When you really step back and think, street fighter Indeed, one of the first games-as-a-service ever. Of course, in the 90s, that meant different things – but few games have survived as long as Street Fighter, constantly being updated with new moves, new characters, balance changes, and even brand new game mechanics.
In those days, you have to buy new carts, or wait for new boards to be dropped into your local arcade cabinet. In many ways, Capcom is ahead of the curve, as every competitive game now extends its lifespan by continually adding additional content. Street Fighter didn’t venture into the field much, instead merely tweaking the tempo of what it was already doing to fit the trend.
So instead of being delivered in one major update in Street Fighter VI, characters will drop one by one over the course of the year. Rashid will be the first to arrive later this month. There is one area where SF6 breaks more directly from the current trend – the battle pass.
Now that you all know the concept, it’s unlikely I’ll need to explain it. The battle pass is as you’d expect; there are free and premium tiers, and each pass offers a range of rewards. Playing SF6 rewards you with experience points that flow into the pass and unlock cool extra content.
These additional functions mainly include basic customization content. These include items for your avatar character to wear in Battle Center, World Tour and Avatar Battles, titles, backgrounds and poses to use in your profile, plus bonus stickers and frames to use in SF6 Photo Mode.
These are relatively inconsequential things, which I actually think are fine. Each battle pass is an optional purchase for the most hardcore players and doesn’t include any earth-shattering content – but the freebies that everyone can claim are good enough. The way the pass is earned is also pretty generous: it works in almost all modes, meaning even online matches with friends or CPU will help you complete the pass. Even if you play a few games a day, you can easily eliminate one level within a week so far.
There are some more substantial Battle Pass rewards, though. Higher tiers in the premium tier reward you with Fighter Coins, a currency that can be used to purchase some of SF6’s more substantial DLC, such as character outfits and colors. Every Premium Pass so far has included a classic Capcom game that you can launch and play through SF6’s menu. And then…the music.
Dear reader, music is the subject of this article. So far, unlocked content for classic Street Fighter music has been included in both battle passes. The first pass offers several pieces of Street Fighter 2 music; the second offers unlocks of some character themes from Street Fighter 5 to welcome Rashid, who of course hails from that game. But the music… is kind of useless, isn’t it?
Ultimately, the music was designed to be played through the MP3 player jukebox in the SF6 menu, but it wasn’t actually compatible with the game itself. This feels like a huge missed opportunity.
The soundtrack to Street Fighter VI is great. Brave and different, it tosses away the classic character themes of the past and even gives classic heroes new themes to represent their changing lives. But this presents a huge opportunity for Capcom. I like the new theme, but I also want to incorporate the old theme into it.
The game is ready for this; in the menu you can choose which themes you want to hear on which stage; stage themes, character themes, etc. More options (or more random selection options) would be a good thing. For example, the music from the first Battle Pass unlocks classic SF2 themes like Dee Jay, Cammy, and T. Hawk, which to me is ridiculous, but you can’t select them to play when fighting those characters. Yes, Eagle is out of the game, but his protégé Lily is. She could carry on his theme.
Right now, the music unlocked in the battle pass–which, it’s worth noting, is exclusive to the premium tier–is useless to me. I will never go into the menu to listen to these tracks. Especially when Capcom is very happy with the availability of the soundtrack on Spotify. These unlocks are pointless. However, getting them usable in combat…they’re going to matter.
Hope that’s the plan. But honestly, I’m worried. Street Fighter 5 included a music DLC that unlocked classic tracks from Street Fighter 2 for combat, but subsequent games didn’t provide any music. When the arcade version added a proper arcade mode and some really special remixes of themes from older games, the huge open goal of allowing those themes to be used in other modes was simply ignored. Honestly, the music feels like an afterthought.
Anyway. If Capcom wants me to buy these premium battle passes, it needs to make sure the product is of good quality. Many fans are begging that these passes include real character outfits, rather than avatar gear. While I get it, I also definitely get why Capcom wouldn’t necessarily do it. Clothing is definitely a cash cow for these games. But I don’t understand why one of the most unique cosmetic unlocks to date is so useless – the music unlock should be put to better use. Such a thoughtful change from Capcom would open my wallet.
