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MK 9 had one that started good but by the time it ended I was so confused I had no clue what was going on. :P

People kept dying, coming back, being created, changing sides, dying again, and it all revolved around this amulet that let them see the future that turned out to be the present but could still be changed but only because it was broken and then it wasn't broken and AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

King of Fighter 95 96 97 tell a story about a monster called Orochi, a mirror and whatever. I forgot.

KOF 98 is a break. No story, just fight.

KOF 99 2000 2001 tells a story about Kyo Kusanagi (main protagonist of previous KOF) got kidnapped by mysterious organization and cloned to get his power (he can create fire at will) to create an army. A failed cloning experiment named K escapes and back to destroy the organization.

KOF 2002 is another break.

I stopped playing KOF after that.

Worst storyline in any fighting game is probably Tekken series. Don't try to make any sense of it, it doesn't worth it

Best storyline is probably Virtua Fighter. Telling a story of Sarah Bryant getting kidnapped, brainwashed, turned into an assassin and used to gather data to complete a fighting android called Dural. While the hero team consist mainly of Akira Yuki (an idiot whose good at kungfu), Pai Chan (daughter of a big triad leader who runs from home to confront her father) and Jacky Bryant (Sarah older brother, son of wealthy family running away from home to become a racer) is trying to save Sarah

I think Samurai Shodown IV(?) had no story. But the story was implied simply through the gorgeous character designs and background settings. I always imagined it being like the Ninja Scroll anime. One character sort of wandering through a bamboo forest only to encounter one of the enemies being sought for planning to fulfill some egregious wrong... And on eternal, or at least until you shut it off machine off. In my experience Implied story makes things more fun than concrete ones.

Though I never got to play the Shenmui series.

Injustice. Injustice had pretty much the king of all story modes. Not sure about Injustice 2 since I haven't played that yet.

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Injustice 2 is the best story mode Netherealm has done so far. Mortal Kombat 2011's was still better because of all that it represented and all the years of plot lines and characters it had as a part of it, but from an concept to execution perspective, Injustice 2 is the best thing they've done.

Guilty Gear had not a bad plot as a series. And Story mode in GGXX Reload was quite interesting. Though it wasn't one story for all, but a small story for every character instead. With 3 possible paths for everyone. And some intersections between characters.

Xrd - SIGN has a Story mode that follows the ending of the arcade mode and is basically a mix between OVA and Visual Novel, except that it's non-interactive. But it's a good story, nonetheless.

They picked up from the end of MK Armageddon (MK7) with the assumption that Shao Kahn won by defeating Raiden in the end. So, before dying Raiden sent himself a message to the past, through the amulet. That broke the amulet.

As the story unfolds (basically a retelling of the first three games, but adapting the stuff from later games into the earlier ones), Raiden tries to figure out what the vision from the future meant, as he sees events unfolding in his visions just before they happen and tries to intervene, thus changing the future. By the end, he realizes that the original message he received, "He must win", meant letting Shao Kahn win after his illegal invasion of Earth (MK3), because he figured that the only situation where the Elder Gods would intervene was if Shao Kahn tried to merge the Realms without winning 10 consecutive MKs.

Thus, Shao Kahn tries to merge the realms, the Elder Gods intervene by granting Raiden enough power to utterly destroy Shao Kahn permanently, which he does. Armageddon is averted, but due to his many mistakes through the story, most of the earthrealm warriors end up dead and their souls in the hands of Quan Chi and Shinnok.

MKX, on the other hand, is a retelling of MK4 given the circumstances of the MK9 ending.

I'm wiiling to bet that MK11 will see the return of Onaga and, maybe, Blaze and Shujinko.

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There is some kind of very basic plot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skullgirls#Setting

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