The first ever outside guest character in a mainline Street Fighter title is finally here. SNK’s own Terry Bogard of King of Fighters and Fatal Fury fame has officially entered the ring, and it is indeed a momentous occasion for fighting games as a whole.
Now that Terry is available to the masses, I have taken the opportunity to jump right into the fire, get some time in with him, and find out whether or not the popular hungry wolf’s bite matches his bark here in Street Fighter 6. Some things I thought about Terry before I played him turned out to be true, other things surprised me, so let’s get right into it and talk Terry.
Presentation:
Every time I review a new DLC character in Street Fighter 6 and it comes to the presentation aspect of them, I feel like I always say that the new fighter looks great and Capcom clearly put a ton of time into the finer details when developing them.
That absolutely still stands here with Terry, but I’d probably multiply the intensity of that statement by about two or three. To date, this has to be the character Capcom has taken the most care with as he is just riddled with references, little nods to his source material, Easter eggs, and techniques that fans of Terry Bogard will undoubtedly recognize.
It stands to reason that Capcom would handle the series’ first outside guest character with extra love and attention, and I’m really glad that they did. The developers previously stated on several occasions that they are long-time, massive fans of King of Fighters and Fatal Fury, and that sentiment shines very brightly through with Terry in Street Fighter 6.
Terry’s animations, move effects, voice actors, costumes, and everything top to bottom look and sound amazing in Street Fighter 6. Though, similar to characters like Ed, Terry can look a little… off putting during certain close ups and World Tour cinematics, but in motion and in actual matches (where it counts most), this character is a home run.
His default look in Street Fighter 6 sees him wearing his iconic trucker’s cap and vest, while Outfit 2 gives him his jacket-wearing design from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. Both classic Terry costumes translate perfectly into the world of Street Fighter 6, which again comes as no surprise considering the tremendous work Capcom has been doing with the game’s DLC fighters so far.
The newest contender to join the battle also comes along with a new SNK-themed stage in the Pão Pão Café 6 — which happens to be the battlefield that has appeared across more fighting games than any other stage. If Terry himself wasn’t loaded with enough references to SNK’s storied fighting game history for you, then this backdrop will definitely scratch that itch as the cafe is packed from wall to wall with familiar faces, references to old artwork, and basically anything else you could ever dream of seeing in a Capcom fighting game as an SNK fan.
Gameplay:
There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to Terry in Street Fighter 6. On the surface, he’s a fairly straightforward fighter with a fireball, an uppercut, and a kicking special move that passes through fireballs (or in this case goes over them).
Before he was officially released, there were quite a few people who expected him to play just like a Shoto character, but longtime Terry fans know that that just wasn’t going to be the case. Though some of his attacks on paper definitely resemble moves from Ryu, Ken, or Akuma, Terry’s arsenal is a bit more unorthodox than theirs and there are quite a few layers to it.
There is A LOT going on with Terry’s toolkit in Street Fighter 6. Up front, I can say that he comes equipped with answers to a majority of the situations you’d find yourself in here in Street Fighter 6. He has access to fairly easy side switch combos, he has crouching medium kick into Drive Rush cancel, he’s got a proper invincible reversal, and he has fireball followed in by raw Drive Rush.
Even beyond that, though, Terry has a ton of utility among his various attacks, but it’s not all as easy to use and abuse as it might look. Burning Knuckle, as an example, is a fast, horizontal-moving special move (like Yun’s rush punch) that is a great check in neutral, but has to be spaced properly in order for it to be safe on block. Compare that to the character that preceded Terry, M. Bison, whose Scissor Kicks were technically punishable on block, but were quite a bit easier to space to make him safe.
Here in the early days of Terry, I feel like the strongest comparison to another character on the Street Fighter 6 roster that I can make for him is Akuma — and not because of the Shoto-like qualities. The raging demon is a fighter who has some very tried and true basic techniques that don’t take a lot of time to get a handle on and are effective, but the amount of options and different things he can actually do is a lot larger and takes time to really understand.
When you cancel into Terry’s heavy Power Charge, do you want to take advantage of its ability to cancel it directly into other special moves and go for Crack Shoot into Rising Tackle for damage? Do you want to cancel it into Burning Knuckle for the corner carry? Or do you want to sacrifice some damage to toss out a slow moving fireball that your opponent now has to deal with on their wake up while you’re Drive Rushing at them for oki pressure?
There’s a lot you can do with Terry in Street Fighter 6, and that statement also rings very true for the guest character’s combo potential in this game. Holy cow, Terry is a combo monster and has so many different options at his disposal.
From extended meterless options like connecting normals after light kick Power Charge to tack on an ender for more damage to being able to not only extend his level 2 super by using extra Drive Gauge and super bar, but also having the ability to juggle after the second form of this super with all kinds of things, there are just so many options for every different situation and resource amount.
