Street Fighter VI director talks about upcoming fighters

During the Summer Game Fest, Street Fighter VI announced the list of latest characters that can appear in the second season of the fighting game, which got many fans (including me) excited.

The season will begin this summer with the series debut of the villain M. Bison. Then we get Terry (Fall) and Mai (Winter) from Fatal Fury, the first guest characters in Street Fighter history. Then, Elena from the fan-favorite Street Fighter III will debut in the spring.

While at SGF, I had the opportunity to speak with Street Fighter VI director Takayuki Nakayama about these latest characters and the collaboration with SNK. Below is a transcript of our conversation through a translator.

The bison is back

GamesBeat: Now that the Season 2 characters have been announced and you’ve got seen the response, how do you are feeling about the excitement for this round of characters?

Takayuki Nakayama: We’re so excited about all the great reactions. Fortunately, everyone saw it for the first time and there have been no major leaks. It’s great to see the organic feel and organic response from everyone.

GamesBeat: Was there any doubt about bringing Bison back since he was killed? Or was it only a matter of time since he was such an iconic, vital figure?

Nakayama: Of course, Bison is a very iconic character, a fan favorite, and also one of my favorites. There wasn’t much resistance to bringing him back. If you concentrate to some of the character arcs from the first 12 months, some of them might be related to Bison himself. We created a path that led to the exposure and eventual release of Bison himself. We thought about it from the very starting. We desired to see how he played and how he would feel using the Street Fighter VI system. It’s something we have been planning for a very long time.

GamesBeat: I desired to ask about the horse. He’s a striking horse, he has a striking entrance with him. Where did the idea for this presentation come from?

Nakayama: As for the context and reasoning behind the horse itself, this is something you possibly can learn more about by playing World Tour. This offers you more insight into the matter. We needed to think about that in terms of how he gets on and off the horse. How could a character like Bison ride a horse? What would it not appear like, a man with such strength? Understanding his origins, we got here to the conclusion that he should cross his arms when mounting a horse.

GamesBeat: This is a character that has been around for a while. What will older fans notice latest about the way Bison plays in Street Fighter VI?

Nakayama: In terms of latest moves, he has a latest move called the Back Fist Combo where he can throw a Psycho Mine against his opponent. When a mine is placed on an opponent, they have to hit the Bison to deactivate it. This creates a mind game. Forces your opponent to play a certain way. We wanted to emphasise this in the new edition of Bizon. However, it also retains some older moves corresponding to the Psycho Crusher and the Double Knee Press. In the past, these movements could only be performed by inputting cargo movement. The double knee press is now performed in a fireball motion. We decided to make him a hybrid character to differentiate him from previous iterations. Overall, we desired to retain and improve some of the older moves while making them more relevant to the Street Fighter 6 context.

GamesBeat: Bringing Terry and Mai into the game is really exciting. This is the first time guest characters have been featured in a mainline Street Fighter game outside of Capcom’s expanded universe. How did this partnership come about? Did you mostly hope to get these characters?

Nakayama: As we got here to the conclusion of featuring Terry and Mai in Street Fighter VI to offer you some background, two years ago when EVO held its first post-pandemic event, we decided to have fun the moment by collaborating with SNK to make some collaborative posters . We each drew our own characters and characters from the other IP. This led to further conversations about the inclusion of those characters.

But not only that, if you look at it in the context of history, the original creators of Fatal Fury and Street Fighter – some of the same people were involved in each IPs. The two have an interconnected history. Even though they arrive from two different game series, it still makes sense that they share the same universe not directly in a sense. We felt it was the right fit. They complement each other well in Street Fighter.

GamesBeat: There’s also a latest Fatal Fury game coming out. Will the favor be returned as they play?

Nakayama: We’re looking forward to a latest Fatal Fury game and it might be great if something like this happened. But we are going to see.

GamesBeat: We’ve had a whole series of Capcom vs. SNK fights in the past. Is there a place for something like this, or do you think it’s a higher approach slightly than having to create something separate?

Nakayama: We see this as two various things: bringing guest characters into Street Fighter 6 and creating an entirely latest Capcom vs. SNK. The intention behind including these SNK characters is to revitalize fighting game fans in general, getting them excited about more people being interested in trying fighting games. If we were to create a completely latest CvS game, it might require a completely different approach and a completely different meaning. These are two different goals.

New, old generation

GamesBeat: I’m a huge fan of Street Fighter III, so seeing Elena there is very exciting. Was there a conscious decision made to attend this long to re-launch Street Fighter III?

Nakayama: We don’t really focus on what title the characters are from when it involves deciding who to bring in and who so as to add to the game. We look at the heroes individually, check what fighting style they use and the country they arrive from. Elena is an African character practicing capoeira who is very unique and different from the remainder of the squad. It’s not likely about creating balance and ensuring each title has characters from each title, but slightly about the individuality of the characters. This will help us determine who is suitable.

GamesBeat: Is it difficult to make these decisions in light of out of doors pressure? There will at all times be people like me who want characters from Final Fight and Street Fighter III, even if you have your individual idea of ​​what is best for the game. Do you could tune it out, or do you could stay connected to the loudest voices of your fans?

Nakayama: We don’t ignore the comments we hear on social media. We encourage people to talk up about their expectations and what they need to see in the future. It’s a good reference for the team. But ultimately, our goal is to get as many people interested in fighting games as possible in general. This is our north star. What characters are right to incorporate in this game to achieve an audience that will never touch a Street Fighter game? For the first and second 12 months we had 4 heroes.

Of course, we wish to create as many characters as possible. We are creators at heart and we love doing it. But if we wish to attain the quality level we have set for ourselves, this is the maximum. Of course, some characters is not going to be included in the lineup because of these restrictions. These kinds of conversations don’t just occur from outside the company. These are conversations we’re having at Capcom and inside the team. Arguments about who belongs and who doesn’t. This is very familiar to us. We completely understand our players’ comments, opinions and dreams.

GamesBeat: Since you are encouraging people to have their voices heard, I’ll say that Mike Haggar can be really cute.

Nakayama: Recorded! Everyone has the right to precise their desires.