Hiya!

Well, that was a surprise! Capcom really went out and swung big with Street Fighter 6‘s Year 2 DLC! Not only are we getting Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui from the Fatal Fury franchise crossing over, we’re also getting Elena and M. Bison, too! For me, the big news is, well, Terry and Mai as no one really expected them! However, the other big news has to be the return of Shadaloo’s Dictator as he was supposed to be killed off at the end of Street Fighter V‘s Story Mode: A Shadow Falls. It looks like news of his death was a mere exaggeration as M. Bison is back, riding on a horse, no less!

I have to say M. Bison looks good! Okay, he looks like a vagabond, which does make sense as the trailers do show him having amnesia. He still retains a lot of his Psycho Power moves and he looks like he’s back with a vengeance! I really am looking forward to see how powerful he really is as, based on the trailer, he looks like he could be trouble!

However, as much as seeing him becoming a playable character yet again, his reappearance actually causes a problem with Street Fighter 6’s story mode, World Tour. This problem is actually pretty significant and I really hope, along with M. Bison, releases another huge update with World Tour.

For those unfamiliar with Street Fighter 6’s World Tour, I am going to be discussing a huge chunk of it so I will be diving into SPOILER territory. If you haven’t finished World Tour’s current story, you may want to skip this post before doing so as I will be playing SPOILER to its ending. Got it? Good!

So, World Tour’s current ending kind of sucks.

No, really. It does. Essentially, you have your avatar go through a fighting tournament in the foreign country of Nayshall, which is practically controlled by JP, Shadaloo’s former CFO. He has been using the country and the tournament as a way to funnel money back and forth from his organization as kind of a way to launder money or something like that. Anyway, there’s a group of freedom fighters who plant a bomb on the championship belt in the hopes of blowing up JP. The attempt fails and its your friend, Bosch, who gets caught in the blast. You fight JP to avenge your fallen friend but JP, despite losing the fight, tells you the fight didn’t matter because, well, your friend is still dead. He’s still in control of the country. Roll the credits.

Oh, you still get to play more of World Tour afterwards. It’s only after you get World Tour’s ending when you can, get this, ask JP to teach you how to wield Psycho Power so you can use his moves! So, yep! JP was right and nothing matters! Anyway, after this, you get more World Tour story courtesy of the Year 1 DLC characters. AKI shows you FANG is still alive and kicking and you learn Shadaloo isn’t the same organization it was as it’s splintered into multiple groups with each party having different ideas on how to bring back the criminal organization to its former glory.

With the introduction of Ed, you learn he’s out trying to recruit other Psycho Power wielders to join Neo Shadaloo and some former Shadaloo members want to join him. However, the biggest chunk of info comes with Akuma. There is a quest given to you by FANG to infiltrate a former Shadaloo base and it’s here you find hints of M. Bison’s impending return.

So, why am I saying Capcom should add a whole new chapter to World Tour mode? Well, simply put, World Tour only told a story from up to JP’s reign of Shadaloo. He took over the terrorist organization after M. Bison’s apparent death. He never really cared for M. Bison’s brutish way of world domination. He prefers to be all sneaky about it, pulling the strings from the shadows. This is why he disguises himself as some benevolent director of a non-government organization instead of a ruthless dictator who wants to blackmail the planet with giant moons to black out the sun. He’s subtle that way.

With M. Bison’s returning to Street Fighter 6, wouldn’t he want to take back Shadaloo? Why would he want his CFO to retain control of the organization he was in control of for all those years? Sure, it does appear M. Bison doesn’t have his old memories back yet as he’s still trying to remember who he is. However, once he does, and it looks like he will based on the trailers, you can bet he would want to take out JP and once again sit on Shadaloo’s throne. It wouldn’t make sense if he didn’t!

Also, M. Bison has been the main villain of the Street Fighter universe for so long and all the original characters still think of him that way. You can clearly see that in World Tour mode when you talk to all of your Masters and how they’ve had to rally together to take him and Shadaloo down. You can even see them reference him in some of their win quotes.

This would mean, once news of M. Bison’s return reaches them, all of them should be a mad rush to confirm if this is true or not. Once they do find out he’s back, they’ll immediately want to take him out. Once again, it wouldn’t make sense for someone like Guile, Cammy, Chun-Li or even Juri to not want to try to eliminate the threat before it becomes a big problem.

The only way Capcom could do this is to add a big chunk of new content to Street Fighter 6’s World Tour when M. Bison drops. I guess they could spread it out, with the first part being Dictator enlisting your avatar into helping him remember who he is. The next chapter could come out when they release Terry and it’ll be all about Shadaloo experiencing a civil war, with JP, Ed and M. Bison groups trying to see who take out the others. Mai’s DLC story can be all about a new tournament hosted by JP, which is just a smokescreen for Shadaloo representatives to take on each other. It all comes to a close with Elena, with M. Bison’s group coming out on top of it all.

I know all of that sounds like fanfiction and, yes, it technically is. However, that’s more of an example of what I hope to see. Capcom needs to expand on Street Fighter 6’s World Tour story because leaving as it is just doesn’t make sense if you know M. Bison’s history. He wouldn’t let someone just take over Shadaloo and he’ll want to take it back, with devastating force if necessary. You know I’m right, Capcom!

Byee!

Do you think M. Bison will be a good fit for Street Fighter 6? Let me know in the comments section below!