Brawling is a ubiquitous play style in fighting games. Oftentimes, brawlers are characters who are proficient in bullying their opponents with their strikes and punishing them with grab attacks once they’ve conditioned them to block. Their strength in rush down is as great as their weakness to enemies with strong keep-away attacks and strategies.
However, that’s part of being a brawler: they know they will take hits in order to break through their enemies’ defenses and set them up for an up-close and personal beat down. With that in mind, here is a list of the best brawlers in fighting games.
10 Diego (Dead or Alive 6)
Hailing from the mean streets of New York, Diego is a Mexican-American street fighter who honed his pugilistic ways battling anyone who’s willing to fight him in alleyways and for a sizable fight purse.
Diego originally entered street fighting to get money to pay for his mother’s medical bills. Eventually, the thrill of competition got the better of him, and he has not stopped since. He is always itching for a fight, and will use any means to win: hard-hitting strikes, headbutts, and utilizing walls and corners to his advantage.
9 Vanessa Lewis (Virtua Fighter 4 & 5)
Vanessa Lewis is a relatively new fighter in the Virtua Fighter series. She is a hardy fighter who utilizes Vale Tudo, a Brazilian fighting style that translates to “Anything Goes.” This technique allows her to either employ an offense-first or defensive way of beating down her opponent.
She is known for her Lightning Lancer Tackle to initiate some ground and pound on her enemy. For more aggressive opponents, she can use her defensive stances like her Intercept Stance to counter and parry enemy strikes for crushing blows and throws.
8 DBS Broly & Broly (Dragon Ball FighterZ)
There are two versions of Broly in Dragon Ball FighterZ: the one from the Dragon Ball Z movies and the more recent one from Dragon Ball Super. Both Brolys are hulking bruisers who forgo fast attacks for more heavy-hitting strikes and grab pressure.
Broly has more armor attacks that go through an enemy’s single attack, while DBS Broly relies more on his block strings and grab pressure to beat down his opponents. Both Broly and DBS Broly’s strategy is to put enemies into the corner and pummel them down to submission with their command grabs and armored attacks for massive damage.
7 Bullet (BlazBlue)
Bullet is a mercenary who has lived from battle to battle for most of her life. She and Iron Tager are the remaining survivors of their squad who were annihilated after a mission went awry.
BlazBlue is notorious for having difficult mechanics, but Bullet is a simple character. She uses her Smash Hail gauntlet that allows her to lock onto her enemies and allows her to get close and pummel them. Certain moves let her increase her Heat Up level, granting her access to more damaging attacks. While Heat is active, Bullet also has faster movement, which helps her rush down game and mix up opponents.
6 Birdie (Street Fighter Alpha Series)
Birdie is an imposing brute in the Street Fighter series, but didn’t appear on the first titles until the Street Fighter Alpha series and most recently Street Fighter 5. He is known for having chains wrapped around his wrists along with his blond Mohawk that go well with his British punk-rock style.
Birdie relies on his Bull Head and Bull Horn to close the gap on enemies who spam fireballs. He also uses his chains to grab enemies who try to jump away from him, yanking and repeatedly smashing them to the ground.
5 Wolverine (Marvel Superheroes, Marvel vs. Capcom)
Wolverine is one of the more recognizable comic book characters who have seamlessly crossed over in fighting games. He is known for his adamantium claws and animalistic tendencies that mix well in the plethora of fighting game titles he is featured in.
He is a rush down fighter who uses his claws, speed, and berserker rage to cut down opponents. His Berserker Barrage and Weapon X supers are iconic. He is an easy character to pick up and a solid addition to any team that aims to deal damage.
4 Sol Badguy (Guilty Gear)
The main protagonist of the Guilty Gear series, Sol Badguy is the brash bounty hunter who is hellbent on destroying all Gears and their creator, That Man. Using his Fireseal weapon, Sol hits his opponents hard and often until they are dutifully defeated.
Part of Sol’s gameplay revolves around striking enemies up close and pressuring them to block. This opens them up for his strong grapple mix up, which often leads to massive damage. He can also use fire attacks for projectiles for additional pressure, but Sol often resorts to using wild swinging strikes, headbutts, and hard haymakers, and kicks to get the job done.
3 Terry Bogard (Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, Super Smash Bros.)
Known as “The Legendary Wolf,” Terry Bogard is SNK’s standard-bearer who has appeared in most of their fighting game titles. He wears his iconic red cap, red cut-off jacket, jeans, and sneakers in most of the titles he is in.
Terry is an all-around fighter who utilizes street fighting savvy to go along with a mix of various fighting styles that include boxing, karate, kickboxing, and kung fu. He names most of his special moves with the “Power” theme. Power Geyser, Power Dunk, and Power Wave allow him to overwhelm and finish off opponents.
2 Miguel Rojoen (Tekken)
Miguel Rojo is a relatively new addition to the Tekken series. He is a Spanish brawler who is on a mission to defeat Jin Kazama for inadvertently being responsible for the untimely death of his sister.
Miguel is the only character in Tekken who has not had any formal martial arts training or fighting style. He often relies on his strength to overwhelm enemies with his headbutts, haymakers, and leg sweeps. Most of his attacks are done with reckless abandon, to mixed results. But most of the time, Miguel’s disorganized assaults leave his opponents disoriented.
1 Jax Briggs (Mortal Kombat)
Jax Briggs is the imposing military man in the Mortal Kombat series who is known for his cybernetic arms. He Special Forces and is Sonya Blade’s superior officer, as well as the father of Jacqui Briggs in the latter games. He made his debut in the second game in the series.
Jax’s combat prowess mixes his military training along with smash mouth strikes that are greatly increased, power-wise, thanks to his robotic arms. He can literally smash an opponent’s skull into pieces, on top of creating tremors whenever he punches or smashes the ground. In later titles, his iconic “Gotcha” grab is replaced with a super variant. When he catches enemies with this move, Jax has a variety of options to put the hurt on his opponent.