2026 is set to become a big year for fighting games and the whole FGC. And because we got a handful of things coming on the docket for fighting games, 2026 is going to be one heck of a year for fighting games. So today, I'm gonna be talking about how 2026 is going to be a big year for fighting games.
Before we talk about what several things are coming in 2026, we need to talk about something good has happened in 2025 when it comes to fighting games. Tekken 3 has launched into the classics catalog on the PS4 and PS5. It was the final game to ever release on the PS3 before Bandai Namco moved on with the series to produce games on the PS2. It is indeed one of the classic fighting games I have played back in the day. Then Soul Calibur III came along, another classic fighting game I played back in the day and the first PS2 fighting game to come to the catalog. These threequels were the games I wished for and that met with excitement among the FGC that they want to revisit these games. These games are now available on the classics catalog, so go check it out.
Now let's move on to something interesting. It's about the two fighting games, Street Fighter 6 and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. What is so special about them? Well, there are four popular characters, Ken Masters, Chun-Li, Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui. So these characters have became guest stars in both respective games and they are available now on the store. With these characters, a fan demand for a new Capcom vs. SNK is very high and we could see it announced any day.
With that out of the way, we can now talk about exciting things coming in 2026 for fighting games. Now, I know that everyone's initial reaction would think that I'm gonna start with Skullgirls. But it's gonna be later on in this post because I need to talk about the big stuff first.
Back in June's State of Play, Sony has announced the upcoming new fighting game being developed by Arc System Works, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls. This is an innovative 4v4 tag fighter that features characters from Marvel Comics. Arc System Works had brought the Marvel fighting game foundation back into the limelight following Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite's poor reception and sales that had soured the relationship between both companies.
Then the series has went on a hiatus for over eight years and we've been begging for a new Marvel vs. Capcom or a new Marvel fighter. But Arc System Works has fulfilled our wish for a new Marvel fighter. While Marvel Tōkon is a 4v4 tag fighter, the four members of each team share with one health bar and uses multiple rounds unlike others where multiple teammates have their own health bar. But no new characters beyond the first eight characters were announced this year other than Spider-Man and Ghost Rider's re-introduction to the roster. However, there aren't any news for Marvel Tōkon at the Game Awards and no firm release date was announced yet.
These statements were cranked up when the second Closed Beta was announced to actually have Spider-Man and Ghost Rider in the roster with other characters. Since Sony announced that 2026 is gonna be big and they're going to bring in new characters beyond the first eight, including their all-time favorites, there are requests for Venom, Wolverine, Deadpool, the Punisher, Psylocke, Hulk, Luna Snow, and well, probably the loudest of them all, Emma Frost. These characters are great and I would like to see them. Who knows? Maybe these characters can potentially make their debut.
And do you know what else is coming out in 2026? Invincible VS. It is an upcoming 3v3 tag fighter that features a handful of Invincible characters intended for mature audiences due to it being an M-rated game because of the gore and frequent swearing at a severe level, living up to the fact that the comic book series and its animated series are meant for adults. The game had its Closed Beta couple weeks ago and launching in April with a launch roster of 18 characters, with more characters to come.
What I love about Invincible VS is that it is anything like Marvel vs. Capcom 3 because it uses 3D models and has 3v3 tag battles, air combos and a four-button control scheme. But the only difference is that the since it's an M-rated Marvel vs. Capcom 3-esque 3v3 tag fighter, there is a ton of blood and gore in it and uses lv. 3 supers that mutilate and dismember opponents' body parts when their HP is at 0. They are similar to Mortal Kombat X's Brutalities, but flashier. So basically, you can't play Invincible VS when you're not of age since it's an M-rated game, living up to the fact that Invincible is only appropriate for mature audiences. That's what the "MAY CONTAIN CONTENT INAPPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN" warning is for.
Marvel Tōkon and Invincible VS coming out in 2026 comes with the 2026 Competitive Series for Riot's free-to-play fighting game, 2XKO. Ever since Closed Beta, the competitive scene for 2XKO has grown and unleashed its full potential that Riot has even went the extra mile to bring online and offline events into the spotlight with the First Impact program, coming to a close. To push the competitive scene even further, Riot is bringing direct support to 20 offline tournaments, divided by five seasons tied to 2XKO's ingame seasons sporting four events on each season, with one major and three challenger events through the 2026 Competitive Series.
