6 Best Glow-Ups in Fighting Games, Ranked

Nothing stays the identical. It’s an announcement that applies to all issues. That is very true in preventing video games, the place characters can discover themselves going up and down the tier record with every replace. At launch, Lily was thought of the worst character in Road Fighter 6 as a consequence of her unsafe strikes and low injury. One yr and an replace later, Elchakotay used her to win Combo Breaker 2024, a match with 1,400+ gamers. Even Zangief, normally one of many trickier characters to become familiar with in Road Fighter, has grow to be a take a look at together with his new buffs.

That stated, different preventing sport characters have had much more meteoric rises to the highest. These characters went from being thought of the bottom of decrease tiers to getting a big glow-up of their following video games.

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6

Urien

Diamond within the Tough

• Debut: Road Fighter 3: Second Impression
• Lowest Tier: C (Road Fighter 3: Second Impression circa 2000s)
• Highest Tier: A (Road Fighter 3: Third Strike, Second Impression circa 2010s onward)

Beginning off gently, Urien was much less a case of a horrible character changing into good, and extra gamers studying his value over time. He debuted in Road Fighter 3: Second Impression, an replace of SF3: NG that improved gameplay throughout the board. Even so, again in his early days, Urien did little to impress gamers. Missing the pace of Ibuki and the mix-ups of Sean, he was usually positioned simply above Hugo, the worst character within the sport.

However when gamers moved on to Road Fighter 3: Third Strike, they found that Urien’s Aegis Reflector had extra going for it than simply reflecting fireballs. It was additionally good at opening opponents up for damaging combos. Curious gamers then went again to SF3: SI and located that his Aegis ways labored there too. They weren’t fairly the identical as they have been in SF3: TS, however they have been nonetheless efficient sufficient to rocket him as much as A-Tier.

5

Elena

From Common African to Killer Kenyan

• Debut: Road Fighter 3: New Era
• Lowest Tier: C (Road Fighter 3: Second Impression, Third Strike)
• Highest Tier: A (Extremely Road Fighter 4)

Some could name this a glow-up. Others may name it a mutation, as Elena went from a middling fighter to a human headache who tousled the meta. Within the SF3 video games, she was a good character with good attain and regular assaults, however knowledgeable gamers may simply put her in her place. She was so reliant on her EX strikes that her single-bar Therapeutic tremendous didn’t assist her out a lot. As such, folks weren’t anticipating a lot from her after they realized she’d be in USF4. Some even thought she’d be certainly one of its worst characters as a consequence of its new mechanics like Focus Assaults, and so on.

As a substitute, Elena’s assaults gained extra precedence, have been nice at poking, and her Therapeutic transfer turned her finest Extremely Combo. It may solely cost whereas she was taking injury, so she may undo her opponent’s arduous work with a single command. Along with her as a consequence of return in SF6 in Spring 2025, followers are simply glad that the sport doesn’t have Extremely strikes.

4

Rock Howard

The Pupil Turns into the Grasp

• Debut: Garou: Mark of the Wolves
• Lowest Tier: D (Garou: Mark of the Wolves)
• Highest Tier: A (King of Fighters 15)

Simply because somebody is the primary character in a sequence doesn’t imply they’ll be prime tier, and even mid-tier. Positive, Jin Kazama was the most effective character in Tekken 3, and Liu Kang stood above the extra standard ninjas in Mortal Kombat. However Rock Howard, the brand new star for Garou: Mark of the Wolves, was proper on the backside of its pile.

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He had unsafe strikes, fewer protected reversals, and with out sufficient meter to spend on his Shine Knuckle tremendous, he couldn’t successfully deal injury. Nevertheless, he would step by step enhance with every look. He did extra injury and had higher mix-ups in Capcom Vs SNK 2, and later was one of many large hitters in King of Fighters 15. His pace, injury output, and improved meter use made him a troublesome nut to crack.

3

Jun Kazama

Peace Activist Declares Battle

• Debut: Tekken 2
• Lowest Tier: D (Tekken Tag Event 1)
• Highest Tier: S (Tekken 8 pre-update)

Tiers aren’t fairly as ironclad in Tekken as they’re in another video games. Gamers attempting to get essentially the most out of Jun Kazama in Tekken 2 and Tekken Tag Event 1 didn’t have as steep a mountain to climb as, say, somebody attempting to make Servbot work in MvC2. Even so, she wasn’t as standard as different characters, which led to her being changed by Jin in Tekken 3 and her (sort-of) niece Asuka in Tekken 5.

Jun returned as a boss character for Tekken Tag Event 2, and didn’t set the world alight there both. However when she made her canon return in Tekken 8, she turned certainly one of its strongest characters instantly. Her mix-ups have been tougher to beat, and her Warmth Smash helped her get well grey well being whereas punishing her opponents. It took a bunch of updates to humble her again to mid-tier. Time can solely inform if she’ll keep there.

2

Storm

Flying to the High

• Debut: X-Males: Youngsters of the Atom
• Lowest Tier: D (X-Males: Youngsters of the Atom)
• Highest Tier: S (X-Males Vs Road Fighter, Marvel Vs Capcom 2)

This one might sound shocking, as Storm is mostly a pressure to be reckoned with in her Marvel appearances. She was the cream of the crop in X-Males Vs Road Fighter together with her quick, aerial strikes and full-screen supers. Then she turned infamous in Marvel Vs Capcom 2 the place, usually with Magneto and Sentinel, she’d be referred to as in together with her Hail Storm tremendous to chip her opponent to dying.

Nevertheless, issues have been totally different in her preventing sport debut, X-Males: Youngsters of the Atom. She nonetheless had her high-damage supers and zoning regular assaults. However she was tough to regulate, most of her strikes left her open on blocks, and she or he had the bottom stamina within the sport (except for Akuma). One false transfer, and she or he’d pay for it arduous. Her strikes have been made safer for the sequels, which sarcastically made her extra harmful for everybody else.

1

Deejay

Striding to Greatness

• Debut: Tremendous Road Fighter 2: The New Challengers
• Lowest Tier: D (Extremely Road Fighter 4)
• Highest Tier: S (Road Fighter 6)

The latest Road Fighter 6 updates buffed Lily and Zangief, however additionally they did one thing that preventing sport followers in all probability by no means thought wanted to be accomplished: nerf Deejay. He was one of many New Challengers in Tremendous Road Fighter 2, the place he was extra common than the rest. Not dangerous, however not nice. Then got here the Road Fighter 4 video games.

Deejay’s awkward specials and reliance on charging made him the worst non-joke character by the point Extremely Road Fighter 4 got here round. His redesign for SF6 gave him safer strikes, stronger mix-ups, and The Stride™ — his actually quick Drive Rush that made him one of many finest rushdown characters within the sport. Even with the nerfs, he’s nonetheless one to be careful for when taking part in SF6 on-line.

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