With Street Fighter 6 now just weeks away from dropping, professional players around the world are going to need to quickly determine which character(s) they want to spend the most time on to give them the best shot at winning in a way that they enjoy.
BST|Daigo Umehara has found a large amount of competitive success in the past using Ryu and / or Guile in Street Fighter games, but he’s currently not sold on maining either of them in SF6 at launch.
Back when Daigo previously talked about his traditional picks for SF6, he had yet to actually play the game yet, but now he has and has more things to say on the matter.
Umehara states that Ryu does so far feel good to play and fun though he’s not going to just pick the Shoto because it’s Ryu.
The legendary FGC figure had some harsher concerns for his SF5 main, however.
“It’s just my guess, but Guile won’t be a prominent character,” said Daigo via FGC Translated Alpha. “I do like Guile as a character, but SF6 has so many unique characters. And if Guile stands out among them, that probably means he’s not fun to play.
Strong Guile means other characters’ uniqueness will disappear, so I’m thinking the developers won’t buff Guile too much on purpose.”
Although he of course wants to try the Sonic Boom thrower out, Daigo states that Guile being strong would not be necessarily good for SF6 and has “no intention of making him his main.”
“If SF6 Guile was totally different and required different strategies, and if that made him strong, then it’s fine,” Daigo told his viewers. “But if [he’s] the same Guile who shoots booms and waits, then I don’t see why he needs to be in SF6.”
As for other characters, Umehara states he’s not very interested in Dee Jay, Blanka, E. Honda, Manon, Luke, Chun-Li or Kimberly at all, which isn’t too surprising given his usual tastes in fighters.
Outside of Ryu and Guile, Daigo says he’s most curious about JP, Marisa, Jamie, Lily and even Zangief with Jamie sounding like the frontrunner out of the newcomers.
His apparent hesitation on going all in for Ryu doesn’t come from a place of not having fun / getting bored of using him, but rather, Daigo’s worried he’s going to get lost in the shuffle when so many other characters look strong and / or unique.
Umehara won’t obviously commit to anyone when he hasn’t gotten to play the full game yet, but he states his main has to be both strong and fun to play.
“What’s important is that I can feel I’m cool when I win with that character,” said Daigo. “And that depends on the individual’s value system and sensibility.”
You can check out Daigo’s full discussion below thanks to the new FGC Translated.
