A game-breaking glitch in Street Fighter 6 was just discovered by Twitter user ChinaTownTBB, which allows players to put up a practically impenetrable defense when done correctly.
via CAPCOM
The glitch, known as of right now as the “throw tech option select”, lets players escape throws, block attacks on wakeup, and avoid throw bait strategies (known as the “shimmy”) — all at the same time with zero risk. According to a demonstration video posted by ChinaTownTBB, this is done by holding medium kick, heavy kick, heavy punch, and down-back at the same time, then holding the Simultaneous Input Assistance button (which must be set manually in the game options first) upon getting up from a knockdown.
This causes the game to press all six attack buttons at the same time, while retaining the down-back input that blocks strike attacks. Incredibly, it also automatically escapes throws, and removes the possibility of the throw whiff animation coming out as well. The latter is especially important, as it means that shimmies just won’t work at all.
The reason this glitch is called an “option select” is because the phrase itself implies that the game automatically “chooses” the best option for the player depending on what the opponent actually does. Should they throw, the exploit automatically escapes the throw. Should they try to hit the defender, the game automatically blocks the attack. Should they try to bait a throw escape, the game simply prevents any throw animation from even coming out.
Thus, the exploit creates an almost perfect defensive situation for the user. In fact, the only things that beat this option select are overhead attacks, which must be blocked standing — and therefore will hit those that are crouch-blocking. Some overheads like Ryu’s Collarbone Breaker even lead to full combos on counter hit or after a Drive Rush. However, even this isn’t a perfect answer to such a powerful exploit, as most overheads are slow to come out and therefore easy to react to.
It is realistic to simply change the down-back input to a back input in the middle of an overhead animation — so with proper reaction speeds, it’s possible to cover every single scenario here. Not even a Drive Impact in the corner will break this defense given good reactions, knowing that Drive Impact itself is one of the slowest mechanics in the entire game.
Option selects are nothing new in fighting games, with Street Fighter III: Third Strike in particular being notorious in the Street Fighter franchise for having many different option selects available to players. SF6 developer and publisher Capcom has, however, been actively trying to get rid of option selects since Street Fighter V. This is presumably in order to reduce the number of all-encompassing offensive and defensive techniques that remove the need for players to consider potential risks and getting rewarded for it.
However, it’s simply impossible to account for every glitch and exploit in a game with so many different mechanics and permutations, so some option selects will still slip through the cracks every now and then. That being said, Capcom have since acknowledged the issue and are now working on finding the cause, so this technique should be gone from the game before too long.
But for online play, this could very well become a serious problem. There is no way to prevent players from binding the Simultaneous Input Assistance button online without removing the ability to do so entirely, after all. And while this technique is only really useful past a certain rank, it is nonetheless very strong even against lesser-skilled players that overuse throws in order to open up defensive opponents.
