Fighting Games Friday: Street Fighter 6’s Final Hooligans
The starting roster for Street Fighter 6 has been well known for several months now. The adventure started when concept art for the cast was leaked through a series of sheets mere hours after the game was revealed. (As a bonus, it even included characters that won’t be part of the initial roster.) Capcom themselves confirmed the roster as part of their Tokyo Game Show showcase. Yet, it’s a testament to how good the reveals have been that excitement continues to emanate from the community whenever characters are shown in action. The three formally announced during the latest PlayStation State of Play presentation, the final reveals for the starting roster, are among them.
Zangief has remained a staple for the Street Fighter franchise since Street Fighter II. He returns with a new outfit and a sizable repertoire of wrestling moves, including the lariat and Spinning Pile Driver. One of his new-ish moves is a leg twist counterattack that’s good for baiting overly-eager opponents, a good part of the audience that will be playing online shortly after release. (I know through experience.) It’s true that he has a number of returning techniques, and a Super that involves a massive SPD again; but it appears the Banishing Flat (commonly known as the “Green Hand”) attack is again missing in action. Zangief just won’t relearn it after Street Fighter V.
Capcom has done a better job introducing new characters for SF6 compared to Street Fighter IV and SFV, the newest being Lily. (And not Lili, a Tekken series guest character — Trust me, I wasn’t the only one whose mind drifted there.) It’s hardly a new concept for a fighting game to have a cheery, energetic, and quick-moving young character, which describes Lily’s personality well enough. But her move set will be unique for the Street Fighter series, with her favoring a comically-large war clubs for melee attacks. It’s also not common for fighting games to have Indigenous Mexican characters, with Lily originating from the same Thunderfoot Settlement as T. Hawk. The Condor Dive, Condor Spire, and Tomahawk Buster, which Lily can also use, must be taught by the tribe. It’s the most logical explanation.
It’s Cammy, however, who’s generating the most discussion, as she was destined to. The character is always worth talking about, even though it was known for several months that she would have a brand-new outfit that’s slightly more conservative this time around. She’s actually wearing pants for the default outfit. This alone is sacrilege in some internet corners I’d rather not dwell in, but there’s another horny audience satisfied enough with the tight leggings that emphasize her hips and bare midriff. Her design makes her resemble a fitting fusion between Alita from the titular Battle Angel Alita (her key inspiration, notably) and Android 18 from the Dragon Ball series. Not to mention that leaks already confirmed how her original outfit will be an option, though Capcom will undoubtedly charge for it.
Her move set predictably hasn’t received too many changes, as it’s remained consistent throughout Street Fighter’s history and in fighting game spinoffs she’s starred in. The Spiral Arrow and Cannon Spike are preserved, though there’s at least a variation of the Spin Knuckle that doesn’t cause a knockdown. A special kudos to the development and animation teams for including a backbreaking throw that works as an homage to an attack her brainwashed iteration used in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie.
The newest character reveals are yet another opportunity to marvel at the dazzling animations SF6 will have, and I’m not just talking about Cammy’s. It was made clear through the making of SFV’s animations that Capcom’s development team puts a lot of work into getting the animations just right through motion capture, far more than any other fighting game development studio still working on them. They have again topped themselves here.
With these last three reveals, the initial 18-character roster is now fully known, though it was hardly a secret after all this time. Yet, three months remain before this game’s release. In addition to further showing off the characters and the feature set, including the single-player options, the chance that Capcom will show off the DLC characters also revealed through the aforementioned concept art is very high. There’s also the other DLC they’ll offer, including more classic outfit options for the returning characters; they’ll make a particularly big deal about Cammy’s for the audience I alluded to above.
Following the game’s release, perhaps — maybe — Capcom will have the opportunity to announce the second season’s characters on their own terms, assuming I haven’t jinxed this just now. You never know.
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
