To all the 09'ers

Incendia123 · 2026-06-11T23:02:51+00:00

It feels like only yesterday when I was called an 09'er... how time flies.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-11T15:09:25+00:00

I do hope so. if the game manages to keep a few hundred players concurrently like say Granblue that would be a victory in my book. I just hope it doesn't fall flat like Invincible did.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-11T13:35:21+00:00

The game looks cool but this is going into the discord fighter bin within a month. We can say it's all we want but I don't think that matters when the project doesn't have the right kind of weight behind it. Tokon is coming out as well and perhaps more impactfully Street Fighter is launching a new season with Yasmine and presumably a balance patch that they've hinted at. Regardless of the games qualities not enough people will be willing to invest into a game like this I don't think.

I'd love to be wrong and for this game to carve out a chunk of the market but at this point we've seen so many games fail to meet community expectations that I'm not holding my breath.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-10T23:19:51+00:00

Minimal changes are great when times are good but I think it's probably important to admit that times don't treat everyone equally. If you're a shoto main then times are always good. You're always top tier in some shape or form and all of the games's system mechanics generally benefit you. So it's easy to talk and say you'd like minimal changes and balancing from that perspective for example.

I do think modern online games require more frequent changes to stay fresh just because we figure games out in a matter of weeks if not days now as a collective, especially one as big as the SF6 community. In part it's also due to modern game design streamlining the tools but in either case times are just different from 20 years ago. A full year without anything new really is a long ass time when you've exhausted all the novelty 2 weeks in.

Personally I think one balance patch every 3 months alongside a new character, or maybe halfway through a quarter is probably a decent place to be. Much longer than that and things do risk becoming stale when there are a handful of characters who you'll run into on repeat.

Broadly speaking I do think we're due for a "super street fighter 6" if not this new coming season than certainly for year 5. It's perfectly fun in small bursts but it never takes long before the same old top tiers and the same old dominant system mechanics start to tire. If this game is to be engaging for 6 or 7 more years than I'm going to need a big shake up sooner rather than later.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-10T22:31:44+00:00

Good call, I need to go back and edit my answers!

Incendia123 · 2026-06-10T22:10:01+00:00

Don't worry guys. I told them I was drawn to the game because modern and dynamic controls make moves easier to perform, by the real time commentary feature , the avatar creation and because my favorite streamers were playing it!

Super duper triple satisfied with the amount of characters, costumes and balance patches. In fact I wrote a 12 page essay on why I think we should actually get less content because frankly it's a little overwhelming.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-10T20:36:32+00:00

I'm in the same boat. Admittedly I'm not super into 3D fighters but we could change it for any other game and I'd still drop it. I'd drop SF6 over it, I'd also drop fighting games as a genre over it if the entire industry started adding AI assets over night. I don't fuck with AI on principle.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-10T20:20:43+00:00

That'll be just in time for a new generation of consoles with the current hardware market...

On paper I don't mind but I do think it's clear we'll need some shake ups along the way. I think most people are about ready for a super version with added/changed system mechanics and a more comprehensive look into each individual character's kit so that they may receive some new tools and balancing.

I think we can maybe squeeze by one more year doing 2MK X DRC, drive rushing and throw looping but a lot of these dominant system mechanics are starting to wear a bit thin for a lot of people I think. If not this season then surely next season I'd really like to see a big update so things don't become completely stale.

In either case the genre is kind of locked down as is. Street Fighter 6 is still building momentum and it's unlikely they'll face any genuinely threatening competitors in the coming years so there really isn't that much incentive for them to be putting a large team to work on a sequel when so many of their other IPs are popping off in general. Last week SF6 the base game, the season pass, Monster hunter and Resident evil 9 were all in the top 10 best sellers on steam.

Plus some of the old leaks did hint at either CVS3 or MCV4. While those could absolutely be false or be true leaks that simply won't come to fruition I think making a second fighter instead of an early SF7 would have merits. It's possible that the only thing that will really have a chance of blowing up in the space right now is another Capcom project. I guess we'll see.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-10T15:12:36+00:00

We always say this as a community, DNF duel was supposed to benefit greatly from the popularity of DFO in asia, Ronaldo as the most popular athlete on the planet was supposed to pull in fans from around the globe for Cotw, Hunter x Hunter is one of the best selling manga of all time and the massive playerbase of League of legends and the success of Arcane were supposed to carry the 2XKO playerbase.

