Summary
Street Fighter 6is one of the series' strongest entries and one of the best fighting games of the last twenty years. WhileStreet Fighter4was a beloved game, the fifth entry in the series did not enjoy the same acclaim due to its oversimplification of core mechanics, come-back abilities, and a heavy bias towards defensive play for much of the game’s life.Street Fighter 6has reversed many of these decisions. While it took untilStreet Fighter 5’s final revision for it to truly resonate with the fighting game community, some parts of the game were always great. One of the most standout parts ofSF5throughout its life was the new characters it brought to the series.
Ed first appeared inStreet Fighter 4butwas not playable untilSF5. First appearing in Rose’s arcade mode inSF4, he was captured to serve as a potential vessel forM. Bison, the series' main antagonist until this most recent entry. Ed is a protege of Balrog,Street Fighter’s most iconic boxer character, but can wield psycho-power like Bison. While Ed’s move set is dominated by punches, his use of psycho-powers and kicks means that he is not a true boxer. Ed is unique in the franchise due to the way his move set combines multiple archetypes.
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Ed Is Coming To Street Fighter 6 Next Year
Ed is the next new combatant coming toStreet Fighter 6, a fact that will surely please fans of boxer characters, afighting game archetypethat is currently absent from the game. LikeStreet Fighter 5, Ed will almost certainly accel at short-ranged rush-down combat. Ed has always found his strength in his ability to create constant pressure. InSF5, he has a dive-kick style move to punish from the air or end launcher combos and a strong projectile super useful for space control. Ed is a strong character for players who like to stay close to the opponent and berate them with pokes, and that is unlikely to change.
Street Fighter 6redesignseach character, and Ed will likely receive a fresh coat of paint as well. His concept art shows him dressed in civilian clothes, now free from Shadaloo. While Ed will likely lose much of his dark and edgy aesthetic, his unique input method will likely remain. Rather than using motion inputs, Ed triggers special moves by inputting multiple punch or kick buttons simultaneously with a directional input. InSF5, this made Ed one of the easiest characters to learn inputs for, but the addition of Modern Controls inSF6changes the value of Ed.
Ed Will Bridge Modern and Classic Controls
Ed only used motion inputs for his super inStreet Fighter 5. In this way, Ed’s controls were something of a predecessor to theModern Controls inStreet Fighter 6. While the Modern input style has made the game more accessible and has even been effectively used at high levels of competitive play, it sacrifices the amount of control the player has, and with some characters like Dhalsim, these sacrifices make the fighter substantially weaker.
Ed’s relatively few motion inputs mean that he could be the perfect way for players learningStreet Fighteror the genre for the first time with Modern inputs to move to the Classic control method. Classic controls will still require more precision but not the same level of coordination as characters that are heavily reliant on motion inputs.
Street Fighter 6is a thriving fighting game, and adding characters like Ed, who will most likely act as a bridge between Modern and Classic controls, will help pull in new fans and keep existing players engaged. The first two DLC characters, Rashid andAKI, were both excellent additions to the roster, and there is no indication that Ed and Akuma will be any less fun.
Street Fighter 6is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
