Street Fighter 6 patch notes: What changes with Season 2 update?

The full patch notes for the memorably-named version 202405 update go into great detail about what has changed, and you can find them in the article down below.

There’s a lot to get through.

Keep reading to see what's changed in today's (22nd May 2024) Street Fighter 6 update and to find out what's happened to your favourite characters.

What changed in today’s Street Fighter 6 update? Season 2 explained

The new Street Fighter 6 update has added DLC character Akuma into the game, meaning you can purchase him now.

Akuma is a Year 1 Additional character, and with his introduction, we move into Year 2/Season 2 and a massive list of character balance changes, among other new additions.

Head into the in-game Goods Shop and you’ll find Akuma and accessories for the new DLC character, including alternative outfits, available for purchase.

You’ll also spot the new Stage: Enma’s Hollow.

Alongside Akuma, though, are new music bundles, upgrades to Training Mode and you can now skip Versus walkout scenes, fight intros and win poses.

There are also a lot of character balance adjustments. We mean a lot. You’ll have to read through the full patch notes to learn about what’s changed for each fighter.

Full patch notes for Street Fighter 6 update today

The full patch notes for the Street Fighter 6 update today (22nd May 2024) give details on new overall balance changes and the introduction of new content including DLC fighter Akuma.

There are way too many patch notes for us to note down here, so you’re best off heading to the official Street Fighter website to see what’s been done to each of the game’s 21 characters.

The full list of general Street Fighter 6 patch notes for the version 202405 update is as follows, though (thanks, EventHubs!):

Street Fighter 6 Akuma and Season 2 Patch Notes - Universal Changes

Overall Direction
In terms of game balance, while each character has received some buffs and nerfs, in terms of nerfs we primarily focused on the following points.

1. Weaken moves that were difficult to deal with and provided easy results
For example, for attacks that could be canceled into special moves, had good range and short recovery, we decided to adjust them by adding recovery, expanding their hurtbox etc.

While those attacks are part of a character's identity, if they proved too difficult for characters to deal with, interactions would end up in stalemates, or they would end up being the best answer to all situations, so we wanted to improve those situations.

2. Weaken moves that proved to be too oppressive
Continuing with the last balance update, techniques that were able to limit the opponent's movements too much were weakened.

3. Retooling low risk/high return moves
There were many cases where the game system allows for weak attacks to pick up easy returns, while Perfect Parries could turn the tide of the match quickly, so these areas have been slightly adjusted with the idea of reeling things back a little.

Modern Controls
We have changed how Assisted Combos work when the player doesn't have enough Drive or Super Art gauge. Additionally, some characters had difficult to use Assisted Combo routes, so we also changed those. There are some characters who have had the first attack of an Assisted Combo or their practical use changed, but we feel that in the long term these changes will benefit players using this control scheme.

Drive Reversals
Without an invincible attack, it proved difficult to deal with strong wake-up pressure, so now all characters can perform a Drive Reversal on their wake-up recovery as a way to deal with this. This technique is useful against throws or big attacks, but may be difficult to use against attacks with slow start-up or light attacks etc.

Drive and Perfect Parry
As noted above, we have looked at adjusting the risk/return for Perfect Parry. We felt that the risk of looking to score a Perfect Parry while out of throw range gave too high of a return, and depending on the situation, it proved more beneficial to get the Perfect Parry instead of going on the attack, so by increasing its overall length and expanding the throw hitbox, we're looking to make it easier to take risks in these situations.

Additionally, in order for Perfect Parries to not change the course of the match too much, after a successful Perfect Parry, the player will receive less meter gain.

For Drive Parries, the hurtbox after the Perfect Parry window has passed (frame 3 and later) is expanding, allowing it to absorb attacks from further away. After absorbing an attack, the time before the Drive gauge begins to replenish has also been shortened, making Drive Parry a more effective tactic primarily against projectiles.

Back Throws
One way of reducing the return a player gets from a Perfect Parry that we have made is an adjustment to how back throws are handled when performed with your back to the corner. Characters who could perform a back throw into the corner, and then repeatedly throw opponents in any situation will now have a harder time doing so.

Reworking Successful Command Inputs
We've made some changes with the aim of reducing the number of missed or accidental special moves.

1. Adjusted special move input recognition frames
For every command we made adjustments so special moves will come out less often if you complete a command, and then press a button slightly afterwards.

