Review: Is Street Fighter 6 for the Nintendo Switch 2 a good "First Attack"?

When, coming from DS, Nintendo 3DS hit the market with a more powerful proposition and an obviously inherent commitment to three-dimensional graphics (and therefore to more domestic and arcade games), Capcom, who had been away from Nintendo for years except for Monster Hunter and rehashes of old Resident Evil, decided to accompany it with a very decent adaptation of Super Street Fighter IV. That was almost fifteen (!) years ago, as it was almost thirty (!!) years ago for that forced port of Street Fighter Alpha 2 for the SNES. In both cases I enjoyed the versions but I felt that something was missing, a point of power to recover the smooth experience that could be lived both in the arcades and on stronger consoles for the time (PS3 and Xbox 360, PlayStation and Saturn respectively).

That's exactly what Street Fighter 6 brings to the table today: it's a joy to play on Nintendo Switch 2.

The title is launching on Nintendo's new console while also marking its second anniversary, and that means a new bundle for existing platforms. You can pick up Street Fighter 6 for around €40, or the Street Fighter 6: Years 1-2 Fighters Edition for around €60 on PC, PlayStation, or Xbox, assuming you hadn't hitherto acquired the DLC piecemeal.

That full version, with 26 characters (including the most recent ones, such as Mai or M. Bison), is the one I've been playing for a week and change on Nintendo Switch 2. And why is it a joy? Because both the graphics and the controls, not to mention the unique possibilities offered by this hybrid hardware, combine to make for a solid and smooth experience, where you don't really feel at a disadvantage.

The visuals already impressed me in Paris when I first saw and tried the Switch 2. Sure, some of the effects and luxuries of the PS5 version are cut down or look flatter, but they don't "hurt the eyes" as much as the more compromised Nintendo Switch adaptations. And, most importantly, while clarity arguably suffers slightly against the bigger machine versions (we're talking 540p and 1080p scaled to double via DLSS, after all), fluidity is intact. In fact, I'd go so far as to say, without measuring, that button response is better on Switch 2 than on PS5, as if the latter suffered from higher input lag in comparison.

Could this affect it as a comparative disadvantage in competitive play? We'll see. Street Fighter 6 is cross-platform to maintain an active and involved online community, and it would be curious, ironic if a more limited version gave an advantage to its users. That said, in my fights I've found myself on at least equal footing, which again says a lot about the response of this version.

Speaking of buttons, it is inescapable to delve into the matter of controls. Coming from the (otherwise superb) Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection on Switch 1, I was afraid I'd suffer the same limitation: the left Joy-Con doesn't come with a digital pad, but four separate buttons. Would I then be forced to play in TV mode with a Pro Controller in order to have a proper SF experience? Would I end up learning to play with the analogue sticks?

The former would greatly reduce the value of this Switch 2 version, because one of its great benefits is being able to play on portable handheld, right? Well, I have to say that, while I still don't accept the Joy-Con 2 buttons as an alternative to the D-pad, and while I'm still not convinced by the sticks for more complex and precise combinations, I've finally jumped through the hoops of the new Modern Controls that Capcom introduced with this sixth instalment.

As colleague Jonas Mäki wrote in his original review, this allows you to assign some "magics" and special moves to a single button (X), or simply combined with a direction. Thus, Arts and Super are done with that button plus Fierce Attack (A), while Light Attack (Y) and Normal Attack (B) form an easy-to-understand triangle of simple strikes, a diamond if we include the specials. As the grabs also get a shortcut on ZL, while the new special block/parry (R) and guard breaker (L) are on the top buttons, you obviously lose the traditional three-punch, three-kick setup, but the truth is that both Modern Control and Dynamic Control have given me more than enough options to string together combos and show off, and I was one of those who thought that abandoning what made the difference in the SNES vs Mega Drive "console wars" was heresy. Yet here I am.

In other words, with Modern Control I basically save myself from having to do all those directional combinations that only work perfectly with a D-pad or, better yet, an arcade stick, and focus on positioning, timing, hits that can beat the opponent's hits, phases of the fight and everything else.

This has allowed me to have a great time playing Street Fighter 6 on Switch 2 on handheld, which sets it apart from other versions, and has taken me from the TV to a game on the go, and then back to the big screen, in a dynamic that really celebrates the Switch philosophy.

Add to this the fact that the game includes local wireless combat, or that you can do the same with your avatar from World Tour mode, and you have an extremely versatile and functional version of what is one of the best fighting games of the moment (Tekken 8, it's your time to move). Are the Gyro Battle and Calorie Contest parts are a bit too much of a gimmick for me? Well, yes, because they don't quite get the hang of what these controllers can do. But that Street Fighter 6 for Nintendo Switch 2 is great news for the console's launch window (and for the genre and its expectations) is just as true.