Avatar: The Last Airbender is a millennial favorite. The original series ran for 61 episodes in the mid 2000s, and its popularity helped it spawn a whole franchise. It got a sequel series in The Legend of Korra, a live-action Netflix series, the upcoming animated series Avatar: Seven Havens, and numerous novels and comics tie-ins. What was that? M. Night Shyamalan also directed a live-action Avatar film? Can’t recall.
But one area where Aang, Katara, and the rest of the Gaang never quite achieved the same longevity is video games. Both The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra had a few tie-in games in the late ’00s and early 2010s, but they were received about as well as you’d expect for media tie-in games, and didn’t have much of a lasting impact. The action-adventure game Avatar: The Last Airbender – Quest for Balance was released in 2023, but was derided by the few critics and players who tried it out.
One upcoming game might reverse this series’ unfortunate forays into video games. A new Avatar fighting game will be released next month, and fans are already excited for it.
Throw hands in Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game on July 23
Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game is an upcoming 1v1 fighter, unlike the tag-team licensed fighters Invincible VS and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. It touts hand-drawn 2D animation and looks just as beautiful as the original cartoons. Like most fighting games, Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game will feature a story mode, arcade fights, online bouts, and more. Online play will have rollback netcode and support crossplay across all platforms.
The game is expected to have a high skill ceiling, and all you need to do is watch a couple minutes of gameplay to see how sweaty fights in Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game can get. Still, Avatar fans who aren’t familiar with fighting games shouldn’t balk at it. The developers are including a game mode designed with newcomers in mind to help teach them the mechanics of fighting games that will be separate from its standard training mode.
A newcomer mode won’t be the only thing that makes Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game accessible as it will only cost $29.99. The $49.99 Deluxe Edition will net you a Year 1 Pass for more characters, a digital artbook, and a digital soundtrack.
What characters will be in Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game?
Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game will launch with a roster of 12 characters. The original series gets most of the roster’s representation as only Korra and Zaheer from The Legend of Korra appear in the game. Here are all the playable fighters:
- Aang
- Avatar State Aang
- Azula
- Katara
- Kyoshi
- Ozai
- Sokka
- Toph
- Zuko
- Korra
- Avatar State Korra
- Zaheer
The Year 1 Pass will add five more characters to flesh out the game’s roster. Those who pre-order Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game will be able to vote on who they want to see added.
Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game will be released on July 23 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
Airbender creator says AAA Avatar game wasn’t ‘canceled,’ promises news in July
Paramount’s handling of the Avatar series remains very, very confusing