I finally got the chance to play the Street Fighter 6 demo, and it was as much fun as I had imagined. My only gripe was that it felt too short, and I would have liked to explore the city a bit more than I was able to.
Seriously, you could have at least let us climb the ladders, Capcom.
Nevertheless, there was a lot I was able to learn from the Beat Square section of Metro City, and what’s there should come as no real surprise: everything in the first section of the game tells of both the past and of what’s to come.
The first thing we need to discuss are the homages of video games past. Let’s begin with the pyramid of games on the sidewalk.
This is one of the most prominent designs in the demo, and serves as quite the interesting guide of several of Capcom’s releases up until that point, which left me with the question, “Are these games pointing out a certain timeline within the series?” They technically were, as they’re arranged in the order those games were released in real life, but for me there was more to it than that – was this a clue that the games shown here are all a part of Street Fighter’s canon?” It’s honestly very difficult to determine. Where would Darkstalkers, Cyberbots, Red Earth, and Star Gladiator fit into the series, especially since several of these games take place in completely different periods of time? Is it possible that Darkstalkers and Street Fighter indeed exist within the same universe, as I’ve hinted at before? https://manestreetblog.com/2021/03/17/darkstalkers-are-not-dead/
It’s honestly impossible for me to determine that this is the case from the demo. I know several journalists at this point have played a longer demo of the game and would know the answer, but they’re more or less bound by non-disclosure agreements, so we won’t know for sure if there are any other clues to this puzzle until the official release.
That being said, we can still reflect on the past, and take a look up at the wonderful billboards that reflect this.
On the far right, we see the homage to several iterations of Street Fighter II, the game that launched an entire franchise. However, in this same picture, there’s something rather unsettling.
Even if you haven’t played the demo,you should know by the Street Fighter 6 trailers that nearly every single billboard has some tie to the Street Fighter series in it. There are very few, if any, billboards that appear to be standalone pieces. Even that cheap-looking Doggone ad and that ominous-looking Don’t Call ad likely have some relation to the world of SF6, however insignificant. From what I’m seeing, though, those billboards provide clues to the future of SF6.
The one billboard on here that I find the most troubling is the one for Perfect Shot.
The subject in the photo is holding a camera, and as the billboard states, they’re looking to get the perfect shot. Do you know who else was trying to get the perfect shot in Street Fighter V?
In other words, the figure in this picture is not only just a cameraman, but a Q as well. The figure is quite shadowy, with their eyes obscured, but for some reason, the person’s face isn’t behind a mask like a normal Q. The reason? This Q is hiding in plain sight, but still under the control of G. So who is it? The character who ushered in G’s arrival.
Despite the attempt to hide the face, the one telltale sign that this is Rashid is the person’s facial hair. Although it’s somewhat obscured in this shot, the person does appear to have a full beard in the actual game.
However, this would only be a guess… if there weren’t at least two other telltale signs of G’s involvement.
The first is the SiRN Building, the same unfinished building that Ken is making his residence in. A conversation with a random NPC gives this juicy tidbit of information:
“This tells us nothing about G,” you say. You’re not entirely wrong. True, there’s nothing here directly pointing to G’s involvement in the game, outside of the fact that he may or may not own the SiRN Building. It could very well be Shadaloo, the Illuminati, or even JP who owns the building. However, it’s the idea that robotics are being utilized here that points to G. There have been no real hints of JP working in robotics outside of those sentient refrigerators we see in Nayshall, JP’s place of residence.
“Isn’t that enough proof JP works in robotics?” Certainly! However, these refrigerators are rather crude compared to the more sophisticated airborne drones we’ll see in Metro City. “Yeah, but Nayshall’s a third-world country. You can tell by the scenery. The materials to build a sophisticated refrigerator would be lacking in a place like that!” Yes, but that also proves my point – someone else built those refrigerators. It wouldn’t be either JP or G; neither would dream of building something so primitive considering both have money to shell out on more advanced technology. Even if JP owns the SiRN Building and the drones within it, which is very likely, G owns the Qs and an entire space station. In other words, it doesn’t matter whose drones those belong to – either one is capable of building them.
So how would this be my proof that G’s involved? The idea that robotics are involved at all. Yes, Shadaloo does work in robotics, as they created the Seth units. However, their technology is more focused on creating organic life, like the Dolls and spare bodies for Bison. The Illuminati has a similar operation, creating Necro, Eleven, and Twelve. Only G has been shown to have a connection to a protoypical robot. Quite simply, no other group has a unit like Q.
However, there is one other piece of evidence pointing to G’s involvement. As I’ve posted before, G seems to have an affinity for sound equipment. The Best Bespoke Beats billboard in Metro City already seems to have his name on it.
After exploring Beat Square, I found there’s another billboard that could be a huge clue to G playing a significant role in the game.
If you’ve read my article “The Timbre of Kimberly”, you would know how I believed that Kimberly’s headphones were a potential mind control device. The fact that this billboard specifically highlights Kimberly’s headphones is a gigantic clue in telling us they are far more important than just being being a way for Kimberly to listen to music on her cassette player! https://manestreetblog.com/2022/08/08/the-timbre-of-kimberly/
Moreso, note the position and shape of that headphone in comparison to the keyhole in Q’s mask.
It could be that the keyhole doubles as a way to bring a headphone directly to the ear of the person inside the mask in order to give them instructions. Kimberly would simply be a glimpse into how Qs are created.
So, is that it? Are there any more mysteries in Beat Square I haven’t addressed yet? Is there any other proof of G’s involvement in the game? Well, there is one more billboard enigma we can take a look at.
If the billboards Rashid and Kimberly happen to be on are hints that G is slowly taking control of them, then it’s safe to say that this billboard is also G related (the shoe is a hologram in front of it). Note the golden sunburst on the right that is reminiscent of G’s V-Skill 2 from SFV, G Protection.
The tagline “All That Glitters is Yours” could vaguely relate to G, but there was something else I realized: that line is identical to a lyric of one of the most famous rock songs of all time:
“There’s a lady who’s sure/All that glitters is gold/And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.”
If you’ve been following me on Twitter, there’s one character I’ve strongly associated with Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven. This person has blonde curls, fair skin, wears makeup, and has a real-life Kotobukiya figure you can purchase that’s posed with her back to the viewer.
The person on the billboard is Karin Kanzuki.
If the billboard is showing that G has somehow corrupted Karin, then it looks like Street Fighter 6 has reached its worst possible outcome: the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, the last benevolent force in Street Fighter that could help the world with its influence, is under G’s control. The Masters Foundation belongs to JP, the Illuminati is becoming more aggressive with their recruiting, Shadaloo is very likely to return, and now G has an army of Qs and the might of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu.
The end of Street Fighter is at hand.
Street Fighter Game Lore Theories 