10. Street Fighter V (2016)
Despite its popularity as a mainline game, Street Fighter V is largely considered a low point in the series due to its poor launch, misplaced focus on esports, and some divisive gameplay choices. As time went on updates brought more features and content such that Street Fighter V eventually became a good, but perhaps not great, fighter.
Part of the problem was it felt like a naked attempt to cash in on the esports craze, launching with a bare minimum of features and particularly neglecting solo modes. Then there was the shockingly high input lag and the surprisingly bad netcode. The new “v-trigger” system gave each character the choice of two potential new comeback-style abilities, but these varied widely in usefulness, and it sometimes felt like characters were inherently lacking something instead of gaining abilities. While on paper v-triggers (and the related, unlimited use “v-skills”) gave players more expression within defined archetypes, in practice they were contentious.
As Capcom added more characters and modes, the gaps were filled and the game got more substance. 2018’s Arcade Edition and 2020’s Champion Edition updates finally helped Street Fighter V feel like a more complete package, adding new modes and content and making changes like giving all characters an additional v-skill and v-trigger. On the single-player front, the A Shadow Falls story mode was one of the first new features that Capcom hyped up, and felt evocative of a cinematic, NetherRealm-style story that featured an ensemble cast and showed the fall of M. Bison. It told an important story, but it was also incredibly mid and stiff compared to the Mortal Kombat and Injustice story modes that inspired it.
I still have some fondness for the game despite its ill-advised rollout and tumultuous lifespan, but mostly I’m glad that we’ve moved on to a bigger and better game in Street Fighter 6. — Kenneth Shepard
Revisions:
Street Fighter V (2016)
Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition (2018)
Street Fighter V: Champion Edition (2020)
Blondes on parade
One of the strangest things about Street Fighter V was how so damn many of its characters had blonde hair. DLC after DLC, the blondes just kept coming. In retrospect, maybe it was to distract us from the fact that Ken had bananas for hair
