Street Fighter 5 is riding on a more than three decade long legacy. The story of the franchise has taken some wild turns over the years as foes more powerful than M. Bison have cropped up, some of which are his own creations. The fortune-teller Rose recently made her return to the franchise and her story mode has some interesting ramifications on what the future of Street Fighter. Some fans are speculating about a possible reboot of the series' timelines, and that might be a good move for the iconic franchise.
The newest DLC fighter for Street Fighter 5 released last week, and the Street Fighter Alpha alumni Rose has already garnered a lot of excitement for her gameplay alone. A surprising amount of changes to her oft-criticized moveset and playstyle have had a largely positive reception. But as the resident fortune teller and psychic of the Street Fighter universe, Rose's story mode has hinted towards a possible retcon of the series storyline.
Street Fighter 5 May Be Setting Up a Timeline Reboot
Street Fighter 5 recently crossed the five-year threshold. The game's lifespan has seen ups and downs as much as any competitive title would. While Street Fighter 6 might seem inevitable, it's also likely a long way away. Rumors about delays due to Covid-19 and the mixed reception of Street Fighter 5 have been plenty, but given the focus Capcom has seemed to bring back to the franchise, fans are already digging for clues about where the series might go next. The character story mode for Rose that came alongside her release last week has dropped even more clues and allusions to the SF Alpha series that seem to good to ignore.
Over the course of Rose's story, she experiences a vision of the end of the world coming from natural disaster, an allusion to the strange nature powers that both the enigmatic G and self-proclaimed savior of the world Gill possess. Later while ruminating on the visions, Rose makes yet another reference to older Street Fighter games after positing that the only way to save the world was to inform her past self of the dangers and a return to "zero."
The Street Fighter Alpha series takes place chronologically before Street Fighter 2 and was the series where Rose was introduced. This gives her placement in a time before the main thrust of Street Fighter 2's events. Rose's initial goal was to help the other fighters in their attempt to stop M. Bison and his Shadaloo organization, but her visions led her to believe that Bison's Psycho Power would be responsible for the end of the world. The events of Street Fighter would take turns like the creation of Seth in ways that Rose failed to predict and has cascaded into threats from several places like G, Gill, and the evil Satsui no Hado force that creates Evil Ryu and Kage. But it seems like Rose may be looking to send a message to her former self in attempt to alter her own present. Fans of Mortal Kombat 11 are likely noticing the similarities of this concept.
A Timeline Reboot May Be Street Fighter's Best Move
Mortal Kombat rebooted its timeline with MK9 in much the same way, as Raiden had sent himself a vision in the past in attempt to sidestep the events of MK Armageddon. That reboot allowed for MK to take its already classic characters in new directions in a move, which helped revitalize the franchise. Now, it's arguably the most popular traditional 2D fighter, culminating in the new Mortal Kombat movie reboot that released over the weekend. Street Fighter might be looking to make a move toward the same kind of soft reboot, and it may be the best thing for the storied franchise.
If Capcom is rebooting the timeline with Street Fighter 6, it could help refresh the series in a way similar to what MK has achieved. SF has clearly attempted to compete with some of what Mortal Kombat has gotten right since its reboot, releasing a full-fledged story mode for Street Fighter 5. While that story mode was met with mixed reception, it showed an attempt toward expanding the "total package" of a fighting game for which Mortal Kombat has truly set the bar. It goes without saying that a reboot of Street Fighter will need the gameplay chops to compete with the best fighting games out, but Capcom seemingly is looking to refocus on one area of its brand that has a dedicated following.
It's worth noting that who is chosen as the final DLC for Street Fighter 5 will likely go a long way in proving if the speculation is true. But if Street Fighter is going to be rebooted, it will be walking a tight line between pleasing long-time fans and garnering new fans. A retelling of the events that occurred during Street Fighter Alpha has some interesting opportunities if a level of narrative and visual quality on par with MK11 is met. Street Fighter Alpha saw some of the earliest versions of both Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma, and an inevitable conflict between the two powerful fighters set against the backdrop of Rose attempting to convince others like Chun-Li that M. Bison and Shadaloo aren't the biggest threats could be incredibly interesting.
A reboot could also be an engaging way to further cross Street Fighter with other Capcom fighters like Final Fight and Rival Schools. The prevalence of Final Fight characters and the arrival of Akira from Rival Schools into Street Fighter 5 soon might imply that's a strategy for Capcom going forward. Again, this is all purely speculation. However, after the success of Mortal Kombat's reboot, it doesn't seem out of the question for Street Fighter to emulate that move.
Street Fighter 6 is rumored to be in development.