The first major event is Frosty Faustings to kick off the Competitive Series with 12 characters in Season 1, including Caitlyn, who will be legal from the get go in Frosty Faustings and is one of the characters I have theorized. While their experience is most definetely an issue, it's actually great news that we're getting Caitlyn before Katarina. It's because I am eager to find out how will she play in 2XKO since she's a Marksman in League of Legends. Yeah, step aside, Erron Black, we're getting a new sheriff in town. Wow, so banter.
Since 2XKO is launching on console in January, basically meaning that 2XKO will be officially released on PC and console beyond Early Access in January, that's where they come in to bring PS5s into offline events.
Riot has released the console trailer. Then it was immediately put on private after they spotted the release date to when 2XKO is officially launching on PC and console. So, Riot, why are you putting the trailer on private all of a sudden? Was there something we weren't supposed to see?
Fortunately, Knoebel first spotted the leaked console and trailer art, with Gematsu confirming the multiplatform shift after Riot put the trailer in private. The art shows that 2XKO will leave Early Access on PC and officially launch on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S January 20, looking at the remaining time on Season 0. Since Early Access won't involve any more progress resets, our progress we made during Early Access will be kept when the game officially launches. This art has something we're not supposed to see, the official release date for 2XKO being January 20th.
Riot could've just at least redacted the release date at the end of the trailer before publishing it in the first place.
There is something exciting regarding the Competitive Series, but before we get to that, let's talk about Evo. The Evolution Champion Series has become the most prestigious fighting game convention filled with events, tournaments, cosplays, art stations, demos, booths and reveals, being the E3 of fighting games. Back in the day, they had nine games in the lineup, until in 2023 when they had eight games in the lineup. The event has cranked up to 11 when there are 12 games in one lineup in not just Evo 2026, but also Evo Japan 2026.
Here's a look at the lineups for both Evo Las Vegas 2026 and Evo Japan 2026. Both events are having 12 games in one lineup to have 12 champions to crown, the first time and the biggest step up since Evo 2023 when it had eight games in the lineup. I'm gonna take both lineups for Evo 2026 and Evo Japan 2026 and decipher the games across the board. Since there are a dozen games, it'll have the top six games with the most amount of signups being played in the arena where Top 8 takes place and the bottom six games with the least amount of signups being played outside of the arena during Top 8 in Evo 2026. This lineup is so grand that BlazBlue: Central Fiction piggybacked off wanting BBTAG in the lineup so that we can see the 3.0 Character Pack or BBTAG 2 and both events have a free-to-play fighting game like 2XKO in the lineup. Let's get to deciphering the lineups. We'll start with the games that are in both events.
Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Under Night In-Birth II: Sys:Celes and Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising are in both lineups as returning faces. The new faces in both events are Virtua Fighter 5 REVO: World Stage, Vampire Savior and 2XKO. Trust me, this is important to understand that since Vampire Savior is in both events, they need to boot up Capcom Fighting Collection 1. It's faster than setting up the arcade cabinet for this game.
Now for the games that are in one event. BlazBlue: Central Fiction is the only returning game being played in Evo while KOF XV and Melty Blood: Type Lumina are the returning games being played in Evo Japan. Invincible VS and Rivals of Aether II are the new games being played in Evo while Hokuto no Ken, means Fist of the North Star in Japanese, is the only new game being played in Evo Japan.
Games in both Evo events:
Street Fighter 6
Tekken 8
Guilty Gear Strive
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising
Under Night In-Birth II: Sys:Celes
Virtua Fighter 5 REVO: World Stage
Vampire Savior
2XKO
Games in one Evo event:
BlazBlue: Central Fiction (Evo 2026)
Rivals of Aether II (Evo 2026)
Invincible VS (Evo 2026)
Melty Blood: Type Lumina (Evo Japan 2026)
King of Fighters XV (Evo Japan 2026)
Hokuto no Ken (Evo Japan 2026)
Returning games:
Street Fighter 6 (Both)
Tekken 8 (Both)
Guilty Gear Strive (Both)
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (Both)
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising (Both)
Under Night In-Birth II: Sys:Celes (Both)
BlazBlue: Central Fiction (Evo 2026)
Melty Blood: Type Lumina (Evo Japan 2026)
King of Fighters XV (Evo Japan 2026)
New games:
Virtua Fighter 5 REVO: World Stage (Both)
Vampire Savior (Both)
Rivals of Aether II (Evo 2026)
Invincible VS. (Evo 2026)
2XKO (Both)
Hokuto no Ken (Evo Japan 2026)
So we now have the games listed separately to have a clarification of which of these games are in both Evo events, in one Evo event, returning and new games, making it 15 different games being played in Evo 2026 and Evo Japan 2026 without a subjective listing. I am quite surprised that Marvel Tōkon isn't in any of the Evo events. It's because the firm release date has not been announced yet. Since both Evo and Evo Japan are gonna have a dozen games in the lineup, can Evo France have a dozen games in its lineup too? We will find out.
