Fighting games are some of the hardest to learn how to play well.In King of Fighters, there are weird ways to move, like the Pretzel Motion.Tekken’s controls are easier to use, but each character has a lot of moves to learn. Even though Super Smash Bros. looks like the easiest game to play, it can be very complicated.
Zangief
It’s hard to remember a time when playing the Red Cyclone was easy. His iron body is no joke, as it can take a lot of damage and withstand hits well. He is also big, which makes him an easy target for opponents who are faster. Even though he has super armor, he can still be knocked out of his attack movements if he gets hit hard enough. He is also a grappler who counts on getting close to his opponent, so anyone with a good zoning game can keep him away. This is why he has always hated Hadkens.
Zangief has skills that let him stop weapons and get close, but they are hard to use. For his famous “Spinning Piledriver,” you have to turn the stick/d-pad once, and for his “Level 3 Bolshoi Storm Buster,” you have to turn it twice. It takes just as much practice to learn how to do these moves without jumping and putting yourself in danger of anti-air attacks as it does to learn how to do them in the first place. When you add in advanced moves like kara-throws and saving motions, it gets harder to become a Zangief main.
Dhalsim
But even with easy inputs, a character can be tricky, and Dhalsim’s are pretty standard. His half-circle moves for his Yoga Flame, Yoga Blast, and Yoga Comet are the hardest. In fact, he’s a little bit easier in SF6 because his Yoga Teleport can now be done by hitting forward/backward and all three punches. In the past, you had to press Shryuken (forward, down, down-forward). Both games were easy, but now they can be played much faster.
The problem for Dhalsim is how he moves. Since his first appearance in Street Fighter 2, he has been slow and floaty, and this is no different. His strange stretches don’t make him any easier to get used to either. With care, players can turn him into a master of zoning by using his long limbs and fire attacks to keep his enemies at the far end of the screen. If they get close, something has gone wrong, and with the Yogi, it’s easy to make mistakes.
Chun-Li
The “First Lady” of fighting games is faster than Zangief, more quick than Dhalsim, and has kicks that are strong enough to punish people who underestimate her. But over time, her moves have changed a lot. In Street Fighter 2, she had to jump around the screen to get ahead. In Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, she had to get in front of her opponent with Hoyokusen to beat all but the best ones.
By making her a stance character, Happy Wheels gives her a new role. She still has her famous Kikken, the Spinning Bird Kick, and her Tenshkyaku, which stops attacks from the air. But now she has Serenity Stream, a low stance she can use to avoid attacks or send her enemies flying so she can juggle them in the air. It seems good, but she can’t block from this position. Players will have to use Chun-Li a lot before they can get her right.
Juri
Everyone’s favorite bad guy who is good at Tae Kwon Do is Chun-Li’s dark side. Both Chun-Li and Juri lost their families to Bison, but Chun-Li became an Interpol spy, while Juri became a very dangerous person. Her kicks are just as dangerous as those of her good guy rival, especially when she adds Fuha stocks to them. In the right hands, she’s quick and fierce, but it’s not easy to get those right hands.
To get the most out of her poking game and her Feng Shui Engine install super, players will first have to get used to her normal moves. She has powerful special moves, but if she doesn’t have any Fuha stocks, they can leave her open to counterattacks. Then, the player has to keep switching up those Fuha boosts to be as unexpected as Juri herself. If her opponents can read her like a book, she’s doomed.
JP
Most of SF6’s newbies aren’t too hard to play, which is a surprise. Marisa is slow and big, but she has easier actions that pay back ten times as much as her opponent’s. Manon, Lily, and Kimberly have power-up stocks like Juri’s Fuha stocks, but they’re not as important as Juri’s. They either happen on their own (Kimberly’s Level 3 super instantly turns on her headphones) or give simple buffs. Johan “JP” Petrovic, the new bad guy, is a different story.
He can zone and teleport like Dhalsim, but he doesn’t move as slowly. Except that Dhalsim’s fireballs are pretty simple. JP is a trap figure who puts spikes, mines, and copies of himself all over the place. All of them are meant to keep the opponent at a distance, since JP isn’t very strong up close. But it will take a long time to learn when and where to use these Psycho Powers. It’s way too easy to miss one of his spikes and get hit in the face.