12 Best Xbox One Anime Fighting Games

After a stressful or strenuous day, it can be great to physically outlet, from heading to a gym or kicking a good-old punchbag. However, with the hecticness of daily life, it can be hard to find the time, let alone if you are exhausted from being on your feet all day.

Sometimes, playing a fighting game can give you the same effect, as shutting off from the outside world and losing an evening button bashing the controller can be just as good for the soul (or that’s how I justify skipping leg day…).
With that in mind, what are some of the best anime-fighting games on the Xbox One? Let’s find out!

#12 Tekken 8

Platform: PC PS5 XSX|S
Release Date: January 26, 2024

Steam | PlayStation | Xbox

While it’s true that Tekken 8’s story will bring many to the table, especially given how the last entry finished a key part of the tale, many of you are more interested in the game because of its fighting system. After all, it’s really good.

Bandai Namco’s latest entry into the fighting game world has plenty going for it, thanks to its hard-hitting system. While there are plenty of unique attacks, everything is about hitting your opponent as hard as possible and looking good while doing it.

With multiple modes to enjoy, you’ll find the style that fits your needs. So jump in now and enjoy!

#11 Naruto To Boruto: Shinobi Striker

Have you ever wanted to create a Ninja whose primary weapon is a frying pan? Then this might be the game for you!
Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker is a PVP experience where you can choose to fight in several four-vs-four modes, which all have different winning criteria. These modes are not the most pioneering and won’t set the Shinobi world on fire, but they are reasonably entertaining to play, from a capture-the-flag game to which team can knock out ten opponents first within a time constraint.
There are also missions you can decide to take on alone or accompanied by three other players. When you complete these missions, you can earn various items for your Shinobi, which could potentially give you a better chance of victory during the PVP matchups.
A lot of the motivation is to slowly but surely create your dream Shinobi ninja, from earning unlockable customizations which will change how your character looks, weapons they can use in battle and even the jutsu’s they can perform.

#10 Dead or Alive 6

There have been a lot of Dead or Alive titles since its incarnation back in the 90s, and it’s still going strong today.
As you would expect, you can pick from an extensive roster of characters, ranging from professional wrestlers, drunken masters, and deadly ninjas. Even though it has tried to scale back from its notorious saucy persona, there are still lots of different themed costumes and tight camera angles to keep fans’ entertained.

Like always, Dead or Alive’s combat features high-octane gameplay, which is incredibly challenging to master. Many fights boil down to knowing when to attack because if you can anticipate your opponent’s actions, you can seize the moment and unleash a devastating counter. This may sound like an easy feat on surface value, but these decisions will be made in a split second and could be the difference between winning and losing.

#9 My Hero One’s Justice 2

If you enjoyed Kohei Horikoshi’s works on the superhero-orientated manga and anime series My Hero Academia, then you’ll probably glean a lot of fun from this arena fighter.

The combat is astonishingly simple; you have standard attacks and two quirk attacks, which are the character’s signature superhero ability. There is also an ultimate attack you can perform when the Plus Ultra gauge is full, and performing these actions will lead to a heroic cut scene, which is fun to see play out.

Luckily, there is a tiny bit of strategy amid the action, as a stamina bar will deplete whenever you run against the side of buildings or side-step away from incoming aggression, which you can use to your advantage to re-position yourself. Overall, it’s an incredibly straightforward fighter with a healthy amount of content, as it contains a story mode, missions and online play.

#8 Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2

The Dragon Ball franchise has a long legacy of video games, but the reason Dragon Ball Xenoverse particularly strikes a chord with fans is that the game holds an original story within the Dragon Ball universe that you can’t see anywhere else.

If you are familiar with the first title, you’ll know you won’t be playing as Goku this time around and instead are a newbie patroller. Your job is to fix any disturbances to the timeline, which usually means heading back in time to iconic moments in the series and delivering an old-fashioned beat-down.

The combat encapsulates the fierce and almost frantic fights in the anime series exceptionally well in an arena-brawler environment. What’s more, depending on what race you pick for your character, it will dramatically change your fighting style, so there is quite a bit of personalization. However, because some conflicts take place in the air, the camera angle can be a bit iffy, but nothing that detrimentally impacts the experience.

Even six years after its release, it’s still receiving new DLC, making the game still worth playing.

#7 Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet

Sword Art Online has achieved extraordinary success across various mediums due to audiences being able to witness first-hand the consequences of being injected into a dark, twisted virtual world.

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet dives into the virtual world of Gun Gale Online, which is based on the franchise’s second series. In this post-apocalyptic wasteland, you will be fighting virtual baddies using a variety of nifty swords and snazzy guns ranging from handguns to assault rifles. It’s reasonably easy to shoot at foes as the guns have an auto-lock feature, making it newcomer friendly even if you are not the most familiar with shooting mechanics. Unfortunately, when all the smoke and dust have settled, fighting segments sometimes feel lacklustre and even repetitive, despite the world being relatively exciting.

