M. Bison Proves to be a Top Contender in Street Fighter 6

Just as the rest of us have, the reigning Street Fighter 6 champion from Evo 2023 has been experiencing the M. Bison onslaught as the game's newest DLC character is proving to be quite the contender here in the first week after his release. Amjad 'NASR|AngryBird' Al-Shalabi is already convinced that Bison is a top five character in Street Fighter 6, and goes into some detail as he talks about and takes on the evil dictator in his latest video. It's no secret that the game's newest fighter has some incredible potential right off the bat.

Whether it's the fact that he's capable of doling out over 8,000 damage in a single, practical combo, melting more than half your Drive Gauge with his triple Drive Rush sequence or beating out seemingly everything with his new and improved Psycho Crusher, he's clearly got some incredible tools in his arsenal. What's more, said tools add up to more than just the sum of their parts as we're seeing players from all over the competitive landscape bring the character together to intimidating levels of success online. In short, we already know Bison is a good character, but just how good still remains to be fully figured out. Wisdom from the reigning Evo champion is surely a worthwhile avenue to explore as we try to bring the full Bison picture into focus, and Al-Shalabi's frustrated tone betrays some of his points before he delivers them. 'This character is cheap,' marks AngryBird.

It's at this point that AngryBird offers his thoughts on Bison when it comes to his general placement on the tier chart as well as his match ups with Akuma and Ken. Not only is M. Bison one of the most powerful characters in all of Street Fighter 6, he's also one of the most storied. The big baddie has been around since way back in Street Fighter 2 and has made tons of appearances thanks to the fact that fans have held him in extremely high regard. Capcom has been updating and evolving the character just about each and every time he joins a new game, which means he's developed more than a few recognizable moves and maneuvers over the years.

In his latest video, Desk shows us some side by sides of the many callbacks in SF6 to the dictator's earlier appearances. This kind of development and design showcases the extra-mile tender love and care Capcom is continually sprinkling into Street Fighter 6 as they're not simply porting over every attack and movement option the character has had, but instead creatively weaving updated versions of said tools into this latest design. For instance, way back in Street Fighter 2, Bison could loop some of his normals together especially well against Zangief due to the fact that the Russian wrestler had a relatively bigger body (and thus bigger hurtboxes). This sequence is referenced (though toned significantly down) in SF6, especially if Bison uses Drive Rush to loop his now much more regulated standing medium kick. We very rarely see Bison run as the stoic character tends to prefer to use special moves or teleports to navigate the fighting arena.

He has shown us his sprint in the past, however, as back in Capcom vs. SNK 2 he had a running animation and we get to see this re-imagined in SF6's RE Engine graphics when he performs his Drive Rush. The Psycho Mine ability that we see in SF6 is a relatively new move for Bison, but this isn't the first time we've seen him do it. It was just a game ago in Street Fighter 5 wherein he got the ability to plant an explosive on his foe and then proceed to use it to enhance further combos; Desk shows us this ability being used in the same combo to kick off his video. Even if you're aware of most of these already, there's still a chance you missed references from the somewhat less prominently-known Omega Mode from Street Fighter 4.

Omega mode offered overly enhanced versions of every character on SF4's roster as developers gave them over the top abilities (perhaps sometimes pointing to maneuvers that otherwise wound up on the cutting room floor) that weren't exactly fine-tuned for balance. Desk shows us how the particular version of Bison's OD Stomp in SF6, for example, calls back to the way the move worked in SF4 Omega Mode, hitting straight down and grounding Bison instead of having him bounce back up for further extensions. Check out the full Easter egg showcase in the video below and let us know if it takes you down any nostalgic avenues. What do you think of this latest version of the beloved Street Fighter villain?