Skip to main content

Capcom teases Street Fighter series anniversary ‘surprises’ for this summer

Street Fighter V
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Inside or outside of the fighting genre, there aren’t many video game franchises that are quite as universally recognized as Street Fighter. This year, the series celebrates its 30th anniversary, and apparently its developer Capcom has big plans to mark the occasion.

We already know that a new iteration of the series’ most iconic installment is being prepared for the Nintendo Switch, as Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers was officially unveiled earlier this month. However, according to long-serving series producer Yoshinori Ono, this is only the “kick off.”

Recommended Videos

While the re-release is a good start, it seems that Capcom has more in the works, to be revealed over the next few months. “Around E3 timing, maybe even San Diego Comic-Con, we have one or two surprises we hope our fans will look forward to,” said Ono in a recent interview with IGN.

Street Fighter V is already scheduled to receive a slate of new content over the course of 2017. The game’s second season got underway when Akuma was added to the game alongside a major patch in December 2016, and is set to continue over the coming months with the release of five additional characters.

Furthermore, the Street Fighter franchise seems poised to be well represented in the year’s most anticipated fighting game: Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. The reveal trailer that aired at PlayStation Experience 2016 saw Ryu team up with Mega Man, and it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see at least one more Street Fighter character fill a spot on the game’s roster.

Beyond the Ultra Street Fighter II re-release, new content for Street Fighter V, and series stalwarts representing Capcom elsewhere, it’s difficult to predict what else the company could have planned for the series’ anniversary. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait too long to find out what’s in store — E3 2017 runs from June 13 to 15, while this year’s San Diego Comic-Con gets underway on July 20.

Brad Jones
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…
How an underdog Street Fighter 6 player beat the odds to win $1 million
A player holds a check for a million dollars at a Street Fighter 6 tournament.

It didn't take long for last year's excellent Street Fighter 6 to take the fighting game world by storm. Capcom’s critically praised fighting game didn't just revitalize the Street Fighter series, but reignited interest in the fighting genre as a whole. Capcom then focused on growing the competitive side of Street Fighter 6  by hosting a new entry of its tournament circuit, Capcom Cup, with a first-place prize of $1 million.

That historic prize pool was enough to awaken a fighting game community that was hungry to land a win. While many big names battled, the ultimate winner was a bit of a surprise. The million-dollar prize went to an unsponsored face that you might not recognize: Wang “UMA” Yuan-hao.

Read more
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves gives Street Fighter 6 a run for its money
Tizoc pointing his finger during his intro in Fatal Fury City of the Wolves.

The past half-decade in the fighting game genre has been spent bringing back classic series and freshening them up for a new age. Street Fighter 6's drive gauge and modern controls, Mortal Kombat 1 and its introduction of assist attacks, Tekken 8's Heat system, and more have shown that even older franchises in this genre aren't afraid of reinventing the wheel. SNK also demonstrated a willingness to do this with the latest entries in the Samurai Shodown and The King of Fighters series, but after my time with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves and its new REV system, I don't think any of the company's other new games hold a candle to the formula reimagining this long format IP is getting next year.

FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Official Announcement Trailer

Read more
Evo manager explains how he and Street Fighter 6 revitalized the event
The Evo grand finals arena packed with a crowd of attendees.

For decades now, the Evolution Championship Series (known as Evo for short) has been known as the biggest event in the fighting game community. Since 1996, players from across the globe have gathered in Las Vegas for a chance to prove themselves on a global stage. And 2023’s Evo was no different in that aspect, but where it does differ is the management, ownership, and love of the game.

Evo 2023 Trailer | PlayStation Esports

Read more