SF’s World Tour Mode Might Be The Most Ambitious Game Mode In Fighting Game History

Street Fighter 6 is one of the most anticipated video games this year, and that is for a good reason. Capcom has demonstrated via trailers that it is working on something exceptional, and players had a chance to experience all of that firsthand in the two closed beta tests.

Single-player modes in fighting games have always been somewhat questionable, mostly because of their ridiculous writing. It does make sense, as most people only think about 1v1 battles when they think about fighting games, not the times they battle against the CPU one after the other in story modes.

The fundamental concept of single-player game modes in fighting games has needed a change for a long time. And Street Fighter 6 appears to be the one bringing exactly that change in the form of an open-world game mode.

While we did get to try the Battle Hub during the closed beta tests, we’ve yet to experience everything the World Tour Mode offers.

However, from what we’ve seen so far, it is safe to assume that it is going to be a treat. In the World Tour mode, the player will start off as a customized character in the streets of the Metro city. 

The player will also be able to interact with the Street Fighter cast and learn skills from them. Now, these skills will be of two types. You’ll be able to use some of the skills in battles, while the other skills will help you in the traversal.

We haven’t really seen much of the World Tour mode in depth. However, recently Capcom released “Street Fighter V Climax Arts + Zero to 6” in Japan. The art book also featured Takayuki Nakayama, Capcom’s director, explaining the concept of World Tour mode.

The art book was released in Japanese, which the Twitter user Scotia translated. The translation gave us a good look at what to expect from the World Tour mode in the upcoming Street Fighter 6.

Detailed Character Episodes

According to the translation, World Tour intends to make everyone fall in love with the game even more. It is a beginner-friendly game mode that you can enjoy to the fullest, even if you haven’t played any other Street Fighter games.

The game mode features tons of content that will help new players figure out how the world of Street Fighter works and its lore.

…know how to do command inputs and know what kind of person Chun-Li is. In addition to the 'core story' they've included detailed episodes "big and small" that feature many stories such as Chun-Li formerly being an ICPO officer or learning what foods characters like.

— Scotia (@Scotia834) February 24, 2023

The character episodes in the World Tour are highly detailed. You’ll be able to learn almost everything about the Street Fighter characters by the end of the World Tour. And it is not restricted to lore; even your gameplay will improve as you’ll be able to pull off command inputs by the end of it.

Freedom Of Customization

Street Fighter 6 gives the player tons of freedom in character customization. Street Fighter’s producer, Shuhei Matsumoto, revealed that they value the freedom they’ve given to the player regarding the character’s gender and how their character is perceived.

In regards to the amount of options in character customisation, Matsumoto says that they "value the [player's] freedom to decide the character's gender and the way [their character] is perceived".

— Scotia (@Scotia834) February 24, 2023

And the character customization is not limited to just that. Street Fighter 6 gives you many options to change your character’s physique, along with their voice and many different outfits.

New Characters, And Their Inclusion In The World Tour

According to Nakayama, the World Tour mode will continue to be updated as new characters are released to reflect their position in the Metro city. It is a good thing to see that they’re not just going to one-and-done the game mode, but they also intend to update it over time alongside new additions to Street Fighter 6’s cast.

Nakayama also mentions how Yun and Yang didn’t have any cutscenes in the arcade mode of Street Fighter 4 since those characters were added to the cast after the game’s release. However, players will never encounter such a situation in Street Fighter 6 as their character will have its own place in the World Tour mode as soon as its released.

They say that even if you play through all of World Tour mode 'it is not the end' as they have plans to add 'various things'.

— Scotia (@Scotia834) February 24, 2023

It also adds another layer of fun to the game. Once you’ve finished the World Tour, there will still be lots of things to try and enjoy as new characters are added to the game with their own detailed character episodes.

All of this shows how much effort Capcom is willing to put into the single-player game mode of Street Fighter 6 to make it more enjoyable for the players.

When Street Fighter 6 eventually comes out, it is highly likely that many people who’ve been avoiding story modes in fighting games will give World Tour a chance, and it will change how they view the single-player game modes in fighting games forever.

Additionally, the inclusion of such a story mode will give rival fighting game franchises a challenge to rise up to. And we might see something similar in other fighting games soon.

Takeaway

Street Fighter 6 is going to release in a few months, and it is quite clear that Capcom is putting a lot of effort into the game. We’ve already seen the game get the highest-ever prize pool in the e-Sports history of fighting games, and Street Fighter 6 will likely be bringing many other changes to the fighting genre as a whole.

From what we’ve seen, the World Tour mode appears to feature a fighting game combined with elements of an RPG. You’ll be doing lots of battles, but you’ll also be exploring a lot, and that will give an opportunity to many new players to try out the game who think fighting games are only about 1v1 multiplayer battles.

Alongside attracting a whole new audience to the game with the World Tour mode, Street Fighter 6 is in no way neglecting the core essence of traditional fighting games, which is the multiplayer aspect of it. The Battle Hub mode is right there for people who want to enjoy fighting against other players in various ways.

The game is set to come out on June 2nd this year for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and Steam.