Street Fighter 6 may have ended its Season 1 with the release of Akuma last month, but for those with a keen eye, they’ve noticed that Season 2 had never officially started, and that it was never formally announced. Until today, that is. At the Summer Games Fest Street Fighter 6’s Season 2 DLC lineup was officially announced, holding two particularly surprising characters: Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui of SNK fame.
This might be the first time Street Fighter has had official guest characters, though Terry and especially Mai are no strangers to showing up in other fighting games when they feel like it, this is a sure sign of Capcom’s fighting game division becoming more open to welcoming outside characters similar to Bandai Namco’s Tekken.
Joining the SNK guests are a few more surprises: first is Elena from Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, a very well liked but infamous character from a competitive perspective. After her last appearance as a God tier in Ultra Street Fighter 4 many players swore they never wanted to see Elena again, but those are quickly drowned out by those that like her design and the hopes that she’ll be a better experience to play against here in 6.
Joining them finally is M. Bison, dictator of Shadaloo and Street Fighter’s most famous villain. After his death in the story mode of Street Fighter 5 many expected Bison to take a game off until Street Fighter 7, but Bison is not exactly someone who will stay dead if you follow the series’ lore.
These short previews are great for hype for Street Fighter 6’s Season 2 and no doubt further balance patches and content updates will do even further work to help with the game’s longevity as we head further and further into Street Fighter 6’s lifespan.