Having gotten a full session of hands on time with Street Fighter 6, (playing with the likes of competitors like PG|Punk and Justin Wong) Catalyst has a ton of new insight into how the game’s fights, feel, and flow.
As two seasoned players, we sat down to simply talk about some of the particulars in more detail. During this part of our discussion, I have a few questions (based on some fears) about how Street Fighter 6’s Drive System appears to work. Catalyst’s first response to my saying I’m a bit fearful of Drive Impact: You should be.
Drive Impact is just one of the five facets of the Drive System, but it checks so many obvious boxes that players will likely gravitate toward over using it… at least at first.
Just how easy is it to counter this maneuver? Is it something you’ll need to wait and watch for, or is it slow enough that you can consistently react to it even while amid the heat of battle? This leads us into a more general thought about the Drive System: how’s the overall balance?
It’s interesting that Capcom tied so many different abilities to a single meter, as it means players will have to weigh the potential of both offense and defense against one another. This is interesting at first glance as it calls for an intriguing balancing act, if balanced properly, but what if it isn’t?
What if the aforementioned Drive Impact (or any one of the System’s five facets) become more appealing to use than the rest? One can begin to imagine how impactful too great an imbalance in this system could quickly become, sapping away from other parts of gameplay as players hone heavily into just one.
Some of my questions are posed with this in mind, and Catalyst is able to talk on just how powerful certain strategies, approaches, and maneuvers feel in SF6. We’re not looking for perfection, of course, but certainly enough balance in this jam-packed mechanic so that the experience doesn’t become overly one-dimensional.
Give the video a watch and, if you enjoy this kind of content, please consider subscribing on our YouTube channel and giving us a like/comment there. Feel free to drop your thoughts on the matters discussed after you watch, especially if you’ve had the chance to play the game.
Timestamps:
00:00 – Does Drive Impact feel overpowered?
02:37 – Most effective part of the Drive System so far?
05:10 – Overall balance of Drive System
07:55 – Drive Rush cancel, the secret killer?
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