Apex Legends art director Alisa Rastorgueva has revealed that the development team pushed the game's character models to their limits for the recent collaboration with Street Fighter 6, resulting in some of the most muscular designs seen in the game. The crossover event, which includes character skins, a new Point of Interest, weapon skins, and more, launched on September 22.
The collaboration sees several Legends transformed into iconic Street Fighter characters: Sparrow becomes Ryu, Alter is Chun-Li, Mirage is Luke, Caustic transforms into Blanka, Wattson dons Cammy's attire, Gibraltar embodies Akuma, Bangalore takes on Elena's appearance, and Pathfinder is reimagined as Dhalsim.
Rastorgueva explained that translating the exaggerated physiques of Street Fighter characters into Apex Legends' more semi-realistic art style presented a significant challenge. "All of us know that Street Fighter characters are muscular and their proportions are pushed a lot," she stated. "We tried to do that, as well. Our legends have some of the thickest thighs we’ve ever done."
Beyond the physical design, the team also faced the challenge of selecting characters that would translate well into Apex Legends' gameplay. Senior technical game designer Chris Ruvolo noted that while many characters were considered, the focus was on those whose abilities could logically fit within a first-person shooter. "Apex is primarily a shooter. You can't have a fighter who focuses on grapples like Zangief," Ruvolo said. "We had to go with characters who were projectile-based or had area of effect attacks; those were at the top of our list."
The selection process involved extensive testing and collaboration with Capcom to ensure the characters were recognizable and fit within the Apex Legends universe. The team aimed to highlight characters from Street Fighter 6 specifically, prioritizing those that offered the best synergy with Apex Legends' established mechanics and lore.