Street Fighter V Now Has a Story Mode, But Does It Really Need It?
Street Fighter’s narrative thread has never been the reason to pick up the game. It is the seminal competitive fighting experience, where we draw the terms “fireball motion” and “dragon punch” from. Characters like Ryu, Chun-Li and Zangief have become iconic, but though their lore is deep, it isn’t always consistent or even coherent.
Many fighters seem out-of-place, shoehorned in as part of the cast with lore as an afterthought. The issue was never “does this character fit,” but “do we want to play as them?” Despite having some of my favorite characters in fighting games, many members of the roster have little to no reason for being a part of the Street Fighter lore, and the characters’ backstories reflects that.
It’s fitting that Street Fighter V’s Story Mode highlights that disparity, as it’s the greatest attempt the series has made at constructing a fully fledged narrative. In what would be considered the largest update since the game’s launch, Balrog and Ibuki make their SFV debut alongside the much-awaited Cinematic Story Mode.
Set between Street Fighter IV and III in the continuity, there’s some burning questions that only those insane enough to delve deep into Street Fighter lore (read: me) need answered in V. The fall of Bison and Shadaloo is the backdrop for the story, as the World Warriors (the apparently canonized term for the Good Guys in Street Fighter) come together to stop Bison one last time.
In some aspects, this plays out perfectly. It was difficult to imagine Street Fighter ever reaching the surprising storytelling depth of games like Mortal Kombat X, but the writers seem to have bought fully into the idea of Saturday morning cartoon, GI Joe-esque characterizations. Guile and Chun-Li act as solid heroes, and Ken plays the role of the “family man” getting pulled into conflict well. Bison fits right in as the domineering, unstoppable villain. Fang, a newcomer and one of Bison’s generals, is literally Starscream from Transformers. Even the scheme that Shadaloo hatches seems ripped directly from the pages of a discarded GI Joe script, as floating moons threaten to knock out the power of major international cities, in order to make their citizens panic, which makes Bison’s signature Psycho Power even more powerful.
There are shades of good writing, though most of it happens in Cammy’s side-story. As a former Doll (brainwashed female bodyguards forced to serve Bison), her quest to rescue her “sisters” and fighting against Vega is a better story thread than most of the plot. Series newcomer Rashid has nice beats as well, though contrasting that with some hit-or-miss comedy bits.
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