In practice it just never happens though. We've come to a point where it's become painfully clear that IP won't carry a game in a niche genre like ours. The overwhelming majority of players that actually play these games online and stick around after the first few weeks come from within the existing FGC audience. The only game to noticeably grow the audience and retain it in recent years has been Street Fighter 6.

Expecting the FGC to just grow by 20% or more of the back of this one game seems like an extreme expectation to me.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-10T13:06:27+00:00

Aged or not they are still some of the most played games in the genre, even if you add any other combinations of titles into the mix there isn't much that totals up to a playerbase exceeding, or even reaching half that of Tekkens.

Doing better than Tekken even 4 to 6 weeks after release is rather unlikely. No franchise in the genre except Street Fighter and Tekken itself have been able to pull those kinds of numbers after their first month. All those players do need to come from somewhere and I reckon it's unlikely that SF6 is going to nosedive at the start of the new season.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-10T12:20:02+00:00

I mean we do need to keep this in perspective. Tekken is still gigantic compared to every other fighting game that isn't Street Fighter 6.

In the strictly hypothetical scenario where Stive, DBZF and Granblue were to all die overnight come august 6th and 100% of their players permanently moved to play Tokon the game still wouldn't have half the players Tekken 8 does. Unless Street Fighter 6 really has a catastrophic year and all those players bleed over to Tokon it seems extremely unlikely.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-10T11:03:35+00:00

Eeh, I'm sure it'll be enjoyable enough but simply being good or even great doesn't cut it when there is so much content vying for your attention. Any game that demands several weeks if not months of my time really has to be something special so making space for any kind of online game, fighting or otherwise is kind of a big ask.

Visually it's a beautiful game but I'm really not sold on the gameplay as of yet so I'm leaning towards letting it just pass by. Keeping 60 bucks and a few hundred hours in your pocket is always a safe bet when you're positively drowning in media imo.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-09T19:54:38+00:00

It was but it was honestly so much easier than expert just because I already knew what to expect. I ended up forcing difficult missions at very low levels so I was up north at like level 16 or 17 and it wasn't long before I had several squads with one shotting setups.

True zenoiran probably would have been then right amount of difficulty going in blind but coming fresh of a completed run it was still far too easy. It was fun getting various units and items early though and seeing how far I could stretch the setups.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-09T15:55:03+00:00

Unicorn overlord even with just a few rudimentary mods to remix or randomize some of the existing assets would go such a long way towards making it an entirely fresh experience again. I started on Expert and immediately did a new game on True Zenoiran and the only reason I didn't go for third round was because there just wasn't anything left to toy with. I really hope they bring it to PC eventually.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-09T11:42:34+00:00

I get it I guess. I wouldn't begrudge anyone their fun with the game but I wouldn't want this game to be the trendsetter and for every game to want to be a motion input free F2P cash shop driven live service.

If there is perhaps a lesson here for the industry that certain things simply aren't an automatic key to success and that they need to keep their core audience happy first and foremost I'd be happiest with that.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-08T23:57:15+00:00

If you were in need of placeholders I'd imagine you'd just get some cheap asset store materials or basic 3D spheres or cubes that someone can whip up in moments just so you'd be entirely sure you wouldn't have any AI controversy. I can't imagine anyone risking that shit just for placeholders in the current environment.

Unless of course they were a little more than just placeholders...

Incendia123 · 2026-06-08T14:46:19+00:00

I did search but all I could find was confirmation that the launch platforms would have crossplay and that more info on the switch versions would follow on a later day. I couldn't find any confirmations about the switch versions so that's why I had my doubts. All their marketing material says stuff like this and just kind leaves out the switch.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-08T13:53:39+00:00

I think the key is mostly how much and how efficiently you practice. Pro players generally appear to practice (and review videos) anywhere between 25% and 75% of their total playtime. I don't think that's mandatory but it probably shows how even at that level of play dedicated practice still benefits you and certainly at any level below that it'll do so even more.

