Fighting Games
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50 free Fighting Games trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Fighting games have a language of their own. Spend five minutes near a tournament stream and you will hear slang that sounds like nonsense until someone explains it, and then you will never stop using it. This quiz covers that terminology alongside the characters who made the genre famous, from the world warriors of Street Fighter and the ninjas of Mortal Kombat to the feuding family at the heart of Tekken. There is some arcade history too, including the accidents, controversies and rivalries that shaped how these games play. It is written for everyone from button-pressing beginners to tournament regulars. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so the next time a commentator starts shouting jargon you will know exactly what just happened.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Street Fighter II's boxer Balrog was called M. Bison in Japan as a nod to which heavyweight champion?
Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson inspired the name, so Capcom rotated three boss names for the English release, fearing that a boxer called Mike Bison could be a legal liability.
Q 02Outrage over Mortal Kombat's gore at 1993 Senate hearings led the industry to create which ratings body?
ESRB
The ESRB was set up in 1994 after hearings that also singled out Night Trap, as publishers chose to rate their own games rather than risk government oversight.
Q 03Which fighting game staple began as a design accident in Street Fighter II's car-smashing bonus stage?
Combos
Combos surfaced when producer Noritaka Funamizu noticed, during a bug check, that extra strikes could land before the target had time to recover.
Q 04Mortal Kombat's Johnny Cage began as a spoof of which action star, whom Midway had hoped to license?
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean-Claude Van Damme's split-legged groin punch from the 1988 film Bloodsport even became one of Johnny Cage's special moves.
Q 05Which Interpol officer from Street Fighter II is cited as the first playable woman in a fighting game?
Chun-Li
Chun-Li enters the tournament to avenge her father, killed by the game's crime-boss villain, and has been dubbed the first lady of fighting games.
Q 06What do fighting game players call a style of heavy defense and waiting for an opponent's mistakes?
Turtling
Turtling borrows from the animal that pulls its limbs into a hard shell: the player slows the pace and baits the opponent into taking all the risks.
Q 07Which term describes hammering the controls at random, a habit fighting game beginners are famous for?
Button mashing
Button mashing can still produce special moves by sheer luck, which is why it is most often seen among weaker players of fighting games.
Q 08Street Fighter's Fei Long and Tekken's Marshall Law are both modeled on which martial arts film star?
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee inspired Fei Long so closely that the character is himself a Hong Kong movie star, one who wants to test his skills against real opponents.
Q 09What name does Mortal Kombat give the gruesome finishing move a winner can inflict on a beaten opponent?
Fatality
The Fatality became the series' most notable feature and spawned a string of derivations, bringing Mortal Kombat as much controversy as fame.
Q 10Tekken's comic-relief fighter Roger was engineered from the DNA of which kind of animal?
A kangaroo
A kangaroo who boxes, Roger shares the Tekken roster with Alex, a fellow experiment grown from fossil samples.
Q 11Which ranking of a game's characters from strongest to weakest often puts an S grade above A?
Tier list
A tier list takes its letters from school grading, and the S that sits above A comes from Japanese culture.
Q 12Which type of win in 3D fighting games comes from knocking the opponent beyond the edge of the stage?
Ring out
A ring out ignores how much health is left, so one well-timed hit near the edge can turn a losing round into a win.
Q 13Which invisible area, usually a group of rectangles, marks the part of an attack that can strike an opponent?
Hitbox
A hitbox has an opposite number, the hurtbox, which marks where a character can be struck; a hit registers when the two overlap.
Q 21Which undead Mortal Kombat ninja, dressed in yellow, uses a rope dart to harpoon opponents?
Scorpion
Scorpion got his yellow outfit because the developers felt the color symbolized fire, the opposite of his blue rival's ice.
Q 22Which warrior of the Lin Kuei clan has appeared in every main Mortal Kombat installment?
Sub-Zero
Sub-Zero is a mantle rather than one man: two brothers, Bi-Han and Kuai Liang, have carried the name across the series.
Q 23Which Russian wrestler in Street Fighter II, nicknamed the Red Cyclone, was first named Vodka Gobalsky?
Zangief
Zangief was drawn huge to evoke a bear, a symbol of Russia, and his final name was borrowed from a real Soviet wrestler.
Q 14Which strategy uses fireballs and long-range attacks to keep a frustrated opponent from getting close?
Zoning
Zoning specialists are known as zoners, and their aim is to make the opponent take big risks just to get close.
Q 15Which fighting game archetype relies on throws, moving slowly but becoming terrifying up close?
Grappler
A grappler such as Potemkin from Guilty Gear usually fights poorly from long range, so the whole game plan is getting near enough to grab.
Q 16Mortal Kombat's secret ninja Reptile reused other fighters' graphics in green, a trick known as what?
Palette swap
A palette swap saves memory by recoloring one set of graphics, and Reptile also borrowed the moves of both ninjas he was copied from.
Q 17Which seven-letter word, often shown in gold, marks a fighting game round won without taking any damage?
Perfect
Perfect rounds are nicknamed the seven golden letters, and they are rarest in games with long rounds, where even blocked attacks wear health down.
Q 18Which term for both players picking the same character comes from a fight in the original Mortal Kombat?
Mirror match
Mirror match was the 1992 arcade game's name for the fight that followed the regular roster, pitting players against a copy of their own character.
Q 19Which term describes repeatedly hitting an opponent who has been knocked into the air?
Juggle
A juggle relies on moves that send the opponent high but keep them close, so each new hit lands as they fall back toward the floor.
Q 20What do fighting game players call the one character they are best with and use most often?
Main
A main is rarely for life: players switch all the time as patches weaken a favorite move or a bad matchup forces a change.
Q 24Which yoga master from India attacks from afar in Street Fighter II by stretching his arms and legs?
Dhalsim
Dhalsim's reach grew during development: the attack was meant to travel only a short distance, but a designer kept lengthening the limbs.
Q 25Which green-skinned Street Fighter character gained electric powers after a plane crash in Brazil?
Blanka
Blanka was first drawn with pink skin, which his designer found disgusting and changed to green.
Q 26Which US Air Force pilot in Street Fighter II seeks revenge on M. Bison for his friend Charlie?
Guile
Guile's design and famous hairstyle were based on two characters from the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Stroheim and Polnareff.
Q 27Which fighter debuted as a secret boss in Super Street Fighter II Turbo and later guested in Tekken 7?
Akuma
Akuma was created to please fans who had been fooled by an April Fools' claim that a hidden character called Sheng Long existed.
Q 28Which Tekken villain, head of a military firm, threw his young son Kazuya off a cliff?
Heihachi Mishima
Heihachi Mishima got a taste of his own medicine: Kazuya survived, won the first tournament and threw his father off a similar cliff.
Q 29Which sword-wielding ninja, leader of the Manji Clan, fights in both the Tekken and Soulcalibur series?
Yoshimitsu
Yoshimitsu is a name handed down a secret line of successors, so the ninja seems immortal and the Tekken version is a later holder of it.
Q 30Which four-armed sub-boss of the first Mortal Kombat was filmed as a stop-motion clay figurine?
Goro
Goro's figurine fell apart from heavy use during filming, and his extra arms were inspired by Ray Harryhausen's Kali in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.