Top and bottom 5 from the upcoming batch of outfits
After months of not knowing, fans finally learned that Street Fighter 6’s first set of costumes will be releasing on December 1. All 18 of the game’s launch characters are receiving their third costume — or “outfit 3” as it’s actually called — and Capcom shared what all of the designs look like earlier this week.
Naturally, the community was quick to share their thoughts on these new digs, and today I’m getting in on the action. Featured here I have put together a list for the the five best and five worst outfit 3s of the bunch.
This list contains my personal takes on the new costumes, but also incorporates a couple of other factors into the mix. Not only have I judged all of these outfits on their concept, inspiration, and actual execution, but I have also taken into consideration the takes from the community that feel as though the consensus is clear.
Oh, and it’s worth noting that within each of these categories I do not have the outfits specifically ordered.
Without further ado, let’s get right into it.
Marisa
Honestly, at this point Marisa can do no wrong. Love her or hate her for her incredible damage, since she was revealed I feel like Capcom has just executed on this character perfectly — as far as her design and personality go.
She’s among the largest and strongest characters in all of Street Fighter 6 and is tough as nails, but she’s still a total softy and loves love. Her wedding dress outfit 3 not only captures this character trait fantastically well, but it just looks beautiful in-game.
Juri
This one doesn’t do a lot for me personally, but as far as the concept and execution go, Capcom did a great job with Juri’s outfit 3. This costume was one that Capcom revealed the concept artwork for months ago, and unsurprisingly it quickly became a fan favorite.
I do love that her usually tidy hair horns are disheveled with this look as she’s clearly in her pajamas and lounging about. For me, the best costumes Street Fighter games tend to offer are ones where the development team had a clear and unified vision and theme for, and Juri’s feels like exactly that. Plus, it just looks great in motion.
Lily
This is an easy pick as a Lily main myself. Personal bias aside, however, I think Capcom did a fantastic job with Lily’s outfit 3.
Some of the reactions to this costume online said that Lily looks like a whole new character here, and they’re not entirely wrong. From the detail in the outfit itself to her hair physics, not to mention a classy handling of Mexican culture with her Mariachi getup, outfit 3 for Lily feels like a big win for the character, especially when you consider that she is known to be a clumsy, not-so-serious fighter and that Capcom could have leaned in hard on that aspect with her new costume.
Zangief
Brawn and now brains, Zangief looks distinguished and dapper with his outfit 3. This costume is a great example of going the opposite way for a character’s usual leaning and knocking it out of the park.
Zangief, by tradition, is generally thought of as a simple fighter who relies on his muscles to get by. While he’s still a towering titan, this costume shares another side of Gief that we don’t get to see that often, and I like to think that giving him a more intellectual look is an allusion to how intelligent and thoughtful grappler players need to be to not only win, but survive in fighting games.
JP
JP’s upcoming outfit is stylish as hell, but in a different way than his previous costumes were. His long, flowing robes give this look more of a mystical vibe, and much like Velociraptor mentioned in his video about these costumes, this look really feels befitting of a Street Fighter boss character.
I’m not the biggest fan of JP (like many people), but I don’t think this man’s drip can ever be denied.
Ryu
After Capcom revealed all 18 of the upcoming outfits, they released a developer blog that shared what the inspiration and thought process was behind each one. Ryu’s theme here is essentially “people gave him random stuff to wear,” and, well… it shows in the design.
While I do think that the concept and idea fits Ryu’s personality considering he’s a wandering warrior and doesn’t really care for material things, this costume really does look like a random assortment of mismatched things — and not really in a good way. The towel on his head is funny and the jacket design is pretty cool, but overall, this one just feels like it doesn’t really have a strong, cohesive design. Plus, it looks like similar costumes we’ve seen for Ryu in the past.
E. Honda
Honda’s outfit 3 isn’t necessarily bad and doesn’t look bad, but it’s just kind of plain. He’s in a vacation getup and it looks fine, but it’s just not that interesting of an idea.
In Street Fighter 5, Capcom released the best E. Honda costume one year for Halloween that transformed him into the fabled Japanese creature the kappa. Knowing that he could have designs as great as that, vacation Honda just feels a little bland here in 2023.
Blanka
I’m very torn when it comes to Blanka’s outfit 3. On the one hand, I love the Blanka-Chan design and think it’s the best thing to happen to the character pretty much ever in his entire existence. On the other, it just doesn’t look all the great here in Street Fighter 6.
Now, I know Blanka mains aren’t really pleased with this outfit because even though fans demanded Blanka have the costume back when the game launched, it appears the players who love the character wanted something more interesting for his first big outfit — which I can understand. For me, I think Blanka-Chan was a good choice, but something about its body shape and long head / hairline feels weird to me. This outfit looked a lot better in Street Fighter 5, in my opinion.
Dhalsim
I mentioned the importance of having a cohesive theme and vision for these costumes previously, and honestly, it feels like Dhalsim’s doesn’t have that. You might not be surprised to hear that the two main costumes that I feel this way about both have the design philosophy of “wearing random stuff people gave him,” and just like Ryu, it feels like that shows.
Again, it’s not the worst costume ever, but it sticks out as just a random design among others that were better thought out. That being said, I’d rate Dhalsim’s higher than Ryu’s because it at least looks a bit more like something someone would actually wear. Kind of…
Luke
I’ll start by saying that I actually think this costume looks well-made in Street Fighter 6 and translates over to the game nicely. That being said, this still is Luke’s Street Fighter 5 design.
I don’t think people care too much for this design, and if anything, it probably drudges up some bad memories for those who fought top tier, potentially #1 in the game Luke back in the previous installment of the Street Fighter series. It’s passable, it works, and it probably needed to be done, but it’s not really anything new or all that interesting.
Be sure to let us know what you think of my choices here in the comments below, and share your own top five best and worst for Street Fighter 6’s outfit 3!