This article is list of developers and publishers that produce fighting games. -
Contents: Top · 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z - Accolade published Ballz, a 3D fighting game that only uses sprites, which was developed by PF Magic for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, the Super NES (SNES) and the 3DO.
- ADK created Neo Geo fighting games Aggressors of Dark Kombat, Ninja Master's, and the World Heroes series.
- "Angel" developed many games in the Sailor Moon video game series. Half of them were 2D fighting games made for the SNES and Playstation.
- Arc System Works are responsible for the Guilty Gear series, renowned for its strange character designs and unique gameplay. Their games also feature 2D graphics of higher resolution than found in most fighting games. Arc also developed Fist of the North Star, a 2005 2D arcade fighting game based on the Fist of the North Star anime/manga series.
- Atari developed Pit Fighter, which was notable for its early use of digitized live actors. Atari also developed Fight for Life, and published Kasumi Ninja exclusively for their final (short-lived) home console, the Atari Jaguar, and Primal Rage as an answer to Midway's Mortal Kombat series, as well as Tenth Degree, as an answer to Sega's Virtua Fighter. Atari is also the U.S. publisher for most of the Budokai fighting game series (developed by Dimps in Japan), and the Budokai Tenkaichi series (developed by Spike in Japan).
- Atlus created the Power Instinct series and the 3D fighting game, Heaven's Gate.
- Capcom is best known for the Street Fighter series, whose largely innovative second incarnation (Street Fighter II in 1991) virtually invented the modern fighting game. They have since released a plethora of sequels, spin-offs, remakes, movie tie-ins and other fighting games (often with the same six-button layout). They are also the creators of the Darkstalkers series and beat 'em up games like the Final Fight series. Their most recent significant contributions to the genre are Capcom vs. SNK 2,Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Street Fighter IV and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Capcom is also the creator of Onimusha Blade Warriors, building upon the Onimusha series.
- Contrail is the developer of the hybrid fighting/role-playing game, Legend of Legaia, for the PSX. The sequel, Legaia 2: Duel Saga, was developed by Prokion.
- Culture Brain created fighting games based on their Hiryu no Ken and Super Chinese franchises.
- CyberConnect2 developed the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja series, exclusive to the PS2 and PSP. Namco Bandai is the publisher for the series.
- Data East created Karate Champ, which was credited with establishing and popularizing the one-on-one fighting game genre, and went on to influence Konami's Yie Ar Kung-Fu from 1985. Data East's next fighting games were Hippodrome, which was their last fighting game released in the 1980s, and Fighter's History, which is slightly popular in Japan, but notorious outside of Japan (especially in North America) for being the game that caused Capcom USA to sue Data East in court (and lose) because of the game's similarities to Street Fighter II, while being far superior to most Street Fighter II inspirations that weren't very successful at the time. Data East later created two sequels: Fighter's History Dynamite (known in Europe as Karnov's Revenge) and Fighter's History: Mizoguchi Kiki Ippatsu!!, which was released exclusively in Japan for the Super Famicom and as an extra found in the Sega Saturn port of Fighter's History Dynamite. Data East Pinball and Back to the Future screenwriter, Bob Gale, joined together and created their answer to Midway's Mortal Kombat franchise, Tattoo Assassins, but it was unreleased; however, along with most other Data East stuff, G-Mode bought the rights to it after Data East's bankruptcy in 2003 and will distribute it whenever anyone pleases them. Other fighting games created by Data East before their bankruptcy were Avengers in Galactic Storm and the Outlaws Of The Lost Dynasty series.
- Dimps is the developer of the Rumble Fish series, noted for its distinct 2D graphics. Dimps is also the creator of Custom Beat Battle: Draglade, a 2D Fighter/RPG/rhythm based game hybrid exclusive to the Nintendo DS. Dimps also produced the DragonBall Z Budokai series
- DreamFactory developed or co-developed the Tobal games, Ehrgeiz, UFC: Tapout, and The Bouncer.
- Kaneko created Power Athletes (known outside of Japan for the Super NES as Power Moves and for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive as Deadly Moves) and Shogun Warriors (known in Japan as Fujiyama Buster), which both of them were their answers to Capcom's Street Fighter II. Shogun Warriors was followed by a sequel, Blood Warrior (known in Japan as Ooedo Fight), while Kaneko released a licensed fighting game, The Kung-Fu Master Jackie Chan (known in Japan as Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire), which both of them were their answers to Midway's Mortal Kombat series.
- Konami created Yie Ar Kung-Fu, which was considered by many to be the basis of modern fighting games. Konami also created Martial Champion, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters and Raging Fighter as answers to Street Fighter II, and Dragoon Might as an answer to Knuckle Heads and Samurai Shodown. Later on, Konami made the 3D games Kensei: Sacred Fist (for the PSX), Deadly Arts (for the N64) and Castlevania Judgment (for the Wii).
- Namco published a Japan-only RPG-based fighting game titled Tenkaichi Bushi Keru Nagūru, which was developed by Game Studio for the Famicom. Namco's first modern-fighting arcade game was Knuckle Heads, which was one of the first fighting games to allow up to four players to play simultaneously, as well as one of the first weapon-based modern fighting games. Namco later became better known for creating the Tekken series and the Soul series, which are arguably the most popular 3D fighting games.
