Street Fighter 6 is so sloppy? EventHubs goes deep after top players discuss the game’s issues

The world of Street Fighter 6 went online ablaze after a few comments by the best Street Fighter 5 competitor on the planet and possibly the best Street Fighter 6 competitor too, Bandits | MenaRD.

The only two-time Capcom Cup champion to date stated on Thursday night that “Street Fighter 6 is the hardest SF I’ve played,” which led to a lot of discussion on social media from old and new players alike.

I have the same experience as 4 players on 5.

Street Fighter 6 is the most awful game I’ve ever played and I hope it keeps getting better like 5 year after year.

– MenaRD Bandits🇩🇴 (最強) (_MenaRD__) July 14, 2023

Such a general statement could lead us in many directions, but Mina and others seem to be addressing the most specific issue with the neutral Drive Rush mechanic, which at the price of just one Drive Meter bar allows characters to dash forward and apply enhanced pressure or combos.

Furthermore, many have complained about screen freezes that occur when a player activates Drive Rush because it tends to “eat” the opposing player’s input when it interferes with one of their button presses.

There’s also the matter of the majority of characters having throwing rings when they corner their enemies, meaning they can constantly threaten with 50/50 strong stances that have huge effects on the outcome of rounds.

Isn’t it crazy if you compare it as a fighting game competitor

– Input that does not exit? ✅️
– Unanswerable dashes? ✅️
-Guess for your life in the corner? ✅️
-unbalanced? ✅️

The game itself is millions of years better, but as FG they have a lot of the same issues.

– MenaRD Bandits🇩🇴 (最強) (_MenaRD__) July 14, 2023

Mina also explained that he felt that all of this resulted in a formula that was relatively simple and easy to implement at the highest levels of play, meaning that even “rotten” players who didn’t spend as much time as others could easily get wins over their more practiced peers.

This means that the classes required to win at the highest level at the moment, are not that many.

The basic mechanics of the game seem very powerful and anyone who spots that, means trouble.

– MenaRD Bandits🇩🇴 (最強) (_MenaRD__) July 14, 2023

Despite the criticism of Street Fighter 6, Mena clearly states that the game is fun and that kind of progression was on par with most Street Fighters games that have gone by.

I just said sf6 is sloppy now and I hope it improves like V has done over the years.

Seasons 1 through 3, of SFV, were also bad.

I’ll play the game regardless, but we should be able to discuss these matters and not kill each other 🤣

Sulfur hexafluoride is fun, but lean.

– MenaRD Bandits🇩🇴 (最強) (_MenaRD__) July 14, 2023

Catalyst, DreamKing and I decided to put this idea under the microscope and dig into it with our Talk and Block discussion. While we’re more than reluctant to call SF6 the most outrageous street fighter yet, we certainly see why it’s stirred up a lot of trouble, including big players like Mina.

Given that Drive Rush (DR) seems to be at or very close to the center of all of this, we’re thinking about what kinds of tweaks might put the game in a better place. Should developers approach fixing DR from the benefit side or the total cost side? Maybe it’s nice that it gives polished block pressure and combo modes, but does it have to cost 1.5 or 2 bar of gauge to do it?

Another means of balancing could be explored by measuring damage, perhaps having hits after a successful Drive Rush mitigate the damage, or perhaps Capcom should actually consider changing maneuver movement speed and/or frame feature improvements.

We’re somewhat hesitant to entertain these latest ideas because this would drastically change the emerging definition of Street Fighter 6 and we’re only about six weeks into exploring the game at this point.

The three of us also offer our cents on the game’s notable corner throw loops, the aforementioned annoying entries, and answer how often we feel the better player tends to win in SF6.

There’s more in the full discussion, which you can watch via the video embedded here:

Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction, is the SF6 the rubiest?
03:50 – Research specific issues with Drive Rush
08:25 – How should you fix Drive Rush?
13:30 – SF6 too easy at a high level?
18:06 – How often does the most skilled player win in SF6?
25:30 – Is it too early to correct, or should we just let SF6 breathe?