Street Fighter 6 was an inevitability, but one that was being met with lackluster shrugs of indifference when its first trailer went live. A simple logo, series stalwart Ryu facing off against rookie sensation Luke, and some impressively detailed nipples made for an okay teaser, but it was missing a certain…something. For the most diehard of fans, Street Fighter 6’s announcement was the most momentous and important day of their lives. But for the rest of us, it was Tuesday.
Street Fighter V had launched with a noticeable lack of content and it needed years of updates to get into fighting shape, a far cry from the main event energy that Street Fighter IV threw out when it first hit the scene in 2008 and resurrected the fighting game genre for mainstream audiences. So how different will Street Fighter 6 be, in an age where competition is fierce and competitors are gunning for its throne?
The good news is that Street Fighter 6 feels like the shot in the arm that the series needed. It’s an injection of adrenaline, style, and attitude that works harmoniously with the strong fundamentals of the fighting game franchise. Even at this early stage of development, it feels like it’s in match-ready shape and it’s making all the right moves to build its fanbase beyond veterans who can reminisce about the glory days of the arcade scene before they’re shuffled back into their old-age home.
The king is back.
Street Fighter 6 looks, feels, and plays like a game where Capcom has paid careful attention to the elements that fans adored from previous games. It’s not pure fan service though, as a number of interesting mechanics have also been added in an effort to shake up the formula of two big beefy boys dropping concussions on each other, resulting in matches that are colorful explosions of skill and fun.
The biggest game-changer here is the Drive System, several gameplay ideas all governed by a Drive Gauge that can help you out of a pinch with offensive and defensive options. You’ll need to know exactly when to burn through this bar, but the flexibility it offers with parries, comebacks, and match-ending finishers is superb. Compared to Street Fighter V’s inflexible system, Street Fighter 6 shines with creative flair through the Drive System and its Swiss-Army knife approach to unleashing bruising combos.
Combat feels even more unpredictable, as grabbing that small window of opportunity when you’re being blasted with fists and Hadoukens feels fantastic when you bounce back. Absorbing hits, gambling on a comeback, and unleashing enhanced hell doesn’t just feel ridiculously sublime, it’s also more easily achievable thanks to a control scheme that levels the playing field.
Street Fighter veterans can still play with a classic setup that requires precise quarter-circle inputs and charge times, but the modern control scheme can make a novice feel like a seasoned Evo competitor. Special moves are mapped to Triangle / Y on your controller, the right trigger can help you land more complex combos, and pulling off a finisher requires holding down two buttons. It’s a simple, but startlingly effective design that makes every match look like an epic brawl directed by Gareth “The Raid” Edwards.
Button-mashing will get you a quick delivery of pound cake boots to your ass though, but even when you’re getting your face caved in, you can’t help but enjoy each match as you’re given a chance to throw some devastating haymakers with Street Fighter 6’s new systems. Combined with an amazing rollback netcode that feels like it has borderline zero lag – even when you’re fighting someone across the globe –Street Fighter 6 feels inviting and incredibly accessible for a whole new generation.
And that’s the key to success right there. Capcom is building a game that will appeal to longtime fans and newcomers, balancing on a fine line between respect for the past and exciting new ideas. Its hub is geared towards your progress on the world stage as you take a custom character across the globe. The character designs are as energetic as ever, and while it’s always comforting to have familiar friends in the form of Street Fighter icons such as Ryu, Guile, and Chun-Li, the next generation of world warriors feel more than ready to step up to the spotlight and take over as the new faces of the franchise.
Jaime, Kimberly, and Luke all have interesting quirks and special moves baked into their core design, creating brawlers who are layered and fresh in their approach to unleashing fist-to-face martial arts. Street Fighter 6 launches next year, but now that the closed beta is over, it’s going to be a torturous wait to lace up my boots and step into the ring again for what is looking to be a seismic shift for the franchise.