In the decades since its release in 1987, the Street Fighter series has come a long way and Street Fighter 6 will be joining the series as the latest sequel. The latest Capcom game is set to release in June 2023 and is the first Street Fighter game since Street Fighter 5 came out in early 2016. Street Fighter 6 is already causing a stir with announcements of new characters, altered fighter appearances, and a few entirely new mechanics.
Capcom is seemingly approaching Street Fighter 6 with a focus on all things new. Not only will Street Fighter 6 feature seven new playable fighters in the base roster, but Capcom has also announced an interesting new aspect: Real-Time Commentary mode. Street Fighter 6 is set to feature the voices and likenesses of real professional gamers, commentators, musicians, actors, and athletes that will provide commentary over the in-game fights. The English and Japanese versions of Street Fighter 6 will have this feature, with four commentators confirmed for each version.
Street Fighter 6 English Commentators
The identities of the Real-Time Commentary hosts were revealed with YouTube videos posted by Capcom and Street Fighter. The first English commentator is confirmed to be Steve "TastySteve" Scott, a professional gamer that is known for playing fighting games. TastySteve now works as a commentator for fighting game tournaments, commentating on events like the Capcom Cup. Additionally, James "jchensor" Chen will commentate on the game. Chen is known for Street Fighter commentary in both the U.S. and Japan. Chen is also the creator of UltraChenTV, a channel that publishes fighting game news and commentary.
Jeremy "Vicious" Lopez is also a fighting game commentator and focuses almost exclusively on Capcom games like Street Fighter, hosting and commentating on American Street Fighter tournaments. The only woman that will commentate on the English version of Street Fighter 6 is Thea Trinidad, a WWE Superstar better known by her wrestling name Zelina Vega. Trinidad is an American professional wrestler and actress who debuted in 2010 and has won several WWE championships. Trinidad still performs and wrestles, and Zelina Vega is featured in WWE 2K22 as well as earlier WWE 2K video games.
Street Fighter 6 Japanese Commentators
Capcom's Street Fighter series is popular in both the United States and Japan, and Street Fighter 6 will receive a Japanese release as well as an English one. Similarly to the English version, the Japanese version is set to utilize professional gamers and fighting game commentators. The first of these is Ryutaro "Aru" Noda, a well-known old-school Street Fighter player. Beyond being a notable Street Fighter player, Aru has recently branched out to commentating Japanese Street Fighter tournaments. Another commentator will be Kosuke Hiraiwa, a popular Japanese Apex Legends caster. While not new to commentating on video games, Hiraiwa is not known for fighting game commentary, and this appearance is seemingly his first Street Fighter commentating work.
Japanese Street Fighter 6 will also feature a few performers that are not known for work in gaming. Demon Kakka is a heavy metal musician and performer who sports a unique look, always appearing in white face paint and with spiked hair. Hikaru Takahashi will also provide commentary. Takahashi is an actress and model known for television and film work but is new to the world of gaming. It's unclear what the commentary of these two performers will be like, especially in contrast to the other commentators with professional video game hosting experience. Still, it seems likely that the team behind Street Fighter 6 hired these two for a reason.
Because the Real-Time Commentary mode is new to Street Fighter 6, it's unclear whether the feature will be embraced by fans or not. If successful, Capcom may bring the feature to future Street Fighter games alongside other changes being made in Street Fighter 6 like the new ability to customize fighters. Capcom is making many changes to the formula, and player reactions will become evident upon release in June 2023.
Street Fighter 6 releases in 2023 on PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
