Street Fighter 6: Twenty fist-pounding minutes of new hands-on PS5 gameplay

Street Fighter 6 is looking polished as hell - let’s make that clear from the off. It represents a massive course-correction from the controversial mis-steps of SFV, but it hasn’t jettisoned everything from the previous game: everything salvageable has been iterated and improved upon, resulting in a blend of SF4, SF5, and a breadth of new ideas.

Alex’s hands-on session with the Tokyo Game Show build focused on four newly revealed characters: the powerful but unwieldy Guile, for starters. Juri, whose SF6 incarnation is a refinement on her SF5 version but with some of her fan-favourite moveset brought in from SF4. Kimberly, an entirely new character for SF6 but with strong links to the wider Capcom lore.

And, lastly, Ken Masters; resplendent here in his “she’s turned the weans against us” era garb. Despite the divorcee-chic, though, it’s still the same old Ken: if he was your main in 1991, he’ll feel like being right back home again. Assuming she didn’t get the house.

Visually, it’s the best looking of the 3D era Street Fighters, and for our money, has the most beautiful character design since Street Fighter 2. Capcom is also striving to fix Street Fighter’s infamous tutorial problem with World Tour, one of SF6’s three signature modes, described by the publisher earlier in the year as an “immersive single-player story”, which is music to the ears of anyone who loves Street Fighter but is shite at online (everyone).

If Capcom can pull everything off for a Q1 2023 release, and if the price is right – it will be onto an absolute winner here.

For a more in-depth look at the nitty gritty of Street Fighter 6 coverage, check out Alex’s latest preview of the TGS build.