Street Fighter 5 Fight Money guide: all missions, extra battle, grinding EXP and other tips for earning FM

Earning Street Fighter 5's fight money will let you get new characters, stages and more – plus you can now wager it in extra battle. You're going to need to save up.

As it enters its third year and the launch of Street Fighter 5 Arcade Edition, Capcom's flagship fighting game has an enormous amount of content to explore. There's the stuff you get on the disc or in your download including a wide range of characters, single-player arcade, story and challenge modes, online modes and more – but beyond that there's plenty of optional content. To get your hands on new stages, costumes and even characters for free, you'll need Fight Money.

The Fight Money system in Street Fighter 5 works a little like you'd expect such a system to work in a free-to-play game. The theory is this: once you've purchased one version of SF5, that's the only version of the game you'll ever need. Everything added to the game that impacts gameplay will be a free update – and if it isn't entirely free, you'll be able to purchase it with Fight Money, in-game currency that you earn simply by playing.

If you want to get your hands on Sagat this year, for instance, you can either save up enough fight money to buy him or if you prefer pick him up as regular, cash-paid DLC. Simple, right?

Fight Money can also be spent in a variety of other ways – on additional stages, new character costumes, alternate colors for the costumes you already own plus more cosmetic things like extra packs of background music for battles and profile designs to show off when somebody looks up your Capcom Fighters Network profile.

The catch with Fight Money is that it's actually quite hard to come by. This guide page exists to help you out if you're trying to figure out what the best way to earn or grind Fight Money is – this'll help you to fill your account, and once you do, you can go on a DLC spending spree – though you'll need to pick and choose carefully if you don't plan to spend any real money.

The best ways to earn Fight Money in Street Fighter 5 Arcade Edition

Here's how to stock up on Fight Money in SF5 by playing through regular modes without any specific considerations and without worrying about missions…
Level up Characters for 1000FM per level

The most natural and regular way of earning Fight Money in Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition is to level up your characters. Every single one of the game's cast has their own unique character level on your account, and the more you use a character the higher their character level will climb. Each time you gain enough experience points and level a character up you'll be rewarded with 1000 Fight Money.

There's now a lot of modes in Street Fighter 5, and more or less everything you can do with any given character will earn you experience and thus in turn Fight Money. The base game has 16 characters you can level up, while Arcade Edition has 28 out of the box with another 6 coming this year – so that's a lot of potential for leveling up.

You can get EXP through pretty much everything any character can do. Character Trials will earn you EXP, as will even watching the hands-off Character Demonstrations in the Trials section. Character Stories and Survival Mode on each difficulty for each character will also reward varying amounts of EXP. Try to complete every character demonstration and trial for maximum EXP, and if you're really desperate hit up Survival Mode – the higher the difficulty, the more EXP you'll be given at the end of it.

Online battles, too, will gift you experience – and keep an eye out for special Extra Battles, as some of these will give you tens of thousands of experience in exchange for winning a single hard AI battle.

Fight Money from Character Stories – and a note on other the Cinematic Story

Back in the regular, vanilla version of Street Fighter 5 completing modes like the Character Story or the General Cinematic Story would net you a one-time Fight Money bonus. This is no longer the case in arcade edition, but as mentioned above Character Story modes will level up a level 0, unused character significantly.

Completing the character story of every single character included in Arcade Edition will net you 200,000 Fight Money just from how much they level up alone. Keep this in mind. The same rules apply to survival mode.

The removal of the raw one-time fight money bonus from Cinematic Story Mode means there's no actual reward for playing that mode any more, since it's one of the few modes in the game that doesn't reward character EXP.

Earning Fight Money via Missions

Street Fighter 5 is a sort of ‘game as service' game, meaning Capcom's always behind-the-scenes tweaking and changing things to keep players on their toes. One thing that changes regularly are Missions, which can be found under the Challenge part of the main menu and are shown to you every time you boot the game as a reminder.

Missions are exactly what you'd expect: small tasks that when completed have a Fight Money bounty. All missions are limited time and when one expires a new one will appear, so completing all of these as they arise is a great way to rack up a lot of Fight Money.

Sometimes these are simple, asking you to do something like play a particular mode or perform a particular action within a match. Some are more cryptic, giving you a clue and leaving you to figure out exactly how to complete it. Thankfully, we're here to assist with that –

Character Story Missions

• Shibasaki's First Request
  
  This one is found in Dhalsim's character story in the chapter when he fights R. Mika. Go through the scene, beat Mika, and in the post-fight story sequence you'll complete this mission.
• Sakura's Urgent Errand
  
  To complete this challenge, you simply need to open up the character stories and pick Karin. In her epilogue Sakura makes an appearance, and seeing that completes this challenge.
• Remember That Dress?
  
  The trigger for unlocking this challenge can be found in the epilogue chapter of Ken's character story in Story Mode.
• The Rumored Four Kings Statue
  
  In the Story Mode menu select Character Story and pick M. Bison. Play through the battles and story sequences to complete this mission.
  

