3. Street Fighter 6 (2023)

Street Fighter 6 is beautiful to look at and enjoys an abundance of style, but it’s never at the expense of substance.

The core fighting game is sublime. The rollback-based netcode is superb. Some of the new faces have become instant icons, and it makes veteran fighters feel fresh again by filling out their kits with new tools. The central drive gauge system makes certain strategies and maneuvers like parries and attack cancels universal, allowing Capcom to open up more design space by tying roster-wide tools to a single resource. It also helps to avoid Street Fighter V’s problem of often feeling like a waiting game. Tired of getting backed into a corner by your opponent’s neverending combo? Drop a well-timed drive impact and start a combo of your own.

Where Street Fighter V was divisive, a game made for only the most competitive players, Street Fighter 6 makes an earnest attempt to bring people together, celebrating the best parts of the series while making it more approachable to newcomers who might feel intimidated by fighting games. An optional ”modern” control scheme makes it easier to pull off powerful attacks without the need for complex inputs, with damage nerfs keeping things fair for OGs still using the traditional, ”classic” controls. The training modes, too, are some of the best ever seen, guiding new players into the fold with confidence.

Street Fighter 6 also has a much greater focus on the single-player content that Street Fighter V felt so disinterested in.

The RPG-esque World Tour story mode is incredibly ambitious. You create a custom fighter and run around a Yakuza-style map, fighting civilians and meeting the game’s main cast to seek their tutelage. While World Tour’s far from perfect, it’s satisfying to use its incredibly extensive character creator and make your own street fighter, then hone their playstyle over time as you meet new teachers.

My favorite part of World Tour is its (fictional) social element. Some really excellent, funny writing humanizes the Street Fighter heroes in ways most fighting games don’t. They could have gone the Street Fighter V story route of trying to emulate NetherRealm’s campaigns, but instead, we got something far more charming. Plus, I got to flirt with Ryu. It rules.

As of this writing, Street Fighter 6 is still very early in its lifecycle. It just launched in June, and while there is a DLC roadmap, we still don’t know how the sixth numbered entry’s legacy will eventually play out. But unlike SFV, Street Fighter 6 feels like it’s for everyone, and everyone, so far, is loving it. I think its future’s looking pretty bright. — Kenneth Shepard