits out of their characters.
But there were times in the history of fighting games when characters would be released in an insanely broken state right out of the box. In the following list, we will try to rank some of the characters we think are insanely broken.
Most OP Fighting Game characters of all time
10) Pet Shop (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future)
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future is a fighting game based on the highly popular series created by Hirohiko Araki, who suspiciously never seems to age. This also contributes to the reason why it is one of the longest-running manga of all time.
The game was created by Capcom, and unfortunately, it does not have any l playable versions in the modern video game era. But for those who are curious, you can go and ask any old timer about who is the most broken among all the characters in the game. Everyone will point you to the flying menace that is Pet Shop.
In Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3, there are a lot of animal stand users. This included a falcon enemy who was put in the game, and just so happens to be the most annoying character to deal with.
Pet Shop’s damage output from combos is out of control in the game. This becomes more of a problem when players are able to do unblockable setups. It can lead to situations where the opponent is rage-quitting a lot.
9) Karnov (Karnov’s Revenge)
Buckle up, cause we need to go through some history, as this one’s an obscure one. Karnov’s Revenge was released in 1994 by a company called Data East. It is a part of the Fighter’s History game series, which was made to capitalize on the arcade boom back in the day.
Karnov’s full name is Jinborov Karnov, and he is one of the important characters in the series of Data East games. Mostly appearing as a really hard enemy to fight. He is especially broken in Karnov’s Revenge, and we guess it sort of justifies the title, signaling his vengeance of sorts.
Karnov is a fighter with pyrokinetic abilities, but his most annoying move set that breaks him is his ability to float in the air. Players can utilize this move to become invincible to certain ranged moves, such as projectiles.
This is a very hard-to-guess movement strategy to deal with, as once the players use this to get in, they can opt for a highly damaging combo. This is why you will find Kornov’s Revenge players always having to strategize in order to deal with the floating opponent.
8) Akuma (Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo)
Street Fighter 2 does not need any new introductions; it is the game that established the fighting game genre. Creating a culture where, for the first time, a player could directly face off against another human opponent on equal footing.
In due time, Capcom became notorious for releasing way too many versions of Street Fighter 2. But most of these should be seen as them trying to constantly release update patches, refining the experience. One of these updated releases was Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo.
This game added a lot of new mechanics and made it faster. It also introduced us to a secret character who would go on to be the series staple. Akuma is severely broken in this game; he requires some special inputs to be selectable.
But if your opponent picks him, then you might as well just let go of the controls, because this guy is too much to deal with. Akuma has teleports, faster movement, air fireballs, and the iconic raging demon, which puts the lights out before beating you up.
7) Eddy Gordo (Tekken 3)
Tekken 3 was the game in the iconic Namco 3D fighting game franchise that put the franchise on the map for a greater future. This is one of the best console releases for fighting games ever, back when 3D games were up and coming.
With the release of this game, some new characters were also introduced. This included Eddy Gordo, a fighter from Brazil who utilizes Capoeira-style martial arts. In the modern era of Tekken games, Eddy is just like any regular character in the roster and can be dealt with.
But back when Eddy was released for this game, he was a completely broken character. Eddy Gordo was released in an era where jank 3D hitboxes would matter a lot for some games. It matters a bit too much for fighting games.
Due to his martial arts style incorporating dance moves, Eddy seems to be constantly moving. He can unleash a flurry of kicks that are severely hard to read and became the bane of existence for a lot of people back in the day.
6) Zappa (Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus R)
Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus R is one of the last and greatest iterations of sprite-based Guilty Gear games. Not to mention, it is still playable on all modern platforms with support for rollback netcode.
These games are very fun to button mash for anyone looking to get into fighting games. But it also has some of the most complex skill ceilings in fighting games. What’s funny is that the same goes for the lore of Guilty Gear. That brings us to one of the most Broken characters in the game, Zappa.
Without going into much detail about the character’s origins. He is a character who is possessed by a vengeful spirit, and his animations look very eerie as he contorts his body every time he moves.
Zappa is one of the least accessible characters to pick up on this whole list. Because his kit requires an active knowledge of utilizing summons and setups. But once you get past that hurdle, it is not going to be a good time for the opponent. If you play your cards right and win the summon RNGs, then Zappa can wipe the floor with ease.
