Street Fighter 6’s Closed Beta Test lasted from October 7 to October 10. And now that the beta test has ended, anyone who got the chance to try this game can feel the post-beta depression creeping in.
Street Fighter 6 was already quite hyped from all the news and the trailers. But the real thing began when people got to try their hands on the game in the closed beta test.
The selection for the closed beta was very limited. Only a few players worldwide received the invitation. And, due to the rarity of this invitation, scalpers took advantage of it and sold the trial codes for sky-high prices.
The trial code prices varied between $150 to a whopping $900+ for a game that will cost about $70 in the future. The funny thing is many people actually bought the beta test trial code despite the unreasonable price.
Once the beta test was live, players took the time of their life to come up with the most wicked abominations they could in the character customization.
Note that you could only create one character in the beta test, and there was no way to change it, but that didn’t stop anyone. While there were a few good-looking avatars, most of them were outright funny and weird.
Only eight characters were playable during the Street Fighter 6 closed beta test: Ryo, Chun-Li, Ken, Juri, Kimberly, Luke, Jamie, and Guile. Players tried out their favorite characters in action or watched their favorite streamers play the character for them.
Some players even attempted the infamous EVO moment 37 with Ken and Chun-Li. And it was a sight to behold.
GG #SF6 pic.twitter.com/AoGDy5t3x1
— HiFight(ハイファイト) (@HiFightTH) October 10, 2022
Out of all the available characters during the beta, the one who stood out the most was obviously Juri. For reasons we’re all aware of, I know I’ll be maining her once the game comes out.
— ガー/Gar (@mememenome) October 7, 2022
Jamie, Ken, and Chun-Li were also quite popular during the beta.
Chun-Li is like the poster girl of the Street Fighter series, so of course, she’d be popular. There was a lot of controversy regarding Ken when Street Fighter 6 was first announced regarding how he appeared broke and his wife, Eliza, left him and took the kids with her.
While all of that was proven untrue when Capcom revealed more information about the character’s backstory on their site, people still wanted to try the new Ken.
Jamie was full of surprises. The drunken fighter was nothing short of overpowered due to his movement and an overall arsenal of tricks.
From the character picks we’ve seen during the closed beta, Luke appears to be the least-played character. Street Fighter 6 has been trying to hype up Luke since the first visuals of the game came out. They even introduced Luke as our guide in the World Tour mode, but seeing only a few people try him out was weird.
However, we can’t judge that based on the performance and pick rates of the closed beta alone. Players might just not have discovered the full potential of the character during the limited time. We’ll see that once the game comes out.
One of the best things that Street Fighter 6 introduced was the Drive system. Have you seen that meter under the health bar? Yep, that’s the Drive gauge.
You lose the gauge if you get punished for whiffing, get hit by your opponent’s drive skill, or get hit by an attack while guarding. You can recover the Drive gauge by doing those things to your opponent instead or wait for them to recover on their own.
The Drive Impact works similarly to Street Fighter 4’s Focus Attack. It grants you armor, which allows you to land your hit while absorbing your opponent’s attacks.
Once the hit lands, you can start a combo. The Drive Impact system becomes especially effective near the walls where there’s no room for backing off, enabling your opponent to keep pressuring you.
The new Drive system isn’t only for offense and pressuring your opponents. It also gives you Drive Parry and Drive Reversal.
Drive Parry is an effective countermeasure to the Drive Impact that lets you return to neutral while also rewarding you with some Drive meter.
Driver Reversal, on the other hand, pushes your opponent away when you activate it while blocking an attack. It is an effective way to return to neutral and functions similarly to Street Fighter 5’s V-Reversal.
Drive Rush is also part of the new Drive system. Drive Rush lets you run close to the opponent. But, closing the gap in neutral isn’t its only use. You can cancel into Drive Rush after hitting your opponent with a normal attack, which will allow you to close the distance quickly to keep up the pressure at the cost of low risk and some Drive meter.
Ryu drive rush during a combo examples.#SF6_Ryu pic.twitter.com/IScKXsXzSZ
— B-Ran (AKA McPuffle) (@ShowYouCanSYC) October 7, 2022
Another interesting thing Street Fighter 6 introduced were the taunts. Each character has access to three different taunts. Some of these taunts can inflict minimal damage and can even KO your opponent.
You can KO with Chun Li's taunt. #SF6 #PS5Share, #StreetFighter6ClosedBeta pic.twitter.com/5pKl7UWD8h
— ??????? (@A_Williams234) October 7, 2022
Street Fighter 6 is set to release in 2023 on Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. Honestly, the waiting game will be difficult. But have to give some time to the devs so they can bring the best out of the franchise.
If the closed beta test is anything to judge, the game will be an absolute blast. Street Fighter 6 might just be the change fighting games need and will set a standard for the upcoming games in the fighter genre. In the end, the game’s beta test lasted for a few days. But it will be remembered till the game comes out next year.
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