It’s still crazy to think that SNK’s Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui are joining M. Bison and Elena in Street Fighter 6 via the Year 2 Character Pass. In a way, the collaboration between Capcom and SNK seems to have been foreshadowed as far back as Evo 2022, when Street Fighter and King of Fighters character posters were shown together.
As it turns out, Capcom and SNK have actually been negotiating for exactly that. The two decided that “it would be a good way to give them some flavor,” according to Street Fighter 6 director Takayuki Nakayama.
Of course, it’s been over 20 years since Capcom vs. SNK 2, and there’s still no sign of Capcom vs. SNK 3. This recent collaboration suggests that something similar could be in the plans in the future.
Many fans have also wondered if we could see Capcom characters guest star in future SNK titles. It seems like this would be the logical next step with Terry and May appearing in Street Fighter 6.
In a recent interview with Famitsu, Street Fighter 6 producer Shuhei Matsumoto and director Takayuki Nakayama talked about all of this and more. As always, our own Nicholas ‘MajinTenshinhan’ Taylor provided translations for us English speakers.
Famitsu: I don’t think many people expected Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui. Please share what the initial impetus was for this Fatal Fury crossover.
Nakayama: Two years ago, at Evo 2022, when the event was held for the first time in several years, we did some celebrations together with SNK and gave out some posters depicting the characters of both companies. Capcom designer drew SNK characters and SNK designer drew Capcom characters for 2 poster designs we shared.
Famitsu: So was this an omen then?
Nakayama: We were talking about a collaboration right then, and in our conversations with SNK, we decided that “This will be a good way to give them a little flavor.”
Matsumoto: And from that beginning we talked about “What can we do in our respective games.”
Nakayama: Both sides want fighting games to get more publicity and wanted the other’s titles to spark more interest in them. I’m personally looking forward to SNK’s upcoming Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and since I really want fighting games in general to generate more and more excitement, I wanted to do this collaboration.
Famitsu: Looking at the reaction from Summer Game Fest 2024, it seemed to be a big success.
Matsumoto: It made us happy.
Famitsu: So will we see the opposite, with Capcom characters added to one of SNK’s games in the near future?
Nakayama: They happily provided us with their characters for this collaboration. We’re still looking at our options, so I can’t say anything for sure, but I think the possibility is definitely there.
Matsumoto: For a more personal anecdote, when we did the motion capture and voice recordings for Terry, some SNK employees came too. We spend all day debating the topic of “what exactly is Rising Tackle?” Both Capcom and SNK are located in the Kansai region and we always get along very well.
Nakayama: Although this collaboration was requested by us, they were very supportive in developing it.
Matsumoto: So we get Terry and Mai, but what is the reason for choosing these two?
Nakayama: I really wanted to emphasize Fatal Fury itself, and I think the best way to do that is by having Terry and Mai. We have a lot of old SNK staff at Capcom and they really gave it their all. Also, the original creator of Street Fighter, Takashi Nishiyama-san, was also involved in the development of Fatal Fury, so we think the roots of both series are the same. Street Fighter and Fatal Fury are like brothers, so I think those connections run deep.
