Apex Legends x Street Fighter: Behind the Scenes of the New "Apex KO" Event

Riding the wave of enthusiasm for the great success of the special event dedicated to Cyberpunk 2077, a special collaboration with Street Fighter will arrive on Apex Legends on September 22, bringing character skins, a legendary weapon, a limited-time mode called Apex KO, and a revamped version of the Olympus map to the Battle Royale. During a press briefing, the development team shared how the idea came about and what to expect.

Legendary Skins: Translating an Iconic Aesthetic

During the meeting, Respawn's art director explained that the goal was to bring the world of Street Fighter into Apex while remaining faithful to both brands, not just limiting themselves to simple costumes but working on personality, fighting style, and silhouette to match each legend in the Apex ecosystem with their counterpart.

The announced pairings are:

• Sparrow → Ryu, the visual heart of Street Fighter; particular attention was paid to muscle definition.
• Alter → Chun-Li, one of the most iconic characters in fighting game history.
• Mirage → Luke, the "revelation" character of Street Fighter 6, chosen for his character affinity with Mirage.
• Caustic → Blanka, for the character's unpredictability; a detailed touch is Caustic's gas canisters decorated with electric eels, a nod to Blanka's electric powers.
• Gibraltar → Akuma, to combine Gibraltar's bulk and silhouette with the menacing power of one of the saga's strongest antagonists.
• Wattson → Cammy, a pairing chosen primarily for personality and fighting style affinity.
• Pathfinder → Dhalsim, one of the most playful pairs in the roster: adapting Dhalsim's design to a robotic character was a challenge the team enjoyed.
• Bangalore → Elena, for the fluidity, athleticism, and confidence that both characters convey.

Legendary Weapons Matched to Characters

Obviously, the aesthetic restyle involved every weapon skin, which was rethought to visually accompany a specific Legendary skin, combining visual language, color palette, and, where possible, the character's personality: the Devotion for Dhalsim, the G7 Scout for Alter/Chun-Li, the Volt for Akuma, the R-99 for Wattson/Cammy, and the Flatline for Sparrow/Ryu (with details taken from Elena's pants and Ryu's red fabric), plus a Blanka plush charm paired with Caustic's P2020.

The Mythic Melee: The Hadouken

Among the most anticipated content is the event's first Mythic Melee: Gibraltar/Akuma's melee weapon that reproduces the Hadouken. The team worked extensively on the "first draw" animation to create a strong visual impact, directly inspired by Street Fighter 6's Hadouken in its color combination, effects, and expressions. Several inspection animations were added — one personal-themed and one inspired by the rooftop arenas typical of Street Fighter — as well as voice lines the Legendary utters during melee use.

Olympus Gets a Makeover

The world director led a tour of the Olympus map, chosen for the event partly because it already hosts a point of interest suitable for Street Fighter's aesthetic. The map has been repainted with bright colors, dominated by red and blue, and features a virtual arena active throughout the match with the Street Fighter 6 logo on one side and statues of Sparrow/Ryu and Alter/Chun-Li on the other.

Pathfinder's "Fight Night" point of interest (where one could already fight solely with bare hands) has been transformed into Luke's Gym, complete with a dedicated statue, new signage, banners, mats, punching bags, and themed dumbbells. Around the map, arcade cabinets, a claw machine with Blanka plushies, giant Blanka-shaped balloons that can be bounced on during launches, billboards featuring the Legends as their counterparts, statues scattered at various points of interest, graffiti, boxing gym-style padding, and a secret Hadouken button combination hidden in the Apex seal have been added. The overall color grading has also been made more saturated to evoke Street Fighter 6's urban style.

Apex KO: The New Mode

Game designer Chris Ruvo illustrated the limited-time mode Apex KO, based on Wild Card. At the start of the match, players choose one of four fighters — Ryu, Chun-Li, Dhalsim, and Akuma — whose tactical/ultimate abilities replace the Legendary's standard ones. To activate the "fighter form," at least one of the six segments of the fighter gauge must be filled, powered by collecting tokens scattered on the map or by dealing damage while in form.

In fighter form, all characters gain melee combos with fluid animations and bonus damage for the full combo, as well as enhanced movement (dash, double jump, faster sprint, and quicker climbing) and a new frontal parry ability.

The specific abilities shown are:

• Ryu: Hadouken (homing projectile, direct damage without explosion) and the ultimate ability Shin Shoryuken, which throws enemies into the air in the affected area.
• Chun-Li: Kikoken (similar to Hadouken but with different stats) and the ultimate ability Kikoshou, a spherical attack that damages and repels.
• Dhalsim: increased melee range, teleportation as a tactical ability, and Yoga Inferno as an ultimate, which generates two spheres — one that repels and deals damage in the wider area, the other that leaves a persistent flame useful for blocking passages.
• Akuma: Gohadoken projectile and the ultimate ability Shin Goku Satsu, which, if it connects, automatically performs a finisher on the hit enemy, regardless of their remaining health; upon entering this form, the character takes on a "demonic" appearance visible to other players.

In the final round of the match, the Showdown phase activates: downed teammates are instantly revived and made temporarily invulnerable, eliminated teammates respawn immediately, and all players gain infinite fighter gauge, allowing them to remain in fighter form indefinitely. A customized final podium is also planned for those who complete the Showdown without losing teammates. Destructible vehicles have also been added to the map that can only be damaged by punches (not firearms or grenades) and represent one of the main sources of tokens for the fighter gauge. Furthermore, every time you enter Luke's Gym during normal gameplay, you get unlimited fighter gauge to fight freely in the arena.