Jason DittonFighting games are an interesting breed. In the short form, they’re competitive titles where, usually, one character (Although this varies based on the series, occasionally going up to two and even three per side, per the various Capcom Vs. series) faces off against another in a relatively short, variable number of rounds, although the default in non-competitive play is usually “best two-out-of-three.”
They can also be fairly intimidating to get into, the various major series having long, long histories, and picking up a lot of “mechanics,” backgrounds and stories that can be more than a bit overwhelming. Even more so, should one decide to dive deeper into any given and the companies that develop them. The still biggest name in fighting games today, Capcom’s Street Fighter, has a long and confusing history with a lot of background intrigue and, to be frank, the occasional absolute horror story. There are video essays on the subject, look into ‘Street Fighter Retrospectives’, there is nowhere near enough time and this article doesn’t have the scope for that.
However, these are, as in most video game titles and things in general, not what draws people to fighting games. The game can be fun, can be entertaining, and can even be ‘balanced’, but they always require one very important thing to keep people invested, lest the game and series spiral into obscurity- the characters themselves. Fighting games are their characters, because they’re what, usually at least, what keeps a player coming back. If it’s either to see how they play/keep playing them as the series goes, or, in the more story-driven series, see what they’re up to and how they grow, a dedicated player will be ride or die for their given ‘main’.
With that being said: who’re the most popular characters? A reasonable assumption would be the ‘main’ characters, and that would be true, to an extent! They’re the leads for a reason, and they’ve managed to leave enough of an impression for a game’s fanbase to be upset if they, for whatever reason, aren’t in a game. However, they have something of an advantage, provided they aren’t absolutely insufferable and/or actively make a game worse. (I.E., Patroklos in Soulcalibur V, who managed to be so poorly received Namco canonically made his birth a ‘Bad Future’ in the immediate sequel Soulcalibur VI, which in itself a relatively soft reboot of the series after Soul Calibur V’s poor reception among fans upon trying to create a new creation of characters.) These are called ‘Breakout Characters’, so called because they amass a popularity where they can, on occasion, become better known than or directly responsible for drawing attention to their home fighting game series. Sticking to only one per series for this list, and as it goes, round one… list start!
Scorpion (Mortal Kombat)
You may be wondering about this choice. “Wait, what? Scorpion? The yellow ninja that’s almost always on the box art or advertisements? He’s not the main character of the series?” And that’s, again, a reasonable assumption, but no! He’s pretty much the poster boy for “more popular than the actual main character,” and for most there are a few pretty understandable and simple reasons why. Skeleton ninja with literal hellfire and the “GET OVER HERE,” that’s rival to a… at the time… nobler ice ninja, and, well, ninjas are cool. He’s genuinely evolved over the years, even with the numerous reboots to the Mortal Kombat story, and, well, there’s always “Cooking With Scorpion,” from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
He’s, obviously, most recently playable in Mortal Kombat 1, on all current gen consoles, including the PS5 and PS4.
Ayane (Dead or Alive)
Ayane is in a similar but different enough boat. Rival to the other main female ninja of the series, Kasumi, who, unlike in Sub-Zero’s case, has a case for actually being the main character of the Dead of Alive franchise. However, Ayane has an edge in a particular department over both the aforementioned Scorpion and Kasumi, in that she’s been added as a canonical character to other series and franchises. These include such titles as Tecmo Koei’s survival horror series Fatal Frame, Deception, Ninja Gaiden, the Tecmo-Koei centric crossover Musou Warrior All-Stars, and Senran Kagura, among others.
Her most recent fighting game appearance is Dead or Alive 6, on the PS4, Xbox One and Steam, as well as in arcades.
Akira Kazama (Rival Schools)
The young Miss Kazama is an interesting, but not wholly unusual case. Akira is from, originally, Rival Schools, a duology of 3D tag fighters from the mid to late 90s on the PS1. She’s a high school fighter, looking for her missing brother but not really having a major role in the story itself. Also, the fact she was in fact a she was not shown until she removed her biker helmet for the first time in the game. If there’s a certain other helmeted female character that comes to mind on hearing that, there is a reason. Now, the interesting thing is… Ayane and Scorpion were and are consistent characters through their series, never really left the consciousness. Akira hadn’t been in a game since Project Justice back in 2000, and she was the character chosen, instead of the leads of Batsu and Kyosuke to make a triumphant return… for a relative meaning of “triumphant,” considering the game, in 2016’s Street Fighter V in Season Pass V, released in 2020.
This is additionally her most recent title, found on the PS4, Steam, and Linux, of all things. Project Justice, the second part of the Rival Schools duology, is being rereleased with a number of other old-school Capcom fighting games in the Capcom Fighting Collection 2, releasing on the PS4/5, Xbox One, Steam, and Nintendo Switch next month on May 16th, 2025.
Morrigan Aensland (Darkstalkers Series)
…You likely know who Morrigan is. She’s been the go-to for Capcom fighting series and crossovers in general for longer than Darkstalkers, but her home series, has been dead.
Her last new playable appearance was Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite on the PS4/5, Xbox One, and Steam, but if you throw a rock at a Capcom game from the last two decades you’ll hit something that was at least adjacent to her. Moving on.
Nakoruru (Samurai Shodown)
Nakoruru shares Morrigan’s path in a few ways. She’s the go-to for crossover characters from her series, over the ostensible main character in Haohmaru, albeit for largely different reasons than the Scottish succubus. She also has the distinction of her last game, the slightly confusingly called Samurai Shodown released as a new title, with additional new characters, in 2019. Shortly before the start of the 2020 pandemic. This lead to some equally unfortunate results, in terms of maintaining a player base, for obvious reasons. However, it can still be found on all major consoles, mobile platforms, in arcades and additionally the Stadia, should one wish to find it to try it out.
Juri Han (Street Fighter)
Juri is largely regarded as the one bright spot of an otherwise okay to extremely disappointing new characters of Street Fighter 4. She’s a Korean Taekwondo specialist, and as the more villainous counterpart to Street Fighter’s original breakout character Chun-Li, has developed something of a fairly rabid and widespread fanbase. She’s the only new character from SFIV that’s managed to keep appearing in the series, and get the occasional crossover appearance outside of Street Fighter.
She’s most recently playable in Street Fighter VI, the most recent of the fighting games that’s still ongoing as of this writing, which can currently be found on all current gen systems and in arcades.
Bridget (Guilty Gear)
Bridget is the biggest reason that Guilty Gear Strive made enough money to reach four seasons of DLC, and the noticeable uptick in the Strive team’s open willingness to handle delicate, and serious personal and physical issues, and actually do them well. They’d proven that with Testament in the end of the previous season pass, but, Bridget is what made the writing more noticeable on a widespread scale. She’s much better written than how she was handled in Guilty Gear XX, her original title back in the Oughts, with series writer, singer and designer admitting that said time was difficult for what he’d always intended for her to be.
There’s a case that she’s one of a few, if only characters to have managed this status twice, in fact. She was the breakout back in GGXX, for… different reasons, unfortunately. There is also a case to be made that, if her Strive rendition hadn’t released and been as well received and beloved as she’s been, there would not be a Guilty Gear Strive anime ongoing now, the first episode having released recently on Crunchyroll. As someone that’s mained and adored her since said more unfortunate times, I could not be happier and more proud of for how she’s grown and been received even though I had nothing to do with it, so, yes, I am a little biased.
Her most recent playable appearance is in Guilty Strive, originally released in 2021 on the PS4/5 and Steam, then the Xbox platforms in 2023, and most recently on the original Switch earlier this year.
