A closer look at how Punish Counters in Street Fighter 6 will make whiff punishes way more important and rewarding
Over the years, Street Fighter 5 has gone from a game over-reliant on "wish punishes" to one where actual whiff punishes are much more important to higher level play, and it looks like Capcom will be taking things a step further in the next game.
Punish Counters are a new mechanic being added in Street Fighter 6, and NurseLee recently put out a few quick breakdowns to showcase why these special counter hits are going to make whiff punishes even more rewarding for players.
As was previously detailed, some attacks upon landing a Punish Counter cause the opponent to go into a Crush Counter-like state from SF5.
One of NurseLee's newest breakdowns takes a closer look at another example through Luke's advancing heavy kick sends Chun-Li sky high on Punish Counter for an apparent follow-up combo / juggle.
SF6: Luke's Roundhouse, Punish Counter!
— NurseLee (@NurseLee_) August 16, 2022
- Heavy Kick, fully launches them into the air now!✅
- Be careful! Exposing your "Recovery Frames" can invite big EMOTIONAL damage in SF6.✅#SF6 #StreetFighter6 pic.twitter.com/nib7bmKNov
This means we've seen a handful of different vulnerable states Punish Counters can dish out between crumple states, launchers and air juggles, which will likely depend on the move used as well as the state the opponent was hit in.
While the big Punish Counters seem to be tied mostly to heavy normals right now (again much like Crush Counters), the weaker attacks will still serve an important use.
NurseLee's other breakdown appears to show that Punish Counters create an even larger frame advantage than normal counter hits.
For the example, Chun-Li's crouching medium kick is shown not to combo into Hazanshu on counter hit, yet it does actually combo on a Punish Counter.
In additional context, Chun Li so far has never combo into Hazanshu from a "Crouch-medium kick Counter-Hit" from previous SF main games I believe. So this Punish Counter system is neat!
— NurseLee (@NurseLee_) August 17, 2022
This implies that serious players are not only going to need to practice and figure out the big Punish Counter follow-ups but also new routes from medium and potentially even light whiff punishes.
Punish Counters work in SF6 as a special type of counter hit that can only be achieved after hitting an attack that's already come out and in recovery frames while clashing moves during startup will only apply the standard counter.
That hopefully means players will no longer be able to simply stand back and toss out big buttons to fish for Crush Counters like SF5, which was probably part of the developers' intentions.
The way Punish Counters and the rest of Street Fighter 6's mechanics work though could change quite a bit before release because the game is very much still in the works, so don't be surprised if this doesn't work exactly the same in the full version next year.