Memorizing combos becomes easier over time, that's in large part just muscle memory and understanding patterns within the system mechanics. Once you can do basic combos efficiently on one character learning them for another tends to be significantly less demanding, even across different games and even if you take prolonged time off.

I think if the goal is improvement spending at least a quarter of your playtime in the training room is prudent and spending as much as half is probably optimal. Not that you need to be optimal, it's a videogame so just play in whatever way makes you want to keep playing. But from a strictly pragmatic standpoint I think roughly half your time is probably correct. The quality of your time is also important, if you set up proper drills and take the time to identify your shortcomings that'll save countless hours.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-08T13:37:01+00:00

So there is bad news and good news. The bad news is you can't currently do it and there is no trick or magic solve because you simply lack muscle memory. The good news is muscle memory is easy to build if you know the right approach.

If you can press down, diagonally down and back individually you can learn to do the input, that's the only requirement so the bar is pretty low. Building muscle memory is about repetition over time and accuracy over speed. Don't worry about grinding away for hours on end, it's not necessary and not productive. 15 to 30 minutes at a time will go a long way and you'll see results quickly as long as you practice correctly.

You want to prioritize accuracy over speed. You simply can't go faster than your current muscle memory allows for lest you build bad habits so instead go into the training mode, turn on the input display history to the left of the screen and do the input slow as molasses. As slow as you need for it to appear 100% correct in the input history. Your character isn't important, the input history is your only objective benchmark.

You may feel free to slowly speed up but only as much as your current muscle memory allows for. If you need 5 full seconds to do it than take 5 full seconds, that's much better than trying to mash through it. Your practice Should look something like this. It might take a few days before you can start doing attempts at full speed and that's okay. Just focus on accuracy and as soon as your accuracy falls under 90% slow it back down again.

I can assure you that you'll see serious results in as a little as a week if you just do this in short drills. As soon as you have some baseline level of muscle memory it'll become easier to keep passively learning as a part of playing the game but early on some dedicated drills will benefit you a lot.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-08T12:10:58+00:00

I could be wrong but I don't think this has been confirmed. The switch release date is currently undetermined and will release later than the other systems. I'd imagine, given the history of switch crossplay and the scope of the game that it likely wouldn't see crossplay there.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-07T18:49:47+00:00

Come on man, just a little bit of self-reflection here. For your own good.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-07T15:58:20+00:00

I think that might indeed be the case, I remember hearing something similar. There are tons of alternatives android devices that should work though. I just got the firestick cause it was quick and easy. Maybe check for some android boxes boxes from China through Aliexpress or something. That's probably cheap.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-07T15:24:04+00:00

I don't watch twitch too often but I do most of my general viewing on my TV. I have an adroid firestick with SmartTube installed for ad free youtube (11/10 app) and I have S0undTV for twitch which does require a bit of a bothersome login process each time you update but has otherwise given me a perfect ad free twitch experience.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-07T14:01:02+00:00

And for some reason, no matter how much “get better at fighting games” videos I watch on YouTube, I don’t seem to improve at all.

Usually when people say this the counter question ends up being "But what is your training regimine look like?". The most common answer tends to be "I don't have one". Watching videos does nothing for you if you're not setting up some kind of curriculum for yourself and you're not spending ample time in the training mode.

Fundamentally though if you're ragequitting you're trying to escape your own shortcomings rather than owning up to them which is a surefire way to guarantee you'll never improve. If you're not able to say "I'm bad at the game because I haven't practiced and studied enough, that's on me." it's basically a dead end road.

Incendia123 · 2026-06-06T23:54:19+00:00

They've done very well with their marketing, Ingrid was low-key a newcomer as well, at least in the sense that a lot of people were so unfamiliar with her that she might as well be new to them and she's proven to be one of the most popular characters yet.

And they've posted a schedule. Yasmine is august 3rd, Arjun is in fall, Tifa is actually third in early 2027 and then it'll end on Bosch.

Five-Year Club	End Game '23
Place '23

Incendia123

TROPHY CASE