The World Tour in Street Fighter 6 was a fully-realized AAA adventure. Players learned how to become better at fighting games, while also enjoying a deep story. This was the genius of the SF6 developers. They were helping people that were entirely new to the genre be able to break in. If they were willing to keep playing then they would get caught up with intermediate, and advanced players. That was of course as long as they continued through the game. Finding the motivation to push on following the tragic death of Bosch was something the studio had to figure out.
The best way to do this was to get some closure. You would have to confront JP, which meant returning back to Mt. Vashal. It was a hard conversation because you couldn’t reveal that you knew about his crooked dealings. If he discovered you were a Resistance sympathizer then he would have you arrested or done much worse to you. Instead he offered to show you true power, the type of power that he picked up from his time with Shadowlaw. He was the person that helped funnel dark money into the nation. He had a hand in building Vega / M. Bison / Dictator into power. In return JP gained more power figuratively, and literally. Players had a choice to make him into the final Master in the World Tour mode. Or they could decline it, and enjoy playing the game with the few remaining side missions that they hadn’t completed.
It was a moral dilemma for sure. Why would you accept JP as your master after everything that you had gone through? Then again if you wanted to get better at fighting games, and build the ultimate avatar then you had to accept the offer. In doing so JP would infuse you with a portion of the Psycho Energy that was within him. It was the same dark energy that was tearing up Bosch from inside. Then he tasked you to travel the world, and complete some new missions. You would have to seek out, and fight the strongest people in Metro City, and Nayshall. The Fighty Mighty side mission alone was easily the most challenging, and fun that I had with a fighting game in a generation.
The names that popped up were familiar to long time fans of the Final Fight series. In fact I just about lost my mind when I saw who was on the list. The entire Andore family popped up. These were represented as the different colored sprites in the original FF. People like Andore Jr., Uncle Andore, and Father Andore, each one was at least 10 levels harder than the previous. This meant stronger attacks, higher defense, and more stamina. There were also cameo characters from Breath of Fire, another one of Capcom’s longest running titles. Bunyan, Rasso, Rwolf, and A-tur to name a few. Even the characters Bosch, and Yua came from the Breath of Fire series.
The most powerful of the lot was Fou-Lu. It took a lot of hard battles in order to reach him. From a distance I thought Bosch had been reincarnated. As this character was wearing traditional Nasyhall clothing, and had an even stronger version of Yahriki, the fighting style that Bosch, and Rewancha used. It was called the "martial art of illusion" in the game. Kalima actually used Cammy's style. Fou-Lu spoke very oddly, mentioning that he was holding back his true form. It was something that was a trope in many manga, and anime series. In the case of Fou-Lu he meant it. The character was in Breath of Fire IV. His true form was that of an astral dragon. I’m certain that seeing this character transform into a mythological beast would have broken what was acceptable to audiences. So instead he warned players that there would always be someone in the world that was stronger than them. It would be up to them to seek out the next challenge.
Seeking out the next challenger was actually the true purpose of the Fighty Mighty side mission. Even though JP was at the peak of Mount Vashal, he was not the top dog. There was always somebody out there that would be a better fighter. It was up to you to keep searching out this opponent. To become stronger along the way, or abandon the path altogether. It was the thing that kept me returning to the arcades more than 30 years ago. The more I played the better I got. The more I challenged my brothers, cousins, and friends, the better I got. It made a lot of sense that the new generation of players had to learn to keep going too.
You would have to find the strength to keep going, or lose hope. It was apparent for Kina, and Yua. On your post-story adventure you would come across them in the Lowlands. They believed that Bosch was somewhere in the world training. That he would return home some day. No matter what you told her she would never lose faith in her brother. It was with bittersweet determination that she had to keep going. It made me sad for her. But also for Mel Masters, and the kids that were being affected by JP, and evil people like him. The game was showing us what determination looked like. The Street Fighter 6 developers knew that we would have to find the strength to keep going. Life was controlled by people that had more power than us, more influence than us, but no matter how hard they tried they could not change our path. As long as we could keep moving forward then we would find a way. Fear would not deter us, and if anyone tried to stop us from progressing then we had to be willing, and able to move them out of the way. That was true strength.
I would forever be grateful to the entire SF6 development team. This was, and continued to be a game that I found tremendous joy in playing. The roll out of new characters, and new side-missions over the year was a major selling point for me. I owe a big thank you to Street Fighter 6 Director: Takayuki Nakayama, Producer: Kazuhiro Tsuchiya, Producer: Shuhei Matsumoto, and Designer: Yusuke Hashimoto. They had created the greatest fighting game in a generation. I would argue the greatest game of 2023. This went beyond raising the bar. This would become a monument to Fighting Game Culture. I am thankful to everyone that has read any entry in the series. I appreciate your patience. So is this where I wrap things up? Nope! I’ve got a few more things that I want to talk about with regards to SF6. We will dig into it on the next blog entry. I hope to see you back for that. If you are a long time fan of Final Fight, or Street Fighter then I would like to hear your impressions of SF6. If you have never played any game previously then tell me your experiences in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me
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