Every fighting game has one set of rivals or another. Some are friendly, like Street Fighter’s Ryu & Ken, while others aren’t, like King of Fighters’ Kyo & Iori. Like stories in fighting games in general, they’re not meant to be particularly deep. They’re just the spice to add flavor to the whole dish, and a little spice can go a long way.
This is especially true with Street Fighter 6. It improves on its predecessor’s cinematic story mode by spreading smaller story details across its Arcade and World Tour modes. Instead of the cast all rushing in to stop JP together, they follow their own plot threads, which lead them to their rivals a la Street Fighter Alpha 2. From the fun ones to ones that get the gray matter going, these are Street Fighter 6’s best rivals.
6 Luke & Jamie
Starting with an obvious one, these two were pretty much made to be the new generation’s version of Ryu & Ken. Only they contrast more strongly with each other, with Luke having a smash-mouth brawling style, and Jamie fighting with elegant, breakdancing kung-fu.
Still, they’re more alike than they think. They’re both short-tempered hotheads too prideful to apologize to the other for bumping into each other on the street. Yet they also want to do better, looking up to their fighting forebears in Guile and Yun & Yang respectively. It’ll be interesting to see where the two newbies go from here.
5 Deejay & Kimberly
Things get friendlier between one of SF’s original New Challengers and one of SF6’s actual new challengers. There’s not too much to the bout between Deejay and Kimberly-the former is looking for musical inspiration, and Kimberly provides it with a sparring bout. They fight, and it turns out to be just what Deejay needed to make his next big hit.
While Kimberly does have a more serious storyline involving JP, she blends in better with Deejay. He’s a musician who gets his strength from making rhythmic beats (literally so with his new hitstring supers), and she’s a music fan who powers up by listening to her tunes. Their shared interests could set the ground for a neat, fight-based friendship.
4 Manon & Marisa
Fans were hoping these two would be friends since their reveals. They contrast each other well, as the big bruiser is actually more of a striker, while the daintier ballet dancer is the grappler. The latter seeks beauty in everything she does from modeling to judo, and the former loves fine art and designs jewelry for her day job. But it takes a bout for the two to bond with each other.
Beforehand, Manon had been dealing with some family trauma under her otherwise implacable façade. She had taken pride in being strong, but after the event, being “strong” felt like an insult. Then along comes Marisa, who challenges her to a fight just for fun. Marisa’s straightforward, positive outlook on life rubs off on Manon following the bout, easing her burden and giving her a new friend in the process.
3 Marisa & Zangief
Things get more amorous between Marisa and the series’ main muscle. Poor Zangief thought he was just going to be a tag partner, only to find out Marisa’s looking for a life partner. Not ready for that level of commitment, Zangief flees as fast as his red boots can take him. It turns out to have been a prank Marisa was playing on all applicants, but the Red Cyclone was the only guy who made her consider it seriously.
That said, the two don’t just contrast in the ring. They also contrast intellectually as well. Marisa loves the visual arts, while Zangief loves literature. SF6 revealed that reading is the only thing that rivals his love of wrestling. Considering how many famous masterpieces are based on classical literature, the two could probably talk up a storm as fierce as their fighting if they had a day out together.
2 Chun-Li & Juri
Video game characters having dark counterparts isn’t anything too new, though they don’t tend to be too different from their rival. Street Fighter alone gave Ryu both Akuma and Kage (aka Evil Ryu), who are both angry shotos who want to fight to the death. But things went differently when Chun-Li, and the world, were introduced to Juri in Super Street Fighter 4.
She wasn’t an alt-color of Chun-Li with a bad attitude, but a Korean Taekwondo expert whose story followed a similar path. Like Chun-Li, her father was killed by M. Bison, alongside her mother, and took her eye in the process. But she got absorbed by revenge and took her feelings out on others. With Bison now gone, she's been left adrift. Chun-Li tells her as such and offers to help her out. Juri thinks she's lame, yet can't shake off the feeling she's right.
1 Guile & Ken
For most of the series, Guile was so obsessed with ending Bison, and Ken was keen on testing himself against Ryu, that it was hard to remember the two are brothers-in-law. It wasn’t really used for much aside from the occasional funny piece of art, both official and fan-produced. SF6 brought it back to the forefront by making life worse for Ken. After falling for JP’s schemes, Ken left his family behind to build himself back up.
Guile did much the same when he went to avenge his friend Charlie Nash and sought out Ken to talk some sense into him, even if the two talk better with their fists. For two classic characters who seemed like they’d always have the same military man/cocky rival story, it’s an interesting new direction to take the two in. One that Capcom should stick with until the arc is complete.