Street Fighter 6 Years 1-2 Fighters Edition Review: Two Years in the Streets

Since its release in June 2023, Street Fighter 6 has seen a lot of ups and downs and managed to maintain support from its player base. Seeing how well things are, it is closing its second year on a rather positive note as compared to Tekken 8, which is being review-bombed as of late.

Capcom’s learnings from Street Fighter V’s initial failure and its ultimate redemption story with the Champion Edition greatly helped the team to start the development of Street Fighter 6 on a positive note, which ultimately received critical acclaim upon release. Years 1-2 Fighters Edition celebrates Street Fighter 6’s second anniversary, which includes all the Season Passes from Year 1 and Year 2, making it a great entry point for newcomers.

Street Fighter 6 Years 1-2 Fighters Edition was released on June 5, 2025. This edition includes all characters and stages from both Year 1 and Year 2. It is available on PlayStation 4 & 5, Steam, Xbox Series S|X (costs 60 USD), and the newly released Nintendo Switch 2 (costs 50 USD).

The Best 2.5D Fighter on the Market

Thanks to its solid core content, quality of life updates, and an excellent ‘rollback’ netcode, Street Fighter 6 has remained the most popular fighting game for the last two years and has remained quite popular in the e-sports space with EVO tournaments. Many other titles have tried to break into this space, but nothing has come close to the success of SF 6.

The core game comprises three primary modes. The first is World Tour, where players create a custom to an extensive array of maps, interacting with SF6 characters as masters. Players must locate these masters and learn from them to enhance their characters’ abilities and diverse fighting styles. The second mode is Battle Hub, a multiplayer lobby where players can meet others, participate in PvP battles across various modes, and engage in additional activities. Finally, there is Fighting Ground, which includes training, character guides, combo trials, arcade story, ranked and casual multiplayer matches, as well as extreme battles.

Overall, the game offers an extensive amount to explore. The World Tour serves as an excellent tutorial campaign and introduction to the in-game characters. Over time, it received numerous updates to accommodate the expanded roster. The Battle Hub is highly commendable, now featuring ranked matchmaking during free roams and multiplayer extreme battles; however, the extreme battle arcade cabinets often remain unoccupied. Fighting Ground has been impressive overall, with low matchmaking times for those with a stable connection, though it still lacks multiplayer extreme battles.

Taking everything into account, despite some minor issues and the adjustments made to nerfs and buffs for game balance stands as the best 2D fighting game currently available on the market.

The debate between classic and modern controls remains a prominent topic. Classic control scheme allows greater character control, but executing combos and special moves demands a sheer amount of practice. Modern control scheme addresses this challenge by enabling assisted combos using R2 and action button sequences, though this comes at the cost of player precision. Within the community, there is a prevailing belief that using classic controls is a hallmark of a professional player, largely because tournament competitors at EVO predominantly opt for classic controls over ones. This sentiment has been somewhat mitigated over time; it would be beneficial for Capcom to refine these mechanics further to enhance their versatility.

Great for New Players

Street Fighter 6 started out with 18 characters with its base game launch. With the inclusion of the season passes, that number is now 26, with Mai Shiranui and Elena being the latest additions. Both are potent additions to the game’s roster. Considering that you are getting access to all these characters with this modestly priced edition is a great deal.

For those who have not yet owned Street Fighter 6, this presents a great opportunity to start without incurring the steep costs of the season passes. However, for the existing players, Capcom has not offered any discounted upgrade option to the current Years 1-2 Fighters Edition. Purchasing a single character requires fighter coins, which can only be obtained through real-world money. Additionally, the smallest fighter coin bundle is 260 coins, followed by 610 coins priced at $17 (999 INR in India). Since each character costs 350 coins, it is necessary to purchase one with the higher coin bundle, making individual character purchases disproportionately expensive. Furthermore, the combined cost of the season passes is nearly double the price of the game itself, if not more.

Purchasing the Fighters Edition resolves this issue, as it includes everything in the bundle except for Outfit 3, which can be unlocked through Premium Season Passes, known to be highly expensive. Each third outfit costs 300 fighter coins, which requires real-world currency. Compared to SF V, SF 6 offers only three outfits per character. Hopefully, Capcom will allow these outfits to be purchased using Drive tickets instead of fighter coins and expand the number of outfits available for each character in the roster in its upcoming season 3.

Road to Season 3

Capcom has officially revealed the Season 3 DLC roster for Street Fighter 6 during Summer Game Fest 2025. The lineup includes four returning characters:

• Sagat – Summer 2025
• C. Viper – Autumn 2025
• Alex – Early Spring 2026
• Ingrid – Late Spring 20262

Sagat, the iconic Muay Thai master, will be the first to arrive, and his gameplay footage has already been showcased. His moveset includes his signature Tiger Shot, Tiger Uppercut, and Tiger Knee, along with a new special attack. Overall roster seems to be aimed at traditional fighting as compared to Season 2’s guest characters that had some over-the-top powerful abilities. I highly doubt that anything in the future roster can rival Capcom’s inclusion of Mai Shiranui, but I would be glad to be proven wrong.

Capcom has also announced changes to its Drive Gauge system in Season 3, which will impact how players counter and block attacks. The goal is to refine the balance of long combo chains and defensive play. I hope these changes are not forcefully implemented like Tekken 8, which forced players to play aggressively and made defensive play highly difficult.

Real Talk

Street Fighter 6 Years 1-2 Fighter Edition closes the second anniversary of Street Fighter 6 on a very successful note. The core gameplay remains intact, feels fluid and responsive, with an expansive roster that comes included with this new edition, paving a great way for newcomers. Still, the lack of a discounted upgrade path for existing players seems to be a missed opportunity to reflect on their goodwill and support.

FINAL SCORE: 85/100