Hiya!

Look, I get it. I fully comprehend why Capcom made the choice to release M. Bison on that specific day. They have to capitalize on the entire “it was Tuesday” meme from the Street Fighter: The Movie all those years ago. I get it. I love the meme myself. However, it did make it very difficult for me to put out a review for Street Fighter 6‘s first DLC character for Year 2. That’s because he’s released on Tuesday in the Western world and on Wednesday in my location! As the weekly I’ll Reivew Anything segment is normally slated to come out on Thursday local time, I had to push it back a day or two because I really did want to take my time and not rush out my thoughts on the Psycho Power wielding Shadaloo Dictator.

Well, I manage to spend a decent amount of time playing around with M. Bison and I think I’m ready to give my perspective on what an intermediate Street Fighter 6 player thinks of the character. I do have to repeat this is from the viewpoint of an intermediate player. I can generally hold my own against Diamond ranked players but Master ranks will still blow me up. So, take this review with that line of thinking and not from what a pro can do with the character.

First off, I do have to talk about M. Bison’s new look. I don’t like it. I understand why Capcom did redesign him to look like some muscular hobo. It’s for storyline reasons. In Street Fighter 5‘s story mode, A Shadow Falls, M. Bison supposedly dies and Shadaloo is disbanded. Well, the M. Bison we see in Street Fighter 6 is a clone body of the Shadaloo Dictator but was activated prematurely and becomes conscious in the streets of Metro City. His clothing is basically cobbled together from some bums he beat up on the street, Terminator style. This all can be seen in his Arcade mode.

Still, I don’t like it as it just looks aesthetically unpleasing! He just looks a little too wild for my liking. The weird thing is I also don’t like his alternate outfit, which is just his old costume! His old costume generally clashes with the more “realistic” look of Street Fighter 6. I honestly don’t really know what I would want to see him dressed as but both costumes are not it!

Gameplay-wise, M. Bison comes off as really frightening. His normals are a nice mix of short range attacks which can link into each other and some long-range strikes which can turn the tide. His standing medium kick is a pretty good poking tool while his crouching medium kick is a good party starter as it can cancel into his special attacks and Drive Rush. His standing heavy punch has really good range and is actually plus on block, making it a very good pressure tool. It is slow so you can’t just throw it out willy nilly but you can definitely toss it in there once in a while as it’s a really awesome Punish Counter.

His back with heavy kick, the obviously named Evil Knee, is also plus on block, has less range than his standing heavy punch but it can link into his crouching jab or, better yet, into any of his grounded medium punches after a Drive Rush. His jumping double medium punches, the Hell Attack, is still one of the best air-to-air moves in Street Fighter 6 and it’s a good way to combo into his Psycho Crusher special move when you land.

What makes M. Bison doubly tricky, in my opinion, is his new Target Combos because one hits low and one hits high. It can be hard to figure out which way to block as they both start with the same attack, his standing medium punch. This becomes a triple threat when you realize the M. Bison player can just go in with his medium punch, do nothing and just throw you while you’re blocking like an idiot. I foresee this being abused in the lower ranks as, well, it can be easily abused until they figure out you can mash your character’s fastest 4-frame attack after you block M. Bison’s medium punch. Until then, prepare to hear a lot of complaints, Capcom!

M. Bison is not a full charge character in Street Fighter 6 anymore. In fact, he’s learned a new trick or two which will get to later. While it may seem like M. Bison’s only anti-air is his crouching heavy punch, his Psycho Crusher is actually invincible to jumping attacks for a few frames, making it possible to punish airborne attackers with it! It’s also a good anti-fireball tool as it can eat through 1-hit projectiles and will totally pass through any chucked plasma if you burn Drive Meter to use the OD version. His classic Double Knee Press also returns and it’s a great way to end a combo. It also can be spaced right so it can be made safe, making it a useful tool of getting in. However, the OD version of his Double Knee Press is awesome as it ends in a launcher and you can continue your combo! Heck, you can link this into his Psycho Hammer overhead command attack, which causes a ground bounce! This then leads to another extension to the combo!

Another new terrifying aspect of M. Bison’s gameplan in Street Fighter 6 is how he does his old Head Press and Devil Reverse specials. They all come out from the Shadow Rise special. By itself, Shadow Rise doesn’t do anything but, depending if you hit the punch or kick buttons, M. Bison will execute the Devil Reverse or Head Press specials. This can get disorienting since these moves have different descents! This makes it very difficult to anti-air these attacks so you’re reactions have to be really good if you want to knock him out of the air when he does this!

However, the crown jewel of M. Bison’s special attack list is his new Backfist Combo. It’s a double punch which, if it connects, plants something called a Psycho Mine on the opponent. The Psycho Mine will detonate after a set amount of time and the opponent can get rid of it if they get a clean hit on M. Bison before it explodes. This does put a lot of pressure on the opponent as they either have to find a way to hit the Dictator before it explodes or wait it out and block the explosion. What makes planting the Psycho Mine incredibly devious is M. Bison can manually detonate it with his Psycho Crusher, Devil Reverse or another Backfist Combo. These specials will detonate the Psycho Mine even if the move is blocked, making these usually unsafe moves safe! What’s worse is, if M. Bison does detonate the Psycho Mine with a clean hit, the explosion launches his foe in the air leading to, you guessed it, an extension to the combo!

It may seem like it would be easy to not get the Psycho Mine planted but M. Bison has numerous ways of comboing into the Backfist Combo, especially if he can launch his opponent into the air with an OD Double Knee Press. He can actually cycle through the combo after the Psycho Mine explodes and end the combo with another Backfist Combo, essentially repeating the process!

M. Bison’s Super Arts are pretty useful. The Level 1 Super Art, Knee Press Nightmare, is a good combo ender and is invincible to strikes and throws. His Level 2 Super Art, Psycho Punisher is completely invincible and, if you react quickly enough, can punish even long range projectile tossers. You also have limited control over where he lands, meaning you can choose to hit from the front or behind the opponent! His Level 3 Super Art, Unlimited Psycho Crusher, is also completely invincible to all attacks and is pretty easy to combo into.

All of these factors does lead to M. Bison being one of the most heavy damaging characters in Street Fighter 6, even outpacing Marisa and Zangief’s damage potential in some ways! His ability to juggle his opponents will make his a menace in the right hands. Adding to this problem, his Psycho Mine gimmick is one of the more interesting ones in the game as it does add a new layer to an already high damaging character.

M. Bison does have a few weaknesses which you can try to exploit. For one, the Shadaloo Dictator doesn’t have any OD special moves which are invincible to attacks. While this weakness is generally mitigated by the new Wake Up Drive Reversal universal mechanic, him not having a true reversal can be exploited. He also is a little meter heavy as you do have to do a lot of Drive Rush cancels and OD specials to really get the most out of his combos. Still, that’s not a big weakness if you can beat the opponent before you get into the Burnout state.

Overall, I do think M. Bison will be a headache for a lot of intermediate players and maybe some top players. He’s a high damaging character and the entire Psycho Mine gimmick, if he gets to plant it, shifts the momentum in his favor as it allows him to control the pace immediately. He’s a good addition but I just know I’m going to hate facing off against him. Also, Capcom, please give him a better looking Outfit 3. Thanks in advance.

Byee!

What do you think of M. Bison’s return in Street Fighter 6? Let me know in the comments section below!