This is a theory explaining why we feel that Season 2 DLC characters for Street Fighter 6 may be primarily from Street Fighter 4.
We posted a story a couple of years ago on EventHubs explaining that because of how many newcomers were being included Street Fighter 6 — seven on the base roster — and with that being close to double the number of the prior games, future DLC seasons of Street Fighter will feature a lot of familiar faces, as the newcomers had mostly been accounted for now.
This happened when the first DLC content pack for Street Fighter 6 featured mostly the prior game’s characters, with Rashid, Ed and A.K.I. via F.A.N.G. coming from Street Fighter 5. Also, Akuma as well who’s coming out on May 22, 2024.
Street Fighter 4 is next game in the series, and Season 2 of Street Fighter 6 could feature 3 or 4 characters or even potentially more who launched in that game since it’s next chronologically.
To play it out the rest of the way, if this theory holds up, Season 3 would be Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, Season 4 would be Street Fighter 2 and Season 5 would be Street Fighter Alpha. It’s possible they even go back to Street Fighter 1, but that’s something that doesn’t seem as likely, as they don’t usually hit that game often with DLC.
The fact that the current game added more newcomers than either of the prior two games means that they don’t need to worry about adding as many fresh faces this time around, and they can draw upon the popularity of the prior games in the franchise by making each one of their DLC Seasons based on those previous titles.
Timestamps:
0:00 – Season 2 DLC characters may be from Street Fighter 4
2:14 – C. Viper
4:12 – Poison
6:16 – Gouken
12:17 – Seth
13:17 – Decapre
17:34 – Oni
22:50 – Rufus
26:09 – Hakan
28:20 – Abel
32:04 – El Fuerte
35:17 – Honorable Mentions, thanks for watching
This makes sense from a popularity and sales perspective, as they can call upon the most popular fighters from each entry in the franchise to generate more revenue.
With Street Fighter 4 being one of the most successful and high sales entries in the franchise, plus coming next in the series, our theory is that Season 2 of the current game will feature characters who made their debut in this title.
We made a list of 10 characters along with our favorite picks on who we think have the best chances of being included as Season 2 DLC.
These characters had to debut in Street Fighter 4 — if they premiered in another mainline Street Fighter game — we didn’t include them in our list.
Also, it’s possible that Capcom repeats what they did with F.A.N.G. and A.K.I. and makes an updated character based on a past fighter, as these two people share quite a bit in common, with the former being the latter’s mentor.
It’s not just characters that are callbacks in Street Fighter 6, but some of the mechanics as well. Drive Impact is a direct transfer from Focus Attacks from SF4, Parry from SF3, plus Drive Reversals being Alpha counters from those games.
Callbacks to prior games has been a constant theme in Street Fighter 6, so it makes sense that the DLC packs may follow this same pattern, since that’s what happened with Season 1 being heavily based around Street Fighter 5.
Please check out the video embedded above for a full breakdown of the 10 characters who debuted in Street Fighter 4 who could make their way in as Season 2 DLC, including 4K footage from prior games, along with additional thoughts of how they might fit into Street Fighter 6.
The characters we cover in order are: C. Viper, Poison, Gouken, Seth, Decapre, Oni, Rufus, Hakan, Abel and El Fuerte. We also choose four of these fighters apiece as our DLC picks, and we include a couple of honorable mentions at the end of the video.
You can use the timestamps to skip to the areas of the video you’d most like to see.