Street Fighter 6 Lets You Pull Childish Faces At Your Opponent While The Game Loads

It’s incredibly dumb, and not even terribly original, but I love the Game Face Feature in Street Fighter 6 all the same.

In a move I personally think more fighting games should allow for, Capcom has revealed players can emote at each other while they wait on pre-match loading screens.

Called the Game Face Feature, Street Fighter 6 players can press the directional buttons on their controllers to make their characters express different emotions. Cycling through these emotions creates a slightly unhinged vibe around the coming fight.

Observe:

Show your attitude with the Game Face Feature in #StreetFighter6 by pressing directional buttons during the versus screen.

Scowl at your opponent, act all smug, or confuse them with a mixture of rapid emotions!

🎭 https://t.co/TeNl2pTAbd pic.twitter.com/n15Dj50vlZ

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) June 7, 2022

The idea of pulling childish faces at a stoic Ryu main as they try to prepare for a fight is extremely funny to me, an idiot. Plenty of other fighting games, like the Soul Calibur series, have featured similar pre-match emoting before. But in Street Fighter, emoting hasn’t ever really been the done thing. The battle has always spoken for itself. In its desire to flip the script and make Street Fighter 6 feel a little less serious, has thrown all that out the window.

I can see it now: the darkened stage at EVO’s championship decider. The players select their fighters, and the game shifts to the Round 1 loading screen. As the crowd cheers the players on, Ryu and Akuma jerkily gnash their teeth, frown, and smile at each other on a giant screen above the arena. Every match in the competition has begun with the same halting battle of rictus grins.

Genius.

Capcom will have more to say about Street Fighter 6 (and hopefully the Game Face Feature) at its own Not E3 showcase next week.