# Top 13 Most Iconic Finishing Moves in Video Games

> Inputs people still remember three decades after last performing them. Some end a round, some end an argument.

*By YPB Team · Published September 22, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/top-13-most-iconic-finishing-moves-in-video-games*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Fatality** — score 1000/1000
   Mortal Kombat's finishing move, performed on a dazed opponent after the announcer says "Finish him!".
2. **Sub-Zero's Spine Rip** — score 763/1000
   The 1992 Fatality that did more than any other single animation to trigger the ratings debate.
3. **Glory Kill** — score 560/1000
   Doom's close-range execution, which rewards aggression by dropping health.
4. **Critical Art** — score 485/1000
   Street Fighter V and 6's cinematic super, the meter payoff at the end of a comeback.
5. **Hadouken** — score 485/1000
   Ryu and Ken's fireball in Street Fighter, and the most imitated input in fighting games.
6. **Sonic Boom** — score 485/1000
   Guile's charged projectile in Street Fighter II, thrown from a defensive crouch.
7. **Scorpion's Spear** — score 397/1000
   The harpoon and the line "Get over here!", the most quoted three words in fighting games.
8. **Stealth Takedown** — score 397/1000
   Metal Gear Solid's silent close-quarters kill, the reward for never being seen.
9. **Spinning Bird Kick** — score 291/1000
   Chun-Li's upside-down aerial kick, one of the first signature moves built for a woman in the genre.
10. **Falcon Punch** — score 291/1000
   Captain Falcon's wind-up haymaker in Super Smash Bros., slow enough to be a running joke.
11. **Brutality** — score 291/1000
   Mortal Kombat's mid-combo kill, which ends the round early instead of waiting for the prompt.
12. **Fus Ro Dah** — score 0/1000
   Skyrim's Unrelenting Force shout, which flings enemies off cliffs and became a meme on its own.
13. **Riposte** — score 0/1000
   Dark Souls' critical strike after a parry, the moment the game rewards patience over aggression.

Tags: games, franchises, characters, fighting