The upcomers take on Street Fighter‘s finest
The next generation of Street Fighter is aiming for 2023. Today, we got a look at what’s in store for Street Fighter 6 with some new trailers, featuring fighters, commentary, and a new single-player mode.
Today’s State of Play trailer showed some full-on fights in the new engine, which according to the PlayStation blog is Capcom’s own RE Engine. The general look is a bit more colorful, with lots of paint and graffiti splashes.
As for the roster? First up are two newcomers. Well, relative newcomers; Luke already made his debut in Street Fighter V as a preview of what’s in store. He uses mixed martial arts and can pull off DDTs on people. Jamie, meanwhile, is a peacekeeper who follows in the footsteps of Yun and Yang. Returning to the roster are also Ryu and Chun-Li, who need little introduction.
The Drive System
The new mechanic this time is the Drive System, which can be used to perform five different techniques based on what you need. A Drive Reversal, for example, can perform a counterattack to get out of a sticky spot. Drive Parry, meanwhile, parries an attack and refills the Drive Gauge. Drive Impact looks similar to a Focus Attack, as it’s a powerful hit that can absorb an attack and can wall splat.
With Drive Rush, you can close the distance quick. And Overdrive Arts are essentially EX Moves, powering up Special Moves. It seems like a lot at first, but also combines a lot of different ideas from Street Fighter past into one universal metric.
Switching up controls
Another big note from today’s reveal and corresponding blog post is a new control system. For those used to classic Street Fighter inputs, there is Classic Control Type. It’s the good ol’ six-button layout and regular inputs.
In Street Fighter 6 though, there will also be a Modern Control Type, which allows special moves to be performed by combining a Special Move button with a directional input. Games like Granblue: Fantasy Versus have implemented similar systems in the past, and now it looks like Street Fighter is hopping on the train.
A Real Time Commentary is also being added, where Capcom will collaborate with real-life fighting game commentators to add their voices into the game. They’ll narrate your play and add that tournament feel to matches. Vicious and Aru are the first confirmed additions, and the rest of the lineup is on the way later.
Capcom also showed two different modes: World Tour and Battle Hub. World Tour is an “immersive” single-player story mode where you’ll have a player avatar. And Battle Hub looks like a massive thunderdome venue for online matches. They were only teased, as Capcom says both modes will get a deeper dive in the future.
It was a pretty stacked debut for Street Fighter 6 at the State of Play today. But it does seem like Street Fighter is taking some leaps with its next generation. The new challenger aims to arrive in 2023 for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