Now we can get to the exciting news regarding the 2026 Competitive Series. Both Evo 2026 and Evo Japan 2026 have 2XKO in the lineup. What this means is that since 2XKO is being played in both Evo events, they are both chosen to be major events for the 2026 Competitive Series, with Evo Japan 2026 as the Season 2 major event and Evo 2026 as the Season 3 major event. It even came close to how exciting the part where Skullgirls was chosen to actually be in the main lineup for Evo 2022, the first event since the COVID-19 pandemic has hit was. It is hopeful that 2XKO is being played in both Evo and Evo Japan in 2026 as major events for the Competitive Series, but it is unknown that 2XKO will also be played at next year's Evo France as a major or challenger event. It is ways to go and it's proven to be far from my sight.
Regardless, what would be amazing is that if there is a duo of Vi and Caitlyn, both outside and inside the competitive scene, it's gonna be very exciting as as watching all-female matches in 2XKO, which I have been wondering if that has more kicks than women's tag team wrestling. And since Caitlyn is the fifth female Champion, the chance of experiencing an all-female match has increased a bit. Don't worry, more female characters after Caitlyn will make their debut to the game.
But 2XKO will not the only tag fighter coming in Evo 2026 because Invincible VS is also being played. With 2XKO and Invincible VS being played at Evo for the first time, it's gonna be a blockbuster and a Cinderella story despite Mortal Kombat 1 being absent since Invincible VS has taken that spot because they knew that the lineup needs to have at least one M-rated fighting game that children under 17 can't play. But one Invincible character being Omni Man made his debut to Mortal Kombat 1 and that could serve as a tech demo for an Invincible fighting game that came into fruition.
Speaking of, did you know that there is a Mightykeef skit that covers the Evo 2026 lineup, but also covers everyone's reaction to how Mortal Kombat 1 couldn't be chosen? It came out on Christmas Eve and became so emotional that for years, Mortal Kombat has been on the lineup and it was rejected from next year's Evo. But that's not the first time it happened. The first time it happened was when they had an Evo 2020 lineup announcement, until the pandemic hit to relegate Evo to an online format to have online tournaments for games with rollback netcode and brought Mortal Kombat 11 back into the mix.
I think that in almost every Evo skit, I kept on hearing, "He ain't even out yet. He could flop," which has been the trope that has been used about games that came out before Evo. 2018 was BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, 2019 was Samurai Shodown, 2020 was Granblue Fantasy Versus, 2021 was Guilty Gear Strive and 2026 will be Invincible VS to come out before Evo.
And here's another thing. Back in 2007, Nintendo has worked with Evo to bring Smash into the events. It has grown for years until in 2022 when Nintendo has announced that they are pulling Smash from Evo in its entirety following Sony's purchase of the event. Evo 2022 was the first event since Nintendo has announced that they won't be a part of Evo. But one platform fighter being played in Evo 2026 is Rivals of Aether II, an indie platform fighter that is released exclusively on PC. And there is an indie tag fighter that is akin to 2XKO. I'll tell you more about it in a future post. Stay tuned for that.
Now we're ready to move to familiar territory. Someone ring up Valentine because it's time to operate. Back in 2021, Hidden Variable has taken over 2nd Encore development with the inception of the Season 1 Pass containing Annie and three characters. They released one character per year, but not during crunch time. 2021 was Annie, 2022 was Umbrella, 2023 was Black Dahlia, and 2024 was Marie being the cherry on top, literally, if you look at the character select screen. With all four characters in the Season 1 Pass and the update with the Season 1 Pass for the Nintendo Switch and Xbox ports came out, the general balance patch came to bring balance changes to the whole cast as the cherry on top.
