Who Is Mai Shiranui? Street Fighter 6's Next DLC Character Explained

Mai Shiranui is the next character coming to Street Fighter 6, but many fans may not be well-acquainted with who exactly the newest addition to the roster is. As a character originating outside of the Street Fighter franchise, Mai's inclusion in Street Fighter 6's second season is breaking new ground for a very understandable reason: Street Fighter has never had guest characters prior to Street Fighter 6, and now Mai is only the second outsider to make the cut.

Making her first appearance all the way back in 1992, Mai has decades of history within the fighting game genre across a slew of different franchises. Stepping into the arena of Street Fighter 6 might be Mai's most auspicious appearance to date, but she'll be bringing along literal decades of backstory and fighting game history when she does. While Street Fighter fans may not know who she is yet, Mai is actually one of the most important women in fighting games.

Mai's Origins In The Fatal Fury Series

An Iconic Heroine From One Of The Original Fighting Games

Mai's first appearance was in the 1992 arcade game Fatal Fury 2, the sequel to one of the very first competitors that Street Fighter ever had. Originally conceived as a male character, Mai's gender was swapped during development due to a need for more female fighters on the roster. She would go on to become one of the most popular characters in the series and returned for (almost) every installment in the Fatal Fury series.

Within the lore of Fatal Fury, Mai is a highly-trained ninja and the heir to the Shiranui clan, responsible for preserving her family's traditional fighting style. Her main relationship in the series is her often one-sided romantic attraction to Andy Bogard, the brother of Fatal Fury's mascot Terry Bogard. While chasing after Andy is one of Mai's main goals in the earlier games, in the later games, like the King of Fighters series, she typically shifts her focus to allying with fellow female fighters to try and win the titular martial arts tournament.

In battle, Mai uses her ninjutsu techniques to employ a quick-striking, high-mobility style of offense with plenty of midair jumps, glides, and diving attacks, and in a pinch, she can throw her trademark fans as projectiles. Out of the ring, Mai displays a boisterous, joyful personality that never gets too bogged down in drama. All of this has led to Mai becoming one of the most popular characters in the Fatal Fury series and has helped springboard her into appearances in other games as well.

Mai Is Making History In Street Fighter 6

The First Female Guest Character In Series History

The Street Fighter franchise has been around in one form or another for almost forty years and has comprised seven main installments, numerous ports and enhancements of those installments, spinoffs, crossovers, anime, manga, and much more. Up until the reveal of Street Fighter 6's second year lineup of DLC, however, there was one threshold the series never crossed: they never included a guest character in the roster. That's now changed with the additions of Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui from the Fatal Fury series.

Past Street Fighter games have included playable characters who originally debuted in other franchises, like Guy and Cody from Final Fight or Akira from Rival Schools. These franchises and Street Fighter are all Capcom-owned, making Terry and Mai the first characters from another company —in this case, SNK —to appear in the series.

Mai is no stranger to crossover appearances herself, as she's been a mainstay character in the SNK crossover series King of Fighters since its first installment. She's also crossed the borders into other companies' fighting games, appearing as a DLC character in both Dead or Alive 5 and Dead or Alive 6, though she sadly missed out on making an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. She's also been playable in every installment of the Capcom vs. SNK series, where she was frequently positioned as a rival to Chun-li, Street Fighter's own leading lady.

That shared history is what makes this crossover appearance from Mai so exciting. While Fatal Fury and Street Fighter have intersected in the realm of dream match crossover games, for the first time ever, fans are getting to see the two cross over into each other properly. Street Fighter 6 has been no stranger to collaborations, but it's a big deal for fans to see two franchises that previously were fierce rivals now making friendly cameos in each other's games, and Street Fighter 6 is likely to lean heavily into that history judging from Mai's reveal trailer.

When Will Mai Be Available In Street Fighter 6?

Mai Shiranui Releases On February 5

Mai Shiranui striking a pose before battle in Street Fighter 6

Mai will be the third character in the Year 2 DLC season for Street Fighter 6 following M. Bison and Terry, and will be released on February 5, 2025. She can be purchased individually for 350 Fighter Coins (Street Fighter 6's premium currency, equivalent to US$7), as part of the Year 2 Character Pass for US$29.99, or as part of the Year 2 Ultimate Pass for US$49.99. Mai will also have an alternate costume based on her design in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, available separately for 300 Fighter Coins (US$6), as well as alternate colors for her default costume.

Regardless of whether players buy Mai or not, she'll also be added to Street Fighter 6's World Tour mode as an NPC master who will teach the player character her unique fighting style for their own use. Mai's alternate costume can also be unlocked without needing to pay for it by achieving a maximum bond level with her in World Tour. While it hasn't been confirmed, Mai will also likely be accompanied by a new battle pass full of themed rewards to be unlocked, including player avatar costume items, emotes, music, and playable arcade games.

Street Fighter 6 is only the beginning of a busy year for Mai, as she'll also be making her grand return to her own series when Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves releases on April 24, 2025. The crossover party will also keep going as Chun-li has already been confirmed as a future DLC character for City of the Wolves, allowing the two longtime rivals to battle each other on both sides' home turf. Now that the glass ceiling has been shattered for guest characters, hopefully Mai Shiranui is just the beginning of more to come for Street Fighter 6.

Source: Street Fighter/YouTube