In the short time that Street Fighter 6 has been on the scene, it has already caused quite the buzz amongst fighting game enthusiasts. Mechanically tight, aesthetically vivid, and thankfully not as bare bones on release as its predecessor, it has quickly made an impression as a seminal entry in the genre’s most iconic franchise.
Recently, we shared a list of characters from the series’ past we would like to see return to the ring, but you know where the real money is made? Why, it’s season passes microtransactions feet pics of Juri surprise crossovers, of course! Fighting games are the perfect opportunity to introduce guest characters in unexpected ways, something that the SoulCalibur series has long used to generate additional sales. I bought SC2 for Link, and I’m not ashamed to admit that (my shame is reserved for the reason I bought Dead or Alive 2).
When your developer just so happens to be one of the most storied studios in gaming, you’ve got an absolute wealth of personalities to draw from, so let’s take a look at some candidates — these are six Capcom characters we’d like to see in Street Fighter 6.
1. Mike Haggar
Let’s start with an easy one, shall we?
The Street Fighter and Final Fight universes have been in lockstep with one another for generations, to the point where a protagonist surfacing from the latter hardly even qualifies as a guest character anymore. We’ve already gotten everyone from Guy to Cody and even the lumbering Canuck Abigail, with one significant omission leaving a sizeable hole, literally and figuratively.
Mike Haggar, the former mayor of Metro City, has not so much as sniffed a Street Fighter roster despite several close calls. He is constantly referenced in plot beats, makes background cameo appearances here and there, and has a built-in moveset that makes him ideal for a grappling brawler. So why no playable roles?
The most immediate response is likely his striking similarity to Zangief, an equally bulky and hirsute gentleman who enjoys lifting his opponents up in the air for a dazzling yet ephemeral flight that inevitably ends with them being dropped on their head. The pair are constantly playing keep-away from one another, trading roster spots in other titles such as Marvel vs Capcom.
But surely now that Haggar has exited office he has the free time to finally see what all the fuss is about, and engage in some illegal street fighting activity. There’s never been an issue with Ryu and Ken possessing near-identical movesets, so the same principle could be applied here: Zangief nails lariats and body slams, while Haggar nails lariats and body slams in American.
This is, of course, assuming my man isn’t dead, as that would clearly make him a less effective fighter.
2. Leon Kennedy
On the subject of Marvel vs Capcom, we will try to be somewhat sensible with our picks to avoid simply aping those lineups for the purposes of this piece. Among Raccoon City’s finest, there has been one sagacious agent most notable in his absence in MvC, and with the recent release of Resident Evil 4 Remake earlier this year, he’s never been hotter. It’s everyone’s favorite non-threatening husbando and the king of cheesy one-liners, Leon Kennedy!
Obviously, Leon’s most reliable tool is a trusty handgun, but he will not be opening fire in this instance. Call me a stickler, but something about the idea of him just straight up unloading a round in the direction of E. Honda is rather upsetting.
Besides, as of RE4, the snarky officer picked up a whole new range of offensive techniques that are tailor-made for fighting games. By and large, grapplers are notoriously hulking characters such as the aforementioned Haggar and Zangief. Leon could buck this trend by being a speedy alternative who peppers his foes with light jabs before lining them up for a gratifying German suplex.
When you consider his physics defying feats of athleticism in Resident Evil 6 (yes, that subtle and nuanced entry that totally didn’t result in the soft reset of the franchise a few years later), the notion of him flipping about in a fighting game really isn’t that hard to picture. It would be worth it for the post-match victory quips alone.
3. Edward Falcon
For all of its flaws, Street Fighter 5 deserves credit for reintroducing the long-dormant Rival Schools, courtesy of its inclusion of Akira Kazama. Me personally, I would have opted for the legendary Chairperson, but you can’t have everything, I suppose.
With that being said, there are a few other deserving and cherished Capcom licenses that have sat on the shelf for far too long. Power Stone hasn’t been in our hands since it was ported to the PSP in 2006, leaving deserving protagonists like Edward Falcon tragically collecting dust.
As the lead character of his franchise, Falcon is the most logical nominee to take to Street Fighter; a British explorer whose tireless pursuit of the eponymous Power Stone takes him all across the globe. There have been a few curious inducements for characters in past entries, chiefly El Fuerte’s desire to assemble culinary delights or Rufus’ one sided obsession with Ken Masters, so Falcon popping in for a bit of a scrap to distract him from his adventure slots in quite nicely.
