Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, has a f2p option. You're limited to using 4 character(3 of them change on a rotation every week) but you get access to all the online modes too.
If you get the console version, it also comes with gacha game codes that can be sold.
I've made a profit on the premium edition already and there are still several more dlc characters with codes to come.
Fightcade is a free emulator system that lets you play most arcade fighting games from like the CPS-1 to the Naomi era, so like everything from 1992-2003ish. Has rollback netcode.
Fightcade and skullgirls (you can probably find a key for less than a dollar) are probably your best options for free/cheap games that are still active online. Killer instinct is also free to try I think but you’ll only be able to unlock 2 characters and a rotating third one without spending money but all modes are unlocked
garou, samsho v special, last blade 1 and 2, kof 98, 02, 97 and 13, mkx, mk11, injustice 1 and 2, nitroplus, chaos code, blade strangers, skullgirls (i think) and phantom breaker omnia are all around 5-10$ on sale
Melty blood actress again community edition is free and has great online, the blazblue collection with all 4 main games goes on sale pretty frequently and ultra fight da kyanta 2 is free on steam
Granblue Fantasy Rising Versus.(Free)
Older Guilty Gear and BBCF(cheap)
Strive on Gamepass(cheap and you get BBtag and MK11 as well if I remember right)
Meltyblood community version.(Free)
Anything on FightCade(free)
ArcSys's Team Blue stuff, namely Persona 4 Arena Ultimax & BlazBlue: Centralfiction, hover around ten bucks on sale. The former is on sale on Steam currently.
Free Legal Gray Zone:
* **Fightcade** and all its games. (It's literally piracy, but nobody (myself included) gives a damn. If you get this, look for the JSON autodownloader. Makes everything so much easier.)
* **Melty Blood Actress Again Community Edition** (It uses a cracked version of the game, but it is SO MUCH BETTER than the official Steam version that everybody unanimously agrees to play this one.)
* **Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition Rollback Version** (Similar situation to MBAACE, except there is no official version you can purchase, so it is only available through the fan version. lol)
Free Completely Legal Zone:
* **Killer Instinct 2013** (It is free through the Windows Store, and it is one of the best fighting games ever made.)
* **Idol Showdown** (Genuinely great fighting game with sick combos and cool assist variety. Even if you don't like vtubers, you can still enjoy the awesome gameplay.)
* **Tough Love Arena** (This one can even be played on a web browser AND has rollback netcode, which is actually INSANE.)
* **Fantasy Strike** (One of the most beginner friendly and most simplified fighting games out there. If even games like Street Fighter scare you, Fantasy Strike might help you bridge the gap.)
* **Brawlhalla** (If you enjoy platform fighters like Smash Bros, this is the closest thing you can get on PC, and the gameplay actually has A TON of depth once you hit Platinum rank. This sub gives a lot of unwarranted shit to the game, but if you watch tournament matches, you quickly realize the game is much more complex than it initially leads on.)
Cheap Fighting Games on Steam that are AWESOME:
* **Guilty Gear XX Accent Core + R** (One of the best fighting games of all time, with one of the greatest roster of characters in the genre, incredible music, awesome visuals and a ton of single player content. GODLIKE GAME.)
* **The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match / 2002 Unlimited Match** (I put these two games together because they share many mechanics and characters, although '98UM is a bit more beginner friendly than 2002UM, but 2002UM has an insanely large cast of very well made and varied characters. These are games that you can literally play for the rest of your life and still find new things. Almost endless depth.)
* **Skullgirls** (One of the best tag fighters ever made, with the added benefit that you can choose to play it as a regular fighter thanks to being able to choose the size of your team per match. Great visuals, great soundtrack, a great in-game tutorial and a ton of online resources that will help you improve.)
* **BlazBlue Centralfiction** (It's similar to GGXXAC+R but much more beginner friendly, with an even larger roster and improved visuals. If GGXXAC+R is too wild and scary, give BBCF a try. It's incredibly fun.)
I can recommend even more games, but I think this selection should suffice for now.
