Street Fighter 6 is still early but it’s already setting some big records at Evo 2023 for both the franchise and tournament series.
As we expected. The Drive system is immediately intuitive and addresses big problems the series has had for over a decade.
What big problems would those be?
- Comeback mechanics are probably the biggest issue since SF4. One might argue (I certainly would) that you should basically never have comeback mechanics, but maybe SF6 gets away with nearly removing them entirely due to the way they reworked the dizzy/stun system.
- The pace of the game is sped up, due to the incentives that the Drive system creates for both movement and to avoid burnout. Brackets for SF6 are already running significantly faster than for SF5. It also helps avoid that situation from SF5 where both players are sitting on a magic pixel, letting the clock run down, patiently waiting for that clean last hit, since you rarely have super meter available for a chip kill.
- There’s more room for creativity, and the game affords you more options on offense and defense. You’re constantly making decisions about how to spend or not spend your Drive meter for different levels of risk and reward, and it’s even more interesting because supers are on a separate bar, so you don’t have to do one at the expense of the other. Your defensive options and what they beat are crystal clear in the heat of the moment, and it removes a lot of need to memorize frame data like you’d have to in SF5.
Six does look great. I really appreciate the Zangief redesign and how it takes him looking like a bodybuilder to looking like a strongman competitor. Hopefully they’ll be an analogue to Champion Edition so I can pick it up for a bit less and not have to pay extra for half the roster.
Not shocking. In addition to what everyone else’s said, the create a character story mode is a feature I didn’t even know I wanted from Street Fighter, and the simple control scheme for beginners is nice if I just want to mess around with a character without learning them in detail yet.
Look, sounds, feel, and style are all really great too. Big step up from SF5 in my opinion.
I only have 100 hours in but it’s already my favorite in the series, the drive system is fantastic and every character just feels so good.
I wish i could still play fighting games. Happy to see the series progressing still
Evo should be fun this year. Sfvi should be a real treat to watch
I had never played or watched Street Fighter before this game. Since release, SF6 and Tears of the Kingdom have been the only two games I’ve played. And Evo was incredible! I just wish there were more Kimberly players in top 24.
Evo hasn’t happened yet, but maybe you watched CEO.
