Street Fighter 6: A Pre-Release Prep Guide

Image taken from the Street Fighter website.

Street Fighter 6 will release on June 2, 2023 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

This is the seventh main entry in the franchise and there’s a ton to look forward to. To help you out, here is a little pre-release prep guide to help you get ready!

Character Roster

Image taken from the Street Fighter website.

At launch, we are looking at a 18-character roster featuring returning fighters such as Cammy, Zangief, Dee Jay, E. Honda, Dhalsim, Blanka, Ken, Juri, Guile, Chun-Li, Luke, and Ryu. New fighters entering the ring include Jamie, Kimberly, Marisa, Manon, Lily, and JP.

DLC characters that are expected to join the fight post launch include Rashid (Summer 2023), A.K.I. (Fall 2023), Akuma (Spring 2024), and Ed (Winter 2024).

Features

Here are some of the features that I am most excited about –

• New control features that will allow new players and veterans to jump right into the fray.

Image taken from the Street Fighter website.

• Cross-play availability

Image taken from the Street Fighter website.

• World Tour – a new single-player experience that allows the player to create their own avatar in the Street Fighter 6 world.

Image taken from the Street Fighter website.

Story Recap

Here is a brief recap of some of the major events leading up to Street Fighter 6.

Street Fighter – Ryu wins the Street Fighter tournament, defeating the Muay Thai fighter Sagat.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 – Many fighters have their eyes on Ryu, to include Sagat who is looking for a rematch. Akuma, taking a interest of Ryu’s descent to darkness, and has a fight with Ryu on his island. Akuma destroys the island and Ryu escapes. Meanwhile, M. Bison and Shadoloo is on the rise. Brainwashes Ryu.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 – M. Bison has his Psycho Drive doomsday weapon. The weapon is destroyed. M. Bison and Corrupted Ryu fights Ken, Sagat, and Sakura. Sagat defeats Ryu. Ryu presumably destroys M. Bison. His soul actually survives, he possesses Rose, and Shadaloo scientists make him a new body. Trippy.

Street Fighter 2 – M. Bison is back in the picture and hosts the World Warrior tournament. In classic Bison fashion, his plan is to use evil in order to draw out more evil – AKA brainwash more fighters for world domination and draw out Akuma. Akuma kills Bison.

Street Fighter 4 – Joke’s on you if you thought M. Bison was dead. But guess what? Gouken (Ryu and Ken’s master) isn’t dead either; surprise! It’s hard for people to stay dead in this series.

Bison’s pool of genetically engineered Dolls churns out a few autonomous defectors. Abel, freed by Charlie, lives on as an amnesiac mercenary. Seth leads SIN and puts together a new tournament so he can become stronger by copying the moves of other strong fighters.

Seth is killed off by Bison. Balrog ends up abducting a SIN experiment named Ed. Akuma and Gouken fight over Ryu’s soul; Gouken wins.

Street Fighter 5 – Psycho mad scientist FANG replaces Sagat in Shadaloo and initiates Operation CHAINS to dominate the world. Helen resurrects Charlie. Karin brings in other fighters. Necalli hunts Ryu, but is later destroyed.

FANG’s plans falls through, Charlie sacrifices himself to help destroy Bison. Cammy is a fugitive for not turning in Decapre. Ed traveled under Balrog’s mentorship for some time until Menat portends a difficult future. Ed leaves and later establishes Neo Shadaloo with Falke.

Street Fighter 3 and Street Fighter 3: Third Strike – Shadaloo is gone and the Gill-led Illumintati is searching for fighters for his utopian vision. Meanwhile, Q is monitoring as events unfold.

In a tweet, Game Director Takayuki Nakayama has stated that Street Fighter 6 occurs after the events of Street Fighter 3. Does this mean we’ll get to see Q make an eventual return?

Street Fighter 6 Prequel Comics

Image taken from the Udon Entertainment website.

Udon Entertainment will be releasing a 4-issue mini-series leading up to the release of the game. You can check that out here.

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As always, we would love to hear from you. Let us know what you are most excited about!

If you’re a collector and fan like I am, Udon Entertainment have published previous entries into consolidated graphic novel form. Definitely take the time to check them out here!

Until next time. See you on the battlefield, World Warriors.