Street Fighter 6: Fighters Edition Launches Nintendo Switch 2 With Tradition
Picking up Street Fighter 6: Fighters Edition for the Nintendo Switch 2 felt just right on launch day. Fighting games are the penultimate pick-up-and-play experience when it comes to taking new hardware for a spin. More than that, we don't often see a Street Fighter title launch with a new system, which makes the Switch 2 feel all the more special and sentimental.
Nintendo announced that the Switch 2 had sold over 3.5 million units worldwide within the first 4 days of launch. Almost a day later, Capcom announced that Street Fighter 6 had achieved lifetime sales (to date) of 5 million units worldwide across all platforms. The game initially launched back in 2023, and you wouldn't be wrong to think that the sudden boost in sales was thanks to Switch 2. With cross-platform play enabled, it is no doubt one of the best ways to jump into the game and the competitive fighting subculture.
Street Fighter and Nintendo have always been an integral part of each other's histories. In fact, the very inception of the versus fighting genre owes a great deal to Nintendo home consoles. If we look back in history, the depth of the connection is clear.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
Street Fighter II was a huge success in arcades all over the world, but there was a lot of money on the table in the home console market, and so the 16-bit SNES became a natural home for Capcom's flagship IP. The SNES release of Street Fighter II with the iconic Blanka artwork was an event, and subsequent editions like Turbo and Super Turbo fit like a glove on the versatile hardware. The versus fighting translated into countless hours of couch multiplayer, and the game pad with its shoulder buttons proved to be a comfortable fit. In fact, Nintendo's 16-bit technology was so far ahead of its competition that it even managed to run a shockingly competent port of Street Fighter Alpha 2. If you were an SNES owner back in the day, then Super Mario World, Star Fox, Super Mario Kart, and Street Fighter were inevitably part of your library.
Game Boy
Initially, bringing the arcade fighter to the confines of a monochrome screen proved to be futile, with the port of Street Fighter II being a novelty at best. Things improved later with the Game Boy Color when UK-based developer Crawfish Interactive performed an absolute programming miracle by successfully porting an optimised de-make of Street Fighter Alpha. The game was minimalist yet retained all the artistic flair of the arcade game and made good use of the entire colour palette that the Game Boy Color offered.
Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance launched with Super Street Fighter II: Turbo Revival, which proved to be a fun remixed version of the classic with improved animations, new artwork, new stages, and even an exclusive secret character in Shin Akuma. Later in the handheld's run, Crawfish Interactive repeated another programming miracle when they successfully ported Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper. Unlike their demake effort on the Game Boy Color, they were able to fully recreate the arcade experience on the Game Boy Advance. It looked and performed the part, but tragically, Crawfish Interactive would go bankrupt and close its doors shortly after. Even today, this port of Alpha 3 is highly sought after and playable.
Nintendo 3DS
The Nintendo 3DS wasn't exactly built for fighting games, but Capcom made the most of it with the unique 3D Edition of Street Fighter IV. Special moves were relegated to touchscreen shortcuts, and in a way, the simplified hotkeys were a precursor to the modern control schemes of today's fighting games. The Street Pass feature was put to good use with Street Pass Battles, which also created an opportunity for bragging rights if you were so lucky to pass by Street Fighter's producer at the time, Yoshinori Ono.
Nintendo Switch
If you've read my work here on SuperJump, you know that I can't get enough of Street Fighter II; it's a game and a subject I will always hold near and dear to my heart. Where most players were keen to get their hands on Darkstalkers and Red Earth in the new Capcom fighting collection (as they should), I was happy to have Hyper Street Fighter II on my Switch. Between this and the anniversary collection, Ultra Street Fighter II, literally every possible Street Fighter II game ever made is on Nintendo's hybrid platform. Whether it's using the HORI Mini or the HORI JoyCon, I feel like these are games I will return to time and time again for years. Hyper is a bit of an anomaly, as it's not quite a distinct version of Street Fighter II per se, it's more like a Frankenstein amalgamation of all the games released before Ultra. Point is, the Switch is the place to be to throw down some Hadoukens!
Nintendo Switch 2
Street Fighter 6: Fighters Edition is definitely a highlight in the Switch 2 launch lineup, and likely to get plenty of mileage from players for years to come. It feels fantastic in either docked or handheld mode, both running at a smooth 60 FPS. It also has cross-platform multiplayer, so this is the fighting game that will bring players from all gaming platforms together. The Switch 2 release comes loaded with all of the DLC released to date, including the return of fan favourite Elena. The new JoyCons and Pro Controller work really well with the fighting, but the best news is that all fighting sticks and pads for the previous Switch work just fine on Switch 2. Street Fighter 6 marked a new era and introduced a fresh cast of fighters, and with it now available on more platforms and including more diverse modes of play, it will only help cement its legacy.
Here's to a new generation of fighting fans on a new Nintendo platform!
Special thanks to The Fighters Generation for their impressive archives and galleries.