2. Adjusted ↓↘→ or ↓↙← in mid-air
Mid-air commands often require the player to perform the inputs quickly, and certain inputs tended to miss, so we have relaxed the input requirements.

3. Adjusted ↓↓ commands
This is an adjustment to avoid accidental Cancel Drive Rushes. During sequences such as ↓ + Light Punch > Neutral + Medium Punch + Medium Kick > ↓ + Light Punch, ↓↓ commands should no longer come out by accident.

4. Pressing Medium, Heavy attacks at the same time will not perform transition techniques. This change is primarily aimed at techniques that are cancelable or are target combo starters, and special moves that have transition attacks or low recovery etc.

We've made changes so that with Cancel Drive Rush and Drive Impact, once their recovery is over and players go for an immediate Drive Rush etc mistaken inputs would not unintentionally perform transition techniques. Please note that this adjustment is only when the player presses both buttons at exactly the same time.

Combo Counts
Combo counts are mentioned in the Battle Change List entries found on the official Buckler's Boot Camp site, and details on the terms used there can be found below.

- Combo Count Initial Value
The numerical value used to indicate when an air combo starts from a particular move. The smaller a move's combo count initial value is, the easier it is for that move to begin an air combo, and vice-versa.

- Combo Count Additional Value A numerical value that increases when a move is incorporated into an air combo. The smaller a move's combo count additional value is, the easier it is for that move to begin an air combo, and vice-versa.

- Combo Count Upper Limit A numerical value used to determine up to which point a move can land in an air combo. The larger a move's combo count upper limit is, the easier that move can be incorporated into a combo.

Input Recognition - Adjustment

The Input Recognition Frame, which is the number of frames within which you must press the attack button after a special move command is inputted in order for the game to recognize you are performing a special move, has been adjusted per command.

For ↓↘→ or ↓↙← commands while standing on the ground, the Input Recognition Frame has been changed from 11 to 9 frames.

This means the attack button must be pressed within 9 frames of the final forward or back command being input for it to be recognised and have the special move be performed.

For ↓↘→ or ↓↙← commands while in the air, the Input Recognition Frame remains at 11 frames.

For ←↙↓↘→ or →↘↓↙← commands, the Input Recognition Frame has been changed from 12 frames to 9 frames.

Mid-air ↓↘→ and ↓↙← Command Moves - Adjustment

Considering the fastest possible input necessary for instant aerial commands, the input difficulty has been eased slightly, and ↓↙← + K commands can now be performed using any downward direction (↙ or ↓ or ↘) followed by ↙← + K.

↓↓ Button Commands - Adjustment

If Medium Punch+Medium Kick are input between a double Down tap, no command will be performed.

This adjustment was made so that if you immediately double tap Down after a Cancel Drive Rush from a crouching attack, a double Down command move will not be performed by accident.

Jump Landing Hurtboxes - Adjustment

The following characters have had their hurtbox while landing from a jump moved upwards to match other characters, as it was previously lower and caused unanticipated attacks to hit them: Chun-Li, Dhalsim, Lily, AKI.

Stun Timing Adjustments - Bug Fix

Fixed an issue where if an opponent in Burnout blocks a Drive Impact a certain distance away from the corner of the screen, and the player performs a technique just before stun occurs, no combo scaling would be applied on the combo after the stun.

Drive Parry - Adjustment

• Throw hurtbox has been expanded while the technique is being performed.
• Hurtbox from the 3rd frame and later has been expanded
• The shortest possible active parry hitbox time has changed from 8 frames to 12 frames.
• Recovery after the active frames has changed from 29 frames to 33 frames.
• After absorbing an attack, the time until the Drive Gauge starts to auto regenerate has changed from 60 frames to 20 frames.

Perfect Parry - Adjustment

The overall gauge fluctuation from a counter attack after a Perfect Parry has been reduced. This adjustment is not just for the first attack, but affects all attacks until the combo ends.

• Super Art gauge increase has changed from 100 per cent to 80 per cent for both the attacker and damage-taker.
• Drive gauge increase for the attacker has changed from 100 per cent to 50 per cent
• Drive gauge decrease for the damage-taker has changed from 100 per cent to 50 per cent

Drive Reversal - Adjustment

• Recovery on block has changed from -8 to -6 frames
• Attack hitbox has expanded downward so techniques with a low profile can no longer avoid this attack.
• Pushback distance on close-range block is now almost equal for all characters.
  • Note: Certain character updates to pushback on block, collision pushboxes, hurtboxes and distance travelled are being made.

