Street Fighter 6’s Modern Controls Are Controversial, Yet A Much-Needed Addition

Street Fighter 6 has been a highly-anticipated title ever since its initial announcement in February 2021. The main reason for that is not only because it is the newest installment of a long-running franchise but because of how it revolutionizes the whole fighting game genre and sets an exceptionally high bar for upcoming fighting games.

The game introduced many new features that the fighting game genre had never seen before, such as a highly ambitious open-world single-player mode, The Battle Hub, which allows players to gather together to have fun while interacting with each other while playing casual games. Alongside all these new features, the Modern Controls were the one that really spiced things up for Street Fighter 6.

The Modern Controls is a highly controversial addition to Street Fighter, a long-running franchise that boasted a high skill ceiling to play effectively and have fun. While this new feature made things incredibly easy for beginners and people looking to get into fighting games, it wasn’t as well received by franchise veterans and those who had spent hours getting good at the game by practicing their executions.

What Exactly Are The Modern Controls

Street Fighter 6 introduces two main control types. One is Classic Controls, while the other is Modern Controls. Classic controls are basically how Street Fighter fans have been playing for decades. It doesn’t make anything easy; you have to enter the exact command of a move if you want to use it, albeit at the cost of reduced damage output. You can learn more about Modern and Classic Controls from Street Fighter’s Official Website.

For example, suppose you want to use a character’s projectile attack. In most cases, you have to use the quarter-circle-forward motion (down, down forward, forward + any punch or kick button, depending on the character). This input might be difficult for beginners to pull off immediately, but for players that have been playing fighting games for years, it would be like second nature to them.

Modern Controls remove that execution requirement from the move and allow you to cast that special move with just the press of a single button. The players can also land small combos with the help of Modern Controls, and while it may not be optimal like what you could do with Classic Controls and hours of practice, it is still a lot of fun and easy to pull off.

Modern Controls take away the player’s freedom to do whatever they want, whenever they want, but in return, it gives them lots of other options for a single button. It may not be the best tool for competitive players, but for casual players, Modern Controls has been an absolute game-changer in a number of ways.

How Modern Controls Benefit New Players

Fighting games have always had this barrier between new players and older fans that these games are quite difficult to get into. Even playing casuals with someone with slightly more experience can make the games very uninteresting and lame for both players in some cases, especially when one of the two is completely new to the game.

Modern Controls fixes these problems, making the game more enjoyable for both parties, especially for beginners. And for those players who prefer the freedom to do anything they want, whenever they want, the Classic Controls are there for them. But, for beginners who just want to enjoy the game and get used to the Street Fighter mechanics, the Modern Controls have been nothing short of a blessing.

The Modern Controls have drastically improved the experience for newer players by making things a lot easier for them to do without spending hours in practice. It has given them the opportunity to enjoy the game and get a taste of what they can do if they choose to put some time and effort into the game. And, even if they don’t choose to spend hours in practice, they can still play the game effectively using just the Modern Controls.

What Is So Controversial About The Modern Controls

Street Fighter has never introduced something like this in the past. The King Of Fighters franchise has auto-combos, and the upcoming Tekken 8 is also removing the execution requirement for many moves during the heat mode, making the game more beginner-friendly. The fighting game genre is desperately trying to be easily accessible to new players, and Street Fighter 6 does an excellent job with its Modern Controls in that regard.

However, same with other fighting game franchises, this feature isn’t well-received by many fans who’ve been following the games for a long time. New players can easily do complicated command grabs with just a press of a button, which would otherwise require complex inputs done in a specific order with the correct timing. Of course, it’s reasonable for players who’ve put time and effort into mastering these inputs to dislike this feature.

It is a bold feature that goes against everything the franchise had stood for in terms of skill and dedication for the last few decades by making things easier. But that isn’t entirely a bad thing per se, considering the Classic Controls are still there and are still slightly more rewarding and flexible compared to Modern Controls.

Players are able to use the Modern Controls in competitive games, as well as tournaments. This raises another question among players regarding which of them is superior. Modern Controls offer a slightly reduced damage output compared to Classic Controls but are still much easier overall, and as it does not remove the ability to do some motion inputs, opening the gameplay for multiple possibilities, as shown by FGC_Daily in r/Fighters.

Though Modern Controls do take away the ability to have multiple options for poking and punishing, which can be disastrous in high-level competitive play, however, it is difficult to judge, considering the game has been out only for a few days. With time, both Classic and Modern Controls users will learn to utilize their respective playstyles to their maximum potential, and both of these playstyles will likely be just as good.

The first Street Fighter game came out in 1987, and the franchise has continued to only grow and flourish over the years. However, with Street Fighter V, things started to go downhill for the franchise in many ways, and it needed to change gears to bring itself back on its feet, and that’s exactly what Street Fighter 6 looks ready to do.

Fighting games need to cater to their older fans while also making it easy for beginner players to get into. Street Fighter 6 does that efficiently with both Classic and Modern Controls. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the Street Fighter franchise has never been more inclusive in the past, which isn’t only good for the franchise, but for the whole fighting game genre in general.

Capcom‘s Street Fighter 6 was released recently on June 2, 2023, on multiple platforms, including PlayStation 5 and Steam. The game is off to a great start, crossing the 70,000 concurrent players milestone, the highest among all fighting games, just a few days after its launch. Street Fighter 6 also managed to sell more than 1 million copies today, earning a place in Steam’s top 20 most-played games with ease.

Takeaway

Street Fighter 6 has made it incredibly easy for new players to have fun and enjoy the game without having the need to practice for hours with the introduction of Modern Controls. For people that prefer the old-school way of fighting games, the traditional Classic Controls aren’t going anywhere.

Fighting games have declined in popularity compared to other competitive genres, such as Battle Royale, MOBA, and FPS titles. The genre needed to take action to improve its player count, and the current year has been promising and shows that it is indeed on the right track with upcoming names such as Mortal Kombat 1 and Tekken 8 that focus more on making the genre more accessible to new players.