With the C.Viper theme music being released for Street Fighter 6, the player reaction just keeps rolling through. A Street Fighter account made an official release of the track named “Untraceable,” saying that it was about her last-ditch efforts to hunt down the last bits of Shadaloo. And the replies almost make their own battleground on fiery contest rivaling an actual great and deadly Street Fighter match.
How about the SF6 soundtrack? Now, ever since the games have been out, it has been a contentious matter. Some players downright love and applaud this new avenue of hardbeat and industrial rhythm approach. The others just cannot! It’s a mess of classic soundtrack, they say. The latest C. Viper theme has erupted again as the newest flashpoint in this never-ending war.
Shortly after the release thereof, Z3VB0T-the voice of many-gave expression, “man these new themes have been knocking it out of the park”-which describes most of the major portions of the community well. Statements such as “this is the best theme this game has had” coming from H4rps1chord, and pitch statements from V4V1 such as “Damn this must be the hardest theme since Ed’s,” is quite a testament to how this Capcom audio team is on a roll by itself.
Now, just scroll down a bit. Then the other side goes just as loud. TakiOneLove was straightforward with her disdain. “Please, whoever did soundtrack for this game, don’t use them in SF7,” she intoned. AlanBrizan chimed in with a diss of his own, comparing it to a competing fighting-game soundtrack: “Fatal fury city of the wolves had better original tracks then this.” Ouch.
The very edge of the controversy begins when people actually start dissecting themes. MehPitch started one enormous thread about “theme power creep” by stating that while Ken’s channel was once the shining gold standard, new channels like Ed’s, Bison’s, and indeed Viper’s just punched it down now. In essence, this opened up fights about what actually is the best and with Jamie’s, Juri’s, and Luke’s music being thrown in there; by then, it was pretty obvious which tunes were favorites for some and skips for others.
What is quite peculiar here is that people actually go into why the music sounds the way it does. One user, Nurupo, actually thought about it and said that “SF6 music is based more on rhythms and beats than melody, and they do it on purpose.” That makes sense for a certain extent. If you like something with a strong, memorable melody, like the older games had, this maybe doesn’t cut it. But if you’re aiming for more ambient, subtle, beat-driven music that just pumps your blood during a fight, then this is it.
And there’s the humorous reaction tier. jj_no_jarrett considered the theme “the ringing you get in your ear after your dad finishes yelling at you.” Specific and hilarious! Mrmguffin just said, “They gave her a whole dmc 5 track xd, ” comparing it to the hard-hitting music featured in Devil May Cry 5. Fitting, considering C. Viper is basically the character of a super-spy.
This strange mix of serious analysis, heated argument, and silly jesting is what really makes the fighting-game community top-notch. Some are going all out defending the art direction, some are grieving for the old Street Fighter style, and a few are just sharing memes: all going on at once.
In the end, I suppose music is maybe the most subjective thing in any game. You can’t really argue someone into liking a song they hate. But the pretty passionate reaction to every new theme that drops for Street Fighter 6 means how much players really care about their entertainment. It sets the scene; it locks inside your head during combos, and it starts becoming an image of the characters. Every release event in contrast to this new soundtrack sets itself aside for all quarrelling and is much more worthy of a stanza. C. Viper’s “Untraceable,” for better or worse, is loud and proud of it.
