Highlights

  • Street Fighter 6 offers a diverse range of content, from competitive play to an action-packed single-player World Tour mode.
  • The game continues to release exciting content, including crossover costumes from popular franchises, but it should take things to the next level by adding unique crossover fighters.
  • While Street Fighter has limited history with crossovers, now would be the perfect time for the franchise to introduce full-on guest fighters, as other games within the genre have worked wonders with the feature.

Street Fighter 6 is progressing steadily through its first year, having just wrapped up its first Capcom Cup competitive season. After the divisive era of Street Fighter 5, which even Capcom itself recently acknowledged, this game has been a huge boon for the Street Fighter community. Just about every feature a fighting game can have is in Street Fighter 6, ranging from some of the best online play in the genre to the ambitious action-RPG World Tour single-player mode. Describing Street Fighter 6 as having something for everyone feels well-deserved.

It isn't finished adding content, either. Various battle passes and cosmetics have been released since the game's launch, including a variety of crossover costumes for custom avatars. Ranging from the titular heroes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Yor from Spy × Family, these have succeeded in turning heads, even if they feel overpriced to some and underwhelming to others. Actual guest characters would be extremely exciting, but they aren't something Street Fighter has ever done before. Still, with many other big-name fighting games proving that the right crossover can work wonders, Street Fighter 6 would be the perfect time for the franchise to jump on the bandwagon.

Street Fighter Q Alex G
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Mainline Street Fighter Has Kept Its Crossovers Limited

The history of crossovers within the Street Fighter franchise is short and simple. Various titles have costumes referencing other Capcom properties like SF4 and SF5, and, beginning with Street Fighter Alpha, Final Fight characters begin joining Street Fighter rosters semi-regularly. Street Fighter 5 also brought in Akira from Rival Schools near the end of its DLC, following up some cameos in earlier stage backgrounds. However, all of these guests and references are from other Capcom properties, and Final Fight and Rival Schools are barely crossovers since both are canon in Street Fighter’s universe.

Street Fighter Typically Lends Its Characters As Guests Elsewhere

Major Street Fighter titles have yet to introduce guests from outside their parent company. Street Fighter 5 getting some Fighting EX Layer costumes was the closest they’ve come, and the characters in question debuted in the Street Fighter EX games. Only Street Fighter X Tekken has brought outsiders under Street Fighter’s banner, and it’s a spin-off made to do just that. Fortnite has claimed waves of famous World Warriors, Akuma joined Tekken 7, and even playable Ryu and Chun-Li Rangers appeared in Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid, but Street Fighter itself has been completely resistant to getting a fully playable external guest fighter.

Plenty of Franchises Would Jump At A Crossover With Street Fighter 6

Street Fighter 6 should look to its peers for inspiration, especially since several of them are already primed for crossing over. Tekken X Street Fighter and both Capcom vs. SNK and SNK vs. Capcom have given Tekken and The King of Fighters’ rosters both a relationship and a reason to send their characters Street Fighter 6’s way. How DLC characters are integrated into World Tour mode also makes SF6 the perfect receptacle for Tekken's Heihachi, returning the favor after Akuma was a canon participant in Tekken 7’s story mode.

Street Fighter Doesn't Need To Spring For Expected Guest Characters

Then there's the possibility of a non-fighting game franchise contributing a fully playable fighter. Even though Street Fighter can't make a hall of fame out of itself like Mortal Kombat and Super Smash Bros. have, it would still benefit from casting the widest net possible. Making playable fighters out of someone unexpected, like Tekken 7 did with The Walking Dead's Negan, is a great way to reach new audiences, as well as generate discussions about Street Fighter's next potential guest. As the latest in its franchise, Street Fighter 6 is the ideal time to introduce crossover characters to Street Fighter, and hopefully, Capcom will do just that in the coming years.