Capcom’s flagship series retains its crown.
Thanks to its extensive new player support and its innovative story mode, Street Fighter 6 was the best fighting game of the year. For more awards, head to the Game of the Year 2023 hub.
Tyler Wilde, Executive Editor: Thanks to the deeper-than-usual tutorials and practice modes, I finally understand Street Fighter basics that have eluded me for decades—I seriously never knew what people meant by « cross-up » before this game. (I have not historically been very good at Street Fighter.) That alone has made Street Fighter 6 exciting for me, but I also like the goofy story mode. I made a character based on me—with slightly larger biceps, sure, and yeah, inhuman quads, but basically me—and watching my new Street Fighter self meet Chun-Li felt weirdly like actually meeting a celebrity. Better, really, since Chun-Li taught me how to fight, but the one time I met Jack White he didn’t teach me how to play a vintage guitar.
Wes Fenlon, Senior Editor: Street Fighter 6’s story mode is goofy, but Yakuza Lite is such a great way to expand on a fighting game—I’m fully bored of the Mortal Kombat style of cutscene-fight-cutscene. Treating Street Fighter’s stars as celebrities in their own world was a stroke of brilliance and opens up so much comic potential.
