“I really want to make Street Fighter a game that everyone can play, like it used to be,” producer and series veteran Shuhei Matsumoto tells the Guardian. Offering a radical overhaul to its controls, Street Fighter 6 is a more accessible twist on the fireball-throwing fighting spectacle. A beginner-friendly control option ditches the classic six-button setup of high and low punches and kicks in favor of a simpler three-button structure, allowing first-time users to pull off a Shoryuken without spending months developing muscle memory. But, wisely, this new control method is completely optional: veterans can still get their KOs the old way. “This is our idea for Street Fighter 6: we must not only meet the needs of hardcore fighting game fans, casual fighting players and those who love the world and characters of Street Fighter, but also players who are thinking of start with this new game,” says Matsumoto. Street Fighter’s fiction and characters – which have been mostly explored in manga and anime spin-offs, so far, rather than the games themselves – actually take center stage in an interesting new story-driven adventure mode inspired by the classic Shenmue Dreamcast. “The game expands beyond fighting and includes a World Tour mode, where you can explore the game world,” says Takayuki Nakayama, director of Street Fighter 6. Instead of fighting a series of opponents in a tournament, the World Tour Tour has players guiding a custom fighter, for example, through the graffiti-covered streets of Metro City. “I felt like most Street Fighter games in the past were only able to offer a versus mode and a training mode,” adds Nakayama. “So I wanted to approach SF6 as if it were content in relation to the final game, and before you get into that, you’d have an introduction to the world of Street Fighter… a way to experience the game.” Get your kicks… Juri gives his take on Street Fighter 6. Photo: Capcom This contrasts favorably with the offline experience offered by Street Fighter V, which launched without even a single-player arcade mode. It wasn’t until years later that the V had enough content to justify its hefty £49.99 price tag. “I know we have to make sure the amount of content in the game is satisfactory,” Nakayama says, when asked what lessons have been learned. “One of the lessons of SFV was that communication with fans is key,” adds Matsumoto. “For SF6 we definitely want to make sure players get a very clear message from the director and development team about what we’re doing and what we want to achieve.” As one of the first proper competitive video games, Street Fighter should also be one of the most popular esports in the world. Thanks to their massive health bars, mesmerizing attacks, and simple 1v1 format, fighting games are contests that casual viewers can instantly understand. However, even so, viewership numbers for beat’em ups lag far behind shooters like Call of Duty and Fortnite. Is this something the creators of Street Fighter 6 want to pursue? Here to spray… Kimberly is one of the new characters in Street Fighter 6. Photo: Capcom “I think the immediacy and readability of fighting games makes them ideal for esports. But I don’t think the fighting genre necessarily needs to be the most popular in the world to have a meaningful impact,” says Matsumoto. “I’m happy that we have a large fan base and fighting game community that have been playing the games for years and will continue to do so as we release them. I am grateful for the support of the FGC [fighting game community] … that’s all I need!” Street Fighter 6 is still a year away from release, so much of Capcom’s colorful fight remains a mystery – leaving the internet to spawn its own fun theories. Thanks to snippets of dialogue from the trailers – and a particularly distressed redesign of the iconic character, Ken – fans have come to the conclusion that his old rival Ryu stole his wife. While the developers have unfortunately declined to comment on the “Hot Ryu v Divorcee Ken” meme, something like this is creating a buzz in the gaming world. “I really think we’re making a new kind of Street Fighter in SF6,” says Matsumoto. For the first time in decades, Street Fighter feels unpredictable again.
