13 Best PSP Fighting Games

Another Road asks a fun what-if. Majin Buu breaks loose in Future Trunks' timeline, and since Buu is too strong for Trunks to handle alone, he uses his time machine to bring the original Z warriors over to help. It is an original story rather than one more retelling of the anime, which is unusual for a Dragon Ball game and the main reason to pick this one up.

Underneath, it plays like the first Shin Budokai, with the same quick one-on-one fights and a few new moves. In Japan and Europe it was simply called Shin Budokai 2, which tells you exactly what you are getting: more of a good thing, with a brand new story to fight through. If you liked the first one, you will feel right at home.

Broken Destiny squeezes most of Soulcalibur IV onto a UMD, character creator included, and adds two new fighters: Kratos from God of War and an original character called Dampierre. With 28 characters in all, there is plenty to dig into, and Kratos fits right in, since swinging blades at people is what he does best.

It was made with beginners in mind, and it shows. Its story mode, The Gauntlet, doubles as a 34-chapter tutorial that teaches you how to guard and punish, and Trials mode lets you test your attack and defence round after round. It is also the easiest game on this list to play today, since it came to the PS4 and PS5 in December 2023.

Here is a funny one: Japan never got this Naruto game. CyberConnect2 made it for North America and Europe, as a trimmed down version of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2. The story mode was cut, and Naruto and Sasuke's secret techniques were changed so the game would not spoil an arc the English dub had not reached yet.

What you get instead is three-on-three fights, a bit like The King of Fighters, where the first team to knock out all three opponents wins. There are 20 characters across eight stages, and the right pairings unlock hidden team skills, so building a team is half the fun. Critics were mixed on it, but for Naruto fans with a PSP it was the go-to fighter.

Every Heat the Soul game stayed in Japan, and the seventh, released in September 2010, is the biggest one. It has 84 playable characters, a new four-player mode and battles against giant characters. It was made by Eighting, the same studio behind Fate/unlimited codes further up this list.

Special moves play out as flashy little cutscenes, and most characters can change form in the middle of a fight, so Ichigo can start a match in his Shikai and finish it in Bankai. The menus are all in Japanese, but English-speaking players still recommend it, and it was also sold as a download on the PlayStation Store.

Capcom published this one and Eighting made it. It started in Japanese arcades in 2008 before coming to the PSP, and Fate creator Kinoko Nasu and other Type-Moon staff helped retell Fate/stay night as a string of one-on-one fights. It also marks the first appearance of Saber Lily, a fan favourite version of Saber.

The fighting is sharp, with three attack buttons and two energy gauges to manage, and critics often compared it to Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny. Sadly, it is the hardest game here to get hold of. In the West it was only ever a download, and it was pulled from the PlayStation Store in May 2012.

Gladiator Begins is a prequel to the PS2 game Colosseum: Road to Freedom, set in the last years of Marcus Aurelius. You create your own gladiator, start out as a slave paying off a debt, and fight your way up through the arenas, spending the points you earn on vitality, strength and endurance.

It plays like an action game with RPG touches. You can knock off your opponent's weapons and armour and pick them up yourself, and some fights pit you against tigers and elephants or take place aboard a ship. Critics gave it mixed reviews, and it is rough around the edges, but there is nothing else like it on the PSP.

Shin Budokai was the first Dragon Ball Z game on the PSP, and North America got it first, in March 2006, a month and a half before Japan. Dimps made it, and its story mode follows the movie Fusion Reborn, with choices that change how the story plays out.

It is a tight one-on-one fighter rather than a big brawl. IGN found the fighting system basic, and that is fair, but it is fast and easy to get into. The arcade mode hands out Dragon Balls as you win, Z Trial throws endless waves of enemies at you, and you can design your own profile card. If you want the classic Budokai feel on the go, this is the one.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX is the PSP version of one of the best 2D fighters Capcom ever made. Alpha 3 lets you pick a fighting style, called an ism, before each match, which changes how your character plays. On top of the extra characters from the home versions, MAX adds Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Evolution, for 39 fighters in total.

It came out in early 2006, when the PSP was barely a year old, and it showed straight away that a proper 2D Street Fighter could work on a handheld. For years, MAX was the most complete Alpha 3 you could buy, and it is still one of the best ways to play it. If you would rather play on a modern system, Capcom Fighting Collection 2 now has every character as well.

Def Jam Fight for NY first came out on the PS2, Xbox and GameCube in 2004. The Takeover is its PSP port, released in 2006. The first Def Jam game was mostly a wrestling game, and you can feel it here. These are rough street brawls where you slam people into walls headfirst. The crowd shoves you back into the fight if you get too close, and some spectators even hand you weapons.

The cast is a who's who of 2000s hip-hop, led by Snoop Dogg, Method Man and Redman. Henry Rollins even runs the gym. In story mode you create your own fighter and fight your way through the New York underground, mixing up to three of the five fighting styles, from kickboxing to submissions. Fill your momentum meter and you can pull off a Blazin' Move, a brutal finisher made for each character. Players still name it as one of their favourite PSP games.

Tenkaichi Tag Team is the only Budokai Tenkaichi game on a handheld, and the big idea is right there in the name: two-on-two fights. The Dragon Walker mode runs through the whole Dragon Ball Z story, from the Saiyan saga to the Majin Buu saga, with more than 70 characters to customise.

There is plenty to do outside the story, too. Battle 100 throws team after team at you, you can perform fusions, and you upgrade your fighters with D-POINTS. Critics called it just another Dragon Ball Z fighting game. Players disagree, and it is one of the PSP fighters they recommend most.

This is the one that made jaws drop. Tekken: Dark Resurrection put a full version of Tekken 5 on the PSP in July 2006, months before any home console got it, and it sold over 2.2 million copies, a million of them in Europe. It was even nominated for Fighting Game of the Year at the Interactive Achievement Awards.

It is packed with things to do. Tekken Dojo lets you fight downloaded ghosts of other players, Gold Rush has you fighting for in-game cash, and there is a new version of Tekken Bowl. You only need one copy to play against a friend. Fans without a PSP were annoyed enough that it later came to the PS3, and critics still scored the PSP original higher.

Tekken 6 on the PSP is a great port, and critics praised it for keeping the big cast and for its responsive controls. IGN even found the loading times much better than on the PS3 and Xbox 360. It brings the new Rage system, which makes your fighter stronger when their health runs low, so no round is over until it is over.

The one thing it lost is the Scenario Campaign, the beat 'em up mode from the console versions. In return, the PSP version got extra music of its own. As a pure fighting game on a handheld it is hard to beat, and it scored higher with critics than both console versions.

Dissidia started as an idea for a Kingdom Hearts game with Disney characters, but its creator was not comfortable seeing them fight each other, so it became a Final Fantasy game instead. It came out in 2008 for the series' 20th anniversary, and you play the heroes of the first ten Final Fantasy games. The fights run on Bravery: you steal your opponent's Bravery with normal hits, then cash it in with an HP attack. It became the best-selling PSP game of 2009 in the US.

Dissidia 012 is the one to play today. It tells a new prequel story and retells the first game's story inside it, adds new characters like Lightning, Kain and Tifa, and gives you assist characters and a world map. It also tones down the EX Mode that players found too strong. Under the fighting there is a whole RPG of levels and gear, which is why people sink so much time into it.