Past quotes about the character from her Ultra Street Fighter 4 release shine light on how difficult she is to implement
For those of you who lived through Elena’s Ultra Street Fighter 4 release back in 2014, you know Elena’s Healing as one of the most infamous moves in the entire franchise.
It allowed Elena to take damage and fill up her Ultra meter, which in turn could be used to do Healing and replenish her life. Tying Elena’s Healing to her Ultra is often cited as one of the worst decisions the developers made during Street Fighter 4’s lifespan.
The fighting game community largely expected Elena to come out in Street Fighter 6 before her official June 5, 2025 release date, because of how many things are tied into her being added to the game, namely the Capcom Pro Tour which has a $2 million dollar prize pool.
Also, major balance changes for Season 3 and potentially new costumes may come packaged with Elena, but no official word has been given at this time about these things.
“Even if you have a solid gameplan with [Elena’s] Healing, it’s still extremely difficult and extremely situational to use,” — former Capcom developer right after Ultra Street Fighter 4’s console release.
However, Elena is a character with a history of majorly upsetting the balance of Street Fighter games, and this is largely tied to her Healing mechanic, which Capcom heavily underestimated previously, despite being warned about it by the playerbase.
During Elena’s introduction video for Ultra Street Fighter 4, a former Capcom developer noted that her Ultra 1 (Brave Dance) was the one to select over Ultra 2 (Healing), but this did not pan out in terms of how the character was consistently played in high stakes tournament matches.
“The primary Ultra of choice for Elena should be Brave Dance, and that’s because it gives you damage. If you’re using Healing, there are very few scenarios where you can use Healing safely without the opponent catching you,” a former Capcom developer said immediately after the character’s console release in Ultra Street Fighter 4.
“Even if you have a solid gameplan with Healing, it’s still extremely difficult and extremely situational to use,” the former Capcom developer added.
These words clearly did not hold up long term, as numerous pro players played the character and used her Healing move relentlessly to win matches.
Capcom has already stated that they’re aware of Elena’s Healing mechanic and that the playerbase shouldn’t be worried about it in Street Fighter 6, but given their past statements and how difficult Elena is to balance, I wonder if their team heavily underestimated how difficult the capoeira fighter is to add to the game.
Considering we’re only getting four characters per season in Street Fighter 6, it’s very important that each fighter makes a significant impact on the roster and the game itself.
Releasing a heavily watered down Elena that no one cares about or plays wouldn’t be in Capcom’s best interests, as they need the sales and hype that surrounds these characters to maintain momentum.
From past statements and how she’s ended up being way too strong in the past, Elena is one of the most difficult characters to balance that they could have been added to the game, and she’s not even particularly high up in various polls that have been ran asking players which fighters they’d most like to see.
Because of her Healing mechanic and generally annoying personality, Elena is not well regarded by the playerbase, nor in the actual story of the game itself, as most of the cast find her annoying and creepy.
While she was being added to Ultra Street Fighter 4, the developers specifically called Elena a “tricky” character, and given how much she’s been delayed out of her expected window, and how haphazard her release date announcement has been, I wonder if they’ve heavily underestimated just how difficult of a character Elena is to add into Street Fighter 6.
Source: Event Hubs