Stage KO and Interaction Missions

• Come One, Come All
  
  In Versus Mode go to the Bustling Side Street Stage. Knock your opponent out at the end of any round on the left-hand side of the stage. This will open up the restaurant, and when the match ends this challenge will be completed.
• Blunder Bus
  
  In Versus Mode go to the Bustling Side Street stage and knock your opponent out at the end of a round on the far right edge of the stage. They'll be knocked into the bus, completing this mission once the match ends.
• Safety Measures
  
  Once again head to Bustling Side Street in Versus Mode. On the left side of the stage there's a large, breakable neon sign. It has five sections, and you'll want to break them all by using attacks and knocking your opponent down near the sign. Complete the match to verify this mission's completion.
• Respectful Spectating
  
  For this challenge head to Versus Mode and go to the Underground Arena stage. There's a bear in the background here. Friendly chap. If you score knock-downs near the bear (IE sweep the opponent's legs out from under them), eventually he'll react to that – and when he sits down, finish the match to complete the challenge.
• You Toucan Be Friends
  
  In Versus Mode head to Hillside Plaza as your stage. There's some Toucans in the background. Score enough knock-downs near them and they'll react, like the bear in Respectful Spectating. Close out the match and the mission will clear.
• A Game of Push and Pull
  
  Head to the City In Chaos stage in Versus Mode. There's a red vehicle in the background that's flipped over. Score knock-downs near that vehicle until it reacts in a big way, and then finish the match. Challenge complete!
• No Work And All Play
  
  In Versus Mode load up the regular version of City in Chaos in NYC. Head to the far right of the stage – there's an NPC drinking near a fire hydrant. Knock over your opponent near the fire hydrant until it bursts. Finish the match to complete the mission.
• Special Move Sensation
  
  Load up Versus Mode and head to the regular version of the Kanzuki Estate. You're going to want to set the match to 5 to have the best chance of getting this one right. On the stage there's three ninjas in the background, and your aim is trigger their animations. This is most easily done by using a special move. They'll animate differently if you're successful – I was able to get it by using Cammy's Spiral Arrow to knock down. When the match is completed, the ninjas will slide down a rope in the background. The mission will be complete.
• Ishizaki's Appeal
  
  Go to Versus Mode and load up the regular version of the Kanzuki Estate stage. Head to the far right and you'll find the chef. When you knock your opponent down near them, they react. Score enough knockdowns and the maid will hit the chef with her tray. Finish your match to claim your fight money.
• Funny Guy
  
  It's off to England we go – in Versus Mode, load up Union Station. Move to the far left of the stage and you'll see a janitor in the background. Keep knocking your opponent down near him until he's shocked and falls, his head landing in his bucket. Mission complete – you'll get paid when you finish the match.
• A Short Tailed Bat Colony
  
  In Versus Mode head to the regular version of the Forgotten Waterfall stage. In the far right corner of the stage there's a cave-like opening. Keep knocking your opponent down over here and eventually bats will fly out of the cave. Complete the match.
• Datta's Wish
  
  In Versus Mode pick Dhalsim and head to Apprentice Alley. Win the match – it's that simple!
• Sleeping Dog
  
  Select Versus Mode and then pick the Apprentice Alley stage. On the left of the screen there's a sleeping dog. Knock down your opponent near him repeatedly to wake it up.
• It's Only Missile Disarmament
  
  Go to the Shadaloo Base stage in Versus Mode. On the far right of the stage there's a cache of missiles. score knockdowns near the missiles to force them to accidentally launch. Once all four launch (this doesn't have to be in one round), the mission will complete once the match is over.
• We Salute Thee, Four Kings
  
  In Versus Mode pick one of the four kings of Shadaloo – FANG, Vega, Balrog or M. Bison and battle on the Shadaloo Base stage. Win a match and the guys in the background will salute, completing this challenge.
  

Extra Battle Mode: wager down for big FM and EXP prizes

Extra Battle mode is another one of those rolling update elements of Street Fighter 5. Unlike the Missions above they change far less frequently, however – Capcom is currently promising that missions will roll over with new rewards monthly. As well as the option to earn unique Capcom crossover costumes that can't be picked up any other way (You can dress Rashid as Viewtiful Joe, for instance, or Nash as Captain Commando) some of these missions also provide massive experience or Fight Money rewards.

There's a catch here: you have to actually pay fight money to enter these battles. The fight against Shin Akuma pictured above, for instance, requires you to put down 1000 Fight Money to even face him – and that's the cost per attempt. He's a super hard AI enemy, but if you can take him down you'll be rewarded with a unique title you can use on your online profile and 10,000 EXP – enough to surely give you a fair bit of Fight Money from character level gains.

Some challenges will be multi-part, requiring you to beat multiple opponents over the course of a couple of weeks before you get the full rewards. Keep an eye on this section (found under the Challenges area of the main menu) and tackle any challenges you think you're able to for big rewards!

How much do things cost?

So,m you've earned fight money. Here's how much things cost in both Fight & Real Money:

• New Characters: 100,000 Fight Money / $5.99 / €5.99 / £4.99 (or all six for $39.99 / €39.99 / £24.99 in Season Pass)
• New Stages: 70,000 Fight Money / $3.99 / €3.99 / £3.29
• Story Mode Costumes: 40,000 Fight Money / $1.99 / €1.99 / £1.69
• Stage Variations: 40,000 Fight Money / $1.99 / €1.99 / £1.69
• Costume Colours: 2000, 5000 or 10,000 Fight Money
• Profile Titles: 5000 Fight Money
• Profile Designs: 5000 Fight Money