The thing about us fighting game players is… we’re never satisfied. I say that with plenty of tongue in cheek as balancing a fighting game is an all but impossible task that’s never going to make everyone happy, and must start this all by saying that Street Fighter 6 is a whole head and shoulders more balanced than most any other franchise entry ever has been.
That said, fighting game players we still are and satisfied we are not. While it’s fair to say many of the characters in SF6 have similar levels of ability, the game is clearly insanely difficult to be consistent in. This might point us to an issue on the competitive balance front, and happens to be the focus of Broski’s latest video.
Rashid might be a little overpowered and apparently Zangief is an obvious number one in the game, but character balance doesn’t seem to be a massive issue for SF6 right now. Instead, Broski suggests that the problem lie in the game’s mechanical processes.
Indeed while top players have surely emerged and routinely make far into brackets, we’ve seen less consistency in tournament victories and performances than in the game’s first year. For quick instance, FLY|Punk took home gold at Evo with Cammy only to enter an online tournament a few weeks later and lose 0-6 to NuckleDu in the mirror match.
Falcons|MenaRD and Rohto|Tokido have both had a competitive presence, but in neither case has it quite been on par with their respective performances in Season 1.
There also seems to be a certain sense of inconsistency for the average player while grinding through ranked, wherein you might dominate an opponent in one game and lose horribly in the next.
This isn’t to say that Street Fighter 6 is in a bad place necessarily, but perhaps it could use a little tweaking to get a little better. Broski has some thoughts on the matter in terms of why he specifically feels like things are trending this way, and it all starts with the power of combining low forward into Drive Rush, corner carry, and throw loops.