It’s hard to consider that the most famous franchise in the history of fighting games has never had a guest before. Kratos was present. Yoda was inr. there are actually more characters from outside the series than from inside the lineup. But optimistic, jeans-wearing, urban sweater Terry Bogard (who can be inside ) will mean that for the first time you’ll have the option to play as someone from one other series inside.

The news was announced during the Summer Game Fest show as part of the season two reveal. In addition to the return of Elena and series villain M. Bison, the game’s second 12 months can even see the addition of Terry Bogart and ninja Mai Shiranui, the result of a collaboration with SNK that first launched at Evo 2022, the in-person return of the fighting game event following the Covid-19 pandemic. 19. Fighting game illustrators Toshiaki “Shinkiro” Mori and Eisuke Ogura created a “Welcome Back” crossover sign consisting of characters from each games and .

“It was a big hit and really exciting,” director Takayuki Nakayama and producer Shuhei Matsumoto, who are actually the faces of the series, told me in an interview conducted through a translator at Summer Game Fest. Teams from each firms talked over the following years, which ultimately led to the decision to bring Terry, principally Ken from SNK, to the rival franchise. What’s it prefer to remake an external character in the Street Fighter universe?

“When introducing non-Capcom or non-guest characters into this game, of course (we must) respect the intellectual property and characters and make sure fans of those characters appreciate it,” they said. While Terry and Mai will follow the same rules as the existing lineup, the essential goal of the collaboration is primarily to bring their unique personalities and fighting game flair with them.

Nakayama and Matsumoto demurred once I asked for specifics on what this might mean for his or her styles and move sets, but emphasized that the band has some ideas that they’re excited about. “ this is a long series for SNK. Characters like Terry have also appeared in other games such as , which is also a very long series. The team working on 6 are huge fans of fighting games in general, including games like i. They have a lot of things they want to include, people they think Terry and Mai fans will like, and that’s something they’re really putting a lot of energy into .

However, before Terry and Mai arrive at the end of the year, players will get their hands on M. Bison, the head of the crime syndicate who has been a fan favorite ever since. Ryu killed him at the end, but as everyone suspected he’s back and I look weirder than ever. His new gray, tattered alternate costume, a striking contrast to his traditional imperial uniform, earned him the nickname “homeless Bison” from some, and the revamped arsenal of moves looks borderline broken.

“As for his backstory and why he looks the way he does, that is something you may learn more about by playing arcade mode and seeing him in World Tour while he’s away,” Nakayama and Matsumoto said. While this is his return to the series, M. Bison’s new set also marks the return of some old abilities in new forms. One of them is his ultra combo, which is now a super art in the . Other moves play a role in the story and the crime boss’s new level of cunning. This includes a back fist combo that tosses the opponent with a psychomine that will explode if M. Bison isn’t hit for a while.

“It kind of adds a mental game aspect to his game and kind of forces his opponent to play a certain way when it happens,” they said. Psycho Mine also changes some of M. Bison’s attack effects and combos while active, also changing the rhythm of the match. He is also a hybrid of charge and command fighter, meaning some of his abilities require holding inputs, while others are just simple sequences. His iconic Double Knee Press attack will now simply be a “fireball move” attack, for instance, potentially making him rather more appealing to more players.

It’s shaping up to be another cool addition to a game that still feels like it’s in the honeymoon phase with its fans. After a disappointing launch that was marred by numerous complaints and incomplete modes, it was back into shape both because of the fundamentals and the positive sentiment among fans. Despite Modern being a fighting game rooted in a rich history of arcades and player-to-player competition, Modern is as much a live service platform as anything else. In May, Akuma appeared in the game as part of an event that was part of it Playing on Twitch AND part of an MMO boss fight.

Nakayama and Matsumoto pointed to all the data they collect from players and the latest ways they’re experimenting with online events to assist develop the game. “We published an infographic that shows about 20 billion matches that took place over the last year, which is very surprising,” they said. “When we did a raid boss event with Akuma at the center of the battle, it was a huge hit. “That’s what made us realize that there should be more opportunities to get people excited about events like this, and that’s something we want to explore in the near future.”

When they told me that it’s easier than ever to see what players do and don’t like, I asked them if they ever felt like there was too much data and wished they could go back to the days when developers were more cut off from community opinion and behavior. “Honestly, not really,” they replied, laughing. “It’s really exciting to see everyone really having fun playing the game and seeing what people are interested in.”

One thing that at least some players still don’t always have fun with is the game’s aggressive microtransaction model. Outrage erupts from time to time when Capcom asks players to pay for something they think is particularly egregious, such as color variations on costumes. There is also no way to pay exact amounts for most in-game purchases, as players must first purchase any number of Fighter Coins, which often leaves them with remaining premium currency. Is the team satisfied with the current level of monetization?

“I mean, people seem to be very interested in the purchasable content, especially that related to the actual characters in Fighting Ground mode,” they said. “We’re seeing a lot of interest in this, so we’re going to continue to look at it and see if there are any new things that come up that we can just… but as far as the system goes, it’s probably going to stay as is.”

Reading between the lines, it certainly seems like this is a version of what you hear from many companies, which is that while many people complain about microtransactions, just as many, if not more, are reluctant or even willing to put down money for them. Perhaps the sea of ​​player data that developers have access to helped make this point.

Despite only including four new characters, the Season 2 Hunt Pass costs $30, which is half the price of the full game. But to sweeten the deal, the full game is currently 50 percent off to celebrate its first anniversary. Meanwhile, M. Bison arrives in the summer. But the most important part of the legacy and its potential future may lie in more social experiments like Akuma’s online event.

“it gave us the opportunity to try a lot of new things that we had never done before in any other fighting game,” said Nakayama and Matsumoto. “We feel like (we) have been able to see a resurgence of a younger audience that has become interested in the game through alternative areas outside of combat.” We hope this means more live events are planned for year two. The social experience of arcades was crucial to how many people fell in love with fighting games. Finding more ways to recreate this online could be the key to keeping them.