Street Fighter 6 showcase details new locations, modes, RPG elements, more - demo now available

Capcom hosted a Street Fighter 6 showcase yesterday with Lil Wayne as the MC and dropped new information on the upcoming game.

This new information included details on World Tour, customized avatar battles, accessibility features, the Year 1 roadmap, and a demo that kicks off today on PS4 and PS5. The demo will arrive on Xbox and Steam next week on April 26.

Quite a bit of information came out of the showcase, so grab a beverage and a snack real quick before diving in.

One of the things shown off was the all-new location in World Tour called Nayshall, located in a remote corner of Asia. In this single-player story mode, you’ll meet Masters and experience the world with your own custom avatar as you hit the streets of Metro City, Nayshall, and other locations around the world.

Several RPG elements were detailed as well. These elements allow you to consume items and food during battle or at eateries to recover Vitality, acquire buffs, or inflict debuffs. As you level up your avatar, you’ll earn Skill Points to spend on a Skill Tree to further customize your move set.

The Masters you meet have different styles, and you can enroll with them to learn their Special Moves. All 18 launch characters can participate, and you can increase your bonds with Masters by giving them presents and completing Missions. Combine all of this to unlock new cutscenes.

You can also show off your style with custom Avatar Battles. You do this by building your character in World Tour before heading to the Battle Hub to join custom Avatar Battles against other players online. Use your avatar with any combination of abilities you’ve learned in World Tour to show off your own personal fighting style.

During the showcase, Capcom announced increased accessibility options like a sound design that tells you how far away you are from your opponent. Features also include notices on the height level of attacks, whether an attack is a cross-up, how much Drive Gauge remains, and more.

For newcomers and veterans alike, there are fleshed-out Tutorials, Character Guides, and Combo Trials, which provide a solid foundation for each character.

The third Control Type to go along with Classic and Modern was also revealed, called Dynamic. With it, you can unleash your character's moves by pressing the Auto-Attack button and having AI assist your attacks and combos.

Street Fighter 6 will also feature Arcade Mode, a single-player mode where you play against the computer and learn more about each fighter's story. Complete Arcade Mode with each character to unlock and view illustrations in the Gallery, and your scores can be uploaded to online leaderboards.

The game also lets you play against other players or the computer by creating a team of up to 5 characters and customizing the Match Format to your liking such as Single Elimination, Doubles, and Teams.

There's also Extreme Battle which introduces rulesets you’ll need to follow, along with features like Running Bulls or Capcom's version of hot potato. Play in this mode to learn more about the basics of the game.

In Street Fighter 6, you can create a Custom Room. The four virtual cabinets located in the room can be set to One on One, Extreme Battle, or Training. Custom Rooms can include up to 16 players at a time.

Ranked Matches return, and steps have been taken to reduce the pressure of losing a match in certain Ranks. First, the development team has added a one-time Rank-down protection feature for those in Diamond rank and below. Next, Rookies will no longer lose League Points upon defeat to encourage online play. Finally, Iron-Gold and Master rank players will not incur League demotions. Each character also has their own individual Rank. This means trying out new characters in Ranked Matches is more approachable.

The game will also introduce the Battle Damage Feature. During fights, characters will get sweatier, develop cuts and bruises, and other signs of battle will appear on their faces and clothing. This is only available in select offline modes and can be turned off in Settings.

Capcom also showed off how players can create a Club in the Battle Hub to play with friends and other players. You can customize your Club emblem and design a uniform that only your Club's members can show off.

Year 1 content was also announced, and it comes with four characters. Rashid of the Turbulent Wind, who debuted in Street Fighter 5, returns this summer, and A.K.I. will be added to the roster in fall 2023. Ed, the Young Commander from Street Fighter 5, will release in the winter of 2024, and Akuma will arrive during the spring of 2024.

All four characters will be included as Masters in World Tour following their release and are also included in the Deluxe and Ultimate Editions of Street Fighter 6.

And finally, those with a PS4 or PS5 can play the Street Fighter 6 demo now. If you own an Xbox Series X/S or PC you will have access starting on April 26. The demo will teach you the basic battle mechanics from the Tutorial and practice Luke and Ryu's moves and fighting style in the Character Guide.

You will also be able to play the first few moments of World Tour, where you can experiment with the avatar creation feature. Custom avatars can be transferred over to the full game on the same platform once the game releases.

Street Fighter 6 releases on June 2 for Steam as well as PlayStation and Xbox consoles.