As part of Exoprimal’s post-launch road map, we know that the game will feature a crossover with Street Fighter 6 that will let players pilot Exosuits that look like Ryu and Guile. However, it wasn’t clear if these were purely cosmetic skins for Exosuits, or full-on variants of certain Exosuits that players can use. In an interview with Digital Trends, Exoprimal’s developers confirmed the Street Fighter 6 Exosuit looks are purely cosmetic and not variants that change up an existing Exosuit’s playstyle.
“In terms of the Street Fighter 6 collaboration, in the trailers, you’ve seen that Exosuits can change into the aesthetic of Ryu and Guile,” game director Takuro Hiraoka told Digital Trends. “Those will not be variant Exosuits, those will be skins that will change the appearance of the player.”
Although the crossover is purely cosmetic, a lot of work went into getting the designs of the Exosuits based on Ryu and Guile just right. Exoprimal art director Takuro Fuse tells us that there was plenty of reference material for robotic versions of the Street Fighter characters.
“In the Street Fighter series, there have been a couple of characters that have had skins that have had a mech appearance to them, so the idea of transitioning the Street Fighter characters into mechs wasn’t as challenging as one might expect based on that history,” Fuse tells Digital Trends.
What was more challenging was working together with Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 team to ensure the designs matched Ryu and Guile’s Street Fighter 6 looks while still working as Exosuits players could climb in and out of in the middle of amatch.
“Maintaining the Street Fighter 6 aesthetic for these characters was very important, so we looked at the characters’ builds, muscles, bone structures, and whatnot,” Fuse continued. “Exoprimal characters swap in and out of Exosuits, so a lot of thought went into how to reanimate these skins to allow players to change in and out of them. Lots of discussions were had between the Exoprimal and Street Fighter 6 development teams to make sure that it was an appropriate visual that satisfied the Street Fighter team while also fitting the aesthetic we were going for in Exoprimal.”
Exoprimal is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S; it’s also part of the Xbox Game Pass library. The Street Fighter 6 collaboration does not have a specific start date just yet.