It’s finally here, lads and ladies. Street Fighter 6 is out at last, and with it begins a new generation of fighting games. Or so Capcom promises. Only time will tell if the game lives up to that hype.
When it comes to fighting games, no franchise even comes close to Street Fighter. Sure, Tekken is consistently incredible, Guilty Gear is flashy, say what you will about SNK games, and Marvel VS Capcom is always hype (until it wasn’t). But when it comes to legacy or notoriety, none of them come even close to Street Fighter.
For good reason. Street Fighter was the franchise that pretty much established everything that fighting games are to this day. Unique and colorful characters, motion inputs, grabs, combos, arcade mode, Street Fighter may not have invented these things, but it refined them.
Maybe that’s why they released Street Fighter 2 eight fucking times. Who am I kidding, there are more than that.
At their core, none of the Street Fighter games are especially complicated. Sure, doing combos is really hard and the skill ceiling is absurdly high. But the actual core gameplay is pretty easy to grasp. It’s all about positioning and punishing. You don’t need to memorize a symphony on your controller, you’ve just gotta know how to block, grab, and Shoryuken.
This is great. It allows the players to more easily focus on their characters, which is where the real complexity lies. You could pick ultra-simple Ryu or the psychic tyrant Byson. Maybe you’re drawn towards the crazy lightning-powered Blanka, the fast-kicking Chun-Li, or the bumbling Dan Hibiki. Or you could just be an absolute asshole and play Vega.
The variety of these characters is insane, not just in gameplay, but in personality. Ryu and Ken basically play the same in most of these games, but in terms of character, they couldn’t be any more different. The one you pick truly feels like an extension of yourself.
Simplicity, variety, and personality. No matter which Street Fighter game you pick, be it 3rd Strike, Alpha 2, or even a spin-off like Puzzle Fighter, these three core tenants are what make this franchise so special. At its best, this series has got a spark that just makes them so much damn fun to play!
But none of that would matter without the real fighters: the community.
In this case, the community mostly means the competitive scene. This is where the real monsters of Street Fighter hang out and butt heads. As a result, we’ve gotten some of the most high-level and exciting moments in e-sports history!
Just look at Evo Moment #37. With his back against the wall, defeat almost certain, the pressure of hundreds of eyes on the back of his head, Daigo ‘The Beast’ Umehara performs the most ultra-precise and exciting comeback in fighting game history! And of course, the crowd goes wild!
Moments like these go beyond just being cool and exciting. It’s inspiring! You look at something like that, and some primal part of your brain wonders, “Can I do that to?” Stuff like Evo Moment #37 is like a sneak preview into the FGC as a whole, and no game serves as a better mouth piece for that community than Street Fighter.
At least, when they get it right. Which Street Fighter V did not do. Luckily, Tekken and Dragon Ball Fighterz did an amazing job of supporting the FGC.
Thankfully, the days of SFV are finally at an end. It’s time to look to the future. Let’s see if Street Fighter 6 can resurrect that magic that made Street Fighter so special to begin with.
I’ll see y’all in the Battle Hub!
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