It seemed like all things were lining up for a character reveal of the next character for Street Fighter. Sadly, that didn’t happen. We did, however, get some great insight into how the modern control scheme and new commentator features are looking to further pull fans into the world of Street Fighter. On top of that, we also received our first look at three alternate costumes.
Street Fighter: Going Back to Its Roots
Hiroshi Mastumoto talked at length about the ties between Street Fighter and hip-hop. The Street Fighter creator explained how the series started to stray away from that a bit, but Street Fighter 6 is leaning into what made Street Fighter so popular early on. This is easily seen in the overall style and attitude with its booming soundtrack and street-art motif, even down to how the characters animate. Street Fighter 6 just exudes confidence.
How to Push The Genre Without Leaving Long Time Fans Behind
Jeremy “Vicious” Lopez, our moderator for the panel asked about how the team at Capcom looks to push the genre as Street Fighter always tries to do with each new entry. Matstumoto explained that the three new modes really feel like separate games in their own right and allow for different starting points for different players. Here is a run down on the modes and where you might start:
- Fighting Ground – This is your standard place to get acclimated with characters, practice and learn the ins and outs of the controls.
- World Tour – If you are new, he said this would be the perfect place to start. It’s a single player story mode that allows you to learn about the characters’ lore and begin to slowly get a grasp on how to play each character.
- Battle Hub – A more experienced player might start in the battle hub which will feature an enhanced online environment. They didn’t go into too much detail here, but they were clearly excited about this fleshing out online. I imagine we will get more info during Evo 2022 which is August 5 – 7.
How a Modern Control Scheme Can Create New Fans
A big point of contention in the fighting game scene has been the introduction of the modern control scheme. It is something we have questioned amongst ourselves at Dual Pixels since its reveal.
Kazuhiro Tsuchiya, producer of Street Fighter 6, went into details on why they created the modern control scheme. He said that the aim was to deliver an experience for all types of players to enjoy. Most old Street Fighter fans will do classic controls, but newcomers will go simplified to help with combos and specials. He specified that this is not an easy mode, but will still be acceptable in a competitive setting.
Bringing Pro Tour Excitement to Your Home
Another new feature added to SF6 was the inclusion of real-time commentary. The audio commentary will be in English by Jeremy “Vicious” Lopez and Japanese by Aru. In addition, it will be translated via subtitles in 13 different languages. Matsumoto said that he hopes this brings the excitement to playing at home and can actually work as an educational tool.
Character Costume Reveals
The big reveals at San Diego Comic Con were the reveals of four character costumes. Those can be seen below:
- Ryu in SF2 outfit with white gui and red headband/clean shaven
- Chun-li: Classic SF2 with her spiked bracelet and her classic taunt animation which includes hit detection!
- Guile: SF2 costume.
- Luke: A streetwear version where he actually has shoes!
- Jamie: Heavy emphasis on the importance of his chains. Maybe some easter eggs?