#6 JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R

Hirohiko Araki’s manga of JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure is well known for its utterly ridiculous and dramatic battle sequences, and this game also embodies all these core components.

The combat may seem deceptively simple at first, as pulling off basic manoeuvres is extremely simple and only requires a few button commands. However, these fights can quickly become high-paced and strategic if you correctly utilize dash jumps and hit stops. Alongside this, each character feels wonderfully unique and wacky with their various fighting styles from Hamon, Stands and even Mounts. That’s right; you can attack while on a horse when using certain characters from the Steel Ball Run Arc.

The only downside is that the net coding currently is not too great. But it’s early days, so hopefully, they can address the online functionality moving forward, so a competitive scene can flourish.

#5 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Igarashi’s works in the Castlevania franchise had such a huge impact that fans have labelled any Metroidvania game that Koji Igarashi has had any creative input towards as an Igavania.

In many fans’ eyes, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is perceived as the spiritual successor to Castlevania; as you guessed it, Koji Igarashi is the game’s writer and producer.

In Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, you assume control of Miriam, who’s on a quest to reverse a horrendous curse put on her, which has given her hellish abilities. Miriam can perform some impressive special moves to defeat foes, like teleporting behind adversaries and stabbing them in the back with an almighty strike. What’s more, Miriam also has a plethora of fearsome weapons within her arsenal to help turn the tides of battle in her favour, like swords imbued with fire, holy daggers, and magical whips.

While on the subject matter of anime, there are many references to the well-known Shonen Jump series JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure within the game, from Miriam striking an iconic JoJo pose to an item called the Stone Mask; not subtle at all, huh?

You shouldn’t pass up on this one if you are a hardcore Castlevania fan.

#4 Dragon Ball Z: KAKAROT

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is undeniably an experience for die-hard lovers of the series, as it retells the original story of Dragon Ball Z in the form of an action RPG.

The RPG components are relatively decent, although monotony may creep in at times due to the repetitive nature of some of the quests. But the combat is where the gameplay truly shines as it harbours an exciting combination of high-powered and exhilarating confrontations from the series. It includes all the great moments you would expect from Goku turning Super Saiyan for the first time while fighting Frieza to Gohan’s legendary fight against Cell. In addition, the battles themselves will give you a surge of serotonin as performing melee attacks and Kamehameha’s feel incredibly satisfying to pull off.

The bottom line, the action is top-notch and shouldn’t be missed by any Dragon Ball Z aficionados.

#3 One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4

There is a good argument that One Piece is the most successful manga series of all time, so naturally, a game based on some of the franchise’s best arcs accompanied by great controls and over-the-top action is a guaranteed good time.

If you are unfamiliar with the prior instalments, the combat is highly reminiscent of the Dynasty Warrior titles, where you will have to fight against enormously large crowds of enemies. These fights may sound disproportionate, but the character you take control of is stupidly overpowered. You’ll often feel like an explosive Molotov cocktail as you effortlessly take down enemies with a few simple manoeuvres, making the game very easy to pick up and play.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 is a great way to revisit some of the most iconic moments from the beloved series. However, because the game’s events start at the Alabasta Arc, you may want to be familiar with the events unfolding, or you’ll enter serious spoiler territory; you’ve been forewarned!

#2 Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4

It’s hard to believe it’s been over six years since the final Ninja Storm game was released.
Honestly, the game is still beyond fantastic to play now and is a great way to experience the grand conclusion to Masashi Kishimoto’s revered manga series Naruto.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 enters full Sage Mode and retells the final arcs of the story as it delivers dramatic fights, epic boss battles, and intense QTE events. Out of all the Ninja Storm games, it has the most extensive roster to dip into, composed of over sixty characters.

You’ll quickly find yourself getting absorbed by the action on the screen as you can very quickly perform powerful strikes, tactical substitutions, and long-ranged manoeuvres with a few input commands. These moves flow nicely into each other and can lead to exciting combos. This can especially come in handy when you utilize the three-character fight model to your advantage and switch characters mid-way through an attack sequence.

If you want to play beyond the conclusion of Naruto Shippuden, there is a purchasable DLC called Road to Boruto.

#1 Dragon Ball FighterZ

Dragon Ball FighterZ is a true heavyweight and will definitely get the blood pumping, as there is never a dull moment.

The combat embraces the highly tried and tested three-character model, where you pick three warriors and alternate between them during the fight; think of Capcom Vs SNK 2, and you are on the right track.

The action is beginner-friendly, so you won’t have to wait to graduate from the Turtle School of Martial Arts to get stuck into some nail-biting antics. It has a simple control layout with the four primary attacks correlating with the face buttons, which is accompanied by an excellent homing attack and auto combo system. This makes pulling off a series of extravagant combos and close-quarter attacks as easy as popping a Senzu bean.

However, if you are a veteran of fighting games and want to reach devilish heights that would even shame Korin’s Tower, you can jump into online lobbies and fight other players.