(Not All Street) Fighting Games Friday

I had different plans in mind for Fighting Games Friday last week. They were hijacked by the reveal of Street Fighter 6 during the latest PlayStation State of Play, one which came as a surprise to everyone who didn’t expect this to happen until Evo 2022 in early August. (I was far from the only one with that expectation.) You may know what this is leading to: I planned to use those plans for this post, the same originally scheduled for last week, but they’ve now been derailed by more Street Fighter 6 news. Once Capcom popped the reveal, they couldn’t stop providing news.

There’s some non-Street Fighter-related fighting game news, though, as implied in the title. Look forward to that too.

Guile is the newest character revealed for SF6, following in the footsteps of already-confirmed roster additions Ryu, Chun-Li, Luke, and Jamie. Capcom will never give Guile more than two special attacks, the Sonic Boom and Flash Kick, as doing so would be a sacrilege at this point. But he’s always received compensation, this time with a slew of normal attacks with excellent reach. And unless I’m seeing something wrong, he can also cancel first hit of his also-legendary sweep into a special attack, which should help with the move’s recovery.

His appearance has also received notable changes, with a new blue uniform and a beard, the latter giving him a slightly larger resemblance to Tekken’s Paul Phoenix. This is the second Tekken comparison I’ve made to SF6, which should further increase the chance of Tekken x Street Fighter releasing if there’s any justice left in this fallen world.

Guile is the only character Capcom officially confirmed in the last week, but the company has been a particularly leaky faucet regarding this game. Concept art for what might be the entire initial roster leaked, including remaining Street Fighter II: The World Warrior characters (Blanka, Dhalsim, Zangief, E. Honda, and a broke-looking Ken Masters), Cammy and Akuma from Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Juri from Street Fighter IV, and Rashid and Ed from Street Fighter V. The remaining seven characters shown are new additions like Jamie, highlights of which include Marisa, the kind of tall and muscular woman Capcom likely mandated after Resident Evil Village’s Lady Dimitrescu proved to be a literally huge hit, Kimberly, the rare African-American woman in a fighting game, and a Russian rapper named JP.

There is notably no one included from Street Fighter Alpha or Street Fighter III among the returning faces shown. This is more startling in the latter case considering SF6 is finally a Street Fighter game set after SFIII, one possible consequence of former producer Yoshinori Ono leaving. Keep in mind there’s nothing confirming this will be the initial roster, but there’s a solid chance here.

Other videos have also leaked, one of which likely convinced fans upset about Chun-Li and Cammy getting less horny default outfits that their original ones will still be available.

There are perhaps more leaks that I have yet to see, but chances are Capcom has enough content to show that the leaks shouldn’t derail the marketing campaign too heavily going forward. Not to mention all the comparatively minor news drops like the excellent Soulcalibur II-style Game Face feature and the music video for the theme (which features no footage of the game itself), and Chun-Li’s entire theme. They haven’t clarified when this will release in 2023, but I’m expecting Capcom to run a tighter ship from here. Look forward to seeing more on Capcom’s Not-E3 Showcase on Monday.

Yes, there’s other fighting game news too. Neople, Nexon, and developer Arc System Works have been confirming the last set of characters for DNF Duel’s initial roster, beyond those playable during the testing sessions. There’s the bespectacled Launcher, whose move set almost entirely relies on heavy arm usage, mixed in with occasional kicking attacks. She may not have many good close-range options, but should more than make up for that with a number of longer-range weapons. She somewhat reminds me of Noel Vermillion from ASW’s own Blazblue series, though less moe.

There’s also the Troubleshooter, who, uh, troubleshoots through the use of his large sword and gun. He somehow looks more like Dante from the Devil May Cry™ series than the Hitman does, with a good mixture of close and mid-range attacks. The latest character revealed is the Swift Master, whose wind-based attacks drew quick comparisons to characters from Avatar and The Legend of Korra. Since I haven’t seen those, his attacks remind me of those from Goenitz in The King of Fighters series and Rashid from SFV.

DNF Duel will release on June 28th for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC. There’s a minor chance that more characters will be revealed for the initial roster, but that isn’t too likely considering the launch trailer is out. Even if there aren’t any more, the game is already set to have one of the largest starting rosters for the first version of a one-on-one Arc System Works title. This, plus the lower-than-average price in the United States at $49.99, make it an enticing deal.

I, again, have plans in mind for next week’s Fighting Games Friday post, but I’m already expecting them to be hijacked by more SF6 news and my sheer enthusiasm for it. Capcom is announcing more content for the game at so quick a pace that this could become Street Fighting Games Friday for real. This is, at least, better than when the feature went on hiatus after I ran out of ideas for a short time.