Road Fighter 6 Artwork Director Breaks Down Every Revealed Character Design

Every time a brand new Road Fighter entry rolls round, we get launched to a brand new solid of characters and reintroduced to a few of our favourite collection mainstays. Road Fighter 6 isn’t any totally different on this regard. Amid the brand new additions like Kimberly, Jamie, and Luke, longtime gamers can discover consolation within the presence of fighters like Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile, and Ken showing as effectively. Nonetheless, even these returning fighters have some adjustments to their seems, outfits, and personalities for this sixth mainline entry.

Throughout our journey to Osaka, Japan, the place we visited Capcom’s headquarters, we sat down with Road Fighter 6 artwork director Kaname Fujioka to be taught extra about his time at Capcom. “The most important inspiration for me wanting to affix Capcom and work on preventing video games was Road Fighter II,” he says. “I used to be ultimately in a position to do character design work for different non-Road Fighter main-series preventing video games, whether or not or not it’s Pink Earth, Jojo’s Weird Journey, and in addition Capcom vs. SNK, however I by no means actually had the possibility to work on a mainline Road Fighter sport.”

“I ultimately turned the director of the Monster Hunter collection and that was my fundamental mission and collection for some time, however I actually wished to work on the Road Fighter collection,” he continues. “I simply by no means actually had the chance for nearly 20 years. Lastly, I turned pleasant with [Street Fighter 6 director Takayuki] Nakayama-san and defined that I actually wished the possibility to work on Road Fighter. Nakayama-san lastly made that dream right into a actuality with Road Fighter 6. It took a short time, nevertheless it’s lastly coming true!”

Now that Fujioka is lastly engaged on his dream franchise, he has labored with the remainder of the workforce to create a joint imaginative and prescient for the enduring and all-new characters of the collection. We went character by character within the Road Fighter 6 roster to be taught extra concerning the seems every revealed character sports activities within the extremely anticipated 2023 preventing sport. See what Fujioka has to say about every design that we have seen up to now under.

Ryu

Ryu

“Ryu has all the time been the principle character or iconic character of the Road Fighter collection,” Fujioka says. “We wished to go for an ‘aged grasp’ look that exhibits all of the coaching that he is finished. There are some apparent parts of Ryu’s design that present his age, whether or not or not it’s the beard or the sash that is form of paying homage to Gouken.”

Ken/Luke

Ken

“My impression of Ken is he is all the time been a fiery and explosive – actually fiery, explosive – character,” Fujioka says. “He additionally has a stronger sense of style in comparison with a personality like Ryu, for instance. I wished to emphasise that, however on the similar time, Ken was form of seen as a playful character in previous titles, however his setting being on the run, he has to form of disguise himself.”

For extra on Ken’s design with the Road Fighter 6 workforce, head to our devoted article right here.

Luke

“Luke, being the principle character, we felt that we actually wished him to be a simple and easy-to-relate-with sort character with out a whole lot of curveballs compared to Ryu, who’s all the time been the principle character or iconic character of the Road Fighter collection,” Fujioka says. “We wished to make Luke a bit bit totally different and have some distinction between [Ryu’s disciplined, aged] look and Luke. We wish to make Luke the protagonist determine, however differentiate him from Ryu in his look and story. We wished to make him be extra of a colourful, refreshing sort of character with colours which can be straightforward to know with an emphasis on blue and orange.”

Guile/Chun-Li

Guile

“[Similar to other classic characters], we wished to point out these parts of growing older with Guile as effectively,” Fujioka says. “We wished to emphasise the truth that he is a soldier at coronary heart. I really feel that regardless of how a lot he ages, Guile goes to be Guile for essentially the most half. There are specific issues which have modified, whether or not it is his muscle mass or the truth that he now has a goatee that present his age, however past that, we wished so as to add some extra private touches to him. We gave him a watch as a result of he is very cautious when it comes to time and he is a precision character. He pays consideration to how a lot time he takes to battle, and that is reflective of not simply his persona, however his preventing model.”

