“This character is not normal” – Is Rashid too OP in Street Fighter 6?

Rashid is now officially available in Street Fighter 6. He is proving to be an incredibly popular character, with numerous players jumping into the game to try him out for the first time. However, thanks to experts quickly discovering the secret spice in newly released characters, it seems that Rashid is a real powerhouse.

Heading over to Twitter today (or X? I don’t know, but I’ll keep calling it Twitter) and searching for Rashid will provide a seemingly endless selection of mashup clips, mix montages, and aerial stunts. As hinted after the release of the character’s official demo video earlier this month, Rashid is proving to be a truly terrifying running character, capable of quickly closing the distance and breaking through your defense.

“Good luck against Rashid my friends, but this character is not normal” writes the user TheLolHounds, who posted his own findings online for the community. The consensus is that Rashid looks too wild to be reasonable, frankly outshining other cast members like Lily and Zangief.

Let’s dive into some of the bad odors that have been discovered. First off, Rashid can delay hitting him overhead after his special move Wing Stroke. This allows players to hit you with a low crouch attack that must be blocked while crouching, or an aerial heavy attack that must be crouched while standing. This comes out absurdly fast, so your best bet from now on is to hit it from the air start, otherwise you’ll have to guess high or low.

Sonicfox is also testing the character and figuring out some rude offensive strategies. They posted a video online of Rashid that can mix which way he hits you by following a basic combo, taking you to the corner if you guess wrong and get hit. Sure, there’s a slight prompt with the walking animation, but in the heat of a tense fight it’s easy to miss.

But perhaps most sickening is Rashid’s level 2 glitch, which frankly seems unintentional and broken at the time of writing. With a simple setup, Rashid is able to drive his opponent safely into the corner thanks to his super tornado, breaking his entire drive gauge in the process. It seems safe to do so, which means your counter options are… getting hit.

The reaction to this flaw has been a mix of laughter, uproar, and enthusiasm from the online community. Street Fighter 6 weekly tournament based in London, The Fight Lab, has completely banned the technique.while legendary players like Justin Wong has a lot of fun and jokingly points out Evo’s decision to legalize the character.even though Rashid has all these seemingly insurmountable strengths.

Interestingly, I spoke to Evo’s general manager, Rick Thiher, last week about the event and asked what he thought about Rashid’s legality. According to the Capcom Pro Tour rules, Rashid fits the rules, but is he the best for the competitive scene? Please note that this answer was given before the release of Rashid.

“I think it impacts the tournament in a lot of ways. It will create a hyperbolic time chamber for both Rashid players and people interested in beating Rashid in the weeks leading up to the show. Typically, those last few days would be spent practicing builds and combos. It’s going to be imperative now that the player base engages with that character. In that sense, Capcom has excellent marketing timing for the character.”

Thiher continues: “I generally prefer longer windows between character/patch releases and the competition. That hasn’t been the norm for Capcom Pro Tour for many years. They just haven’t released anything as event-like in some time, so there are a lot of new players who haven’t encountered this rule, as well as legacy players who forgot this rule existed.”

Regardless of Thiher’s and the world’s opinion of the character, the rules state that Rashid is legal unless Capcom says otherwise. He has begun the race to discover the full scope of what Rashid can do, and whether or not a last-minute change to the ruling will protect the health and wallets of tournament attendees for the foreseeable future. For now, the winds are certainly turbulent.