Could this also disconfirm Balrog and Falke?
The Ed Fighting Pass was recently unveiled for Street Fighter 6. Though it was disappointing that we weren’t treated to even a snippet of Ed’s gameplay during the trailer, it was revealed that Ed would be released on February 27, right after Capcom Cup X.
However, some of the content coming to Street Fighter 6 via the Ed Fighting Pass could serve as a predictor for the portions of Ed’s backstory that he’d be willing to relay during the World Tour mode. Just like with the other characters in World Tour, this will very likely be done by raising Ed’s bond level to certain thresholds.
Four out of five stickers for the Ed Fighting Pass are of artwork featured in Street Fighter 5. More specifically, they all come from Ed’s Arcade Mode playthrough for that game.
The gorilla and tall man with triangular hair are among the stickers. During the days of Street Fighter 5, Takayuki Nakayama revealed some small bits of information regarding the two.
“Well, let me give you some special information then… The gorilla’s name is Baba Muarim (or Mwalimu), and he is extremely smart (in particular areas),” wrote Nakayama as translated by Nicholas ‘MajinTenshinhan’ Taylor.
It turns out that “Baba Mwalimu” is pulled from Swahili. This phrase translates to “father teacher,” implying that Baba may act as some sort of mentor within Neo Shadaloo.
As for the tall man with triangular hair, he remains unnamed to this day. However, Nakayama did at one point state that his name starts with the letter “G,” though there likely isn’t any sort of connection to G from Street Fighter 5.
Ed inherited M. Bison’s ability to emit Psycho Power from his body, Falke gained the ability to inject Psycho Power into objects, Baba received M. Bison’s intelligence, and the unnamed member has M. Bison’s ability to teleport. Supposedly, M. Bison’s ability to someday return is linked to these four.
That’s almost all of the information that we have on the members of Shadaloo, aside from Ed and Falke. Based on these images being specifically highlighted with the recent trailer, we may finally learn more about them.
Falke is referenced in both the sticker and music content sections of the Ed Fighting Pass. Balrog’s Street Fighter 5 theme is also returning.
This is similar to how the Rashid Arrives Fighting Pass included Laura and Necalli’s Street Fighter 5 musical themes while A.K.I. Arrives Fighting Pass includes those for F.A.N.G, M. Bison, and Vega.
As of right now, it’s unknown if previous fighters referenced via these stickers and themes can return in Street Fighter 6 or if this is supposed to serve as a disconfirmation. Regardless, this also seems to imply that Balrog and Falke will be referenced at certain points when interacting with Ed in World Tour.
This ends up not being too surprising considering that the other members of Neo Shadaloo and Balrog seem to be the most important people to Ed. We’ll also likely hear more about Ed’s connections to M. Bison, and how Neo Shadaloo currently relates to the conflict that exists between JP and F.A.N.G.