Since even before launch, Drive Rush has basically been the most discussed mechanic in Street Fighter 6, but there’s still aspects we’re still learning and putting together for it.
Japanese glitch enthusiast and tech explorer Crystal_cube99 recently performed a deeper dive into Drive Rush to see what happens when two characters perform the action at the exact same time.
Using Ryu as a test subject, they were able to produce some interesting results that appear to be unique to Drive Rush.
When performed on the same frame, the game seems to give one player the screen freeze effect first at random followed almost immediately by the second.
If they perform the same move, however, the character who had the second screen freeze will win every exchange.
When both players perform screen freeze action at the same time, it’s normal to randomize which player get the screen freeze first (probably just switching who to process first every frame)
The problem here is Drive Rush getting one extra frame because of screen freeze https://t.co/zwF8XnTv1O
— HiFight(ハイファイト) (@HiFightTH) November 11, 2023
This is apparently due to the game adding one additional frame to the startup during the screen freeze for the first character who begins the animation.
As pointed out by HiFight, SF6 randomly choosing a fighter to apply the animation to first is completely normal, but the results may well be a glitch.
That’s because when other similar actions like Drive Impact and Super Arts are performed on the same frame in SF6, they end up clashing even though one starts the move visually before the other.
This extra frame could be due to that second screen freeze, but it is weird to put the winner of this scenario up as a random selection of who goes second.
Yes, it should have been traded.
Just explaining that who gets screen freeze first being randomized is totally normal. There is nothing wrong with that.
Drive Rush getting one extra frame of screen freeze when the opponent does Drive Rush at the same frame is definitely a bug.
— HiFight(ハイファイト) (@HiFightTH) November 11, 2023
An interaction like this isn’t going to come up like this super often with characters having differing frame data on their Drive Rushes and attacks out of them in general — though if you can see it happening, it certainly seems like it’d be best to hit your fastest button possible.
There was another bug detailed recently that breaks the intended game mechanics even more, however, with the discovery of the infinite Drive Gauge glitch, which can be performed by mulitple members of the cast.
Hopefully, these all get sorted out in the near future in upcoming updates now that they’ve been likely brought to the attention of the developers.