Hiya!
In about a week or so, Capcom is going to release Ed, the 3rd DLC character for Street Fighter 6, and shortly after that, maybe even a few days after Ed’s release, Akuma, the final DLC character for the first season. Why do I say this? Well, Capcom Cup is just around the corner and I have the sneaking suspicion they’ll just finish off the season by releasing the last 2 characters for the season in rapid fire succession.
This does mean I have to finish off the remaining gimmicks for the Street Fighter 6 characters I haven’t ranked yet! All that’s left are the remaining newcomers who I haven’t tackled in my previous list so this should be the last one for now.
Manon’s Medal Throw System
When I got my hands on the Street Fighter 6 beta, I was really disappointed Manon wasn’t included in the roster. She’s a grappler and, while I’m terrible with using them because I’m impatient, I really thought she could be my main as she was a different kind of grappler. Well, now that the game’s been out for almost a year now, I can definitely say Manon is never going to be my main. However, it’s not because of her “gimmick” of the Medal Throw system. It’s mostly because, as I said just now, I suck at using grapplers. It’s a shame because I really like Manon’s Medal Throw gimmick.
In a very simple nutshell, Manon has 2 command throws. Renverse is a hit grab which can be used in combos and the other, Manege Dore, is an unblockable command grab. If she connects with any of them, she will increase her Medal count, maxing out at 5. The higher the Medal count, the more damage she’ll do with her next command grab. At level 5, the unblockable Menege Dore does a whopping 3,700 points of damage, which is more powerful than most Level 3 Super Arts in the game! Unlike Jamie’s The Devil Within Drink gimmick, Manon’s Medal Throw levels are carried over to the next round!
This does mean Manon has the potential to be stronger in the 2nd and 3rd rounds if she manages to sneak in these command throws. While the damage boost is great, that’s not the best thing about the Medal Throw levels. It’s more of the psychological element it does to the opponent. They’ll be trying to avoid the command throw and they may not be thinking about Manon’s reach with her normal attacks. They can be trying to back away from Manon only to eat a low or attempting to jump straight up, allowing Manon to hit her opponent with her anti-air moves.
The Medal Throw system does have a couple of weaknesses, though. While her throws do more damage as the Medal Throw level goes up, this does mean the initial damage of her command throws don’t really do much. For example, the Medal Throw Level 1 version of Manege Dore is comparable to Lily’s light version of her Mexican Typhoon. Also, it may not seem like much but, at higher levels, the throws take longer to execute. To put that into perspective, the Medal Throw Level 5 of Menege Dore takes 3 seconds for the damage to come out! There’s actually chance the timer will run out while in the middle of the command throw much later on! Still, the pros definitely outweigh the cons, especially because the psychological damage it does.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Lily’s Windclad Stocks
Lily is sadly considered to be a low tier character. While not a bad character, a Lily player has to do a lot more work than, say, a Luke or a Ken to get the damage. Her Windclad Stock gimmick helps to make her a much more decent character but not by much. Simply put, Lily gains a Windclad Stock whenever she uses her Condor Wind move. Condor Wind isn’t that good of a move in itself but it is useful at ending combos. However, the benefit of getting the Condor Wind and the Windclad Stock is it grants a buff to her Condor Spire, Tomahawk Buster and Condor Spire special moves as well as Thunderbird, her Level 2 Super Art. Lily can store up to 3 Windclad Stocks so she can save them up during a round when she absolutely needs it.
Getting the Windclad Stock buff is absolutely necessary for Lily to really make her a force to be reckoned with. On the surface, the buffed versions of her special moves come out faster and do more hits. Her OD Condor Spire becomes projectile invincible while her regular Condor Spike becomes safe on block. Same can be said for her Condor Dive as, if it’s blocked, Lily will bounce further away. Thunderbird, when buffed with Windclad Stock, will suck in the opponent from a greater distance.
The biggest problem with the Windclad Stock gimmick is actually stocking it. While Condor Wind can be used in combos, you’re only slightly plus on hit and the opponent is knocked away quite a bit, making you lose pressure. You can try stocking up when the opponent backs up and then get in with a Windclad Stock powered Condor Spire to get in but, afterwards, you still have to find a way to stock up again. If the Windclad Stocks did something else, like maybe make Lily walk speed just a little faster, maybe it would be better. As of right now, it’s just middle of the road because you lose pressure when stocking up.
Rating: 5 out of 10
JP’s Departure Special Move
I had a tough time thinking what JP’s “gimmick” is as he’s more like the gimmick itself! Capcom gave him a lot of tools and quirky special moves, like projectiles you either have to block standing or crouching, a ground spike that erupts from different parts of the screen like C. Viper’s Seismic Hammer special move, a reversal that reverses all attacks, even throws, and a projectile-like command grab! However, looking through all his moves, I would say Departure, the special move where he opens a portal in the sky is probably his central gimmick.
