The best fighting games for beginners: From button-masher to combo-crasher

No fighting game can come out without accessibility features nowadays. It’s a common trend, and it makes sense to bring new people into the fighting game community (FGC). Increasing sales is also a good idea. However, fighting games for beginners can not afford to be just casual, superficial. The core player base is filled with dedicated competitors, and they require depth of mechanics and a variety of available tools for proper fighting creativity.

Therefore, every new game of the fighting genre tries to keep this balance: easy for newcomers and deep for seasoned players. Not every title does this job flawlessly. Some fighting games are more beginner-friendly than others.

We list and rank them in this article. You’ll find here an explanation of what these games do right and wrong for beginners. Some general tips will help you make the choice: what to actually play here and now.

Being a good fighting game for beginners means a few aspects.

All great FGC legends were beginners at some point. Many of them played games with no accessibility features at all: it was rather “adapt or die”. But they were motivated to play and get better. This motivation is key!

Sure, it’s different for different people. But the core point is to choose a game that you find interesting. It should motivate you to jump in and play.

“Oh, this is an easier game for beginners, so I’ll start with it and then go for that dope fighter” — it doesn’t work. Choose whatever you like more and start with that game.

The aspects to pay attention to are the following.

Quite often, no extra reasoning is needed. You see the game, and you want to play it. Our list just highlights beginner-friendly fighting games and explains the best approach to them for newcomer players.

In this section, you’ll find our ranked list of the best fighting games for beginners. The descriptions highlight clear pros and cons specifically for newcomers.

It’s arguably the easiest fighting game to learn. Fun in Granblue Versus starts from the very beginning!

Pros. The game is one of the first to introduce a full-fledged simplified input, where all Specials and Supers can be performed easily. It is still one of the best systems, as players can use both input types simultaneously or switch one off. 

The mechanics are generally straightforward and understandable. It feels great to be in these matches and see your characters doing cool stuff. Combos are not too hard to link, auto-combos help beginners a lot, the movement is fluid, and the fight pace is captivating.

The depth is also here. GBVS Rising is part of the official esports league Arc World Tour. 

Cons. Not everyone likes this splashy anime style, which makes the game somewhat niche. 

As a consequence of this, the player base is smaller than in other big modern titles. You can still find opponents easily in most countries and during busy gaming periods. This con affects players in non-crowded regions.

Characters to play: Gran, Djeeta, Katalina, Anila, Siegfried, and Lancelot.

The entire Mortal Kombat series blessed us with some of the best beginner fighting games. The developers emphasize other aspects, like a spectacular show and a variety of content, not the difficulty of input or combos. MK1 follows this tradition.

Pros. It’s the best game to mash buttons: you learn quickly, even with this method. Mortal Kombat 1 strongly relies on an intuitive approach, and it provides players with a cinematic story to practice and get entertained.

The combo method is based on pressing relatively simple sequences of buttons. The input window is super forgiving, so newcomers should only remember what to press.

Cons. MK1 has a system of assist-characters, or kameo fighters, which extends possibilities in matches but adds a layer of extra complexity.

The blood is all over the place. The Mortal Kombat violence is exaggerated like usual, and not everyone likes watching skulls crushed and… well, you get the point.

The future content is questionable, which makes MK1 less appealing. The announcement of Kombat Pack 3 solves this issue.

Characters to play: Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, Raiden, Sub-Zero, and Scorpion.

Even the beta-test periods proved that the newest Fatal Fury game wants to be the best of two worlds: accessible for beginners and deep for the core FGC players. It’s easy to see that they did the first part of this plan quite well.

Pros. The game has its own simplified input: the Smart Controls in Fatal Fury COTW are among the best in the industry. You can perform any normal and move with it. All sorts of deep mechanics are also possible on Smart.

Some brilliant additions to the roster blow minds and make the game interesting for gamers far beyond the FGC. Having Cristiano Ronaldo as a fighting game character? This sounds surreal, but it’s true.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves has a universally beautiful style, and it did not fall into any niche categories. It’s a great-looking game!

Cons. The Smart Controls work differently from those in Granblue, and input errors are possible.

The other part of the balance, the depth of mechanics, is still pretty overwhelming. REV Guard, REV Blow, Dodge: Beginners may get somewhat confused. Some practice is needed to feel the game.

Characters to play: Rock Howard, Terry Bogard, Preecha, Mai, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

It’s a great classic of the fighting games genre. Street Fighter 6 took a big step toward accessibility, but the title remains rather complicated nevertheless.

Pros. Beginners to fighting games can avoid using Classic Controls and perform all sorts of Specials and Supers with one-button input. Modern controls open the miracles of Street Fighter for the vast audience of gamers.

The World Tour mode introduces fighting options and character features gradually. The adventure is quite a revolutionary part of the SF6 experience. It’s excellent for newcomers!

The variety of tutorials and combo trials will teach any player all sorts of tricks.

Cons. Many of the advantages of SF6 have their downsides. Modern Controls do not let players choose the strength of Normal attacks. Input errors with the Special + direction button are present in fact-paced matches.

A good portion of dedication is needed to make it through combo trials and tutorials. The input window in Street Fighter 6 is strict, so combos are more difficult than in other beginner-friendly fighting games, especially on the Classic Controls.

SF6 is quite complicated, even with the accessibility features. You may want to check out our Street Fighter 6 beginner guide to know the easiest way to learn the game. 