(Bug Fix) Damage no longer increases on counter hit.

Recovery Drive Reversal - Adjustment

Drive Reversal can now be performed during the recovery from a knockdown. While the command is still the same (→+HP+HK), you can simply perform it early and hold down the input to perform the technique on recovery.

Note: This version of the Drive Reversal will not darken the screen or stop time, and the attack start-up is 18 frames, which is 2 frames faster than the normal Drive Reversal.

Light Attack (Standing / Crouching) - Adjustment

Initial scaling has changed from 10 per cent to 20 per cent.

Cross-Up Capable Jumping Light Attacks - Adjustment

Because every character has a different hit and block recovery against their opponent, we've matched the longest advantage time, so some character's jumping weak attack on block or guard will have an additional 1 frame of recovery.

This change applies to Luke, Jamie, Marisa, Lily, Juri, Ryu, E. Honda, Guile, Ken and AKI.

New Content

• Year 1 Additional Character, Akuma added
• Various Akuma-related items can be found for sale in the Goods Shop
• Playable character, 'Akuma'
• Akuma: Outfit 2
• Akuma: Outfit 3
• Akuma: Colours 3 – 10
• Challenger Screen:
  - Cartoonish: Akuma
  - Cute: Akuma

Along with Akuma's release, the following content is now available.

World Tour: Akuma's master missions and sub-missions added.

Fighting Ground:
- Akuma's story added to Arcade Mode.
- Akuma-related commentary lines added.

Chat: Akuma's graffiti sticker added.

Player titles: Akuma's player titles added.

Fighter Profile: Akuma's avatar pose added.

Clubs: Akuma's club uniform and emblem parts added. Note: To play as Akuma, you must have purchased the character from the Goods Shop, or have either the Year 1 Character Pass or the Year 1 Ultimate Pass. You can also use a Rental Fighter ticket to try out the character for one hour.

New Items Added to the Goods Shop
New Stage: Enma's Hollow

Costumes:
- Rashid: Outfit 3
- AKI: Outfit 3
- Ed: Outfit 3

Challenger Screen: kangyaku (for the launch and Year 1 characters, 22 in total)

BGM:
You can play the following in the music player or set them as character BGM.
- Street Fighter II Bundle
- Super Street Fighter II Turbo Bundle
- Ultra Street Fighter II Bundle
- Street Fighter III Bundle
- Street Fighter III 2nd Impact Bundle
- Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Bundle
- Street Fighter Alpha Bundle
- Street Fighter Alpha 2 Bundle
- Street Fighter Alpha 3 Bundle
- Street Fighter IV Bundle Vol 1
- Street Fighter IV Bundle Vol 2
- Street Fighter V Bundle Vol 1
- Street Fighter V Bundle Vol 2

Avatar Gear:
- Kiko Panda Mask (No bundle available)
- Animal Feet (No bundle available)
- Fox Tail (No bundle available)
- Cat Tail (No bundle available)

Fighting Ground
The following have been added with the Akuma release or modified due to the battle adjustments.
- Command List
- Character Guides
- Combo Trials
- Tutorials

Training Mode:
- Action Timing Display can now be shown either above a character’s head or at their feet. Additionally, the display will not disappear when jumping etc.
- Combo Damage on the Attack Data display can now be reset.
- The character used as a practice dummy while training on a Battle Hub cabinet will now be saved.
- You can now select either "On Block" or "On Recovery" for dummy Drive Reversal behaviour. You can also dictate the ratio when selecting random settings.
- When matchmaking is turned on, you can now use shortcut functions from the time you are matched with an opponent until the screen transitions.
Note: We changed the design for shortcuts with this update, and all shortcut settings have been reset to their default values. We apologise for the inconvenience, but please update your shortcut settings again.

Versus:
- Versus walkout scenes, fight intros and win poses can be skipped using the cancel button.
- In the Steam version, you can now set the Advantage at the character select screen with a mouse.

Extreme Battle:
Perfect indicators added for Rules & Regulations and Smash & Grab.

Additionally, if you and your opponent complete all of your objectives at the same time, a double completion indicator will be displayed.

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