Just lately Capcom has enacted some new balance changes for Street Fighter 6, and we’ve seen some juicy buffs for Ryu. The tweets by some Twitter guy called @zFiesty have become viral in the Fighting game community, showing a mortally buffed Ryu in the latest buffs.
The caption of the tweet reads “thank you for the much-needed ryu buffs capcom🙏 i love when buttons take skill and precision🙏,” followed by a clip that displays definitely disgusting gameplay of Ryu. And disgustingly so, I mean filthy dirty Ryu moves that make you shake your head away from your screen in disbelief, pondering some of your life decisions.
Now, to describe it all: that Ryu player really schooled the Kimberly with next-level conditioning and frame traps. Kimberly kept getting hit by donkey kick variation and drive impact from Ryu. The Ryu player was ahead of every single mistake they did. It was an absolute pleasure to watch, and in a twisted way ??like watching a genius at work.
Here’s where it starts to get funnier – that Kimberly player whose skin got scratched off is the original poster. The tweet is oozing with fighting gamer sarcasm that everyone is so familiar with. That “thank you for the buffs” is a salted compliment; the community’s responses are just pure gold.
Mumble (@Soraismyson) nailed it when stating: “There’ll be more replies complaining about kim then naming counterplay for donkey kick because there is none lol” and I couldn’t agree more. The Street Fighter community has an opinion on everything-one especially when it comes to character balancing.
People started coming out with suggestions such as “just jump and parry,” or “neutral jump that shit,” but in reality, that is easier said than done when you’re under pressure from an in-the-know Ryu player. Another player entered the conversation to say heavy donkey kicks were probably only punishable on a consistent basis. Medium, not so much unless you pray for some intervention.
The clip truly displays some high IQ from the Ryu player. There’s this particular moment where a st.mk bait caught the Kimberly player off guard, with several people in the comments pointing out just how slick that was. It’s one of those things that appear very simple but actually require some galaxy-brain-level reads.
The interferential argument is how this all connects to the recent balance changes. Capcom has been meddling ever since SF6 came out and with Ryu being one of the characters that needed some love, I guess they buffed his frame data and gave him more frames of plus on some moves. Hence this clip: Ryu pressuring way harder and keeping Kimberley on the back foot.
But with fighting games, if something is broken, it is counterable. Alas, the Kimberly player admits to a slight trolling moment of not jumping but did go on to say donkey kick is a little too good at the moment. Another eternal balance struggle of, “Is this character broken,” or, “I need to git gud.”
The community is split between some finding the very pain they’re inflicting on others, and quite a lot just being happy to watch. That caption again in Portuguese, “parabens ryu voce acabou com a vida da fiesty,” translates to, “congratulations Ryu you ended Fiesty’s life” – which is hilarious and 100% accurate.
The thing that makes this situation so Street Fighter is that it’s not just about playing the game-also about the community reaction, memes, salt, and respect all brewed into one. People just start chucking FGC memes about Sagat vs Ryu, as a few others highlight the irony of hearing a Kimberly player complain about “strong moves,” and the utter chaos ensues in the replies.
That is the beauty of fighting games. Pure moments of domination get caught on camera, shared online for the broader conversation about balancing and, in return, stir debates on player levels of fairness. This is an ecosystem.
The buffs to Ryu seem to be doing what Capcom had intended: making the character more viable and rewarding good fundamentals. But, in the very moment when good players get more tools to play with, they become downright terrifying.
So, if you are playing SF6 now and you run into a Ryu player who knows what they are doing-get ready to block. More. Or jump. Or parry. Or just accept you will get styled on every now and then and your only recourse is to learn from it and bounce back.
That is really fighting games in a nutshell: get destroyed, learn what destroyed you, and get better next time. Unless of course, the Ryu is too good, then you’ve just got to suck it up and get back onto the horse for the next match.
