The legendary series that has helped define a genre since 1987, the Street Fighter series has always remained one of the premier fighting games at arcades around the world, home consoles, and Esports tournaments, even branching out into various other media including comics, cartoons, movies, action figures and more. The brawling icons from Capcom have also duked it out with characters from several other franchises such as other Capcom titles, Marvel, Tatsunoko, Tekken, Super Smash Bros, and more. The series has seen its highs and lows, but its legacy has always remained strong. 2008’s Street Fighter IV was the resurgence the series needed, while 2016’s Street Fighter V was, unfortunately, a major letdown, but Capcom aims to get things right with Street Fighter 6, soon to be released on PlayStation 4|5, Xbox Series X|S and PC in 2023.

While the initial reveal back in February 2022 didn’t exactly impress fans, actual in-game footage and player feedback at several gaming events around the world helped reassure them that this may be the best Street Fighter game to date. This Closed Beta Test primarily focuses on online play and has eight playable characters, including legacy fighters Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Guile, Juri from Super Street Fighter IV, Luke, the final DLC character from Street Fighter V, as well as brand new fighters Jamie and Kimberly.

Beginning the game, players will be welcomed to the online mode called Battle HUB by the host Eternity, before customising their own character which acts as their avatar. There is an absurd amount of customisation options, allowing players to create a normal-looking fighter or something incredibly bizarre with the most uneven and over-the-top proportions. The Battle Hub is where players can find opponents by sitting at one of many Street Fighter 6 arcade machines, or master their skills in training mode before being challenged by another player.

While exploring the Battle Hub, players will also have a variety of taunts and actual character moves from hadoukens, shoryukens, spinning bird kicks, and more, to play around with and interact with other players, creating some hilarious moments. There is also a shop to buy new clothes for your avatar, photo booths to take some snapshots, screens showing other players’ progress, and even an area to play classic Capcom games that change in rotation such as Street Fighter II, Final Fight, Magic Sword and more that will likely be included later on. There is also an area called Extreme, which plays online matches with unique conditions such as an exploding ball or avoiding a charging bull.

The point of this Closed Beta is to test the online functionality, and thanks to its rollback netcode, the online experience so far has been fantastic. In my personal experience, I’ve matched up with opponents from across Asia, North and South America, and Europe, and for the most part, the online play has been incredibly smooth, even with Australia’s not-so-fast internet. Facing opponents closer to home helps create smoother online play and matching up with opponents further across the globe does cause some lag, but is actually bearable.

Something unique to Street Fighter 6 and not seen in any other fighting game is being able to play on a different stage from your opponent. That means what you see may be different from what the opponent sees, despite playing in the exact same match. This really helps with players not wanting to be restricted to stages they don’t like, especially the most overused stage in Esports events, the dreaded Training Stage.

Actual fighting game commentators can even be selected in Japanese or English. So far Jeremy “Vicious” Lopez, Aru, James Chen, Tasty Steve, Kosuke Hiraiwa, and Demon Kakka have been announced. It feels like they actually commentate as they do in real life without sounding repetitive, really adding to the atmosphere of the game even if they can only refer to the players as Player 1 or Player 2.

Street Fighter 6 brings back a lot of the best elements from past games, including the Parry System from Street Fighter III, and Focus Attack from Street Fighter IV, now known as Drive Impact. The Parry System has been highly requested since 1999, especially since it helped create the iconic Evo Moment #37. Street Fighter 6 has two different versions of the Parry System. Holding both medium attack buttons will perform a regular parry that will deflect any attack except grabs, but absorbs Drive Meter, while the Perfect Parry requires very precise timing with the opponent’s attack, leaving them wide open for a counter.

Drive Impact works very similarly to the old Focus Attack, this time absorbing up to three hits. It has a real risk vs reward element as it uses up all the Drive Meter, but if timed properly, can close the distance and counter the opponent, creating an opening to punish them. Every character has at least three Super Combos and can all be used in a match with enough Super Meter built up, unlike in some previous Street Fighter games that only allow one Super Combo to be selected before the match.

Capcom’s latest fighter has a very urban hip-hop feel, much like Street Fighter III did, and it seems to mesh really well with the overall design and presentation. The in-game graphics have received a major upgrade using the RE Engine, and the soundtrack has a theme song for every character, with covers for returning characters and fresh new tunes for the newcomers.

Every returning fighter has also received updated designs, including Ryu, whose base design has always been his iconic white karate gi. All the updated designs perfectly suit each fighter and have a lot of meaning behind them, especially Ken, who gets a modern upgrade to his familiar scruffy blonde hair and ditches that banana-like hairdo from the previous game.

Luke’s design is also drastically different, but still odd with him wearing street clothes and no shoes, and he still isn’t well-liked by fans despite Capcom’s attempt to make the MMA fighter the new face of the franchise. Newcomers Jamie, the Drunken Master, and Kimberly, the Bushinryu student of Guy, both have very unique and fresh designs that fit in perfectly, while also setting them apart from the rest of the cast. Many more old favourites have already been announced, including E. Honda, Dhalsim, Blanka, and more, along with exciting brand new combatants which will add so much to the already diverse roster.

Other modes include a single-player campaign called World Tour Mode, plus various offline modes that weren’t available in this Closed Beta Test, but look very promising from the trailers shown so far. Capcom has been doing an amazing job promoting this game and is clearly trying to make up for their shortcomings in past games, especially with the severe lack of content in Street Fighter V. The latest entry in the series is looking to make a huge impact, not just in fighting games, but the whole gaming industry.

Capcom’s latest brawler really is shaping up to be one of the best fighting games on modern consoles. This Closed Beta Test has already shown incredible promise with all the new features, smooth online play, diverse characters new and old, single-player campaign, Esports support, overall design and presentation, and so much more. Street Fighter 6 will be Super Comboing it’s way into homes and events in 2023.

Written by: Sammy Hanson