- Natsume Co., Ltd. published the N64-exclusive fighting/role-playing game Flying Dragon, which was developed by Culture Brain.
- Nintendo started with Urban Champion, which was the first fighting game to feature "ring-out" elements later seen in 3D fighting games like Sega's Virtua Fighter franchise. Then came their first modern-fighting game, Joy Mech Fight, which uses limbless robot characters that make the game more efficient than most other fighting games during the time, had the smoothest animation, had the largest roster (until SNK's The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match), and was the first to have no corners before Sunsoft's Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors. Nintendo later became better known for publishing games like the Super Smash Bros. series (developed by HAL Laboratory) and Killer Instinct series (developed by Rareware).
- Noise Factory is the developer of 2D fighting games such as Rage of the Dragons and Power Instinct Matrimelee (part of the Power Instinct fighting game series originally developed by Atlus).
- Sammy Corporation (now merged with Sega as Sega Sammy Holdings) started with Battle Blaze. They later worked with another company, Sekarabe, in creating their answer to Midway's Mortal Kombat series, Survival Arts; however, the gameplay resembles Capcom's Street Fighter II more. They also published the Guilty Gear franchise developed by Arc System Works.
- Sega's first attempts after the success of Capcom's Street Fighter II were Dark Edge, a sprite-based fighting game in a 3D environment, and Holosseum, a holographic fighting game that was the second and last game for Sega's hi-tech hologram theater cabinet after Time Traveler. Sega's AM2 team started with Burning Rival, a 2D versus fighter that uses anime-style graphics, but later became better known as the developer of their Virtua Fighter series (Virtua Fighter, in 1993, is widely regarded as the first 3D fighting game with polygons instead of sprites). Fighting Vipers was a similar game by AM2 with a glam rock theme, but did poorly in North America and Europe. Sonic the Fighters and Virtual On also did very poorly in North American sales. Sega-AM2 also created Fighters Megamix, a cross-over of the Virtua Fighter series and Fighting Vipers, as well as several other characters from Sega-AM2's works. Another 3D versus fighter Sega created was the Japan-exclusive Kōryū Densetsu: Elan Doree. Sega also developed various fighting games based on the popular Bleach series for Nintendo consoles. Sega's other original sprite-based 2D fighting games were the Eternal Champions series, which is Sega's answer to Capcom's Street Fighter II with environmental finishing moves similar to the "Fatalities" from Midway's Mortal Kombat franchise; Cosmic Carnage, a Sega 32X fighting game where players can choose different armors to assist them in battles; and Golden Axe: The Duel, a 2D versus fighting game spin-off of the Golden Axe series.
- SNK started with Street Smart, but later became better known as the makers of the long-running King of Fighters series for the Neo Geo consoles and arcade machines they manufactured. They were also notable for producing the Samurai Shodown, Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and Last Blade series starting in the early 1990s; many other companies followed suit in producing fighting games for the Neo Geo.
- Squaresoft (now merged with Enix as Square-Enix) published the PSX-exclusive samurai-based Bushido Blade series, developed by Light Weight. The two games in the series play much more realistically than other weapon-based fighting games, and do not feature meters of any kind.
- Sunsoft created Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors and Waku Waku 7 for the Neo Geo, as well as an airborne-based fighting game in the arcades, Astra Super Stars. They also ported some of ADK's World Heroes games to the Super NES.
- Taito Corporation created the Violence Fight series, Global Champion (known in Japan as Kaiser Knuckle) and the Psychic Force series: Psychic Force and Psychic Force 2012. The Psychic Force games can be considered precursors to the Dragon Ball Z Budokai games. Taito also developed the 3D games Fighter's Impact, and its sequel Fighter's Impact A.
- Takara ported numerous Neo Geo fighting games to certain home consoles, such as some games in SNK's Fatal Fury franchise and ADK's World Heroes franchise. Takara also created a Japan-only Sony PlayStation title based on Tatsunoko's animes, Tatsunoko Fight.
- Tamsoft created the Battle Arena Toshinden series.
- Tatsumi created Cycle Warriors and Big Fight: Big Trouble in the Atlantic Ocean as arcade-exclusives.
- Technōs Japan made the popular Double Dragon series, which included one fighting game for the Neo Geo, titled Double Dragon. Technos also supported Data East in developing Karate Champ. Their last fighting game before bankruptcy was Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer for the Neo Geo.
- Tecmo's division Team Ninja has developed every instance of the Dead or Alive series. The creation of the Dead or Alive franchise most likely saved Tecmo from both financial and business collapse. Tecmo's only sprite-based 2D fighting game was Tōkidenshō Angel Eyes. They also published Astra Super Stars developed by Sunsoft.
- Tomy, along with 8ing/Raizing, are co-developers of the Naruto: Clash of Ninja series.
- Treasure Co. Ltd. is the sole developer of Bleach: The Blade of Fate and Bleach DS 2nd for the Nintendo DS.
- Tribeca Interactive, a computer game production company owned by actor Robert DeNiro, developed the 3DO title, Shadow: War of Succession.
- Type-Moon created (along with French-Bread) the dōjin soft 2D fighter Melty Blood. Its general success (including arcade and PS2 versions) made Type-Moon less of a dōjin soft organization and more of a company.
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