Departure has JP snap his fingers and, depending on the attack button used, a portal will open up at a certain distance. After a couple of seconds, a Psycho Powered infused spike will shoot out from it, even tracking the enemy so JP doesn’t have to aim it and actually allows JP to do longer combos than usual by timing his attacks with when the Departure spike shoots out. JP can release the spike manually by doing quarter-circle back with the heavy punch. Alternatively, JP can teleport through the portal in the hopes of catching the opponent by surprise with an air attack by doing quarter-circle back with the light or medium punch. This mean, by simply activating Departure, JP players have a really scary mixup, adding to his opponent’s mental stack.
The Departure portal can be erased if the opponent hits JP before the spike shoots out or before JP teleports through it. This is easier said than done as he has a lot of good defensive options so, most of the time, JP’s foes will try to hit him during the recovery frames of the move. It can be hard for beginners to time their hits to coincide with the Departure spike but, with a little bit of practice, it can be done. Heck, I can do a very basic Departure combo and I don’t even like playing as JP!
Rating: 8 out of 10
AKI’s Toxic Blossom
I learned recently how Capcom has been trying to implement a poison character in Street Fighter for quite a while now. While their first attempt, FANG, wasn’t a smash hit, his apprentice, AKI, fares a little bit better. Her poison gimmick, the Toxic Blossom, is also much more nuanced than her master’s version. Basically, some of her moves gives the poison debuff to her opponent, gradually decreasing their life, making it virtually impossible to get a Perfect against AKI. However, she can “detonate” the poison debuff and this enables her to do things like launch the opponent higher for a juggle combo, causes a crumple state and more.
This does mean AKI can do a lot of damage but there are 2 prerequisites for that. First, she has to get her opponent into the poison state in the first place. It can be hard to do as most of her poison attacks have to connect. The opponent won’t get poisoned if they block the move. The exception is Orchid Spring, which has her drop a puddle of poison on the ground and her foe will get poisoned just as long as he or she touches the poison. So, there are ways to ensure the poison state. Getting to do the Toxic Blossom explosion still needs a clean hit, though.
This is a really fun mechanic but can be a pain for beginners as you do have to remember which attacks cause the poison state as well as what happens with the opponent when you detonate the Toxic Blossom explosion. There are a lot of variations but there are already a lot of combo routes online to alleviate the experimentation process. Because of the number of things to keep in mind with this mechanic, I can’t really rank it all that high but dedicated AKI players will definitely use it effectively.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Marisa’s Charged Heavy Attacks
Marisa actually has 2 gimmicks but the first one isn’t all that unique. Like with Zangief, Marisa has the ability to charge up her heavy normal attacks by holding down the heavy punch or heavy kick button down. Unlike Zangief, though, Marisa can do this with every single variation of her heavy normals.
Marisa also tends to get armor on the upper part of her body when charging these moves. Charging up the attacks also increases the damage of the attack, cause more hit stun so she can do some really crazy combos from it and makes some of them safe on block!
The only real weakness from this gimmick is you have to charge up the move. So, you can’t do a charged up attack in the middle of an attack string except for some corner combos. Also, if you have a tendency to hold down buttons like I do, you might get the charged version instead of the normal heavy attack, which can mess up your combo string. Overall, this does make Marisa frightening on pressure control. Still, as these are just normal attacks so they are easy to implement even if you’re a beginner.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Marisa’s Armor Breaking Charged Gladius Punch
Marisa’s other gimmick is more of a property of one of her special moves, her Gladius punch attack. Like with her heavy normals, Marisa can charge up the Gladius special and doing so grants the move with the same buffs, like making it safe on block and doing more damage. Charging it up also flings the opponent quite a ways, making it good for corner carry. The armor property also makes it uncharacteristically a good anti air as you can swat down jumping attacks with it as long as they connect with the armor.
What makes Marisa’s charged up Gladius even more terrifying is it is the only non-Super Art move which can break armor, making it the only special attack strike which can defeat a Drive Impact! This makes this move especially good against Drive Impact happy players. With that being said, the charged up Gladius isn’t all that great against more advanced players as they won’t be jump happy or just throw in a Drive Impact regularly. It also can be taken down with a humble low attack. However, the charged up Gladius is going to be a bane for newbies who don’t have their fundamentals down yet.
Rating: 6 out of 10!
Byee!
Which Street Fighter 6 newbie got the best gimmick? Let me know in the comments section below!
3rd World Geeks 