The history of Street Fighter 6 has been brief but eventful following its official reveal in February. The title put on a good showing at PlayStation's State of Play event in early June 2022, and not long after that gameplay reveal SF6 suffered a series of leaks, apparently revealing its entire roster and displaying footage of gameplay much earlier than Capcom intended. These leaks were seemingly confirmed by Capcom itself, which went public to not only acknowledge the leaks but thank fans for their positive reception to what they'd seen. At Summer Game Fest, Capcom released a new Street Fighter 6 trailer officially confirming Guile, another returning character to fill out the limited ranks of officially revealed fighters.
Guile was not available at Street Fighter 6's SGF demo, but fellow Street Fighter veterans Chun-Li and Ryu were, alongside Luke from Street Fighter V and new character Jamie. The game goes to considerable lengths to modernize the fighting experience, including a modern control scheme that simplifies the inputs and makes them more intuitive to new players. It also makes it much easier to pull off the kind of impressive combos that would usually be reserved for veterans who took the time to memorize lengthy input strings. Players who are interested in putting in that much effort can still rely on the classic control scheme, which presents the more complex, high-skill layout hardcore franchise fans are more used to.
Street Fighter 6 Characters Look Better Than Ever
The game places considerable significance on the characters in its roster, and this comes through in a variety of ways. Street Fighter 6's Game Face mechanic lets characters' personalities shine through while still allowing the player to customize their approach to combat. A brief intro cinematic for each fight shows both characters stepping into the ring, accompanied by a small bio screen that lists height, weight, likes, and dislikes. These factors make little to no difference once the fists start flying, but they're a fun bit of flair.
Of course, the characters shine through the most in combat. Fighting games like Street Fighter 6 live and die by the diversity of their roster, and while there's obviously much more to see from Street Fighter 6 in that regard, the four characters in the demo all have very distinct styles. Chun-Li's graceful flying kicks and chops are a sharp contrast to Jamie's unpredictable style, inspired by the breakdancing moves he displays in his victory animations. If Street Fighter 6 achieves a roster size comparable to the final stages of its predecessor, this variety in moveset should keep fighting game fans coming back for some time.
Street Fighter 6 still has a lot more to show before it releases next year. Time will tell which other characters, new or old, get official confirmation for SF6's lineup at launch, and it also remains to be seen if Street Fighter 6 will have as robust a post-launch lifespan as its immediate predecessor. But the action-packed gameplay speaks for itself, and even matches against AI can end closer to a draw than players might expect in the opening moments. This is a promising start for a returning champion, and time will tell what the future holds.
Street Fighter 6 will release in 2023 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.