![]() And, with SF6, it’s almost a sure thing that Capcom will make the MvC:I play once again. Capcom has already made a play to request any and all remaining SFV tournaments officially register with dad, whether the affair hosts 10 or 10,000 attendees. Capcom: Infinite, (before the game fell on its ass). With Street Fighter 6, Capcom is very likely to look for full control of the entire tournament scene, much as it did with its draconian plans for Marvel vs. Is that inherently bad? Well, no, we’ve just had Evo return with one of the finest tournaments it has ever heralded, but the money men so need to understand the core root of the competitive scene, and be wary of squeezing out the fun and identity in favor of complete control. As is the case for everything, capitalism smelled the money and plunged its hands right in. But we are now in a new era, one where Sony PlayStation, of all companies, owns Evo. It was in 1991 and it has remained so in the ensuing decades. ![]() Street Fighter‘s competitive scene has always been grassroots. Let’s just pump the brakes on the circus, just once. Ask Street Fighter III, they’ll tell you how it’s done. But at least have them match the vibe, whether they’re laboratory experiments gone awry, or grandmasters who look like bollocks in a bag. If you want to bring in comic relief or introduce off-the-wall characters, that’s cool. Street Fighter 6 has a vibe that needs 100% less Top Hat-Wearing Alien Politicians or full-screen-sized men who behave like motor cars. I can hear folks already bleating “What, Moyse, you don’t like fun?” Sure, I like fun, but devise characters that fit tonally with your roster. Hell, even Blanka himself went from being a misunderstood jungle mutant to a costume-wearing, head-scratching, Saturday-morning-show sidekick. Whether it be Alien Abraham Lincoln G, bootleg Batman villain Fang, or the fucking catastrophe that is Abigail, recent years have seen the roster shaken up with ill-fitting clowns. But, since SFIV, things have kinda gone off the deep end with “WaCky DooDZ” newcomers that are weirdly off-model. Street Fighter has always had its fair share of oddities - just look at yer boy Blanka, for example. Whether it’s bringing back LP/PP, separating ranks for each character, or locking ranks once achieved - something has to give if SF6 is to avoid falling into the same teeth-gnashing status of its predecessor. One thing I do know is that whether I’m talking to Bronze players or Ultimate Grand Masters, everyone finds SFV Ranked to be a big ol’ sigh - painfully unrewarding, unfairly punishing, and ultimately a mode best left abandoned if you want to simply enjoy the thrill of the fight. ![]() This is perhaps the thorniest suggestion, as everyone has their own idea of how ranked “should” work. Why should a player lose eight matches’ worth of points because of one poor set against a lower ranked/laggy player? Or why should someone in Bronze be endlessly matched up with the same Ultra Gold player? Why do network drops result in a points loss? Why can’t you earn something for an opponent’s RQ? How was smurfing allowed to become such a common practice? Having stronger, more reliable netcode obviously helps with the lag issue, but the entire concept of ranked needs overhauling. Even if you didn’t want to bring back full-on text chat for toxicity reasons, then how about a simple coined message system? Just hit a button on the win screen and select canned comments from a drop-down menu: “Rematch?,” “Open a Lobby?,” “Add me,” “Nice Try,” “GGs,” or, (specifically for me), “I got Rekt, lol.” If Street Fighter 6 offered the ability to send quick messages on the win screen, much like the ones in the lobby system, it would go some way toward building the community, alleviating hard feelings, educating players, reducing the stress of online ranked, or allowing an easy segue to lobby invites. But while receiving miserable messages from miserable people is no fun, I do miss the easy ability to communicate with or compliment opponents, or ask quick questions about moves and/or setups. Anyone who has played their fair share of online games (in any genre) has probably been party to toxic and highly abusive voice chat - a disappointing inevitability that is sometimes only avoidable via the opening of a private party. ![]()
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