His whimsical nature makes him a natural foil for Street Fighter’s many sourpusses, but I’d be most excited to see him go toe-to-toe with the Pommy mommy herself, Cammy White. Could he possibly stand a chance against those devastating kicks? Indeed, do any of us? I might just accept my fate and let her destroy me within seconds. There are worse ways to go, after all.
4. Regina
Please raise your hand if you were unreasonably convinced that Dino Crisis was going to get a revival as part of the 2023 Capcom Showcase. We’ve been champing at the bit with the voracity of a velociraptor for two decades now, only to receive little more than cruel reminders that this series is basically extinct.
With this in mind, the special intelligence operative known only as Regina is basically a passion pick for Street Fighter. She doesn’t really have much else going on, and I refuse to let her peacefully enjoy retirement at such a young age.
I’ll further admit that the premise of Dino Crisis — Resident Evil but make it dinosaurs — doesn’t exactly result in a lead character with a distinctive moveset for fighting games, but that didn’t seem to cause issues for Jill Valentine in Marvel vs Capcom 2. To wit, one of her special moves was literally to just have a zombie amble on-screen, which is so obtuse and yet entirely accurate to the source material.
Street Fighter isn’t quite so wacky as to suggest that Regina ought to summon dinosaurs into the fray like a budget store Pokemon trainer, but it’s at least a starting point. She’s something of a blank slate by now, and in my ideal vision, having her make a cameo in one of Capcom’s heavy hitters could reignite interest in her native franchise, a la Marth and Roy in Smash Bros Melee.
All because it won’t happen doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t.
5. Mai-Ling
Though she is just as unlikely as several of the other competitors I’ve alluded to here, I can’t shake the notion that on a design basis alone, Mai-Ling actually really suits Street Fighter 6’s creative vision.
One of four playable main characters from Red Earth, she is a talented young martial artist intent on avenging the people of her destroyed village. She is not quite as visually striking as Leo, the muscular half-lion monarch, but her fighting style and general vibe would be much less of a headache to integrate here. Besides, he already got his day in the sun courtesy of 2004’s Capcom Fighting Evolution while Mai-Ling was unfairly left on the bench.
Due to the similarities between their premises, you would only need to make minor tweaks to Mai-Ling’s arsenal for her to work in Street Fighter. You’d also have a hell of a time explaining how this warrior child from an alternate dystopian reality is suddenly rubbing elbows with Dhalsim and Guile, but surely the mystical nature of Psycho Power could be extrapolated to include some sort of reality-bending capabilities.
With Shadaloo finally dissolved, the malignant spirit of M. Bison might engage in some other form of entertainment in the afterlife, including but not limited to discovering new dimensions. For Mai-Ling, the day Bison graced her village was the most important day of her life. But for him, it was Tuesday.
6. Lord Raptor
For obvious reasons, the most transcendent Darkstalkers fighters are the ones who are appealing to thine eye; the cat-girl Felicia and succubus Morrigan are shoe-ins whenever Capcom want to gussy up their crossover lineups.
But sometimes, we don’t want pretty. Or depending on what you’re into, we would prefer a version of pretty that comes in the form of a zombified Australian punk rocker. That is Lord bloody Raptor, and I desperately want him in my Street bloody Fighter.
Even if you consider an animated corpse to be a bit too off-brand for this franchise — in which case, you’re clearly not an Oro main — Raptor is also capable of shifting into a more human-like guise with which he can reintegrate himself with decent society.
Wouldn’t that be a sight to see? An attractive, laissez-faire playboy strutting his stuff on the battlefield, only to suddenly revert back to his true form as a gosh darn zombie? Extrapolating things further, you could even use his inclusion as justification for Leon Kennedy entering the tournament, having heard rumor of a potential strain of the T-virus roaming about.
Or maybe Regina caught wind that there was a Raptor on the prowl, and in a case of overzealous misunderstanding, she eagerly signed up. That last one is maybe not quite as good a narrative, but then again, neither is Dee Jay’s motivation of just having a really fun time dancing about and hitting people on occasion.
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