Street Fighter 6 has a huge roster of martial artists, each with different fighting styles and training methods. Each comes from a different discipline, which means they all have different body types, from Zangief’s hulking bodybuilder frame to E. Honda’s heavier sumo build. As such, developer Capcom decided to reference different real-life models to ensure it got each fighter’s build right. Now, it’s become my personal fitness goal to be the reference model for a fighting game character—because what’s more validating than that?
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Capcom and Street Fighter 6’s development process was recently the subject of a documentary by NHK, a Japanese public broadcaster. The documentary, called Game Planet, features a segment on how Capcom captured the physique of its fighters. Character artist Kawade Tsutomu explains that the company assembled a team dedicated to researching how muscles flex, extend, and rest on different martial artists’ and bodybuilder’s frames
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Once they found a group of suitable models, the team took reference photos of their bodies from “every conceivable angle.” As Tsutomu describes, Capcom wanted a variety of well-trained body types that could demonstrate different muscle and fat distribution among its characters. These nuances are how Ryu and Zangief can both be muscular but have distinct body types, a clear example of how different training methods have different results. The documentary also shows more slender, feminine models that were likely used as inspiration for more agile characters like Cammy and Kimberly.
The full documentary is available on YouTube, but if you want to skip to the muscle mommy (and daddy) section, it starts at about the 10:30 mark.
Knowing that Capcom went to this level of detail during development makes sense, given how much Street Fighter 6 goes out of its way to define its rosters’ distinct disciplines within its world. A major part of its story mode is traveling around the world and meeting different fighters to teach you their ways. So ensuring the in-game models fit real-world athletes is a nice extra layer of authenticity.
