Street Fighter 6’s Modern Controls aren’t cheating – if you’re mad at them, you need training

Probably the hottest topic in online gaming in the coming weeks, if not months, will be the endlessly raging debate over Capcom’s big new revelation about Street Fighter 6: Modern Control.

As a major change from the established Street Fighter status quo, Modern Controls has a much lower barrier to entry in terms of execution – but has also been balanced by its own set of shortcomings. Still, it’s natural for some people to go crazy.

Wonderful Game Salt Compilation Account scrub maxim Has changed its avatar to the modern control icon, albeit upside down, turning the “M” into a “W” – as it’s full of examples of rich salt mines opening up in response to the new modern control scheme. This is only from the public beta. Things will get worse as the full game rolls out.

If you haven’t tried it, Modern controls are designed to fit better on a controller – and simplify the Street Fighter experience. Typically, Street Fighter has three hit buttons and three kick buttons, representing light, medium, and heavy hits. There are also special moves and unique normals that are activated by pressing the joystick in a certain direction or doing an action – like a quarter circle forward (down and forward) plus a fireball punch, or A zigzag (forward-down) uppercut with one punch. Modern controls have changed all that.

Instead, you have a light button, a middle button, and a heavy button. The game tweaks each character’s move set, which means you don’t have the option to specifically deliver medium kicks or punches. The Medium performs specific movements when you stand or crouch, but that’s it. Meanwhile, specials are executed with a single button and directions, Smash Bros. style.

For example, as Ryu, just press Triangle/Y to trigger a fireball. The uppercut is the Y, with the club leaning forward. Since there are four directions (neutral, left, down, right–up is jumping), this means you can only use four special moves. With more than four roles, that’s the bulk of the cast, which just can’t get any of the other specials. Additionally, specials triggered this way, without more complex input, deal 20% less damage.

Finally, the most controversial point: automatic combos. This is where you can hold the right trigger and light, medium or heavy hammer and get a basic four- to five-stroke combo string. Often these auto combos end with Overdrive Art (formerly known as EX moves), which means they burn precious meters. Three Overdrive Arts drain your gauge–this removes your ability to parry, cancel, or drive a dash, a key mechanic for survival. Plus, if your opponent blocks and you don’t stop the autocombo early, you’ll be extremely vulnerable to massive counterattacks.

Basically, you lose a lot when using modern controls. Best combo routes are not available to you, even if you are doing manual button entry, because you do not have access to all moves. Meter management is arguably a more vexing problem. And your overall damage output is lower. But that doesn’t mean modern controls are going to be thrown in the trash.

In fact, quite the opposite. Like pretty much everything in Street Fighter (or any other semi-serious fighting game), the use of modern controls is situational. In certain matches and situations, certain characters will inevitably get bored with them. There has been a lot of talk surrounding “modern ruse”. While the potential for manual combos has been nerfed, it’s not dead. Capcom seems to know this too–all characters have combined trials of modern and classic control schemes, with later modern trials having some very sophisticated input of their own.

That’s the point, isn’t it? It’s a choice. We’ll eventually see modern players in the Capcom Cup and Evo top 8; it’s inevitable. The game has been carefully balanced around it. So it works. Hitting the in-game chat feature to tell someone they’re auto-combo scrubbing is mind-dead stuff. After all, they do 20% less special damage and can use roughly half their character’s natural movement set–so surely your manual combos should be good enough to keep up?

Besides, let’s face it; this sort of thing is part of the fighting game meta. People crank out what shaped “gates” their sticks have and select “mute buttons” so your opponents can’t hear and react to your input. Hitboxes and keyboards skyrocketed in popularity. For years Street Fighter has been in a choice, choose from Supers, ISM or V-Skills, and any other mechanical system. As always, in competition, you can do anything to gain an edge. In some cases, that may be the case with modern controls. In other cases, they can be a setback.

I’m a stick player and love my traditional inputs. I’m not a great player, but I’m pretty good: when I was an average SF5 player, I hovered around Super Gold. But I respect Modern Controls, and I’m really excited about how it will provide an opportunity for more players to dig into the essence of SF6’s capabilities and some of the deeper elements of the meta. I would treat someone with modern controls to fight like any other player. If I lose, I think the same way about how to make up for the loss.

And… are they a bit powerful? I paid special attention to playing almost the entire World Tour event on a controller with modern controls, which I enjoyed. I could see the advantages, and I might even keep a modern version of a particular character in my back pocket for emergencies.

Veteran players shouldn’t be afraid of this new control scheme, nor should anyone who wants to use it be ashamed. This is just another hurdle to prepare for and overcome – That’s what Street Fighter is all about. If it helps even a new player engage more deeply with the game, then it’s done its job.

Also, it’s worth it to inevitably sprinkle salt in the in-game chat alone.