With all the big gaming news and upcoming titles, fighter fans may have missed a quick but crucial announcement and teaser from Capcom: Street Fighter is officially returning with Street Fighter 6, with Ryu and new character Luke taking center stage and a whole new look for the classic fighting game’s graphics. It’s good timing, too, as the Street Fighter franchise turns 35 this year and is ready for a big comeback (Street Fighter 5 launched more than six years ago in 2016).
Interested in learning more? Wondering if SF6 will be coming to your console? Capcom’s going to be dropping more info in 2022, and we’ll make sure to keep you updated with all the latest news. For now, here’s everything we know and what you can expect.
Capcom’s big reveal
Following a brief countdown in February 2022, Capcom released a teaser trailer officially announcing the upcoming Street Fighter 6, featuring a pose-off between Ryu and Luke, presumably before a battle. For long-term fans of the series, the trailer was particularly interesting for a few reasons, notably:
- New character Luke gets a lot of screentime in the teaser. That may be confusing since he was only added in one of the very last updates made to Street Fighter 5 in late 2021. However, the DLCs have given Luke a lot of attention and were clearly setting him up to be a part of Street Fighter’s future, possibly with a major storyline moving forward. That seems even more likely now — but don’t worry, Ken and the gang will all still be there at launch.
- It’s unclear if the graphics used in the trailer reflect the graphics that will be in gameplay (there seemed to be slightly too much detail, but it’s possible), but either way, it indicates a shift. The models are more realistic, Ryu looks older (and bearded, a look Capcom has tried out before), and the franchise as a whole seems to be moving from the ink brush style that defined many previous entries.
Release date
While we don’t have a firm date yet, it seems Capcom certainly does. Following the teaser release, the company announced that more news would be coming in summer 2022 (possibly E3), mostly likely including firm release dates.
Previous rumors have said that Street Fighter 6 was originally delayed, possibly because of COVID or because of an internal shake-up that changed the direction of the game. Those rumors also indicate that the title will be released in the third quarter of 2022, with major updates planned for 2023 and 2024 as well. This timeline currently checks out.
Gameplay
We don’t know a lot about the gameplays yet, although a lot more information will be coming out this summer. But we will point out two important pieces of info. First, the rumors we mentioned before from sources like AestheticGamer claimed that the title was delayed to make some changes in how gameplay worked. There was a lot of focus on a team play mechanic, apparently something like the tag-team systems seen in games like Marvel vs. Capcom, but testers really didn’t like it. It is possible that tag teams will still show up in some form.
Second, last year, one of the final updates to Street Fighter 5 added a new mechanic called V-Shift (an addition to the other V-Skills rolled out with the game). It was a defensive back dash that players could use to escape an attack and momentarily slow their opponent, opening them up for a counterattack or allowing the player to escape a throw – at the cost of one V-Gauge. It had plenty of tournament potential, and it’s likely that Capcom will bring it to SF6 in some form.
Roster news
If you remember, Street Fighter 5 had a lot of ongoing DLC back in the day, with many new and returning characters added. That eventually added up to a total of 46 playable characters, more than any other game in the franchise before. Capcom has indicated that gamers can expect an even larger roster for Street Fighter 6 and that it would again be a mix of old and new characters. This is also likely to happen in an extended rollout, so don’t expect every option on day one.
Platform support
There’s no specific news on platform support yet. PlayStation fans can probably rest easy, as Street Fighter traditionally shows up on Sony’s console without any fuss. Xbox owners need to be more wary: Street Fighter 5 was a PlayStation exclusive and not available on Xbox. A lot of time has passed since then, but Sony may be looking to get as many exclusives as it can, and we aren’t sure what arrangements Capcom has made so far.
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