Street Fighter 6 has been announced to be currently in development. The upcoming Street Fighter6 looks like it's been given a near-complete refresh – from its art direction to some fresh, new gameplay mechanics, and some new characters – giving the franchise a very positive outlook.
During the 2022 Summer Game Fest, Geoff Keighley announced a brand-new gameplay trailer for the upcoming Street Fighter game. Within the trailer, fans of the fighting game were delighted with the news that a series favorite character would be returning: Guile. In anticipation for Street Fighter 6's 2023 release, here's a refresher on Guile's history throughout the franchise.
Who is Guile?
Guile originally debuted as one of the original eight characters in Street Fighter 2. He is a major in the United States Air Force whose sole mission is to avenge the death of his friend who perished at the hands of M. Bison. The American hero is said to be engineered by Capcom to attract the American market towards its fighting series; Guile and his hairdo have been a staple since.
Within the history of Street Fighter, Guile befriended his superior officer, Charlie Nash, while he was a commander. Charlie was Guile's mentor, as Charlie taught Guile his unique style of fighting, which included the Sonic Boom. Guile's hot temper prevented him from gaining proficiency in the style, so he could only shoot a Sonic Boom while using both hands while Charlie only used one hand.
Guile has been a staple of the Street Fighter franchise since, only being absent in Street Fighter 3 and Street Fighter Alpha. He was also unavailable as a character in Street Fighter 5, although Capcom later added him as a DLC character. Guile's addition to Street Fighter 6 suggests that the story will continue.
Street Fighter Alpha 3
In Street Fighter Alpha 3, the characters' stories take place before the events of older Street Fighter games. The Air Force tasked Guile with finding his best friend, Charlie, who went missing in action while carrying out a secret mission. During Guile's journey, he meets and becomes acquainted with the Interpol investigator Chun-Li before finding the base of the criminal organization Shadaloo in Thailand – as well as Charlie.
Rather than escape before an air strike by the Air Force, Charlie convinces Guile to stay in order to apprehend classic Street Fighter villain, M. Bison, who Charlie thought would avoid the impending strikes. Eventually, they decide that the Psycho Drive, Bison's source of power, must be destroyed, and they plant bombs around the device before facing M. Bison himself. Bison proved to be too powerful for the friends, but was then taken down by Ryu who temporarily destroyed his body. In attempts to prevent Bison from regenerating, Charlie holds him back, sacrificing himself in an explosion that seemed to have destroyed Charlie, Bison, and the Psycho Drive.
Street Fighter 2
In a classic fighting game trope, word spreads that M. Bison somehow managed to survive the blast and is hosting the World Warrior tournament. Little does Guile know, the tournament is a trap by Bison to enact revenge on those who caused Shadaloo's efforts to fail. Ryu, Chun-Li, and Guile took the bait and joined the tournament with the latter abandoning his wife and daughter in pursuit of his revenge.
After defeating Bison as Guile, the crimelord becomes at Guile's mercy. Guile confronts Bison about Charlie, and Bison takes the opportunity to goad Guile into killing him to enact his revenge. In the original Street Fighter 2, Guile's wife and daughter find him at the tournament finals and plead with him not to murder Bison as it wouldn't have been what Charlie wanted, and it wouldn't bring his friend back. Ultimately, Guile relents and releases Bison, agreeing with his family and leaving with them – Guile satisfied with his victory over the dictator.
Street Fighter 4
The impact of Street Fighter 2 had Shadaloo seemingly out of commission, but Guile is instructed to investigate the Shadaloo Intimitation Network (S.I.N) that is hosting a fighting tournament. The now-major enters the tournament with Chun-Li in the hopes of infiltrating S.I.N's headquarters. During the tournament, Guile encounters the French fighter Abel who recognizes the Sonic Boom which Guile thought only he and Charlie knew about. Convinced that this man knows something about the whereabouts of Charlie, Guile interrogates Abel and Abel joins forces with Guile and Chun-Li in their attempts to infiltrate S.I.N's base.
At the base, Guile acquires 'important data' after facing the cyborg Seth, created by M. Bison, but Vega captures Chun-Li. While on the way to rescuing Chun-Li, Guile gets ambushed by another one of Bison's cyborgs, which Abel intercepts. The three somehow manage to escape the S.I.N facility before it explodes.
Street Fighter 5
Guile was announced as a DLC character for Street Figher 5 and his story continued. During the Prologue Story, Guile is seen saving Abel from F.A.N.G. Shortly after defeating F.A.N.G., Guile and Abel discover that Shadaloo is behind the kidnapping of software programmers, and during a rescue mission to an abandoned S.I.N. laboratory, they discover the organization's next plan – Operation C.H.A.I.N.S. Armed with the information gathered from the abandoned S.I.N. facility, Guile eventually goes to New York with Chun-Li to investigate a possible connection to the Black Moons.
While in New York, the pair manage to find all four Shandaloo executives. M. Bison nearly finishes off Chun-Li, but is then cut-off by classic Street Figher character Cammy who helps the two escape. Cammy confirms Guile's suspicions: the seven Black Moons are indeed connected to the Shadaloo kidnappings. She then entrusts Chun-Li with one of their keys. Suddenly, Guile is confronted by a mysteriously resurrected Charlie. Charlie challenges Guile to a fight, and after winning, Charlie takes the Black Moon key before running off alongside Rashid and Azam.
The End of Street Fighter 5
Towards the end of Street Fighter 5's gameplay, Guile is enlisted by Karin Kanzuki, the heiress of the Kanzuki empire, alongside other fighters to put a stop to Shadaloo and its plans once and for all. When in India with Zangief to retrieve the latter's Black Moon key, the two are ambushed by Shadaloo soldiers led by Balrog, Ed, and Santamu. Ed steals Zangief's key and the group leaves.
Guile's group shortly fails to attack Shadaloo's new base. As Guile goes to pilot the group's escape helicopter, Charlie jumps onto the helicopter at the last moment. The group and Charlie return to the Kanzuki mansion to regroup. Guile and Charlie's reunion in Street Fighter is overshadowed as they get attacked by Abel, influenced by Bison's Psycho Power. Charlie absorbs the effects of the Psycho Power with his strange new abilities, releasing Abel from the influence, and leaves to regroup with Rashid – who were hired by the mysterious Helen to take down Shadaloo.
The two groups of fighters team up and take the battle once more to Shadaloo. During this final assault, Charlie saves Chun-Li and Guile from Bison. As Guile helplessly watches, Charlie sacrifices himself in an attempt to end Bison once and for all, but fails as Bison manages to survive the attempt. Ryu finishes off the dictator as Rashid shuts down Operation C.H.A.I.N.S for good. Although content that Bison is finally gone, Guile loses his best friend yet again.
Guile is Back for Street Fighter 6
The announcement of Guile's return to Street Fighter 6 means that the Air Force major's story is far from over. Although Capcom confirmed that the upcoming game takes place after the events of Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike, which events officially take place after the fifth installment within the Street Fighter timeline. Since Street Fighter 3 was one of the few games to not feature Guile, it would be interesting either way to see how Guile's story continues without his best friend and his arch nemesis driving it.
Street Fighter 6 is set to be released in 2023 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