Chun-Li

“She was in all probability one of many hardest characters to design with this title, particularly since one of many unique creators of Chun-Li is one among my mentors,” Fujioka says. “I positively wish to respect that and make a model of Chun-Li that’s acceptable for Road Fighter 6. Chun-Li is liked by many alternative eras of gamers, and it is nearly as if everybody has their very own model or interpretation of Chun-Li. So, ‘How do I make a Chun-Li that satisfies everybody’s expectations whereas making one thing new for Road Fighter 6?’ That was an enormous problem for me. When it comes to the themes of Chun-Li, we wished to emphasise the truth that she was in a position to take out Shadaloo, and he or she’s a bit bit older now, just like Ryu. She’s aged elegantly and is extra of a master-type determine the place she’s instructing those that are beneath her and are a bit bit youthful than her.”

Dhalsim/Blanka

Dhalsim

“Dhalsim is a personality who’s very exhausting to convey as somebody who’s superhuman and who has actions and works in methods that aren’t like a whole lot of different characters,” Fujioka says. “That is positively a problem for me. He is all the time been nearly a hermit-type, older character, so we put a whole lot of effort and thought into sure expressions, whether or not or not it’s the wrinkles on his face or his beard. We spent a whole lot of time attempting to determine what an aged character like Dhalsim would appear like with much more age.”

Blanka

“For this title, we wished to emphasise the extra lifelike textures for the characters whereas sustaining the individuality of those characters which can be form of totally different from humanistic figures, whether or not or not it’s like Honda or Blanka,” Fujioka says.

Kimberly/E. Honda

Kimberly

“She’s just like the final piece of the trio of Luke, Jamie, and Kimberly that’s nearly associated to how Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li had been within the older era of Road Fighter,” Fujioka says. “We wished to form of recreate that relationship with new characters, so Kimberly’s the final piece of that puzzle, basically. Not solely that, however we wished to make that trio a various group, with Kimberly being an African American girl who’s enamored by ninja tradition. She needs to be like Man, so she practices bushin-ryu model, however concurrently, she’s a really athletic character. Very bouncy. Somebody who can excel at issues like cheerleading and gymnastics sorts of bodily actions. However on the similar time, she’s not a really stern character. She’s somebody who’s very colourful and cheerful and poppy. Like in actual life in America, how you’ve got people who find themselves actually into Japanese tradition. Bushin-ryu is not technically a ninja model, however her interpretation is form of incorrect. She’s assuming that it’s, and although it technically is not, she’s enamored by it.”

E. Honda

“Honda is beginning to present his age,” Fujioka says. “Should you look fastidiously, he has some white hairs now on the aspect of his head. However we actually wished to maintain that sumo essence but in addition present extra of a brand new model for him.”

Jamie/Juri

Jamie

“On the subject of Jamie, this was any person that Nakayama-san wished from an early level,” Fujioka says. “He all the time wished him to be a rival determine to Luke. In contrast to Luke, who makes use of extra of a contemporary MMA model of preventing, Jamie makes use of extra of an historical drunken boxing form of kung-fu model. We felt that simply having that’s not sufficient, so we included extra fashionable parts of motion, like breakdancing and stuff that’s in all probability extra related to a youthful era of individuals. We wished to emphasise that hybrid preventing model of this older drunken boxing combined with breakdancing actions.”

Juri

“Juri was a brand new character who was launched within the Road Fighter IV collection, and he or she has all the time been form of a psychopath character with a really darkish aspect – somebody who possibly has a low sense of morality or would tackle any job that’s provided to her, even like assassination-type stuff,” Fujioka says. “This time round, I had the considered, ‘What’s her persona when she’s not taking up these odd jobs? And what does she do throughout her spare time?’ It led to this one that possibly does not reside essentially the most wholesome way of life, who’s simply all the time on her smartphone, and he or she takes photos of enemies she defeats and shares that on social media. Consuming a whole lot of junk meals and sweet, and doubtless not essentially the most sociable individual. We thought that possibly she would have created a bunch of dangerous habits the place she simply makes use of her foot whichever method she needs and picks up stuff. She’s not essentially the most elegant sort of character, nevertheless it looks like the folks actually take note of that and see a few of these behavioral antics from her. I am actually pleased that folks took discover of that.”

Road Fighter 6 arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X/S, PlayStation 4, and PC in 2023. For extra unique protection of the extremely anticipated preventing sport, head to our hub by clicking on the banner under.