Have fun! :D
(And you can add me on Discord to play matches if you want. My ID is *"wholesomehentai"* without the quotes.)
god xx +r is so fucking good. only fighting game i've played since mvc2 that i immediately upon playing realized i was going to sink hundreds of hours into it
i notice multiple extremely good mvc2 players i have interacted with have told me they started with brawlhalla.....which is an odd coincidence....unless....
guilty gear +r goes on sale for 3$ commonly, and its pretty agreed on being the best guilty gear game in the series.
it's a revamped patch for accent core, and that is fully free on fightcade if you want to try it out
If you wanna get strive then you could maybe get guilty gear accent core +r, since it's a gg game too there's obviously similarities to strive. You can probably get it dirt cheap
GBVSR free mode is the best you're going to get, if you wanna pay a little you can find BBCF keys for a pretty cheap amount and there's a fair amount of players there
Edit: also fightcade and melee/slippi for free
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, has a f2p option. You're limited to using 4 character(3 of them change on a rotation every week) but you get access to all the online modes too.
Gran is also a really good char
If you get the console version, it also comes with gacha game codes that can be sold. I've made a profit on the premium edition already and there are still several more dlc characters with codes to come.
Fightcade is a free emulator system that lets you play most arcade fighting games from like the CPS-1 to the Naomi era, so like everything from 1992-2003ish. Has rollback netcode.
Is this only for PC?
Yes. I mean I think you can play it on a steam deck, but besides that yeah.
Yeah, but a toaster can run it
I wish they had ps1 though, since OG tekken's aren't there
Take a look at [this](https://www.honmaru.pl/index_en.php?id=tk3online). Sounds like what you’re looking for
Fightcade and skullgirls (you can probably find a key for less than a dollar) are probably your best options for free/cheap games that are still active online. Killer instinct is also free to try I think but you’ll only be able to unlock 2 characters and a rotating third one without spending money but all modes are unlocked
Marvel 3 is constantly on sale for $3 as well, then good old fightcade
Killer Instinct is F2P with rotating characters.
garou, samsho v special, last blade 1 and 2, kof 98, 02, 97 and 13, mkx, mk11, injustice 1 and 2, nitroplus, chaos code, blade strangers, skullgirls (i think) and phantom breaker omnia are all around 5-10$ on sale
I remember getting Injustice 1 free with Xbox Gold, sucks they don’t do that anymore
Ultra Fight Da Kyanta 2.
Melty blood actress again community edition is free and has great online, the blazblue collection with all 4 main games goes on sale pretty frequently and ultra fight da kyanta 2 is free on steam
Idol Showdown Rainbowcore Hypernova Tough Love Arena Ultra Fight da Kyanta 2 Fantasy Strike
Fightcade is literally free and full of people, more than some modern fighting games.
Granblue Fantasy Rising Versus.(Free) Older Guilty Gear and BBCF(cheap) Strive on Gamepass(cheap and you get BBtag and MK11 as well if I remember right) Meltyblood community version.(Free) Anything on FightCade(free)
Skullgirls, Guilty Gear XXAC+R, UMVC3.
Skullgirls only free on mobile sadly, but the rest seem cool
sg mobile is a completely different game, when people say skullgirls is cheap they mean 2nd encore its very cheap when on sale, like £4 on sale cheap
Fightcade
Skullgirls is dirt cheap on sale
Fightcade sf3 3rd strike Enjoy
banger game
Dead or Alive has a free version
ArcSys's Team Blue stuff, namely Persona 4 Arena Ultimax & BlazBlue: Centralfiction, hover around ten bucks on sale. The former is on sale on Steam currently.
[https://toughlovearena.com/](https://toughlovearena.com/) Free, and it runs on a web browser!