Characters to play: Lily, Marisa, Luke, Ken, Cammy, and E. Honda.

When the game was released, it blew up as a cool-looking beginner-friendly anime fighter. Later on, Guilty Gear Strive received layers of weirdness, traditional for this series, but the main accessibility features are still here.

Pros. Simple strings are universal among the characters. Beginners can easily connect Slash to Heavy Slash or do Crouching-to-Standing Normals.

The game has a special pace: quick and satisfying. You fill the rhythm, you win matches: this principle works for beginners, too.

The ranked system is effective, and it’s a rare occasion to face overpowered opponents in this mode.

Guilty Gear Strive is especially beautiful visually!

Cons. Beyond the Normals, it may be difficult to create effective combos. The input windows are more flexible and forgiving than in Street Fighter, but performing Supers at the end requires thorough practice. The lack of simplified inputs becomes a pain for beginners.

Alongside pretty straightforward characters, Guilty Gear Strive has lots of complicated anime fighters, like Happy Chaos, Asuka, and Venom. This limits the choice for beginners. Also, you need to figure out how to fight against those guys.

The story mode is just an anime that does not teach anything about the fighting mechanics. The arcade mode has a difficulty spike at the end, which may feel devastating.

Characters to play: Ky, Sol, Giovanna, I-No, and Leo.

The game mixes super accessible tools and quite a few complicated aspects. There is a substantial gap between the absolute beginner level and rather skilled players. Because of it, we put TEKKEN 8 somewhat lower in our list of the best FGC games for newcomers.

Pros. It is easy to start playing TEKKEN 8 thanks to the Special Style. You don’t need to know specific moves or even the basic principles of this game. Mash buttons, be happy.

TEKKEN 8 has a decent Arcade Quest that teaches some mechanics. The story mode is traditionally epic!

Cons. Transition from the Special Style to full control can be devastating. All TEKKEN 8 characters have so many moves that it’s daunting to figure out what to use. Remembering the move lists is a task on its own.

The 3D movement is not as fluid as in Soulcalibur; sidesteps are an extra layer of complexity in the entire TEKKEN series.

The Ranked mode experience can be truly painful in T8 due to the number of overpowered players on lower ranks. Season 2 changes to how the ranked system in TEKKEN 8 works somewhat solve this aspect, but it still exists.

Characters to play: Jin, Paul, Azucena, Jun, and Leo.

One specific aspect makes this fighting game beginner-friendly. It even covers the difficult sides of the KOF XV.

Pros. Auto-combos in this game are the best in the genre. Sure, you just mash a button. But at the end, you can press another one to select a specific ending, like a Super move you want to use right now. If not, keep mashing, and the game will select a move you have resources for.

It is impossible to win matches on the auto-combo only. But thanks to it, beginners can focus on movement, defense, blockstring, etc.

Cons. Having three characters in a team requires learning them all. The basic patterns of Specials are very similar to each other, but you still should know what different characters can do and how to combine their abilities for a good team composition.

No simplified controls are available in KOF XV, and you learn quarter-circles and charging inputs for Specials in Neutral: for example, to shoot a projectile from a distance.

KOF XV suffers in the player base dimension: it is inconsistent in different regions. In some countries, you can easily find an opponent. In others, the search is pointless. A good netcode is savory, but you may need to consider the most popular playing times, like weekends and evenings.

Characters to play: Terry Bogard, King, Mai, Rock Howard, Iori, Kyo, Joe Higashi, and Ryo.

Dragon Ball FighterZ is one of the most accessible and fun fighting games for beginners. Thanks to the latest patch, it’s even better for casual players: lots of attacks can be linked to each other.

The problem is that the player base is relatively small now, and joining the community may be difficult. Others can also link attacks to destroy you.

The sub-genre has a layer of complexity with assist and tag-team mechanics. These games are usually much faster, and you need to follow this pace.

DBFZ is still a great way to explore tag-team fighting games while we wait for Hunter x Hunter Nen Impact and 2XKO.

Playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Brawlhalla is also a fighting game experience, but it comes with unique features. You need to launch your opponents into oblivion instead of destroying their health bar. The airplay is much stronger here.

The good thing is that you open such a game, grab a controller, and you already play it. Everything is intuitive! After a short period of mashing buttons, you figure out the patterns. These are certainly good fighting games for beginners.

Brawlhalla is a very popular game, with many active players. SSBU gets no new content, but many people still play it a lot.

A big problem for many beginners in traditional fighting games is combos. They are cool, but it’s not easy to really land them — especially with classic input.

If you are ready to move from simplified controls to the full FGC experience, consider playing Melty Blood Type Lumina or Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes]. The input windows for combos in this game are extremely forgiving. Thanks to this, you can understand the basic principle and then do the same in your main game.

Melty Blood and UNI2 could also be named the easiest fighting games to learn. However, they are very niche. The number of active players is not big, and it’s not what beginners need.

Modern fighting games come with the crossplay feature, so it doesn’t really matter which game on what platform to play. Do whatever is better for you.

Fighting games on PC don’t have too big of a problem with cheats. If this happens to you, it’s not a common experience.

One console is not a recommended choice, though. The Nintendo Switch has no crossplay, and the number of active players in the available fighting games is not large. The release of Switch 2 may change the situation, with Street Fighter 6 coming to the system and Guilty Gear Strive already on it.

Hopefully, you can find your best game among these beginner-friendly titles! For all fighting games news and updates, stick around on esports.gg.