Modders were already hard at work creating custom skins for Street Fighter VI characters months before the game’s release. Whether it’s a throwback to a classic, a recolor, or something more exotic, the scene at Day Zero SF6 is filled with cosmetic frenzy.
While that’s a testament to how poorly open the Street Fighter 6 beta is, it’s also a big sign of the game’s character customization Wild West health. Those who will create the coolest and craziest visual changes are already gnashing their teeth.
But first, some background. For several months, players have been able to download the cracked version of Street Fighter 6 beta files online, which means that the cracked version is open for everyone to play. After downloading these files, anyone can enter training mode by selecting a limited number of characters at their fingertips. With third-party software like Parsec, you can even play games online. It’s in this playground of possibility that former gold diggers, combo creators and would-be professionals are hard at work.
But there’s room for those who want to lift the game’s lid even further and tinker with the assets inside. Enter the Street Fighter 6 modding community; a small group of pioneers and an even smaller subset of the early birds. With creativity at their core, the group shares their work and advice with each other on Reddit threads and Discord servers.
Take Alexia in Brazil, for example. The 23-year-old started learning about modding in Street Fighter V and VI about two months ago, focusing initially on model swaps before diving into more complex work.
“I watched the game [and] I’m super excited, I’ve been a Street Fighter fan since I was a kid, but I wanted to make more stuff for the male characters since they barely get anything from mods. “
Alexia continued: “Currently I’m trying to learn how to draw weights and transfers, I’m doing a teacher Chun Li mod, and also planning to modify Kyo Kusanagi (from the King of Fighters series) on Luke, since they share the same seiyuu (voice actor).”
But why would a new modder, someone still learning, start playing Street Fighter 6 now – before the game was released? Why not wait for the launch? Aside from the aforementioned excitement of the game, Street Fighter VI is decidedly easier to mod than other titles. For this, we have RE Engine to thank. It’s the same underlying software you’ll find at the heart of many other modern Capcom games, and it’s the reason modern Monster Hunter games, Devil May Cry, and the new Resi games look as good as they do.
Thanks to the RE Engine, other modders — those with more experience with previous Capcom titles — were able to make the leap to Street Fighter VI so easily. Columbia University’s Haise Sasaki is one such guy with the idea of modding. While they had a lot of fun with the game, they officially applied for a second beta.
“Since most of my modding skills are in Devil May Cry 5, I’m used to how the game works – it just helps with the file format, as textures and material types vary from game to game, ’ explains Haise. The creator has worked on a number of games, including Jojo: Future Legacy on Fightcade, then Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition, Metal Gear Rising, Devil May Cry 5, Resident Evil 8, The King of Fighters 15”, and some non-Capcom games.
Before they majorly ported skins across games (or re-skinned characters as anime girls), they’ve gone all out on Street Fighter VI. Early on, they reworked the Street Fighter 5 Juri costume on the returning character, changing Chun Li to have both long hair and her CPT costume from SF5. It’s gotten wilder since then, with Chun Li retro costumes, hololive Vtubers, 2b costumes from Nier Automata… and Lightning McQueen from Cars. wheels and all.
Both Haise and Alexia plan to keep up with their current adventures in pre-release mods for now, with the latter hoping to use the game to start a YouTube channel with her work. These are just two of dedicated subcommunities whose existence now signals an interesting future for the game, at least on PC.
What history has taught us is that, given enough time, fighting game players on PC have been able to don custom character outfits. Travel with me to “Vanilla Sagat” or “Optimus Prime Ryu” from Street Fighter IV. These take time to create, as people have to go through the requisite learning curve to implement their silly ideas. Now that that’s out of the way, the average Street Fighter VI player might get access to a vast wacky world, and really cool costumes, sooner than expected. Lightning McQueen might just be the beginning of a long legacy of player-made content.
The watchful eyes of Capcom executives only know what will be released in the next few months, and you and I will see it when Street Fighter 6 is released later this year. But it’s safe to say that some enthusiastic individuals will continue to grind behind the scenes, playing in the cogs of the game and keeping things interesting.
For more Street Fighter 6 content, check out this recent DMCA strike Youtubers cover recent footage of being hit.
