Capcom has announced a new Street Fighter game, Street Fighter: Duel, which is set to be quite different from the typical Street Fighter outing. Street Fighter: Duel is a free to play mobile RPG.
Street Fighter: Duel sees a collaboration between Capcom and Crunchyroll. Crunchyroll describes it as “the first ever RPG in the series,” but is also set to feature some of the series’ trademark fighting. Crunchyroll is perhaps the biggest name in anime outside of Japan, and the company has been busy providing a great lineup of anime. Crunchyroll has also worked on previous mobile game titles using strong anime IP such as My Hero Academia and Naruto.
The trailer features Ryu stood in a dark void, with only some of the series’ top-notch Street Fighter music and arcady action sounds for company, before turning and charging a massive Hadoken. After which he is joined by fan favorites, Chun-Li, Ken, and Blanka, all of whom have quite a toy-like gleam to their character models. The screen then flashes to a splash screen of more characters in a more typical concept art style, announcing the title, Street Fighter: Duel and the prompt to pre-register for February on Android or iOS. While building a suitable amount of anticipation, the trailer regretfully does not illuminate much in the way of gameplay. Crunchyroll’s website offers more detail, stating that players will “travel the globe to recruit and level up iconic characters from across the Street Fighter series.”
Considering that Street Fighter is not an anime, and that Capcom has already released several mobile games including Street Fighter 4 CE for Android and iOS, the collaboration is a little odd. However, when considering the fact that Capcom is very busy working on Street Fighter 6, Monster Hunter, and the much anticipated Resident Evil 4 Remake, it makes sense that the Osaka-based studio should look to outsource some of the work.
While this is being advertised as the first video game RPG in the Street Fighter series, it is also worth remembering 1994’s Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game, a tabletop RPG based on mechanics from White Wolf's World of Darkness games. Regretfully it is currently out of print, but the game saw players create their own Street Fighter character and develop a fighting style. World of Darkness is of course most famous for including Vampire: The Masquerade which in turn received the cult classic Bloodlines. While Street Fighter: Duel is set to be an RPG, it is doubtful if the role playing mechanics will stretch quite as far as a White Wolf title. For those that are eager for a deeper RPG, Vampire: Masquerade Bloodlines 2 may release in 2023. Without digging up old copies of Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game, Duel will be the best bet for Street Fighter fans to enjoy the franchise in an RPG setting.
Street Fighter: Duel is being developed for Android and iOS.
Source: Crunchyroll