Street Fighter 6's World Tour is the 'Street Fighter RPG' I've always wanted

Street Fighter 6’s World Tour was something I dreamt about as a teen. I remember playing Street Fighter Alpha 3 on Dreamcast, going through its own World Tour mode, and thinking that some kind of Street Fighter RPG would be a solid idea. At the time, I thought that a side-scrolling beat-’em-up like Tekken 3’s Tekken Force mode or Capcom’s Final Fight series (perhaps a bit of Cannon Spike too) would be a strong template. Years later, I was convinced that Sega’s Yakuza series could work well too, being that Kazuma Kiyru is literally fighting in the streets. And after all this time, Capcom has finally followed through with its own stylish, fresh, and wonderfully silly Street Fighter RPG that brings its fantastic world to life.

A World Tour de Force

Capcom gave me a chance to experience World Tour mode behind closed doors for about two hours, which is much longer than the SF6 demo that’s currently available. (Capcom also showed off some Fighting Grounds content too, but World Tour was by far the main highlight for me.) For those who haven’t played the demo yet, it’s fairly restrictive as to which areas of Metro City you can explore, but it still provides a good idea of the scale of the adventure this mode has in mind. Though I could only play the mode until about the start of the third chapter, I was still surprised by the sheer breadth of the content I played. Capcom could have easily turned World Tour into a separate game, so it’s a bit of a miracle that it comes all included in Street Fighter 6.

As a quick recap of the demo, you can create your own street fighter from scratch, using an avatar editor that surprisingly allows for more creativity than character editors in many other games. (You can also bring your created avatar over to the main game once it releases, so it’s worth playing the demo to save time here.) You’re then introduced as a new recruit for Buckler Security Services with SF6’s Luke as your trainer. After sparring with another student named Bosch, who wants to gain strength quickly for an unknown reason, you’re both sent out to a busy square in Metro City for “practical training.”

Bringing the street to the fights

It soon becomes clear that Metro City isn’t your typical metropolis, though that’s probably not surprising to Final Fight fans. The city has done its best to recover from the destruction that the Mad Gear Gang caused in the past and that has made its citizens ready to fight at a moment’s notice. That’s apparently why you can walk up to almost anyone — even a pizza vendor, a high-school student, or a mime — and start a sparring match out of nowhere. Every area or district in the city has a general average level for its NPCs, so you can easily control the difficulty curve of World Tour to your liking. This is a good idea because this mode is partly meant to ease new players into learning the ins and outs of what can be an intimidating combat system.

When you’re not busy starting fights or avoiding enemies that chase after you (especially during nighttime), there’s plenty to explore in the city. Scouring alleyways, train tracks, piers, and hidden areas reachable by ladder, you can find chests with extra items. These are usually quick attack boosts or health pickups, which you can use at any time during a fight, but sometimes you can get a permanent boost to your stats too. You can also buy health items at various food vendors for a small amount of zenny, and you can save some of them in your inventory so that you don’t really have to worry about losing a match all that much. On top of that, most fights have special goals that you can complete for additional items that can be quite rare.

If there’s a barrel, sign, or other obstacle in the way, you can spend some super meter (which recovers very quickly by the way) to jump-uppercut or spinning bird kick just like Chun-Li to smash them to smithereens. These special moves can also be used to hit enemies before entering a fight. It’s not a lot of extra damage, but it’s worth taking every advantage you can, because some mobs will attempt to land a first strike on you too.

In addition to the occasional side mission that you can accept, you can play several mini-games for some extra cash. There’s a pizza cart that will test your input skills and some kung fu fighters in Chinatown that want you to smash wooden boards for a movie. My favorite of the bunch is Scrap Heap, which has you smash a truck with your fists, just like the classic car-crushing bonus round from Street Fighter II. Each of these mini-games has multiple difficulties to unlock and provides a lot of bonus zenny if you do well.

A new World Warrior in the making

All the extra items and money will let you customize your character as you see fit, with World Tour allowing for a lot of flexibility for growth. While I was only able to learn Luke’s and Chun-Li’s martial styles, I could mix and match various moves between them. You can improve your relationship with various masters too by using their martial style and giving them gifts, which will then allow you to learn more powerful techniques from them and occasionally call them into battle to help you out.

Leveling up your character gives skill points where you can upgrade specific stats; in particular, I chose to improve punching and throwing to enhance my grappler. Better yet, you don’t have to worry about missing out on skills, since any that you skip will appear later down the line in case you want to max out your character. Several in-game stores will also give you plenty of clothing options from head to toe. By the end of my session, I had enough money to purchase some expensive formalwear from the initial shop in the city square. Most of the clothing comes with stat boosts too, so I hope Capcom considers adding a costume slot so that you can choose how your character looks without feeling confined by optimization.

Given that there are many more characters on the Street Fighter 6 roster, there will likely be more techniques that you can learn from the rest of the World Warriors (and perhaps from some Shadaloo agents too). I was able to obtain a plane ticket item that can be used to travel to other locations. On that front, Capcom has previously revealed Italy, France, and the fictional Nayshall as additional locales, but there are some unknown countries on the list as well. I can also easily envision Capcom expanding World Tour with additional content as more characters are added in future seasons.

Street Fighter 6 will release for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on June 2, 2023. A demo of the game, which includes a small slice of World Tour, is available for download now.

This preview is based on a PS5 demo provided by the publisher behind closed doors during a media event.

Nick Tan

Contributing Editor

Once upon a time, Nick's parents confiscated his Super Nintendo because he was "playing it too much." He has secretly sworn revenge ever since. Nick is now a freelance writer for various video game sites. Powered by iced green tea, he typically plays RPGs of all kinds like Shin Megami Tensei, Elder Scrolls, and Fallout. In his spare time, he follows the latest season of Critical Role.