With its iconic characters and robust techniques, Street Fighter has gone down in history as one of the most influential fighting game franchises of all time. However, CAPCOM has not always treated it as such throughout the years, with the release of Street Fighter V being one of the more controversial elements of the franchise's recent history. Back then, we had a full-price game that barely had any content. While I wouldn't consider myself a hardcore Street Fighter fan, it was hard not to feel slightly slighted then. Does Street Fighter Six learn from those mistakes and make up for them? At the time of this review, I would say: yes, and then some.

Street Fighter Six is divided into three major sections: World Tour, Fighting Ground, and Battle Hub. Let's start with some new features before we delve into the familiar aspects and discuss the game's World Tour mode, which seems to be CAPCOM's attempt to provide Street Fighter Six with hours' worth of single-player content. In this mode, you have the opportunity to customize your own original Street Fighter character from a variety of different character customization options to become a student of Luke, a mixed martial artist with his gym, who takes you on a journey through the streets to teach you the meaning of strength. World Tour is a mini open-world RPG experience divided into chapters. In this mode, you can engage in challenges, discover items that offer temporary or permanent stat boosts, and battle enemies of various levels to gain experience and level up. You earn skill points that can be applied to an involved skill tree and learn new techniques from star characters by deepening your bond with them or fulfilling specific requirements. These moves and unlockable fighting styles enhance your combat abilities and allow you to explore more of the overworld, uncovering additional treasures and secrets. Some tasks may feel a bit like busywork, and there are moments where it feels like Street Fighter Six is simply providing content for the sake of it.

The mode is somewhat skewed towards newer players with limited knowledge of fighting games, considering the basic starting moves. As a result, veterans might find it less engaging on a technical level. Nevertheless, these issues don't entirely detract from the overall novelty of the World Tour experience. In many ways, World Tour reflects what your role in this story is meant to be: a fresh face with rough edges but brimming with the potential to take on various challenges. Unlocking moves and experimenting with different fighting styles is immensely enjoyable, and the innovative idea of using different types of fighting moves like hurricane kicks or uppercuts to navigate various areas on the map is quite impressive for a fighting game. You can start slowly by fighting opponents of similar or lower levels or go all out against high-level challengers. What's wonderful is that while there is technically a linear path for story progression by following Luke's tasks, players are more than welcome to take their time tackling side objectives and gathering materials first. It's all about discovering what you want to achieve in this mode, similar to what you aspire to accomplish as a fighter, and developing the skills to reach that higher plane of freedom.

The fighting ground is what you can typically expect from classic Street Fighter action and then some, with versus matches, training, and arcade modes. Your classic light, heavy, and medium attacks are mapped to specific buttons, with various moves at your disposal through specific button combinations. What I appreciate about Street Fighter Six is its options for different control schemes. When you set up a match, you can switch between a modern control setup, a dynamic control setup, or a classic control setup. The modern one makes it much easier to initiate and string together combos. Dynamic allows you to unleash flashy moves at the press of a button, while Classic requires more precise button inputs to pull off specific combinations. You can stick to the modern control style if you're a new player, but I also love how this option caters to veterans, allowing them to play as they see fit, just like in the older games.

Regardless of which control scheme you choose, Street Fighter Six offers a variety of fighting mechanics, from parries to unique finishers, that all serve different purposes. Sometimes you can even use a finisher to block your opponent's attack, depending on the timing of their attacks. Each character has multiple options for bypassing specific guards and blocks. Whether you're a new player or a veteran, all these combinations are incredibly satisfying. I've noticed that some characters are more technically demanding than others. Still, the displayed variety ensures that with enough experimentation, everyone can find at least one character that suits them comfortably.

Then there's the Battle Hub, which is a place where players from all over can meet online for some classic shenanigans. Not only do you get to bring your avatar over from the world tour for some online matches in tournaments, but it's here where you get to play through Street Fighterr's classic roster of characters with fun stipulations. There's Extreme Battle, a party mode where you can set up unusual rules and gimmicks like hitting a ball back and forth to each other. You can spectate other people's matches, create hubs, or stalk the CAPCOM Fighters Network leaderboards. You can even create your team and clubs with like-minded players. From what I have played so far, it didn't take long to set things up, and the interface style was entertaining to navigate.

The theme of Street Fighter Six seems to carry on to the next generation, reflecting the game's overall aesthetics and presentation. Veteran characters appear noticeably older, with a presence befitting of a master martial artist that has been through decades of training. Despite this, many of them haven't lost any of their goofy antics and still exuberate a sense of fun and passion that feels right at home. Much stems from the game's presentation, bursting with life and color. If Street Fighter Four took heavy inspiration from Japanese calligraphy—strong black strokes and heavy shadows—then Street Fighter Six seems to pull from urban street art. Splashes of bright colors and high-impact framing accompany various moves. Everyone's outfits indicate older, recognizable Street Fighter attire with a more modern twist. Street Fighter Six hits a good balance between realistic and cartoony with its character designs and movements. The only sour point I would say that accompanies this style is probably the hair textures. While some of the hair looks good—like the character Luke—others, like Ken's beard, and some of the options in the character creation don't appear to blend naturally with the character's faces all that well. It's a minor nitpick but one worth noting.

The music is nothing short of energetic and blood-pumping. We have solid beats and confident lyrics that, when listened to closely, really embody the spirit of being a fighter. It's all about taking on new challenges and strengthening for fun and self-improvement. It's what I wanted from a Street Fighter soundtrack for a while, and I will listen to these tunes while I go to the gym. Some of these beats are the perfect things to listen to when you sweat after a run outside or sitting down for hours on end in online matches.

So, while not perfect, Street Fighter Six feels like an apology from CAPCOM for previous efforts and a promise that things will be much better moving forward. In many ways, the game's theme acts like a perfect mirror to what the game itself hopes to represent as a part of this franchise's legacy. Street Fighter Six respects what came before and, in some ways, effectively passes the torch onto a whole new generation of fighters. There's enough content here that will satisfy all the veterans and newcomers alike in a stylistic package that's bursting with energy. Matches are fun and kinetic, with only a few technical hiccups holding it back from a perfect score, so hopefully, things will be patched out soon. If this game indicates things to come, then I think it's fair to say that fighting game fans are eating well this year.