Street Fighter 6 was first revealed back in February 2022. The sixth entry in the franchise will mark more than 35 years of the long-running series. After a long period of silence, Capcom has been showing off more information starting with Sony’s 2022 State of Play event in early June 2022. There are some big changes coming, but when will they be here?
Street Fighter 6 Release Date
Street Fighter 6 will be released on June 2, 2023. Capcom previously announced it would release in the summer of 2023, so it’s still right on schedule.
The game has been a known quantity following a Capcom hack in late 2020, suggesting the project should be fairly deep in development at this point.
Street Fighter 6 Trailer
After teasing fans with a short 30-second teaser in February 2022, the game finally has a full-length trailer.
Check it out:
The trailer drops a lot of new information on players. More confirmed characters joining the roster and a look at some exciting gameplay mechanics that mark a departure for the long-running franchise. Players will have a lot in this trailer alone to look through in preparation for the game’s release.
At Evo 2022, Capcom shared even more with the audience, announcing two new fighters in the newest gameplay trailer. Feast your eyes:
Capcom also shared another trailer at the Game Awards that featured newly announced characters: Dee Jay, Manon, Marissa, and JP. Each had a gameplay spotlight in the reveal. It's also the first time Capcom confirmed the release date and pre-order bonuses for Street Fighter 6.
Capcom also confirmed that more Street Fighter 6 information will come “in the not-too-distant future,” though, it’s unclear when.
Street Fighter 6 Character Roster
The original teaser trailer only showed Ryu and Luke, as more information has been released from Capcom the roster continues to grow. Between the initial announcement, State of Play, and Evo 2022, the roster has reached a total of 18 fighters.
Here are all the confirmed characters.
Returning:
Newcomers:
- Jamie
- Kimberly
- Manon
- Marisa
- JP
- Lily
Some eagle-eyed viewers are saying that the State of Play trailer doesn't just show off these two new fighters but reveals the game's entire roster. Posters on Reddit combed through the trailer and found a series of flash frames that show art and name all the playable characters. This isn’t confirmed but based on the art for new characters like Jaimie, it seems likely Capcom stealth-announced no fewer than 22 fighters for Street Fighter 6.
And, if the initial roster doesn’t wow you, a 2020 data leak suggests Capcom plans to release two iterations of Street Fighter 6 in the coming years. Franchise convention is that these titles will likely be called Super Street Fighter 6 and Ultra Street Fighter 6 if and when they release, but we’ll have to wait for an official confirmation to be certain.
Street Fighter 6 Game Modes
Street Fighter 6 seems to have more of a focus on open-world and multiplayer components than previous titles. Fighting Ground represents the traditional game modes that you would see in most Street Fighter games. Meanwhile, World Tour and Battle Hub expand beyond that.
- Fighting Ground: The typical Street Fighter fare, including Arcade, Online, and Local Versus Modes.
- World Tour: Single-player story mode where the player can create an avatar and interact with the Street Fighter world as their own character for the first time. Your character can learn to fight from “masters” and challenge others with what they’ve learned.
- Battle Hub: Online multiplayer lobbies where players can interact with each other using the avatars they created in World Tour.
Street Fighter 6 Gameplay
For the most part Street Fighter 6 looks like it will play like previous entries in the franchise. Fans can expect to see new moves added to characters, along with balancing changes that come with the addition of entirely new characters to the roster.
An interesting announcement in the Capcom blog is that SF6 will have two different control types. The classic control type will feature the traditional 6-button layout that most fighting games adhere to. There will also be a modern control type that aims to cut through some of the complex inputs of fighting games. The way this will work is that there will be a “Special Move” button that when pressed with another input will perform complex moves. In addition, players can press the “Assist” button to make button-mashing less of a necessity.
While this makes the game a little less complex for newcomers it is also an exciting way to make the game more accessible to players with disabilities that might make the intense button presses of a fighting game difficult to play.
Street Fighter 6 Drive System
The Drive Meter replaces the V-Meter from Street Fighter 5. It’s part of the “Drive System,” which includes five special moves that you can activate if you have meter:
- Drive Impact: Executes heavy attack that can absorb the opponent’s incoming move and pin them against the wall, even if they block.
- Drive Parry: Cancels an opponent’s attack and restores Drive when successful. Turns into a “Perfect Parry” if performed just before the opponent hits.
- Overdrive: Turns a special move into a stronger “Overdrive Art” move. Similar to EX Special Moves from past games.
- Drive Rush: Quickly rushes out of a Drive Parry or cancellable normal attack. Costs 1 Drive Stock from a parry but 3 Drive Stocks from a normal attack.
- Drive Reversal: Counters with low damage move while blocking opponent’s attack. Useful for escaping tight situations when pressured.
Street Fighter 6 Platforms
Capcom’s official Street Fighter 6 announcement revealed it would be coming to PS5, PS4, PC, and Xbox Series consoles. This will be good for Xbox players who were left out of receiving a version of Street Fighter 5. As we are deeper into this console generation, it’s interesting the game will stay on last-gen consoles. But as most of the competitive community is on PS4 and with the continued difficulty in current-gen console supply, it might be to ensure the game is accessible to the fans.
Is Yoshinori Ono Working on Street Fighter 6?
No. Shortly after the game was initially revealed, IGN erroneously reported that Ono would be producing the upcoming entry. This mistake was boiled down to a typo given that Ono left Capcom in April of last year. As of now, it appears the project will be led by Game Designer Yusuke Hashimoto and Producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya.
Under new leadership, it’s possible that Street Fighter 6 will have a different feel compared to its recent predecessors, but Ono also probably had some hand in the game’s early vision even if he won’t be directly involved with the finished product.
Street Fighter 6 is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC on June 2, 2023.
