5 characters we hope aren’t in Street Fighter 6

We’re back talking about some more Street Fighter 6 today, but rather than talking about how I want the game to play, the wideness of my boy Ryu, or ranting about that rather “interesting” logo, I am here to talk about some of the things I absolutely do NOT want to see in Street Fighter 6.

That’s right, it’s time to potentially irritate some people who played, quite frankly, awful and unlovable characters from Street Fighter’s past. 

Before we jump into this piece, you can check out some of the things I would actually love to see as we move towards a fresh start in the Street Fighter franchise. Street Fighter V was a game that suffered from problem after problem during its initial release, but it slowly managed to recover over the years. And so we all want the best for Street Fighter 6.

That means ditching these fuckers, so far as I’m concerned.

Blanka

I don’t care if this character is one of the original World Warriors from Street Fighter II, I hate this character with every fibre of my being and I sincerely hope that we never EVER see him again — ever.

I, like many other people who got into Street Fighter IV, have had my ass handed to me time and time again by Blanka players, but that isn’t even the reason I don’t want to see him — if me losing to a character was the reason I wanted them gone, every character would be gone from the roster. (At least he’s honest, eh? – Ed.) 

I simply don’t like the character’s design, artistically and functionally. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I love nothing more than watching a high-level Ryu play an incredibly solid neutral game, where they throw Hadoukens and Shoryukens. It’s like this dance between players as they try to figure each other out and where one wrong step can lead to a world of pain. Blanka is just this green ball that zips around the screen — No. I don’t want it.

F.A.N.G.

I can vividly remember when this character was announced; the release date for Street Fighter V was coming any time now and the final character of the starting roster was about to be announced. There was all this theorycrafting about who it might be based on possible teasers in the background of the stages, and then the time had finally come for the big reveal… F.A.N.G. — M. Bison’s number one simp. 

Not only did this character absolutely suck for almost the entirety of the game’s lifespan, but the character was just so awful-looking. I get it, not every character can be a big titty waifu, but I mean who on Earth is looking at a character like F.A.N.G. and going “oh yeah, that character speaks to me”.

F.A.N.G. was also one of the least picked characters both offline and online, so I think it’s safe to say we won’t be seeing him again any time soon. 

Necalli

This character had it going for him back at the beginning of the game’s life. Necalli was this new, wild, bestial-looking guy who had some familiar-feeling tools when it came to gameplay, along with an interesting design. However, as the game went on this character quickly became one of the dullest and most boring characters on the roster, and I honestly think the character was put in the game primarily to help show off Unreal Engine’s hair physics. 

The problem was that Necalli had pretty much every tool that a character in a Street Fighter game can have: a projectile, an uppercut, a command grab, and fast buttons. He also only ever played in one style, so whenever you saw a Necalli, you knew exactly what you were in for. He had potential with the whole super Saiyan hair thing he had going on but ultimately fell flat. Into the trash he goes.

Abigail

As someone who has played SFV from the start and had hopped back in every now and then, I think people in a similar situation would agree with me in that I associate Abigail with a dark time for Street Fighter, as well as one of the least hype character reveals of all time. 

His reveal was during the grand finals day of EVO 2017, one of the biggest fighting game tournaments of the year, Dragonball FighterZ had just shown the character trailer for Trunks, an incredibly popular character. Tekken 7 had just revealed the guest character Geese Howard from The King of Fighters — an incredibly popular character. Then Street Fighter reveals this hulking mess of a character whose hair was in the shape of a damn maple leaf.

Yeah, no.

Laura

I know, I know, part of me likes Laura too (I suspect part of you likes part of Laura – Ed.), but then a massive part of me absolutely despises this character. When Laura was first revealed, we were all surprised by this new waifu character that was coming. She was a speedy, normal-sized, grappler character who focused on grabbing and getting in the opponent’s face.

One of the bigger reasons I don’t think we’ll be seeing Laura again, however, is the fact that she has a younger brother who featured in a previous Street Fighter title, and he’s due a long-awaited return. Sean was an enjoyable character from the Street Fighter III series who I think we will see a return in Street Fighter 6.

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So those are my picks, controversial or otherwise! Doubtless you have some of your own opinions on Street Fighter 6’s potential cast, though — so let us know what characters you’d love to see, or the characters you never want to see ever again. We’re listening down in the comments, on the usual social channels and, of course, on the Rice Digital Friday Letters Page!

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