Street Fighter 5 was a pretty lousy fighting game at launch. With a small roster, barely any modes to play, and bad online, it’s a miracle that this fighter survived for so many years. The free Story Mode didn’t change the game’s perception either, making every character look like an anime cliche with no depth.
Yet despite all that, the fighter stayed alive for many years and, to the shock of many, became a good fighting game. Whether it was the additional modes added, various special editions for the game, new characters, or the sexy costumes, this game was able to turn things around. If you asked me if the game is worth buying now, the answer might be yes.
It just has to be the Champion Edition. Also, the game has to be on sale.
To put things into perspective, buying the base version of Street Fighter 5 will come with more content than it did at launch. Aside from the Survival Mode and basic Versus options, there is now an in-depth Arcade Mode that goes through the history of these characters in their previous games. However, the game will only have its base roster and none of those post-launch costumes, so getting this version is a waste of money.
Fighting in Street Fighter 5 wasn’t particularly unique, as it simplified some inputs to make certain characters easier to use. Charge characters like Guile still exist, but Chun-Li can now use her Thunder Kick with a Hadouken motion. However, fans were let down when each character only had one finisher, making it more like Street Fighter 2 and lacking the amount of expression Street Fighter 4 had prior.
Getting the Champion Edition is a whole other matter, as this comes with a ton of DLC characters and most of the costumes. Fans will get a lot from this, as each character has individual Story Modes and Arcade Endings that add plenty of replay value. Having all of these characters also makes Survival Mode more interesting, since it lets you try everyone out and maybe even catch a new main.
Believe it or not, this isn’t even the best version of Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition you can get. Since additional development was needed to make Street Fighter 6 during the 2020 pandemic, they made a new Season of DLC to keep fans engaged. Champion Edition + Season 5 Pass adds the final DLC characters, and they’re all fun to use. It also featured Luke as a unique guest character, since he was made for SF6 but was brought to SF5 to introduce fans to him early.
Despite his Popeye arms and appeal-to-the-youth design, Luke did interest fans and he was a pretty fun character to use. The fact that he had a variety of punches with simple motions made him a great fighter to end this entry with. It’s so interesting seeing this character designed for Street Fighter 6 come to the fifth game first just to keep fans busy.
All of this is great, but it doesn’t justify how Capcom handled Street Fighter 5’s launch. The fact it barely had any content when it first came out is inexcusable, and constantly relying on DLC for a $60 game was insulting. Even if all of these features got fixed at post, it took many years to do so, upsetting fans who shelled out cash for this full-priced release.
The lack of content was so infamous that other fighting games ended up hyping up their single-player content to win over fans. King of Fighters 14 made sure to advertise the 50-character roster and Arcade Mode so fans would know it wasn't like SF5.
Because everyone hasn’t jumped into Street Fighter 6, we think picking up Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition + Season 5 Pass is fine. Just make sure to get the game on sale, because Capcom’s history with this entry doesn’t deserve a full-priced buy.