The only thing that made me excited about it was the innovations introduced to Star Power, with H specials offering EX special moves and all that. That made me feel like I was playing BlazBlue, but with Annie that wanting her in BBTAG is like wanting her in Melty Blood: Type Lumina. By the time the update came out, Annie was having an audio issue on PlayStation, which I why I didn't record her tutorial and edit it to play Justice Sword in the background until the hotfix came. I made posts at the Skullheart Forums that praised how the general balance patch became so well done, but I got straight up humiliated by that pig slop low content post penalty smear. It makes no sense at all whatsoever. I praised the devs for their hard work on the general balance patch and they dare humiliate me, penalizing me for a low content post? No, humiliation is NOT a good thing.
Originally, Hidden Variable said that they would release the additional VO content consisting of English and Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters' story modes, Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters during combat and Annie's alternative voice pack. But they had to delay it to 2025, which is the year we're on now almost coming to an end. But we didn't get word about it because of what happened.
Back in November 1, 2024, payments started rolling in for Autumn to pay what they owe, but refused to make a single payment. They had until January 21 to make payments. However, when none of the payments came, Hidden Variable provided Autumn with login information needed to provide community support so that it wouldn't cause any damage, then filed a lawsuit against Autumn for alleged breaches of contract, et al. This exposed the main reason why we haven't gotten word about the additional VO content for 2nd Encore because Hidden Variable is no longer involved in the development of Skullgirls due to that legal dispute with Autumn.
Thankfully, Skullgirls is staying alive that Autumn is leading the development of this game and that's a good thing. It's definetely a good thing because there are couple pieces of content left over like Roxie, the third guest star, additional VO content consisting of Annie's alternative voice pack and English and Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters on Story Mode and for combat. However, we didn't get word about any of them because they were working on the long-awaited feature, Guilds. They have been promising this feature since they have taken over in the past few months. And now that the Guilds have launched back in November, the next chapter of Skullgirls development can REALLY begin in the New Year for both 2nd Encore and Mobile. In fact, it's gonna be a fresh new chapter since 2nd Encore is now available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.
The Skullgirls Community Tour has been announced to have a year of online and offline tournaments, like 2XKO's First Impact program, which has tournaments for the rest of the year since Early Access launched. 2nd Encore's X account has posted their first message on X since Autumn has taken over. Because of the Skullgirls Community Tour to energize the community after the delay of the additional VO content that frustrated us and with the Guilds have launched, it's a case to say that Autumn is gonna pick up the pieces Hidden Variable has left over. And not just that, but also grow as a team and make changes to their database to speed up development going forward.
The difference between the Skullgirls Community Tour and the 2XKO Competitive Series is pronounced. While the Community Tour has offline events, with Frosty Faustings XVIII to kick things off and be coupled with 2XKO, it also has online events unlike the Competitive Series, which only has local tournaments. Skullgirls and 2XKO are kicking their competitive scenes off with Frosty Faustings XVIII that the new chapter of Skullgirls development really begins while 2XKO launches on console with Season 1 in 2026 and fair enough. If we get announcements for both games, it'll be exciting.
Additionally, I'm going to innovate listening to BBTAG music while playing Skullgirls. I play the theme of the stage at the beginning of the match until one character dies on both teams and solo matches. On teams, I play the point character's theme upon arrival after the death of a teammate, while on solos, I play the stage's theme at the beginning and play the theme of the character who won that round, like how 2XKO plays the theme of the character that takes the round. But it's gonna be on certain stages.
I want to show you some palettes I made on the Skullheart Forums to honor the upcoming new chapter of Skullgirls development. First off, we'll start with the elephant in the room, an update regarding my projects. Here's a look at the BBTAG palettes for Skullgirls characters. You will notice that it has a gradient to give slots flair and updated some of the characters' images as they are in HD. These palettes are so neat that Zone-Tan is actually eligible for her Yukiko Amagi palette. I'm sorry that no new characters were added beyond Zone-Tan because submissions are temporarily closed as they are reworking submission progress. But don't worry, they'll reopen soon. Probably in the New Year.
I find it weird that big sisters usually boss little sisters around, so I made the Renoir sisters the palettes of Pelekai sisters, with Parasoul in her Nani Pelekai palette and Umbrella in her Lilo Pelekai palette and Hungern in his Stitch palette. When I first made them, I was intrigued by the flair and happy with how well they turned out. Shout outs to watching the live action Lilo and Stitch for driving me to do this endeavor. I didn't have the time to look for a Hawaiian background to give it flair because I was lazy to do that.
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