What Mai’s Gameplay Trailer Reveals About the Character

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 20, 2025 4 Views 6 Min Read
What Mai's Gameplay Trailer Reveals About the Character

Street Fighter 6 is well into Year 2 of its DLC. With M. Bison and Terry Bogard receiving varying levels of warm reception, the community has naturally been looking forward to the game’s next character. With Mai Shiranui right around the corner, Street Fighter 6 fans should be on the lookout for a few things.

Mai Shiranui joins Terry Bogard as the first pair of guest characters to ever join Street Fighter. Just like Terry, Mai Shiranui happens to hail from Fatal Fury and has made plenty of appearances throughout The King of Fighters franchise. Although these are two classic fighting game franchises, there are bound to be plenty of people in Street Fighter‘s broader audience who may not be familiar with Mai.

Street Fighter 6 Guest fighters Mai Shiranui Terry Bogard

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Mai Shiranui Brings Fatal Fury to Street Fighter 6 DLC

Mai Shiranui’s Street Fighter 6 Gameplay Could Burn Bright

Gameplay is often one of the biggest ways for guest characters to stand out. Terry Bogard was certainly no different, taking inspiration from Fatal Fury‘s own lane system to craft an incredibly unique design. Although Terry’s viability has often been in question, the creativity of his moveset has left many excited to see where Mai Shiranui could take the game next. Thankfully, Mai Shiranui’s gameplay trailer has answered a lot of these questions.

Unfortunately, Mai can’t quite dive into the background like Terry does. However, Mai still references the lane change mechanic, as one of her kicks sends enemies into the background for a brief spin. Other than that, many of her moves are true to her classic fighting style, with her fan tosses creating plenty of opportunities for combo extensions. Most impressive of all, Street Fighter 6 introduces Flame Stocks to her kit, which are a stackable resource that allows Mai to empower her special moves and Super Arts.

Mai Shiranui DLC Coincides with a Big Event for Fighting Games

Considering it’s so close, Mai Shiranui’s release date is the first thing fans should get excited about. Mai is currently scheduled to be released on February 5 and will enter the game alongside new content for players to sink their teeth into. While her default costume is based around her most iconic look, her Outfit 2 seems to be inspired by her redesign from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves will release on April 21, which is just shy of two months after Mai joins Street Fighter 6. This makes for a pretty natural cross-promotion between the two, meaning fans could be in for Mai Shiranui to make a few references to the upcoming title. While a new Fatal Fury game is plenty of reason for fans to get excited, Mai Shiranui’s established connection to Street Fighter will likely have an even greater hold of her inclusion in its DLC.

Fatal Fury and Street Fighter 6 Have a Lot of History

Another important thing that fans should expect is for Street Fighter 6 to take advantage of its shared continuity with Fatal Fury. Although Street Fighter has never hosted guest characters before Terry, plenty of Street Fighter‘s own characters have made the jump into various crossovers. Among these crossover series, Capcom vs. SNK is one of the most iconic, and undoubtedly the most important for Mai.

Capcom and SNK were once rival publishers who eventually became more friendly thanks in part to Capcom vs. SNK. Similar to Ryu and Chun-Li being the faces of Street Fighter, Terry and Mai have long been the faces of SNK thanks to their roles in Fatal Fury. When it came time for the two iconic fighting game franchises to crossover, it was only right for their most iconic characters to face off. Mai Shiranui quickly formed a fierce rivalry with Chun-Li, and it has been referenced in other crossovers ever since.

Now that Mai will finally make her way into Street Fighter for the first time, one can expect this rivalry to keep up. Of course, Mai might have plenty to say to Terry in World Tour once they cross paths, but her interactions with the World Warriors are a huge part of this DLC’s appeal. Barring a miracle from Rock Howard, it’s a little unlikely that another Fatal Fury character will make it into Street Fighter 6 in the near future. Thankfully, Mai shouldn’t have any problem getting familiar with the rest of the game’s cast.

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