On February 20th, Capcom announced the next entry in the premier fighting game franchise, Street Fighter II. Ryu and the other world warriors are e-sports icons, as they helped pioneer competitive gaming. Of course, with such a legacy there's a lot of discussion to be had.
Capcom announced a compilation of their old fighting games alongside SF6. People are really hoping for the return of the heyday for Capcom's fighters. Street Fighter V had an infamous launch, so fans are hoping for the game to live up to the past successes instead of recent failures. And fans have been speculating and hoping on Reddit, of course.
Xbox Release
Redditor G1Megatron asks a simple but important question: "Is it going to be on Xbox this time around?" Street Fighter V received some of its funding from Sony, resulting in it being a Sony exclusive on consoles. However, this limited its audience.
It's definitely clear to see that Capcom would have rather released it multiplatform. The Street Fighter collections were released in such a way, even on the Switch. And with players like G1Megatron asking, hopefully, it will make its way to Xbox. Fighting games did have a home on the original Xbox in the early 2000s, after all.
Faster Mechanics
Street Fighter has never been the fastest franchise, as Capcom had the Versus Capcom series for that. But it's also never been as slow as Mortal Kombat, which V was closer to. Reddit dragonshokan comments on the speed. "I'm actually a fan of SF5 though think they could go back to some more faster Alpha and Turbo mechanics."
Speed in fighting games has always been a back-and-forth debate. In general, veterans seem to prefer increased speed but newbies find faster speeds tougher, as it can lead to some bad fighting game habits. There's also the issue of performance, as it was easier for fighting games to become fast during the sprite era instead of with new HD graphical styles.
Makoto
Redditor Oribe_Edibe has a few comments on the teaser. They list their wants as "An improvement to the V systems" and "Makoto (more like SF3 than SF4)." The V system is the unique mechanic central to the game, so it's unlikely to reappear, but Makoto is another story entirely.
Makoto is a young girl who practices Rindo-kan karate. She's one of the franchise's most popular characters, as her punches are devastating. She first appeared in SFIII, reappeared in SFIV, but took an absence in SFV. Fans of the karate dojo girl hope that she'll return in Street Fighter 6.
Logo Redesign
There's a swath of differing opinions on even a teaser as short as SF6's. But one unanimous opinion that most people have. Reddit Redditsuccsx20 is simply one of many to echo this sentiment. The masses cry out: "I HATE the Logo design, i really do. Sure, it’s still only just a Teaser, BUT COME ON! This is Street Fighter! Not EA‘s UFC ir [sic] Fight Night, where are the colors??"
Street Fighter has always been over the top and colorful with logos to match. Even when Street Fighter III launched with just a "III" as the logo this remained true. A lot of fans feel the new logo looks like a phone app, even the spray-painted six looks like a notification alert.
Post-Street Fighter III
one of Capcom's best arcade games.
The III series of games took place the furthest in Street Fighter's timeline. And as the games were unpopular in their time, Capcom has never returned to that era with any of its sequels. A lot of the classic characters in the franchise had their stories ended or continued in new ways. Players hope Capcom will stop pushing the series back with interquels and finally return to this era.
Season 5's Roster
Street Fighter V's final season of DLC was the best one for many fans. The game had plenty of time to grow the beard and introduce fan favorites with interesting new mechanical twists. But they haven't been out long before the announcement of SF6. "I'm really hoping that all of season 5's characters are base roster or at least S1." says MasterDenton on Reddit.
The characters come from a different iteration of Street Fighter, with Dan and Rose coming from Street Fighter Alpha. Oro comes from Street Fighter III, although his turtle is new. Akira comes from Capcom's Rival Schools franchise, confirming a fan theory that they share a universe. Finally, Luke comes from Street Fighter 6 itself, serving as a sort of preview.
No Auto-Combos
Combos are the bread and butter of fighting games. The ability to perform attacks in a string so that they naturally lead into each other is fundamental. But some games have had standard jabs automatically lead into combos. These auto-combos are pretty controversial in fighting game communities, but they've stayed out of Street Fighter so far.
Redditor A lot of beginner-friendly fighting games feature auto-combos, but Street Fighter is still considered pretty newbie-friendly without it. The game does feature an approachable framework and doesn't have a ton of gimmicks. Whether or not the series needs it is up for debate.
Tons Of Content On Launch
NintendoTheGuy has a comment that shows how Street Fighter V's launch seven years ago still haunts players. They say "Please be a game and not a demo that requires me to eventually buy a champion edition AND season ." That game's lack of content on launch was truly damning. Fighting games in general have been moving towards this model, but some still dislike it.
While no DLC is probably not going to happen, fans do hope for the game to feel complete. The game has reportedly been in development for years after all. There are plenty of great characters that could fit in an initial roster. Street Fighter has some of the most iconic fighting game characters from the 1990s, after all.
Spray-Paint Aesthetic
"Like the presentation they're going with so far, hope they expand on the spray paint aesthetic," says Reddit Granito_Rey. The colors fly off the characters in the trailer and the logo, as maligned as it is, is spray-painted on brick. This really puts the "Street" in Street Fighter.
The entire direction of the teaser gives the vibe of a more urban direction. This excites fans, as this was the aesthetic of SFIII. The spray paint also gives it a street-fighting vibe. It's ironic how long it's taken the franchise named such to have a down-and-dirty aesthetic.
Gameplay
This is the most literal answer to the question "what do fans want to see from Street Fighter 6?" The answer is simply that they want to see gameplay, as the trailer merely shows a CG cutscene. It's a good indicator of style, but to fans what's important are the nuances of gameplay. Redditor SteelKline simply says "Honestly I was really hoping for gameplay."
The gameplay of SF6 could be anything, but there is a bit to speculate about. The splash screens of the teaser could indicate something similar to the focus attacks from Street Fighter IV. There could be improvements made to the V-trigger abilities from the last installment, or they could shake up the formula further with stage hazards or UFC mechanics. Whatever it is, fans hope they won't have to wait too long to learn what Capcom's fighting division has in store.