Hiya!

A while back, I made a list of moves no one uses in Street Fighter 6. Ever since then, Capcom has indeed tweaked the game and that list I made has been rendered obsolete somewhat. Some moves which I mentioned, such as Luke‘s DDT follow-up and Jamie‘s Ranzui Haze target combo has been made more useful. Others, like Manon‘s Tomoe Derriere and Zangief‘s Smetana Dropkick, still needs work.

I do know Capcom is working to make these moves more useful in the future. After all, they did promise they would start putting out more balance patches in the future. A promise is a promise, Capcom! So, I’d like to help them out and mention a few more moves I’ve noticed no one really uses in Street Fighter 6. I’ll even try to suggest what they can do to make them more useful.

#1 Terry‘s Passing Sway and follow-ups

Terry Bogard is the Street Fighter franchise’s first guest character from another fighting game. Capcom could’ve nerfed him to make the “other side” look weak but they didn’t. Terry is still the formidable fighter and they did a good job of making most of his gimmicks work in Street Fighter 6. That’s not to say it’s perfect because Terry’s Passing Sway, his “lane change” move from the Fatal Fury franchise needs a lot of work to make it useful.

In theory, the Passing Sway would have been a great mixup tool as the follow-up attacks gives the Terry player the choice to hit from the front or from the back. The problem is the follow up attacks don’t come out if the Passing Sway target combo is blocked. The Passing Sway target combo by itself isn’t that good when compared to Terry’s other target combos. So, the only real reason to do it would be to do the follow-ups… but they don’t come out if blocked, making them risky.

This would be a simple fix as Capcom would just need to make the Passing Sway follow-up attacks still come out even when the first couple of hits are blocked. There’s still the Drive Parry mechanic anyway, taking out the guesswork which direction to block. This does come with the risk, however, as Terry players can do kind of a feint, leaving them in Drive Parry recovery if they guess wrong. I don’t like adding an additional tool to Terry’s already immense toolkit but I just think Passing Sway needs to be made more useful.

#2 Chun-Li‘s Orchid Palm

I still find it weird how Capcom made Chun-Li a stance character in Street Fighter 6. I do like this gives her a deeper layer to her gameplay but you don’t really need the Serenity Stream stance to be really good with her. It helps as you can perform her charging special attacks out of the Serenity Stream attacks without actually charging. Most of her moves out of Serenity Stream has its uses… except for her Orchid Palm, the light punch version.

Chun-Li’s Orchid Palm attack doesn’t have a lot of uses. Its short range means you can’t connect using it after a lot of her normal attacks as the pushback from the previous attack will push the opponent out of range. It’s not even that quick as it has a 5-frame startup, a frame slower than her standard crouching light punch.

Buffing her Orchid Palm is pretty tough as increasing its range, even by a little bit might make it too strong. The only thing I can think of is to make it so the move hits low. Although Chun-Li already has a really good low attack from her Serenity Stream, Forward Strike, it comes out really slow to make up for its long range. So, giving Chun-Li a quick low follow-up just adds to her mixup game a bit.

#3 E. Honda‘s Neko Damashi

E. Honda is both a dream and a nightmare for newbies. This sumo wrestling restauranter has moves which can overwhelm beginners with his Sumo Headbutt and Sumo Smash. He also has his Hundred Hand Slap and a command throw, making it scary when he gets up close. There is one move, however, newbies and pro players don’t have to worry about. That would be E. Honda’s Neko Damashi. That’s because no one, both in the newbie and pro level, use it.

It’s not like the Neko Damashi is a useless move. It can destroy projectiles and, if you have his Sumo Spirit stocked up, he can cancel it into his Hundred Hand Slap. It can also be used in meaty setups. So, why don’t many people use it? Well, it is cumbersome to use and E. Honda already has really good normals.

How can Capcom enhance the Neko Damashi then? For one thing, they can give it an OD version. Yes, I do find it weird how this is one of the rare special moves which you cannot use bar to make stronger. Another way is to give the Neko Damashi something like a special property on Counterhit or Punish Counter. Give it something like a crumple state when this happens.

#4 Blanka‘s Raid Jump

Blanka is one of the best “trickster” characters in Street Fighter 6, if not the best. He can slide under most projectiles with is Amazon River Run. He can surprise opponents with his Wild Hunt jumping command grab. He can move around quickly with his Surprise Forward and Surprise Back Hop command moves. There is one specific “trickster” move I don’t see Blanka players use and that’s his Raid Jump.

Blanka’s Raid Jump is one of the 2 follow ups from his Coward Crouch move. This has him leap forward from the Coward Crouch and allows him to do his normal jumping attacks afterwards. This also includes his Aerial Rolling Attack and that seems to be its main use: allowing Blanka to jump forward while holding a charge. The problem is it’s still a jumping attack, making it easy to anti air. In fact, you’d be better off just jumping back to do his Aerial Rolling Attack as your opponent might be tricked into rushing forward and then, bam! Aerial Rolling Attack while they’re walking forward!

So, how would I fix the Raid Jump to make it more useful? For one, I’d make it so he can also jump back from it just to add more mobility to this already mobile character. Another thing I’d do is make jumping attacks come out faster. Allow Blanka to use the Raid Jump to add instant overheads or something like that.

#5 Marisa‘s charged jumping heavy attacks

I really like Marisa but she’s just a pain to play for me. She does have a lot going for her, however. Her ability to charge up her Gladius and give herself armor is a great defense into offense attack. She also has some tricky moves, such as her Enfold command throw from her Scutum stance. In fact, a really good Marisa player can easily wipe out half an opponent’s life bar with one good combo. However, there is one particular gimmick Marisa has which I don’t see anyone use and that would be her charged jumping heavy attacks.

You would think being able to charge a heavy attack and make it stronger would be a good thing. So, why don’t more people use Marisa’s charged heavy attacks? It’s because, if these connect, the opponent gets flung away. You do get good okizeme afterwards but you’d just be better off doing a normal combo after a regular jumping heavy attack as Marisa has moves which allow for good okizeme anyways.

So, how would I change Marisa’s charged jumping heavy attacks? Well, I would just change one of them as they functionally do the same thing. Make one charged jumping attack cause your opponent to fly away but the other one would cause something like a crumple state if it connects. Doesn’t matter which one but make them functionally different at least.

BONUS: All taunts

No one likes to get taunted in the middle of a Street Fighter 6 online match. I should know as the opponent pretty much gives up when I do it when I’m trying to intentionally lose. They’re in the game, however, and no one really uses taunts for good reason.

Taunts just leave you open and is an invite to eat a long and damaging combo. So, how would I improve taunts? Well, I wouldn’t really but, if I were to do so, I’d go the Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike route. There are already taunts which do have special properties but I’d like to give all taunts special properties like with what Capcom did in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.

Byee!

What other “useless” moves are in Street Fighter 6? Let me know in the comments section below!