Raw DR cr. MP lets you get the st. HP into HK tackle. No counter hit or punish counter needed! And if done from round start range, Terry gets raw DR cr. HP juggle in the corner after level 2 2nd form #SF6_Terry pic.twitter.com/s5ZHcbmzDn
— Steven “Dream King” Chavez (@TheKingOfDremes) September 25, 2024
When I first saw Terry’s official gameplay trailer, it honestly looked like he came equipped with nearly every tool a top tier character could have or ever want. This made me wonder what his weaknesses might actually be because… it looked like he had none, honestly.
Even in his in-game character guide, Capcom explicitly points out that Terry is strong on both offense and defense. So what isn’t he good at?
Well, the drawbacks to Terry at the time of writing this seem to be that his neutral game isn’t quite as straightforward as you’d think, he is surprisingly technical, and he doesn’t have the best up close normal pressure.
Starting with the first point, it’s not that Terry has bad normals in neutral per say, in fact, things like crouching medium kick and standing medium kick are excellent at what they do. However, he lacks a big, long-ranged cancellable heavy button to better help him whiff punish and pressure.
His standing medium punch — though very solid in its own right — definitely looks a lot like Ryu and Ken’s standing heavy punch, but it essentially acts as the lite version of those attacks. Comparatively speaking, Terry’s MP is only active for two frames whereas Ken and Ryu’s HP are active for four frames, and Terry’s button — despite moving him forward slightly like Ryu and Ken’s heavy punches — has about two notches on the training room floor less range than the Shoto heavies.
Terry does have standing heavy kick, which isn’t cancellable but has very solid range on it. This move is -4 on block (meaning it’s safe when spaced out), and it causes a crumple on punish counter that allows for a follow up attack.
Exploring max damage off of st. HK punish counter from max range. This is what I’ve got so far. Can get more with CA (6178, I believe), but regular level 3 is under 6k. #SF6_Terry pic.twitter.com/TvY2DKvzDx
— Steven “Dream King” Chavez (@TheKingOfDremes) September 27, 2024
Keeping on the subject of normal attacks, Terry’s up close aren’t the best, frame-wise. None of his normals leave him at advantage on block, and while he does have some swift attacks like crouching medium punch (which has 6 frames of start up), you definitely need to be calculated with your attack strings as Terry can lose his turn fairly easily if the opponent knows when to challenge.
Going even further beyond, his weaker up close normals also mean that pressure strings into fireballs also need to be very well thought out and properly spaced when not opting to use the Overdrive version. Light punch Power Wave is -9 on block, meaning it’s punishable from closer up, and heavy punch fireball has very slow start up meaning Terry can be interrupted if he tries to cancel into it from a normal on block, and that is the case even for his heavy punches with both Drive Rush and burnout giving them added frame advantage on block.
At the end of the day, maximizing your output with Terry requires a lot of awareness of counter hits and being able to consistently hit confirm in specific scenarios. Optimal Terry play feels highly situational, where you need to be ready and very aware of your ranges and resources to make sure your combos find their mark properly and you’re getting the best damage and positioning you can.
While that in and of itself isn’t necessarily a weakness, it does mean that players will have to put more work in to get good with Terry, and that might also mean some pros choose to go a different route when picking their mains.
Dream King’s early tier take:
Terry marks another technical fighter on the roster, and thus, his effectiveness early on isn’t going to be readily apparent.
Similar to someone like Rashid, we likely won’t be seeing what Terry’s potential actually looks like until a few months from now. That being said, Terry does have some really great tools in his arsenal, and in the right hands, they’re going to be scary.
Right now, I think Terry will end up being a top tier, but whether or not he can crack the top 5 and dethrone some of the other strong contenders this season is harder to say.
Despite this, Terry really does have tools for what seems like almost every scenario, but you have to be ready to use them at the drop of a trucker hat and know exactly what the situation requires when it arises. After players get comfortable with Terry at high levels, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him sitting comfortably in the top 10, and he very likely has potential to win major tournaments too.
Closing Thoughts / Is He Worth The Money?
As far as the first-ever guest character to join a mainline Street Fighter game, Terry Bogard feels like an absolute smash hit. The Fatal Fury fighter has a history with the Street Fighter crew, his move set and personality fit well into the game’s environment, and the whole thing just feels like a giant win for fighting game fans overall.
Even if you’re someone who doesn’t like the idea of guests polluting the Street Fighter ecosystem, Terry as a character and his toolkit bring some interesting and powerful ideas to Street Fighter 6 that make for a fun and seemingly very solid contender.
Terry is more technical and has a higher learning curve than you might expect, which might turn off some newcomers and more casual fans, but even those who aren’t well versed in fighting games will be able to pull off some fun, exciting, and effective things in battle with him. And for those who like technical characters and are willing to put in the work, there’s a lot to explore here and some powerful techniques to be harnessed that will only get better as more time passes.
I think the answer is evident already, but if you were curious, Terry Bogard is very much worth the money in Street Fighter 6.
Be sure to check out our other Street Fighter 6 DLC character reviews:
• Rashid
• A.K.I.
• Ed
• Akuma
• M. Bison