Ok. I'm just going to say it. Street Fighter 6 is the best MAINLINE Street Fighter since Street Fighter II Turbo. And yes, I loved Super Street Fighter II, and Street Fighter IV (vanilla), and I bought Street Fighter V, and none of the characters. I didn't get them until the Champion Edition came out. (Ugh). Though I thought Street Fighter V looked great, the dial-a-combo system was a little too much for me. I got into the second closed beta test, and after I played it on FOUR SEPARATE STREAMS, It feels good to play Street Fighter 6.
The players available in this closed beta were old favorites like Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, Guile, and Juri, and new characters Jamie, and Kimberly. The old characters feel revamped. Ken has a ton of variation this time around, why the strong, silent Ryu just chops half your life away with a few smacks. Juri seems to be a combination of her SF4, and SF5 variants, and Guile and Chun Li are the same monsters you hate to face. Jamie, a drunken style break dancer, is fantastic to control, but a beast to contend with. He can mix it up from any part of the level. Then there is the mix up queen herself, Kimberly. Between her spray cans, her teleports, her slide kicks, her...all of Kimberly is probably the best new character I've played against in a long time. Luke is there too. He's my least favorite character. Let's not talk about him at all.
Available in this jam packed beta is a very large chunk of the game's main idea, which is the Battle Hub. After you create your character, you get to run around a beta, but excellent rendition. You can participate in full ranked and casual match options, either by auto matchmaking, or sitting down at a cab, in game, with someone else. You can also buy clothes, take selfies, do special moves to other people's avatar and more. My favorite, is that in one corner, you can play high score challenges of old school Capcom games. The games available in this beta were Final Fight, Magic Sword, and Super Street Fighter II. Along with a FULLY FEATURED training mode at any cab, and a chat with the whole server, or your opponent, Street Fighter 6 seems like it's going to give everyone what they want.
The graphics are amazing, and you can play this game in "performance mode" or "Visual mode." Always go for the frames. The throw tech is a little annoying, but I love the new parry system, and the new over drive system. And don't get trapped in the corner. There's no easy way out. The music is very very good, and doesn't feel like forced hip hop elements, and cheesy corporate raps. Every character feels so different, and the cool thing about this is that everyone is experimenting, so you'll never know what you're going to see, until you whiff a dragon punch. I've never been so excited to get smacked around in my life. It was fun. Very very fun. Everything just worked. And in 2022, that's all we can ask for. I can go on, but I should probably stop there before this article becomes a review. Street Fighter 6 releases June 2nd for PS4, PS5, XboxSeries, and Steam with full cross play. If you want in, go create your Capcom ID, and sign up for the newsletter. Meet me in the streets.