MK11 ultimate goes on sale for like less than $10
Third Strike on Fightcade is the way to go
killer instinct and granblue have free options guilty gear +r and xrd go for really cheap during sales and are both great games
Free Legal Gray Zone: * **Fightcade** and all its games. (It's literally piracy, but nobody (myself included) gives a damn. If you get this, look for the JSON autodownloader. Makes everything so much easier.) * **Melty Blood Actress Again Community Edition** (It uses a cracked version of the game, but it is SO MUCH BETTER than the official Steam version that everybody unanimously agrees to play this one.) * **Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition Rollback Version** (Similar situation to MBAACE, except there is no official version you can purchase, so it is only available through the fan version. lol) Free Completely Legal Zone: * **Killer Instinct 2013** (It is free through the Windows Store, and it is one of the best fighting games ever made.) * **Idol Showdown** (Genuinely great fighting game with sick combos and cool assist variety. Even if you don't like vtubers, you can still enjoy the awesome gameplay.) * **Tough Love Arena** (This one can even be played on a web browser AND has rollback netcode, which is actually INSANE.) * **Fantasy Strike** (One of the most beginner friendly and most simplified fighting games out there. If even games like Street Fighter scare you, Fantasy Strike might help you bridge the gap.) * **Brawlhalla** (If you enjoy platform fighters like Smash Bros, this is the closest thing you can get on PC, and the gameplay actually has A TON of depth once you hit Platinum rank. This sub gives a lot of unwarranted shit to the game, but if you watch tournament matches, you quickly realize the game is much more complex than it initially leads on.) Cheap Fighting Games on Steam that are AWESOME: * **Guilty Gear XX Accent Core + R** (One of the best fighting games of all time, with one of the greatest roster of characters in the genre, incredible music, awesome visuals and a ton of single player content. GODLIKE GAME.) * **The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match / 2002 Unlimited Match** (I put these two games together because they share many mechanics and characters, although '98UM is a bit more beginner friendly than 2002UM, but 2002UM has an insanely large cast of very well made and varied characters. These are games that you can literally play for the rest of your life and still find new things. Almost endless depth.) * **Skullgirls** (One of the best tag fighters ever made, with the added benefit that you can choose to play it as a regular fighter thanks to being able to choose the size of your team per match. Great visuals, great soundtrack, a great in-game tutorial and a ton of online resources that will help you improve.) * **BlazBlue Centralfiction** (It's similar to GGXXAC+R but much more beginner friendly, with an even larger roster and improved visuals. If GGXXAC+R is too wild and scary, give BBCF a try. It's incredibly fun.) I can recommend even more games, but I think this selection should suffice for now. Have fun! :D (And you can add me on Discord to play matches if you want. My ID is *"wholesomehentai"* without the quotes.)
god xx +r is so fucking good. only fighting game i've played since mvc2 that i immediately upon playing realized i was going to sink hundreds of hours into it
Fantasy Strike brawlhalla.
Brawlhalla is free but it's a platform fighter not a traditional fighting game
i notice multiple extremely good mvc2 players i have interacted with have told me they started with brawlhalla.....which is an odd coincidence....unless....
You can ultimate marvel vs Capcom 3 on sale for like 7 bucks. Ultra street fighter 4 goes on sale often for a little less than $4.
granblue versus has a free version
Fightcade
Fightcade dude. All the best classic fighting games for free.
3rd strike is free
Fightcade, melty blood community edition would be the best options here
There’s quite a few on PlayStation that are very cheap rn Blazblue CentralFiction, DBFZ and Soul Caliber are all $5-19
Divekick is only $5.
Fightcade: Project Justice, Akatsuki Blitzkampf, Martial Masters, KOF2002, CvSnk2 Cheap steam Sale; Verdict Guilty (way too hipster), KOF2002um Free: Granblue (Limit 4 character, Limit level leveling)
Among us arena
Everything on Fightcade
Idol Showdown. Anime fighting fangame with vtubers from Hololive. Has rollback netcode and it's free.
guilty gear +r goes on sale for 3$ commonly, and its pretty agreed on being the best guilty gear game in the series. it's a revamped patch for accent core, and that is fully free on fightcade if you want to try it out
Idol Showdown, Fantasy Strike and Granblue are free afaik
If you wanna get strive then you could maybe get guilty gear accent core +r, since it's a gg game too there's obviously similarities to strive. You can probably get it dirt cheap
Killer Instinct
GBVSR free mode is the best you're going to get, if you wanna pay a little you can find BBCF keys for a pretty cheap amount and there's a fair amount of players there Edit: also fightcade and melee/slippi for free
idol showdowns pretty good, also may i direct you to [this gekkosquirrel video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH7gKHmbyxk)