5) Android 21/Lab Coat (Dragon Ball Fighter Z)
Dragon Ball Fighter Z was a godsend game for the tag fighting game community. This was because they were starving for big game since Marvel vs Capcom Infinite was a failure.
In 2018, fans of DBZ, as well as the FGC, came together to celebrate what became one of the best fighting games from recent memory. Dragon Ball Fighter Z was probably the most balanced tag fighting game ever in existence. But it all changed with the release of Android 21/Lab Coat as a playable character in one of the later versions.
Lab Coat was nerfed a lot in later patches of the game, but was still a very versatile and good character to pick up. On release, she was the best breakout of everyone on the roster.
Lab Coat utilizes movesets that apply permanent debuffs to her opponents, along with having a strong and versatile kit. When she released, for a while, everyone in the community started rolling their eyes and speaking out against anyone using the character.
4) Arakune (BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger)
BlazBlue is one of the pillar franchises for ArcSystem Works. It was one of the main games the company was known for while Guilty Gear games were on a hiatus. That is, until the 3D era came with Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN.
This franchise is equally fun to pick up and button mash while sporting a very complicated fighting game lore. In terms of skill ceiling, it excels even further than most modern games can imagine. This is one game where the developers let their imaginations run wild.
Such developmental choices also led to the creation of one of the most broken characters in the franchise, Arakune. Most of the time, neither the player nor the opponent has any clue as to what is going on on the screen when fighting this guy. But for people who are seasoned veterans in the genre, this character is the literal spawn of the devil.
Arakune is there in almost all the games and is equally annoying in all of them. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is the game where he is known to be the most broken. Arakune could apply a damaging state that would work with just the click of a button in Calamity Trigger.
3) Meta Knight (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)
Although it is usually Super Smash Bros. Melee that is considered as the best fighting game in the franchise. Its successor, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, isn’t remembered as well. But it sure is remembered for having one of the most broken characters Nintendo ever released for the game.
Meta Knight is a character who appears fairly often in the Kirby games as a boss fight. In Brawl, however, his inclusion was designed by a literal demon, as some would say.
Fighting game characters are determined by their tier lists in the competitive community. Which is judged through various parameters, such as frame data and how good the buttons or movements are.
Meta Knight incredibly excels in some of these aspects. Making him one of the characters who was banned from tournaments temporarily.
2) Rugal (King of Fighters 2002)
Old SNK-made games are notorious for having some of the worst kinds of input-reading AI bosses ever. We have already talked about how ridiculous Omega Rugal is in King of Fighters ’95. But this sentiment actually reciprocates to a lot of the other games as well.
What if we tell you Rugal can be worse if you take him from the AI and hand him to an actual player? That is exactly what the deal with Rugal in King of Fighters 2002 is. Input reading bosses will have some loopholes that can be exploited to shut it down.
When an actual player gets a really good boss character in their hands, that is a broken fighting game character. That is exactly what Rugal is in the game. His highly damaging moves can instantly kill if the player knows what they are doing.
The character was so broken in KOF 2002 that he never lived up to the same fame when he was reintroduced in KOF XV. There is also a decade-long running joke in the KOF community that Rugal was banned from being picked at some arcades in Mexico.
1) Phoenix (Marvel vs Capcom 3)
Marvel vs Capcom is the single most hyped fighting game crossover property that has unmatched hype around it. When a successor to the incredible Marvel vs Capcom 2 was long needed, this game showed up and blew up the community.
It was the next biggest thing after Street Fighter 4 brought back the competitive fighting game scenes to the forefront. The tag fighters, in general, had a lot of broken mechanics, especially since the game allows for multiple character combinations.
But what happens when a single character in this genre is so broken that it makes everyone roll their eyes? Phoenix in the launch vanilla version of Marvel vs Capcom 3 is basically that. The game was already notorious for comeback mechanics, but Phoenix was a step above.
If players had full bars but their life bar doesn’t have any more health, Phoenix can transform into the Dark Phoenix. This redoubled the movement speed and attacks of the character, which was insane. Even though she got balanced in the later iterations of the game, she is still considered one of the most broken fighting game characters ever.
