Fighting Games Friday: 18 Characters Is Not a Small Number
Capcom has remarkably revealed the starting roster for Street Fighter 6 before providing a release date beyond a vague “2023” timeframe. Their hand, in fairness, was forced by a concept art leak shortly after the game’s reveal, an unprecedented one even by fighting game promotional standards, meaning Capcom confirmed something largely obvious. I can’t emphasize “largely” there enough, because the reveal has set off a controversy among the fighting game universe.
Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile, and Juri were previously revealed as returning characters, before Ken, E. Honda, Blanka, and Dhalsim were shown during the Tokyo Game Show showcase. New characters Luke (who, remember, was supposed to debut in SF6 but was added to Street Fighter V after the former was delayed), Jamie, Kimberly, have also been revealed. Returning characters Zangief, Cammy, and Dee Jay have yet to be fully revealed, alongside new characters Manon, Marisa, Lily, and JP. Notable here is how four characters who were part of the leaked concept art are missing here, specifically the omnipresent Akuma, Rashid, Ed (the last two of whom formally debuted in SFV), and new character A.K.I. The combination of known characters being saved for DLC and the confirmation that SF6 will debut with a “mere” 18 characters kicked off a firestorm of upset.
A good portion of the complaints are not justified. I’ve seen too many comments from people, some well-meaning prospective SF6 players, saying the roster count is too low for a modern fighting game. It’s not, and to claim this ignores recent historical trends when it comes to the character counts for fighting games at launch. Street Fighter IV tends to be the go-to example for a game in the series that did this right when it released on home consoles, but it didn’t launch there. It first released in arcades with a mere 16 characters, while three were added in eventual arcade updates. Another six were added to the home console version to make for 25. The two of these can’t be compared.
Few one-on-one fighting games with most assets made from scratch launch with more than 20 characters. The only other fighters fitting the description which have launched with larger casts are Mortal Kombat 11 (which started with 25) and Soulcalibur VI (which started with 21 — not that much higher than SF6). Tekken 7 is not a good example considering the number of animations reused from previous Tekken titles, and the game wasn’t given a significant presentation upgrade until Fated Retribution released. Guilty Gear Strive, notably, launched with 14, while Samurai Shodown started with 16. I’m well aware those games are developed by companies (Arc System Works and SNK, respectively) smaller than Capcom, but Warner Bros., who publishes the Mortal Kombat games, is bigger than them. Also consider the ridiculously painstaking effort the Street Fighter team puts into animating these characters.
Some potential players had their hearts set on playing Akuma, Rashid, Ed, or A.K.I. (assuming she’s similar to F.A.N.G. from SFV, for the three people who played him) at launch, which sadly can’t be helped. The leaked concept art had an unfortunate way of setting expectations for the roster players expected at launch, despite there never being a guarantee of them all being there. There was a higher chance of some among them being DLC than fans wanted to believe, but that’s not Capcom’s fault.
It’s also incorrect to claim that SFV stumbled out the gate due to the “smaller” roster. The perception of its small size was a factor compared to SFIV (even though, again, the home console version of that game was not the launch version), but that ignores the other issues that hindered SFV. The online barely functioned, with frequent disconnections and unplanned downtimes in the first month, especially during peak playability hours on the evenings and weekends. Online downtime would have been more (though hardly entirely) forgivable if the single-player offerings were more robust, but the character stories could be finished in a couple of hours and the Survival Mode got old quickly.
It’s too early to definitively declare that Capcom has learned all the right lessons from SFV’s launch with SF6, but the single-player modes are one case in which they listened. The World Tour mode will let players use avatars to wander around Metro City to learn techniques from Street Fighter characters, and engage in other activities like buying and changing clothes (ideally with in-game currency), participating in mini-games like a brawler-style mode, and even playing the game the city originated in: Final Fight. There’s no way to currently tell how robust the World Tour mode will be in content, but it’s clear they’re already offering more than SFV did at launch.
This situation shows how important perceptions are, how expectations can be difficult to alter after they’re baked in. The community assumed the starting roster would be stacked with a comparatively (to other launch fighting game rosters — which you read about above, right?) sizable 22 characters, and several of them didn’t take knowledge that four of those leaked characters won’t come in the package. On the other hand, Capcom might have to offer them for a great price at least if the disappointment here is wide among the “casual” audience they’ll need to purchase this for it to be successful commercially. Otherwise, hopefully that World Tour mode will provide hours upon hours of gameplay.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
