MerFight

I don't know much about fighting games, so I can't give a strong opinion regarding the systems or make comparisons. What I can say about Merfight is that its aquatic theme is original, it has some lore to justify the story mode with its characters and unlockable skins. Also, graphically looks nice, and the gameplay is entertaining (I press buttons and things happen). It also has online play, but I did not try it. I imagine that someone interested in that could buy it with a friend or even use Remote Play. For my part thumbs up, but just in case you have the demo to try for free.

I've been aware of Mattrified Games for a while, and liked what I played of Battle High 2+. This game could be considered an evolution of his previous efforts. This game's setting and roster fulfills a fantasy not represented in most other fighting games: aquatic people. And those characters are very unique and based on various seas creatures. The 3d models are a little basic, but with the outfits and fish features they make up for it. There are both decent single player offerings -- trials and multiple paths of story mode -- and online offerings -- strong netcode. Obviously there's offline versus too. You can unlock many cool costumes and colors in the single player modes, although some alternate costumes are already offered. It easy blows many AAA fighting game releases out of the water.