Street Fighter 6was released in 2023 and seemingly kicked off a new golden age of fighting games that has continued into 2024 with the launches ofUnder Night In-Birth 2andTekken 8.SF6’s success can be accredited to numerous factors. The title has a greater single-player offering than almost any other fighting game on the market, its core gameplay is well-balanced, and the quality of the online play is genre-leading.Street Fighter6is far from being the first great game in the series, but its success stands out given the failure of its predecessor, at least at launch.Street Fighter 5may have been a disappointment in many ways, but it laid the foundations forSF6’s triumphant return.
Street Fighter 5will be remembered as one of the franchise’s most controversial entries. By the timeSF6launched, its predecessor was generally held in high regard, but this goodwill took many years to build up. When the game was released, it lacked substantial single-player modes and was primarily trying to appeal to the competitive community. The lack of a story mode and arcade mode alienated the game’s casual audience. To make things worse, the 16-character roster’s move sets and combos had been restricted when compared to betas for the game, and the online functionality was poor. These issues plagued the game throughout its life, and manypro fighting-game players spoke out aboutStreet Fighter 5as a result.
What Were Street Fighter 5’s Problems?
Street Fighter 5was built aroundfighting game eSportsrather than being entertaining. As a result, it feels formulaic to play because characters have more limited options than inSF4andSF6. Furthermore, the game’s V-Gauge rewards poor play and was criticized for being a comeback mechanic, since it is filled when the player is hit. V-Triggers are a powerful tool that can change the course of a match by enabling overwhelming offensive power. Furthermore, outside of V-Reversals, the game lacked defensive options, meaning that competent players were essentially taking turns attacking and blocking with little to disturb the back-and-forth rhythm.
Starting with the DLC in Season 5, which was kicked off with the release ofDan Hibikiin 2021, things started to turn around for the game. Under a new director, Takayuki Nakayama,Street Fighter 5received five new characters that had much more interesting and diverse mechanics than much of the game’s cast up until that point. By the time content releases concluded for the game,SF5had strong single-player offerings, a new defensive mechanic, and technical issues such as long input delays that varied greatly between PlayStation and PC had been ironed out. All ofSF5’s improvements showed that the studio understood the game’s initial shortcomings.
Street Fighter 6 Is Built on SF5’s Failures
Takayuki Nakayama is the lead developer ofSF6as well, and many of the priorities he showed in the final season ofSF5carried over to this new game.Street Fighter 6’s drive systemcan be used both offensively and defensively, and characters are all given a tremendous amount of freedom. While many of the technical improvements made toSF5were made before Nakayama took control of the game,Street Fighter 6continued to build upon them. The input delay across all versions is minuscule, and the online performance is the best in the genre.
SF5 Laid the Foundations for SF6
In craftingStreet Fighter 6, Capcom clearly took into consideration the failures of the series' previous entry. Technically, the game is superb. It has the densest single-player offerings the series has ever seen, and the core gameplay is built around freedom and flexibility. Rather than simplifying the gameplay to make it accessible,SF6has Modern Controlsand comprehensive learning tools.Street Fighter 5is now a great game that will never be remembered as such, but its legacy lives on inSF6. So much of what makesStreet Fighter 6a success was developed in response to the failure of its predecessor and with the knowledge the team behind it gained in fixing it.
Street Fighter 6
WHERE TO PLAY
Play legendary masters and new fan favorites like Ryu, Chun-Li, Luke, Jamie, Kimberly and more in this latest edition with each character featuring striking new redesigns and exhilarating cinematic specials.Dominate the Fighting Ground: Street Fighter 6 offers a highly evolved combat system with three control types - Classic, Modern and Dynamic - allowing you to quickly play to your skill level.The new Real Time Commentary Feature adds all the hype of a competitive match as well as easy-to-understand explanations about your gameplay. The Drive Gauge is a new system to manage your resources. Use it wisely in order to claim victory.Explore the Streets in World Tour: Discover the meaning of strength in World Tour, an immersive, single-player story mode. Take your avatar and explore Metro City and beyond. Meet Masters who will take you under their wing and teach you their style and techniques.Seek Rivals in the Battle Hub: The Battle Hub represents a core mode of Street Fighter 6 where players can gather and communicate, and become stronger together. Use the avatar you create in World Tour to check out cabinets on the Battle Hub floor and play against other players, or head over to the Game Center to enjoy some of Capcom’s classic arcade games.
