Unlike in past years, I’m able to say that this year, I played more than one new release! This means I have a handful of games from which to choose for my game of the year. That’s said, it’s not much of a race…because my winner is, without a doubt, Street Fighter 6.

When Street Fighter 6 was first announced, I was interested—I’m on board for any new SF title—but was skeptical. I was not a fan of Capcom’s handling of Street Fighter V, hiding characters behind paywalls and such. At the time, the addition of the “world tour” mode, where one could customize a fighter and take on a world filled with other fighters, seemed gimmicky. At most, I knew we’d get the game, maybe at launch or not, and it would become another title in our SF arsenal. Never did I expect anything otherwise.

The game’s demo changed everything.

Released a little over a month before the game was due out, Street Fighter 6’s demo gave players access to two fighters (Ryu, Luke) in the “Fighting Ground” and the prologue of the “World Tour.” Playing as the standard fighters felt ok, but, of course, I was far more interested to see if my skepticism would hold fast with a custom character in the world tour.

It did not. Not by a long shot.

I downloaded the demo on both the PlayStation and the Xbox, and I played it… a lot. A lot more than I figured I would. Knowing that we were going to get the game on the PlayStation, most of my efforts were focused there. Once the game came out, I started my world tour journey with my demo character, Petra, and I just didn’t…couldn’t stop. The rest is history.

I rung in the holiday season by maxing Petra to level 100, completing all world tour chapters, mastering all fighters, gaining their maximum friendships. While the game is technically an “ongoing” one (there are still two more fighters to be introduced in the coming months, Ed and Akuma), it’s pretty darn complete for me, and I can’t remember the last game I completed as fully. I’ll admit to feeling a minor compulsion to refine Petra’s moves and bring her into the online Battle Hub, but I’m more interested to take on the game’s arcade mode in the Fighting Ground. Working through that could be a pretty good 2024 goal. (*makes note*) As well, learning the game’s modern control scheme could be an interesting sidequest. I remain terrible at pulling off super arts on command, and they are supposed to be much easier to do in the modern scheme. I wouldn’t mind the change-up to being a little flashy just for the sake of seeing a cool animation and the end of a fight. Can’t be function over form all the time.

But, enough musing. The point is, 2023 was filled with games that literally opened up new worlds to explore, offered new paths to enjoyment, and presented new ideas that further evolved the medium, and Street Fighter 6 covers all three points with its world tour mode alone. It provides a new world to explore that’s both deeply grounded in Capcom’s fighting game history and entertaining to witness. The tour gives players the means to create a fighter all their own through (1) an extensive and always-accessible character creation module, and (2) access to individual moves that can be switched at the player’s whim, and a skill tree that can also be respeced (at a cost) when needed. And while I can’t say for certain that the world tour is the first ever “RPG fighting game,” it’s the first one I’ve ever played, and now I wish it was in all fighting games everywhere.

Street Fighter 6 helped me rediscover the joy of fighting game, the delight of skill-building, and the sense of accomplishment that comes with wins that feel truly earned. Games, generally, make me happy; Street Fighter 6 makes me proud to play. I cannot wait to see where the game goes from here.

Lede image captured by author during PlayStation 5 gameplay of Street Fighter 6 (© Sony, Capcom).