Will Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition Save It from Mediocrity?

Street Fighter V had a pretty shaky release, with a rushed launch that really only included a competitive infrastructure — many basic features were missing (most notably a story mode and a Versus CPU mode), giving the game a very unpolished, casual-unfriendly feel.

What’s more, a sizable portion of the competitive scene was dissatisfied with the gameplay that was there, with Street Fighter commentator James Chen stating, “There is some concern that Street Fighter V is boring or not as exciting as IV was.” Ultimately, this resulted in an overall lukewarm opinion of the sequel to one of the most popular fighting games worldwide.

While the Street Fighter V Steam store page has been updated to accommodate the release of the Arcade Edition, the game’s review score was not reset, still sitting at a very solid “Mixed.” Even with the slow drip of content from Capcom since initial release (content, most would argue, that should’ve been there at launch), nearly half of the game’s reviews remain negative.

However, with the release of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, that score will likely rise as time passes.

What’s New in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition?

The official Capcom website covers the majority of what you need to know about Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition — here are some of the highlights:

• Arcade Mode. Street Fighter V finally gets an Arcade mode, featuring six separate paths that each represent a previous main title in the Street Fighter franchise.
• Team Battle Format. A returning game mode from Street Fighter IV in which two teams can queue up as many as five fighters each in an Elimination or Best-of-Series mini tournament.
• Extra Battle Format. A game mode featuring time-exclusive challenges where players can earn premium costumes.
• Major balance update. In addition to the new V-Triggers for all existing characters, Arcade Edition comes with a large balance adjustment.
• Free Arcade Edition Update. All of the above Arcade Edition improvements are included as part of a free update for all previous owners of the base edition of Street Fighter V.

At its core, Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition is still just Street Fighter V — it addresses the lack of content that’s been a major issue since day one, but the fundamental gameplay remains the same.

If you were already satisfied with Street Fighter V’s fighting mechanics, then the Arcade Edition offers a whole lot more of the gameplay you want. If not, then it probably won’t do much to change your opinion of the game as a whole, with stuff like input delay still present in the game.

Still, if you’re the hopeful type, it’s possible that the revitalization of the Street Fighter V community could propel the game in a direction where the devs are willing to properly fix some of the game’s remaining issues in a more timely manner.

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Regardless of which camp you’re in, there’s no reason not to give Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition a shot, as it’s provided as a free update for all owners of the base game. And if you’ve been looking to pick the game up, there’s no better time than now!