Street Fighter 6 director shares details on how developing Terry and Mai’s moves is being approached in Season 2

We’re all still reeling from the major announcement that guest characters will not only be coming to the mainline Street Fighter series for the first time ever in the franchise’s history, but that these initial guests are none other than Fatal Fury and King of Fighters’ own Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui.

This incredible announcement has fans wondering, naturally, what these two outside fighters might play like in the Street Fighter 6 sandbox, and if they’ll be retaining some of the key elements they utilize in their own games. In a recent interview with the developers, Famitsu spoke to Street Fighter 6 Director Takayuki Nakayama and Producer Shuhei Matsumoto to pick their brains a bit on these upcoming DLC characters, and Nakayama-san shared a bit of insight into Terry and Mai’s development — among other things pertaining to the two guests.

Moving on from discussing M. Bison, another upcoming DLC character in Season 2, Famitsu asked the developers about Terry and Mai’s abilities in Street Fighter 6. Specifically, they wanted to know how their maneuvers are shaping up, and Nakayama obliged with a response.

“There’s a lot of ways to interpret this, but basically we at Capcom go to SNK and say ‘This move should be like this, right?’, and work on it like that,” Nakayama began. “Every time, someone would say ‘I want to make a move like this’ and draw up a design document for it, and then the conversation would expand from there.”

Capcom outright states that they’re getting input from SNK directly when it comes to Terry and Mai’s moves in Street Fighter 6. As Nakayama said, their process can be interpreted in several different ways, but one thing that’s clear is that they are carefully crafting these guest characters’ moves with SNK overlooking things seemingly every step of the way.

So far, Street Fighter 6’s launch and DLC characters have seen a ton of attention to detail injected into their designs, which shows just how much the developers know and care about history and lore. Most recently, we saw a secret Easter egg for Akuma that allows you to play as Shin Akuma and gain access to some new moves that past fans of the character will undoubtedly recognize.

I think it’s safe to say that trademark moves like Terry’s Rising Tackle are going to be a part of his Street Fighter 6 move set in some capacity, but one of the major questions we still don’t quite have an answer to is whether or not Terry and Mai might see some unique capabilities that are reflective of mechanics they have in their own games.

Based on past experience, there’s a good chance they will have some traits such as this in Street Fighter 6. Back in Street Fighter 5, we saw Rival Schools’ Akira added to the DLC roster, and with her came unique, high-flying air combos that are reminiscent of those she’d use in her tile of origin.

Though the prospect of having Terry and Mai as guest characters in Street Fighter 6 was being discussed for a while, Matsumoto notes that the two weren’t locked in until about six months after Evo 2022. The posters we saw at that event that featured Capcom and SNK characters together and facing off against each other were a hint at the collaboration between the two companies, though Terry and Mai specifically weren’t quite decided upon until a bit later.

Famitsu went on to ask about the connections between Terry and Ken, where in past games they had special interactions, and whether or not we might see this revisited in Street Fighter 6. Nakayama couldn’t spill the beans just yet, but he explains that the team is well aware of this facet while developing the upcoming content.

“You’ll have to see that once you play him,” said Nakayama. “During development, we’ve been very aware of previous interactions and connections between the two.”

Lastly, if you were wondering what guest characters means for World Tour mode, you can rest assured that Terry and Mai will be getting the same treatment that other DLC fighters have received. Essentially, this means that they will be Masters, you will be able to find them and learn from them, and you can even take selfies with them.

“Of course. We’re pretty particular about the story. We can’t give specific details right now, but we have scenes where fans will definitely go ‘Ah!! This is it!'” Nakayama said. “Since it’s a collaboration, we’re really putting all of our power into it,” added Matsumoto.

While this insight is definitely appreciated, there still remains an important question that we currently do not have an answer to. With Terry and Mai being in World Tour mode, does this make them officially canon in the world of Street Fighter?

We’ll likely have to wait until closer to their release to find out.

Street Fighter 6’s second season of DLC characters begins on June 26 with the release of M. Bison.

Translations in this story done by Nicholas “MajinTenshinhan” Taylor.