Fighting games are great because they're a conversation between the two players that happens without words. Learning each other's tendencies, bad habits, and quirks that make each other's style unique is what makes fighting games so fun.

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Some characters are designed to capitalize on those tendencies and shut them down specifically. Usually, these characters are built to check how much a player knows about them, or they're designed to restrict a normal game plan. They can be fun to use, but extremely frustrating to fight against.

Updated on June 28th, 2022 by Hodey Johns: Due to a formatting error in the previous article, the entire page had to be rewritten. The letters appeared in a tiny format with a grey-on-black scale. With that issue ironed out, that's not the only thing new here! Since this article's release, fighting games have been released that had more frustrating enemies, so these have also been included. In addition, there are a few retro fighters that gamers generally tend to say, "Nobody can play that character at my house." Those frustrating, classic combatants have also made their way onto this list.

10 Dhalsim - Street Fighter II

Dhalsim from the Street Fighter series

Dhalsim from Street Fighter is the prime example of a character designed to frustrate his opponent. His arms and legs stretch across the screen and deal more damage than fireballs, meaning he can trade with them freely since he'll come out on top. He can stop jump-ins from almost a full screen away, and his fireballs control space to restrict his opponent from moving forward.

As if all of that weren't enough, Dhalsim also has an invincible teleport that can get him out of tough spots, and mix his opponents up. Veterans can counter him well enough, but he'll easily defeat any button-masher. As fighting games have developed longer narratives, Dhalsim has seen his role in the universe disappear. His opponents don't miss him at all.

9 Yoshimitsu - Tekken

This character from the Tekken series is another mobility-based character with the move set of a joke character. He's able to run away and close distance very quickly, use his sword like a helicopter to fly at his opponents, and butt-slam onto them for a lot of damage. All of these things make for a character that checks what his opponent knows, and even if they know what's happening, it's hard to stop.

He also has a lightning-fast counter that can deter pressure at the cost of his own health. If the counter succeeds, he gets some of the biggest combos in the game so players fighting him need to be extra careful.

8 Green Lantern - Injustice: Gods Among Us

Green Lantern was a very solid character in the first Injustice: Gods Among Us. He had a few projectiles to control space, long-range combos to help him get in, and quick mix-ups to land hits on his opponent. The only problem was his mix-ups in his strings were extremely quick to the point of players having to guess instead of reacting. Because his buttons moved him forward so much, the mix-up could be initiated from pretty far away without any set-up, which didn't feel fair in a lot of matchups.

On top of that, if he decided to burn meters on his projectiles, the damage he could deal from full screen was immense. All of this together made for a character nobody wanted to fight against because a lot of characters didn't have the tools to deal with him.

7 Yoda - Soul Calibur IV

Yoda - Soul Calibur IV

Yoda was a character who broke the rules of Soul Calibur just because of his stature alone. Soul Calibur IV was focused on movement and restricting the opponent's movement as much as possible. Yoda was exempt from a lot of set-ups and attacks because of how small he was.

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Moves would whiff over his head and certain grabs couldn't start because he was too low to the ground for them to detect his hitbox. On top of this, he had unreal mobility that allowed him to run circles around his opponents while hacking away at their shins.

6 Ultra Instinct Goku - Dragon Ball FighterZ

Trunks and Ultra Instinct Goku in Dragon Ball Fighter Z

Ultra Instinct Goku has everything any player could need to gain an advantage in Dragon Ball FighterZ. He's got an invincible reversal, the best buttons in the game, meta-defining assists, and the list goes on. The thing that makes him so infuriating is that he literally has everything. And if there's a tool he doesn't have, he's got something better to cover for it anyways.

Bandai Namco has acknowledged this and rebalanced him a bit, but he's still absurdly strong and useful for team composition. It was difficult to punish him on a lot of things that other characters could get punished for, so it felt like he was breaking a lot of the rules of the game, which upset a lot of players.

5 Meta Knight - Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Super Smash Brothers Brawl Meta Knight Diving From The Air

Meta Knight, since day one, has never failed to be the number one ranked character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. With all the patches, all the wild swings, all the nerfs and buffs, he's always been the best. So why is this?

To be clear,t his list is not about the best fighters, it's about the most frustrating, but, in the case of Meta Knight, what makes him frustrating is why he's the best. He can fly and he's at his most dangerous when he's airborne, a time when other characters are weakest.

4 Kage - Virtua Fighter 4

Virtua Fighter 4 Kage Kicking Opponent In The Neck

Kage is frustrating for pro players to beat since he falls down completely, so low that any follow-up strikes go right over him. Veterans love this feature as it is a natural combo-breaker against fellow elite fighters that rely on combos to win games.

There is nothing flashy about Kage otherwise. His fighting moves are ultra-realistic with uppercuts and kicks that do a good job of knocking opponents off balance. They're stronger than average, and it's enraging to hit Kage more times than he hits back yet still lose the game.

3 Donkey Kong - Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros. Melee Donkey Kong Beating Up Marth

Although pro circuit players favorite quick opponents like Pikachu and Fox, Donkey Kong was the most brutal to play against as an amateur. Since the game was released on the N64, patching the game wasn't an option, so the oversights on the character made it through to the final product.

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In future installments, grappling was weakened. Many pro circuits banned grabs outright, as well as cliff guarding. Playing at home? Too bad, his grabs, smash moves, and toughness were all the best in the game. As an ideal fighting design, Donkey Kong is beautiful, but he needed a big-time nerf that was finally delivered in the rest of the series.

2 Bankotsubo - Dead Or Alive 2

How about a fighter that is so overpowered that the community essentially demands his death? Acting as a villain in the Dead Or Alive series, Bankotsubo reached his climax in the second installment thanks to unique character mechanics.

When players think of iconic fighting archetypes, anybody with flying powers deserves a special look. Bankotsubo breaks many core concepts of the game as he floats around and dishes out vertical damage from above. He was killed off eventually, likely due to player demand.

1 Sentinel - Capcom Vs. Marvel 2

Capcom Vs. Marvel 2 Sentinel Launching Homing Rockets

Sentinel has too much. Many wonder if he was a joke character that can somehow KO anybody, but he's real. So how was it that a character with amazing ranged skills, flying capabilities, harsh melee attacks, and lots of life somehow made it into a game that was supposed to be balanced?

The issue here is that he was likely supposed to be slow. But adding input options actually removed the framerates from his "slow" attacks, making them instant. Therefore, random button mashers delete his only drawback, making him one of the undisputed best in any fighting game.

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