Some Japanese pros are using Modern controls in Street Fighter 6; why they might be superior to Classic controls even at high level

April 30, 2023
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Capcom is making great efforts to make the newest Street Fighter the most accessible franchise entry to date, and with three different control schemes to help newer players out regardless how much experience they've got under their belts, it looks like their goal will be achieved.

Some rumblings from over in Japan, however, are giving us a bit of pause as fears that increased accessibility could potentially water down overall experiences for more hardcore players take new root following a recent video from Anime Illuminati reveals some potentially unintended advantages for the Modern control scheme.

Jiyuna welcomes us into another video by sharing some notes from one of his recent discussions with Aru, Japan's most notable Street Fighter commentator (his voice is actually in Street Fighter 6) and a professional competitor.

Aru is reportedly planning on using Modern controls, a more simplified version of Street Fighter's classic six button set up, instead of the traditional Classic controls.

It's no secret that certain commands are easier to pull off with Modern controls (MC) as turning on the option replaces more complex inputs with single presses and offers assisted combos, (you can mash the same button repeatedly to pull them off) but the benefits may run even deeper than that.

First of all, the most complex inputs (Super attacks that on average require about twice as many directional inputs as regular special moves) garner the same single-input status as special under the Modern control mapping. Where it would take even the fastest players a good half of a second (30 frames) to start such a move up, they can be done almost instantly with MC.

Lowering the necessary reaction times for these hardest-hitting moves in the game suddenly makes more realistically useful as potential anti-air and whiff punish options. This is shown off in a video from Highspeedwara which Jiyuna showcases in his presentation.

The benefits don't end there, however, as MC also appear to automate the best possible options for hit confirms. Normally it's up to the player to see that a particular attack successfully hits and then convert said attack into the appropriate special move for more damage.

Street Fighter 6 offers advantage bonuses for counter hits as well as punishes, meaning different specials are possible depending on what state you nail your foe out of.

We'll let Jiyuna and Highspeedwara do the rest of the explaining via the full video below, but have to say we are wondering if Modern controls might become the standard even in high level SF6 gameplay.

Trading out the ability to use all three strengths of punches and kicks is no small restriction, but quite possibly could be worth it (these MC advantages will likely benefit certain characters more than others) overall.

Source: EventHubs