Shackbattle Game of the Year 2023 - Street Fighter 6

When it comes to Shackbattles, a good game with good online components is an absolute must. After all, we all have our own tech and making it play together nicely isn’t as easy as it sounds. That’s why we’re giving all the props to Street Fighter 6 in our Shackbattle Game of the Year 2023 award.

Street Figthter 6 didn’t just step up to make good on the things Street Fighter 5 did wrong. Capcom put the pedal to the medal to crank out one of the best fighting games we’ve ever seen in terms of gameplay and online options. You can’t have a Shackbattle if you can’t get together easily, and even then, many games cut some folks out of the fun by platform. Street Fighter 6 doesn’t. Its Battle Hub system is one of the easiest online multiplayer lobbies we’ve ever used, giving the option to play in a public server among the other players, jump into private lobbies to have our own fun, or spectate our fellow players’ matches as we will. And it doesn't matter where you play because Street Fighter 6 had working crossplay from Day One.

It also helps that Street Fighter 6 is also just an impeccable game with solid characters and mechanics. The base roster brought back most of our favorite folks, all of the Street Fighter 2 World Warriors, and a solid array of new characters. Cammy, Dee Jay, and Ken are arguably stronger than they’ve ever been, but characters like Marisa, JP, and Luke are no slouches either. Even then, no character in the roster can truly be considered unviable.

Put all of these factors together and you have a game that served up community fun time and time again. In Shackbattles, in Big Team Building, and all around the world, Street Fighter 6 gave us good reason to believe in the series again. More than that, it brought us together to throw down like never before. For all of that, it’s our vote for Shackbattle Game of the Year 2023.

Be sure to read over the rest of the Shacknews Awards in our Year of the Games: 2023 feature.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.