this morning, Capcom announced a change to its rules regarding the upcoming street fighter 6 Capcom World Tour. This change, a seemingly simple directional input rule, could have wide-ranging ramifications not just for Street Fighter 6, but for the fighting game scene as a whole.
Don’t close the tab, I mean it! Right now, some gamers are waking up to find that their controller of choice has turned into a $200 paperweight overnight. It’s all a bit complicated, so let’s take a look at the current state of fighting games around Street Fighter, crash boxes, and what’s considered “cheating” in the world of light, medium, and (dare I say) heavy punches.
start, Capcom announced via Twitter This morning, it made a rule change for leverless controllers, directing those interested to the official blog post on the matter. A new rule has been added, which is simple: if both up and down directions are entered, both inputs must be maintained, otherwise both inputs must be rejected.
But what does that actually mean, you ask? Well, with a “typical” fighting game controller — anything from a regular PS4 controller to a Hori fight stick with a custom Sakura casing — you’ll usually only be able to input one direction at a time. Now grab any controller near you, and using the directional pad, try typing the up and down keys at the same time. you can’t do it. This is the norm in fighting games. (You might be tempted to get your hands on the analog sticks, but we’ll get to that later).
Enter the leverless controller. Not so much a new Challenger, but one that has grown in popularity over the past few years, the leverless controller completely ditches the stick portion of an arcade stick, replacing it with something players can click to orient The input set of buttons. Similar to a keyboard, but built for fighting games. With the leverless controller, you can easily press up and down at the same time.
so what? They can enter up and down at the same time. who cares? Well, being able to do that opens doors to technology that your random friend couldn’t do on a rancid $50 arcade stick. In the case of Street Fighter VI, Hitbox players were able to perform Guile’s Flash Kick special move much faster than normal players. This is because they can keep typing down and up at the same time, press the kick, and immediately begin charging for their next Flash Kick (see linked video for a visual reference).
On the joystick or with the D-pad, you have to manually move the directional input from down to up, and back down if you want another Flash Kick. Thus, hitbox players have a quantifiable advantage over non-hitbox players. We’re not talking about the kind of high-level advantage Smash players get from arcane technology with glitchy controllers, we’re talking the kind of advantage your dad can take advantage of.
This reality led to a rule change. According to the official rules post: “Capcom is constantly researching and reviewing new developments in controller technology, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, while taking into account the differences between controller input and character behavior in games, ultimately leading us to make informed and reasonable decisions about adjustments Our controllers use rules to ensure the highest level of competitive fairness.” TLDR; CapCops doesn’t think this is fair, so bye.
As you might have assumed, this pissed people off. Hitbox players craving Street Fighter excellence found their controllers were technically illegal in official Capcom Cup events and are now forced to swap out the boards on their Hitboxes for controllers that comply with these rules, or wait for some sort of firmware Update creator. On that note, Hitbox (creators of the popular brand of lever-less controllers) released a statement ensuring a solution is on the way, which you can read in full below.
An aspect of its statement that Capcom and Street Fighter “do not represent the entire community” is technically correct. However, it fails to address an important historical precedent in the genre: Like it or not, scenes tend to revolve around Street Fighter. It’s an institution that has sparked interest from all sides, from Idiot Kombat to Anime Pinwheel. Hitbox may feel strongly that it’s right, but Capcom is free to say “we don’t care” and make the rules as it pleases. Chances are, with the large number of Hitbox users wanting to play Street Fighter VI, controller makers will have to follow Capcom’s lead.
It also adds fuel to the ongoing debate over whether leverless controllers are cheating. The reasoning is: if your hardware allows you to do something your opponent can’t, then you’re cheating. Opposition tends to be something along the lines of “the future is old,” with Hitbox being used by many professionals and casuals alike, but official statements on the matter have so far been lackluster.
Yes, you can technically hold down the D-Pad and hold up the analog stock on the PS4 controller, but Capcom isn’t banning the console standard. Leverless controller users may have to hold down L here, or will they? If you’re reading this, chances are you’re not a world-class player (sorry). If you’re in an online tournament, Terry “Capcom” Mcgee isn’t going to break in and test your hitbox, and at a mid-to-large event, the tournament organizers will make a big splash to check that your controller is compliant. Until you get into the top 8, that’s it.
Ultimately, if this whole situation is any indication, it’s time for fighting game developers to take a firm stance on whether leverless controllers are a tool for cheaters and spoilers, or whether they’re legal. Every goddamn company has a world tour now, it needs to get done or no progress will be made and we’ll just be arguing endlessly on twitter until Justin Wong pulls out the infinity that a baby can easily do, And Capcom had to execute him on the spot as if he were Gore D. Roger in One Piece.
Hungry for more Street Fighter VI content, you rogue? Check out our article on Street Fighter 6 hacking issues, and the modding pioneer development mod for this illegal early game version.
