People hate online trophies. Before the tired debates around auto-popping and 45-seconds Platinums, trophy hunters have long despised the multiplayer trophies that many games have, especially for solo-focused experiences. Some have suggested that these titles either don’t have online trophies or sequester them as if they were DLC. Street Fighter 6 is one of the only games to launch with a trophy list that is mostly separated by mode, but it’s separated in the wrong way.
The Street Fighter 6 trophy list has three sections
Street Fighter 6’s three main modes are divided into three categories on the trophy list. But weirdly, the online modes are tied to the main one that contains the Platinum. This means that the multiplayer parts have the most trophies, and they are the hardest of the three. Players have to win a bunch of tournaments and multiple types of online matches to polish off that Platinum while progressing through World Tour only unlocks a scant six trophies. Fighting Ground, the suite of more straightforward and traditional modes, also only has six trophies.
This is backwards since the online trophies are harder, and they are the ones that are required for the Platinum, while the single-player trophies are far fewer in number, generally much easier, and, by and large, optional in regards to the Platinum. Even though the idea of sequestering each mode is interesting, the execution has made it more or less the opposite of what some have wanted for years.
Multiplayer also doesn’t need as much of the hook that trophies provide since playing against other people in a fighting game is nearly endlessly replayable (more so for a fighting game as great as Street Fighter 6). The appeal of getting better is the driving factor behind the grind, not the trophies. Games should all be intrinsically rewarding, obviously, but a quality trophy list can add some extrinsic rewards to fill in the parts where the intrinsic rewards aren’t as long-lasting as they could be.
Single-player modes in fighting games are inherently less replayable (and not always as rewarding as multiplayer), and they could use those incentives and trophies. World Tour has plenty of missions to complete and a ton of Masters to level up, but there’s very little that pushes players to engage with it all. Capcom has heavily advertised World Tour as a main feature, yet its small and forgettable trophy list makes it seem like hardly more than an arcade ladder and doesn’t push players to explore. Swapping the position of World Tour and the online Battle Hub in the trophy list would give more replayability to the less replayable mode and make the Platinum more accessible while still giving online warriors a small carrot to chase.
Street Fighter 6’s trophies have the annoying, overly long, and sometimes vague descriptions that Capcom has done multiple times, but, even with some inverted priorities, it is still the best and most even Street Fighter trophy list so far. While tournaments have yet to play out, almost every trophy is attainable and doesn’t require the maddening grind that the other Street Fighter games have. There’s no need to achieve a high rank online, beat a ladder on the hardest setting, hit high levels, finish hundreds of matches using certain moves, beat hundreds of opponents, or win 10 online matches in a row. Capcom took some unorthodox steps to split this trophy list in bold ways, and it’s an example other developers should follow. But hopefully those future teams know what trophies to prioritize and attach to the Platinum.