We’re about a month since M. Bison’s arrival to the World Warrior stage of Street Fighter VI. Evo 2024 and other tournaments within the CPT under the Season 2 run to see the potential of some heavy changes. How does the rest of Season 2 stack up character wise?
M. Bison Returns
Right when we thought that Shadowloo was taking its second backseat since the 3 Series, the leader is back again. Like all antagonists in the genre, they stay dead. I’m sure many fans of the series figured that Bison would make his grand return.
Bison’s abilities can also be obtained in World Tour Mode. The Ruined Lab didn’t feel the same without him, so it’s good to see him take reigns of his forgotten palace. Bison is back with more devastating tools. The detonator special and even a bit of a command throw out of his head stomp makes him as gruesome as he’s ever been. As to how Bison fares tier wise, it might be too early to tell. Best to look to runner-up Nemo for some high-tier Bison gameplay. With one of the most longest drive dashes in the game, the dictator is ready make new memories out of his victims.
Elena Dances Again
Elena, from Street Fighter III, will make her way back into the World Warrior tournament roster in Street Fighter VI. She’ll be available in Spring 2025 and apparently, in a new costume that represents her martial art more traditionally. The last game Elena was a part of was Ultra Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter x Tekken. Capoeira, in fighting games, can date back to the inclusion of Fatal Fury‘s Richard Meyer, with Bob Wilson taking his place in Fatal Fury III (no – Duck King’s Breakdance Karate doesn’t count), but Elena’s debut added a more fleshed out variant to answer many situations. Her uppercut-esque Scratch Wheel is a quiant anti-air.
Off to Southtown
This has been the first full main Street Fighter game to undergo a crossover with another franchise that isn’t Capcom’s. Usually, Capcom would build an entire game around the partnership. Whether it’s a rival company – SNK or a popular set of IPs or Marvel: it wouldn’t be that straight forward. Capcom’s done it internally with the beat-em-up Final Fight being in the same universe. In this case, Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui, hailing from Fatal Fury. Southtown is moreless near Florida, while Metro City is practically next to New Jersey or already is that. The history the two companies have had goes code deep to a point of members switching teams literally.
In the Summer Games Fest Dexerto interview, Street Fighter 6 producer, Takayuki Nakayama, had some words to say about the collaboration.
“The reason why we decided to work with SNK for the inclusion of Terry and Mai is because we see Fatal Fury and Street Fighter as brother and sister, like sibling IPs in the sense that we’ve had people at Capcom who’ve worked on both Street Fighter 1 and Fatal Fury back in the day. And even though they kind of ran in parallel, they were somewhat indirectly connected between those two titles.”
The Capcom vs SNK series interpretation of Mai and Terry translated with more elaborate movesets than Street Fighter has had in the past. Capcom took liberties with their translations there. Nowadays, thanks to expanded usages of stances, it does feel as though Street Fighter expanded the palette per character to even match King of Fighters. Street Fighter VI had even given classic characters unique tools to bloster movesets. It’s more than just ample target combos and rekka optionals.
Meanwhile, KOF’s style post ’99 felt like “take a penny-leave a penny” situation with character movesets. Terry being one biggest after Mark of the Wolves came in. KOF ’03 allowed him to access his iconic Buster Wolf over his High Angle Geyser Super Desparation Move. Capcom took this to heart with their version. Terry is still a all-rounder. Mai is also under the similar assumption. Special moves, that require meter to use for a powered boost, have been a part of SNK games as early as KOF 13, so Capcom could be going that route.
Feasting for a new adventure, Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury will power his way to victory when he arrives in Street Fighter 6 this autumn. ⭐ pic.twitter.com/D0orNRe9Jq
— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) July 22, 2024
With Terry’s Street Fighter VI render out in the wild, thanks to Evo 2024, the anticipation is high as to what will happen next for the King of Fighters invasion. Year 2 of Street Fighter VI is shaping up to be interesting to say the least.
Here’s the full release schedule for Terry, Mai and Elena:
M. Bison Update – Summer 2024 (Already available)
Terry Update – Autumn 2024
Mai Update – Winter 2025
Elena Update – Spring 2025
The Street Fighter VI Season 2 Ultimate Pass is available now for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam), and is priced at $49.99 for all platforms.
