After months of anticipation, Capcom finally unveiled our first official look at Elena, the final Street Fighter 6 DLC of the season. They also revealed the release date: June 5. The same day the Nintendo Switch 2 launches.
The trailer didn't properly showcase gameplay. But fans can still see the Kenyan fighter in motion via her World Tour introduction cutscene. She naturally retains most of her capoeira moves by the looks of things, but sadly, we can't get any specifics from a few seconds of footage.
The wait for Elena has seemingly been never-ending. The previous DLC, Mai Shiranui, released all the way back on February 5, over two months ago. With the confirmation that Elena will be released on June 5, that's four months with no new characters amid a year with no updates on other fronts such as character outfits and an increasingly annoyed player base due to the state of the metagame where throw loops reign.
Season 3 will likely not start after June, making the wait for more substantial updates even longer. At least if you're a Switch 2 fan, you'll be able to pick up an enhanced version of the game that includes all DLC characters. So far these are:
- Akuma
- Rashid
- Ed
- A.K.I
- M. Bison
- Terry Bogard
- Mai Shiranui
- Elena
On top of that, the Switch 2 version of the game will feature two unique moves to Nintendo's hybrid console that take advantage of motion controls to control their characters. Not to mention that Luke, Jamie, and Kimberly amiibos are on the way.
While the way will continue to be excruciating, at least we now have a concrete release date. My hope is also that they make Elena with season 3 in mind, and not turn her into another generic Street Fighter 6 drive rush abuser that relies on what has made top-tier characters good for the past two years and counting.