How to Play No Filter Fighters
A one-on-one 2D fighter with a sidekick assist. If you have played any fighting game before, the structure will be familiar; if you have not, this page covers what you need for your first hour.
Step 1: Get the game running
- Use a desktop browser if you can — Chrome, Edge or Firefox, with a real keyboard.
- Open the game from the creator's itch.io page (see where to play). The first load takes a while because the build is large.
- Do not switch tabs while it loads — the browser may pause the tab and stall the download.
- On a phone or tablet, turn the screen sideways. Touch buttons appear on their own.
Step 2: Learn the controls
These are the default keys from the creator's itch.io page. Any key or button can be remapped in Settings. Controllers work after you press a button once so the game detects them.
| Action | Player 1 | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Move / jump / crouch | W A S D | Arrow keys |
| Attacks | F G V B | J K M , |
| Special | H | L |
| Supers | T / Y | I / O |
| Sidekick | C | . (period) |
| Pause | Esc | Esc |
On PC downloads, F11 or Alt+Enter toggles fullscreen. Esc / Start opens pause: Resume, Restart or Quit to Menu.
Step 3: Understand the modes
| Mode | Players | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Story | 1 | First run. Dialogue between fights, shows the roster. |
| Arcade | 1 | Learning a new character against a fixed ladder. |
| Versus | 2 (local) | Same keyboard or two controllers. |
| Training | 1 | Repeating a combo and reading the move list. |
| CPU Showcase | — | Watching the CPU so you can see a character first. |
| Online Versus | 2 | A friend with a room code. Not a huge public pool. |
Step 4: The habits that matter
Pick a fighter and a different sidekick
Every match uses two names on your side. The same character cannot be both. If you only remember one face from the show, make that the fighter and pick anyone else as the assist.
Block first, attack second
In every fighting game, the player who blocks well beats the player who attacks fast. Holding back to block costs nothing; eating a heavy hit costs a chunk of your health bar. Spend your first few matches mostly blocking and watching what your opponent does.
Stop jumping
New players jump constantly, and jumping is the most punishable thing you can do — you are committed, in the air, and unable to block. Walk forward instead. You will lose fewer rounds immediately.
Learn one character, not all eleven
Character knowledge matters more than roster breadth. Pick one fighter — Martin Payne is the straightforward choice — and play twenty matches with them before switching. You will learn the move timing, which is the actual skill.
Common problems
The game does not load
Almost always a tab that was backgrounded during the download. Close it, reopen the game, and leave the tab focused until the title screen appears.
Online matches will not connect
Online Versus uses a room code. You need the other person online at the same time. It is not a large matchmaking pool.
The game stutters
Close other tabs and anything else using the GPU. Browser fighters are heavier than they look. On the PC zip, the creator includes a compatibility-mode launcher if the window opens black.
Windows blocked the .exe
The downloadable build is an unsigned indie zip. The creator's instructions are: More info, then Run anyway. Only do that for the file you got from the itch.io page, not from a random host.