Fighting Ground

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Street Fighter 6.

To do: There's quite much differences to cover and document between pre-release and final game. There exist various variants of the "Thanks for Playing!" screens shown at the end of prerelease kiosk trial demos with varying background designs for each one. It would help if we had more gameplay showcasing the beta's team battle mode. There used to be full CPU matches on YouTube but those were made private.

The Fighting Ground mode of Street Fighter 6 stays true to it's word as a place for battling. But there were several differences during development, between the pre-release trial builds and the final game.

Menu Differences#

Fighting Ground Menu#

June 2022 Build	Demo	Final

The June 2022 Summer Game Fest trial build lacked the Multi Menu, Battle Settings and player profile, that was added in the downloadable Demo version and the Final game.

Stage Select#

June 2022 Build	September 2022 Build	Final

In the June 2022 trial build, Metro City Downtown and Genbu Temple were the only stages chosen. By September, Carrier Byron Taylor and Tian Hong Yuan were also selectable in the trial build. More additional stages were added in for the Final game (including post-release DLC stages).

Character Select#

June 2022 Build	August 2022 Build

September 2022 Build	Final

Only Luke, Jamie, Ryu and Chun-Li can be chosen in the June 2022 trial build. Guile, Kimberly and Juri joined them in the August 2022 trial build, and they were followed by Ken in the September 2022 trial build. These eight characters were also the only ones to be chosen in the Closed Beta Tests and Open Beta. More characters were added for the Final game, including DLC characters that were added in through post-release updates.

Pre-release	Final

Although it's obscured by the UI and characters, the Character Select versus room also had a slightly different design in the June, August and September 2022 pre-release trial builds than in the Closed Beta Tests, the Open Beta and the Final game. The graffiti on the garage door was different and still unfinished at the time and has the name of the Fighting Ground mode on it, rather than the characters' graffiti logos and the "VS" text used in the Final, but as only the door's graffiti was changed, the rest of the room's background remains unchanged.

In-game Differences#

In-game UI#

Early Prototype Build 1	Early Prototype Build 2

Early Prototype Build 3	Final

In the earliest pre-release prototype builds, there were some unused designs for the in-game UI that were never used in the Final game. In the second prototype UI screenshot, Luke is using Ryu's early UI icon (as his own UI icon was not completed at the time), the paint splats for the Drive Impacts were different and the Training Room had an earlier-looking unfinished design. In the third prototype UI screenshot, the Old Town Market stage had an earlier design as well.

Next Round#

June 2022 Build	Final

The only in-game differences that were left between rounds in the June 2022 trial build were the names for P1 and P2's chosen characters appearing, and the song title of the Stage Battle/Extreme Battle/(Character)'s Theme BGM track currently playing in-game that only appear at the match's first round in the Final game. Having these appear even at the start of rounds after the first one would be janky.

Unused Debug Menu#

To do: Provide a listing translation of the debug function entries on this unused debug menu.

'...But what does it mean?' This game has text or audio that needs to be translated. If you are fluent with this language, please read our translation guidelines and then submit a translation!

Perhaps the most interesting unused thing found within the Fighting Ground during development is this windowed debug menu (that would have been controlled with a computer mouse). It was somehow used for testing purposes. This screenshot is from the Japanese TGS 2022 Capcom TV webstream at the "Down & Out" Extreme Battle portion of the gameplay.

Arcade Mode Continue Screen#

April 2023 (SF6 Showcase)	Final

In the April 2023 SF6 Showcase stream, the Arcade mode Continue screen lacked the UI's button controls at the bottom-left of the screen.

Closed Beta Test Differences#

Thanks to modding, players were able to play the CBT offline. To accomplish this, SF6 used REframework to access a very bare-bones version of Fighting Ground.

Leftover Menu#

Prerelease (CBT)	Final

The Fighting Ground menu was actually in the CBT, but had no artwork, music, or sounds. It couldn't be explored either, forcing you to use REframework to get back to the game.

Early Team Battle#

Watch on YouTubeA completely different version of Team Battle was present in the files of the CBT. This version of the mode played similarly to team vs games like MVC, with characters being swapped out after their teammates are KO'd with no interruptions. Here, the supporting teammates are behind the characters at the front (in a similar way to the Scramble Battle mode in Street Fighter X Tekken). When a character is defeated, a unique animation plays where the second fighter leaps into the fight. In the final game, Team Battle plays much closer to standard Street Fighter, with 1-on-1 fights per round instead. Note how opponents that are knocked out remain present for the rest of the round.

DLC Character Differences#

A.K.I.#

Prerelease (100 Cameras S4 Episode 1 - "Game Maker")	Final

In the first episode of the fourth season of the Japanese real-life documentary series 100 Cameras, in-development gameplay for A.K.I. was shown. Compared to the final game, her own UI icon was not yet completed at the time of filming.

Elena#

Prerelease	Final

Elena's SA3/CA has a blue sky effect as shown in the final game, but during development, the team also tried the idea of ​​changing the entire space into nature. It was nice because it gave a sense of openness, but the amount of information on the screen was too much, making it difficult to understand Elena's movements, so they removed the grasslands below. As with A.K.I., Elena's own UI icon was not yet completed at the time.

Alex#

Prerelease	Final

Both of Alex's SA3/CA moves have a professional wrestling ring-like atmosphere illuminated by lights. While the regular SA version used blue lights, the CA version also uses red lights until the opponent is defeated. Initially, the red lights were going to be used until the end, but this idea was scrapped.