There was a time when I used to play many fighting games. Sessions like this where you’ll get together with a group of friends, move around a screen and pass around controllers in informal mini-tournaments. If you weren’t up, you would be bothering the current players or talking amongst yourselves. No one was an expert, there was no arcade stick in sight, and — in the interest of complete transparency — there was a fair bit of button bashing going on. It was a lot of fun, but no one playing was going to win a real ranked battle anytime soon.
So this brings me to a question: Can a lapsed and fairly casual fighting game fan find things to enjoy with Street Fighter 6? Well, after spending a few hours with the game recently, my answer would probably be yes, yes you can.
Street Fighter 6 isn’t shy about letting you know that it’s eager to welcome new players with arms wide open and cartoonishly muscled arms. Let’s be honest, buying into a fighting game if they’re not already pretty much your thing is a tough sell, and Street Fighter in particular isn’t the kind of game that many people play casually – The franchise has been heavily focused on the hardcore community for some time. But it’s clear from this latest upcoming offering that Capcom has realized that it can’t rely on the same community of fans forever without access to potential new players. As such, a lot of Street Fighter 6’s new features are built with people who are curious about fighting games but too intimidated to try in mind.
If you’re already a fan of fighting games, there’s good news — all the features and mechanics you already love are there and they’re right there. This is for casual only. Here’s a video breakdown of why Street Fighter 6 could be your ticket back in style.