Street Fighter 6
Capcom, 2023
Perfect Street Fighter
We love to say that this isn’t your old man’s whatever whenever something has changed. As cliché as this is — and make no mistake this is cliché — Capcom’s newest entry in the old man fighting game that is Street Fighter isn’t your daddy’s Street Fighter. It isn’t even your brother’s Street Fighter, where he used to let you beat him up in versus mode and hit you with Flash Kicks to magically come back and win. No, this is the young man and casual’s Street Fighter. This is a new era of fighting designed to get everyone involved whether they’ve executed a Hadoken or not.
Street Fighter 6 came out with a fresh coat of paint, new mechanics but something different under the hood. It plays like Street Fighter V, but without the V‑Trigger mechanics. Now, it’s back to the basics and Drive Gauge, a new mechanic that can turn the tide of a battle quickly. The Drive Gauge rewards offense and creativity in combos while discouraging defensive turtling. This plays into the larger, established Street Fighter repertoire of super arts and parries. It’s nice for a veteran because it’s something new and good for newbies to the world of Street Fighter because it’s not super complicated to learn.
Something else new that benefits everyone is the introduction of three types of control schemes: Classic, Modern and Dynamic. Classic plays much like the old Street Fighter of yore with a six-button layout (Jab, Strong, Fierce, Short, Forward, Roundhouse), Modern has a simplified four-button layout (think Marvel vs. Capcom 2) and Dynamic is an offline only slant where the CPU chooses the most appropriate button presses for moves. It’s a strong, smart decision designed to open the door for more players to get involved in your long-running series that seems overwhelming and daunting at first.
Another smart decision included is the tutorial and variety of modes. SF6 does its darndest to have something for everyone, and it’s immediately seen in the modes available at the start. Fight Hub, a returning and revamped World Tour Mode and a robust training mode make this a massive buy and win for the fighting game connoisseur. Fight Hub is where you’ll probably spend most of your time; it’s where matchmaking takes place as well as emulated older versions of Street Fighter live.
However, I tend to live in World Tour Mode. As a devoted fan of the original mode (Editor’s note: See Issue 52 for our coverage of the popular mode from Street Fighter Alpha 3), as soon as it was announced I knew I was a day one purchase. And with more than two years of wheeling and dealing with my created character, I can enthusiastically say I love it. I enjoy running around the fleshed-out Metro City (of Final Fight fame) with my lookalike fighter. I love that they took the concept born of Alpha 3 and gave it a soul and personality after so many years, and I love that it’s easy to get into and plays as well as it does.
The beauty of this new chapter of Street Fighter also lies in the character and environment designs. Street Fighter has always looked nice and SF6 is no different. The stage design is gorgeous, and the character models look nice. Even the weird creations that can come out of World Tour Mode have a nice look to them. We spent time at GI going through some of the characters and just marveling over how far Street Fighter has come with character design because it’s evident in this game just in the character select screen. The newbies in Marisa, Manon, Kimberly, Lily and JP are fun and cool, and the older stalwarts like Ryu, Ken and Dhalsim look fantastic. The soundtrack, while lacking in some areas, does have some toe tappers. Though I’m not a fan of Juri, I love her theme and Luke’s has grown on me. I’m almost certain there will be more additions to my liking as more seasons are released and revisions are made.
While there is so much to like here, I do have some nitpicks to address. First, while I’m a fan of seeing familiar faces, there are so many returning folks that don’t need to be here. We are in a post-Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike land in-game story-wise, so why are we still dealing with M. Bison/Super Dead Dictator™? Capcom said he really was dead after the in-game events of Street Fighter V, so having him as DLC is unnecessary. Likewise, I don’t need to know what Akuma is up to. I want more of the 3rd Strike characters back and I want the mystery of G, my favorite Street Fighter character, solved. Also, Capcom better not give us a million paid revisions, either. They better roll out updates as free upgrades and act like they’ve learned their lesson during the past 34 years of Street Fighter II agency. I say this because I can see the writing on the wall, and I don’t want to have to pay for the next upgrade of the mainline series.
I love Street Fighter 6. I love seeing the plot payoff of older games (i.e. Li-Fen, the young girl in the intro of 3rd Strike, is here and older, which helps tie down when the game takes place), and I love to see the continuity of Street Fighter and other Capcom games coming together. I really enjoy playing SF6, it’s teaching this old dog new tricks and I find myself fully invested in the future of the granddaddy of fighting games more than ever.