Players old and new have been testing Street Fighter 6’s new features and characters in the open beta and demo, and the game is seeing positive feedback so far. The roster of Street Fighter 6's new characters, which include the drunken master Jamie and model judoka master Manon, is lauded for having a good mix of fresh and familiar gameplay and abilities. The drive rush and perfect parry mechanics also give players all kinds of options for rushing and punishing. However, the most significant addition to this installment is Modern Controls because it changes the way people play the game entirely.
People who have been playing Street Fighter before the newest sequel are used to the classic control scheme, which has three strengths of punches and kicks respectively. As such, it also gives the player three levels of strength and speed for special moves. Classic controls also require quarter circle, zigzag, and even full circle inputs on the joystick or d-pad to perform specials and supers. Street Fighter 6’s modern control scheme takes classic controls and simplifies them, requiring fewer inputs to perform powerful moves. While this new mechanic is aimed at beginner and intermediate players, it’s attracted the attention of some pros as well.
Street Fighter 6's Modern Controls Make it Easier for Beginners to Learn the Game
Modern controls condense attacks into three buttons, with one each for heavy, medium, and light. A player can vary their attacks by using directional buttons, but the game decides whether a character will do a punch or kick. This scheme also has an assist button that players can hold while mashing an attack button to perform a standard combo, which integrates special and super moves in Street Fighter. Alternatively, one can just repeatedly press an attack button without holding assist to do a shorter and more basic combo.
Players only need to push one button for specials, eliminating the need to do complicated joystick moves. Like standard attacks, players can vary their special moves using directional inputs. As for super moves, it’s as simple as pressing a direction and pushing the heavy attack and special attack buttons at the same time. So, new players don't have to do two quarter circle moves and a punch to execute Luke's Pale Rider.
These simpler and more intuitive controls significantly make the barrier to entry smaller for new players. They can go toe-to-toe with classic control players and do the same combos, specials, and supers without having to do complex motion inputs. However, modern control attacks, including specials and supers, do significantly less damage and limit the character’s moveset.
Even Street Fighter 6's Pro Players are Considering a Switch to Modern Controls
Even pros are getting into the modern control scheme in the Street Fighter 6 open beta. Justin Wong (JWong), who has been a fighting game professional for more than a decade, recently used it in his latest videos. He praised how easy it is to use. As a pro, he also liked that he can do near-instant supers and specials.
The same sentiments were echoed by Aru, a Japanese fighting game commentator, and pro player. Aru recently revealed to YouTube content creator Jiyuna that he’s planning on using modern controls in favor of classic because of the fast supers and specials. On classic, the best players need at least half a second to pull off the most complicated super moves.
On modern, it’s instant, so he can use it as an option to do more damage when punishing whiffs and hitting airborne opponents. Modern also automatically the best combos depending on the situation. Whether these advantages are worth the 20 percent decreased damage and narrower range of character moves and specials, are worth it will be seen when Street Fighter 6 sees play in fighting game events like Evo and Capcom Pro Tour.
Street Fighter 6 will be released on June 2, 2022, for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.