Capcom teases Street Fighter series anniversary ‘surprises’ for this summer

By Brad Jones January 23, 2017

Street Fighter V — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Inside or outside of the fighting genre, there aren’t many video game franchises that are quite as universally recognized as Street Fighter. This year, the series celebrates its 30th anniversary, and apparently its developer Capcom has big plans to mark the occasion.

We already know that a new iteration of the series’ most iconic installment is being prepared for the Nintendo Switch, as Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers was officially unveiled earlier this month. However, according to long-serving series producer Yoshinori Ono, this is only the “kick off.”

While the re-release is a good start, it seems that Capcom has more in the works, to be revealed over the next few months. “Around E3 timing, maybe even San Diego Comic-Con, we have one or two surprises we hope our fans will look forward to,” said Ono in a recent interview with IGN.

Street Fighter V is already scheduled to receive a slate of new content over the course of 2017. The game’s second season got underway when Akuma was added to the game alongside a major patch in December 2016, and is set to continue over the coming months with the release of five additional characters.

Furthermore, the Street Fighter franchise seems poised to be well represented in the year’s most anticipated fighting game: Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. The reveal trailer that aired at PlayStation Experience 2016 saw Ryu team up with Mega Man, and it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see at least one more Street Fighter character fill a spot on the game’s roster.

Beyond the Ultra Street Fighter II re-release, new content for Street Fighter V, and series stalwarts representing Capcom elsewhere, it’s difficult to predict what else the company could have planned for the series’ anniversary. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait too long to find out what’s in store — E3 2017 runs from June 13 to 15, while this year’s San Diego Comic-Con gets underway on July 20.

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Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…

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