It’s hard to believe that the most famous franchise in fighting game history has never featured a guest character. God of WarKratos was in Mortal Kombat. Yoda was in Soul CalibuR. Super Smash Bros UltimateThe list now includes more characters from outside the series than from within. But Fatal rage‘s optimistic, denim-clad city man Terry Bogard (which is also in Smash) will be the first time that someone from another franchise will be playable in it Street Fighter.
The news was announced at the Summer Game Fest showcase as part of Street Fighter VI‘s Season 2 RevealIn addition to the return of Street Fighter IIIThe game’s second year will feature Elena and series villain M. Bison, as well as Terry Bogart and the ninja Mai Shiranui, the result of a collaboration with SNK that first began at Evo 2022, the fighting game event’s in-person return after the Covid-19 pandemic. Fighting game illustrators Toshiaki “Shinkiro” Mori and Eisuke Ogura have created a crossover “Welcome Back” sign made up of characters from both. Street Fighter And Fatal rage.
“It was a great success and really exciting,” Street Fighter 6 Director Takayuki Nakayama and producer Shuhei Matsumoto, who are now the faces of the franchise, told me in an interview at Summer Game Fest conducted through a translator. Teams from both companies continued to talk over the following years and it eventually culminated in the decision to bring Terry, essentially SNK’s Ken, into the rival franchise. What’s it like recreating an outside character in the Street Fighter universe?
“When integrating non-Capcom or non-Street Fighter Guest characters in this game, obviously [we] “We have to respect the intellectual property and the characters and make sure that the fans of those characters appreciate it,” they said. While Terry and Mai will follow the same rules as the existing cast, the point of working together is primarily to bring their unique personalities and fighting game flair as well.
Nakayama and Matsumoto were reticent when I asked them to elaborate on what this might mean for their style and movements, but stressed that the team has some ideas that they are excited about.Fatal rage is a long-running series for SNK. Characters like Terry also appeared in other games such as King of Fighterswhich is also a very long running series. The team that Street Fighter 6 are all big fans of fighting games in general, including games like Fatal rage And King of Fighters. They want to include a lot of things that they think Terry and Mai’s fans will like, and they’re really putting a lot of energy into that.”
But before Terry and Mai arrive later this year, players can get their hands on M. Bison, the crime syndicate boss who has been Street Fighter II. Ryu killed him in the end Street Fighter Vbut as everyone suspected He is back and looks stranger than ever. His new, grey, tattered alt-costume, which forms a striking contrast to his traditional imperial uniform, has earned him the nickname “homeless bison” by some, and a revamped arsenal of moves seems almost broken.
“You will learn more about his story and why he looks like that [about] when you play Arcade Mode and see him in World Tour when he’s out and about,” said Nakayama and Matsumoto. Although it’s his comeback in the series, M. Bison’s new kit also marks the return of some old skills in new forms. One of them is his Ultra Combo of Street Fighter IV this is now a super art in Street Fighter 6. Other moves play with the story and the crime boss’s new level of deviousness. These include a backfist combo that places a psychomine on the opponent that explodes if M. Bison is not hit for a while.
“It adds a sort of mind game aspect to his gameplay, forcing the opponent to play a certain way in this case,” they said. The Psychomine also changes some of the effects and combos of M. Bison’s attacks while active, thus changing the rhythm of the fight as well. He is also a hybrid attack and command input fighter, meaning some of his abilities require hold inputs while others are just simple sequences. His iconic Double Knee Press attack, for example, will now just be a “fireball move” attack, potentially making him much more appealing to more players.
It’s another nice addition to a game that is still in the honeymoon phase with fans. After the disappointing launch of Street Fighter Vwhich was marred by numerous complaints and incomplete modes, Street Fighter 6 Was a return to form both for the fundamentals and the positive vibe among fans. Although it is a fighting game rooted in a rich history of arcades and personal competitions, Street Fighter is as much a live service platform as anything else. In May, Akuma came into play as part of an event that was part of Twitch Games Pokemon And Part MMO Boss Fight.
Nakayama and Matsumoto pointed to all the data they collect from players and the new ways they are experimenting with online events to evolve the game. “We released this infographic showing about 20 billion matches that happened last year, which is very surprising,” they said. “When we did the Raid Boss event with Akuma in the Battle Hub, it was a huge success. That just [us] I know there should be more opportunities to get people excited about events like this. [we] I would like to explore in the near future.”
When they told me it was easier than ever to see what players liked and didn’t like, I asked them if they ever felt like there was too much data and wished they could go back to the days when developers were more insulated from community feedback and behavior. “Honestly, not really,” they said, laughing. “It’s really exciting to see everyone really having fun and playing the game and seeing what people are interested in.”
One thing that at least some players still don’t enjoy is Street FighterThe aggressive microtransaction model of. Every now and then the outrage bubbles up when Capcom asks players to pay for something they find particularly outrageous, like color variants for costumes. There’s also no way to pay exact amounts for many in-game purchases, as players must first purchase arbitrary amounts of Fighter Coins, often leaving them with premium currency left over. Is the team happy with the current monetization?
“I mean, people seem to be very interested in purchasable content, especially content that’s tied to the actual characters in battle mode,” they said. “And we’re seeing a lot of interest in that, so that’s something we’re going to continue to explore and see if there’s new stuff that we can just… but as far as the system goes, it’s probably going to stay as it is.”
Reading between the lines, it seems to be a version of what you hear from many companies, namely that many people complain about microtransactions, but just as many, if not more, are reluctant or even happy to spend the money on them. Perhaps the sea of player data that the Street Fighter 6 To confirm this, the support of the developers was also helpful.
Although the Season 2 Fighter Pass only includes four new characters, it costs $30, half the price of the full game. To sweeten the deal, the full game is currently 50 percent off for its one-year anniversary. M. Bison will be released in the summer. But the most important part of Street Fighter 6The legacy and potential future of could lie in further community experiments like the Akuma online event.
“Street Fighter 6 gave [us] an opportunity to try out many new things that [we’d] never done before in any other fighting game,” said Nakayama and Matsumoto. “With Street Fighter 6 [we] feel like [we] We saw a resurgence of younger audiences getting interested in the game through alternative areas beyond fighting.” Hopefully that means more live events are planned for year two. The social experience in arcades was key to many people falling in love with fighting games in the first place, and finding more ways to recreate that online could be key to keeping them around.
