---
title: 'In-Depth Explanation Of The Frame Meter In Street Fighter 6'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=zLecicjSYSs'
video_id: 'zLecicjSYSs'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 1253
---

# In-Depth Explanation Of The Frame Meter In Street Fighter 6

> Source: [In-Depth Explanation Of The Frame Meter In Street Fighter 6](https://youtube.com/watch?v=zLecicjSYSs)

## Summary

This video provides a detailed explanation of the frame meter in Street Fighter 6's training mode, covering how to interpret its colors, numbers, and bars to understand frame data, including startup, active, and recovery frames, as well as hitstun, blockstun, and frame advantage.

### Key Points

- **Frame Meter Introduction** [0:00] — The frame meter is a powerful new tool in Street Fighter 6's training mode that visualizes frame data.
- **What is a Frame?** [0:24] — A frame is 1/60th of a second. The game processes at 60 frames per second regardless of monitor refresh rate.
- **Three Parts of a Move** [1:24] — Every move has startup (green), active (red), and recovery (blue) frames. Startup is before the move can hit, active frames can hit, recovery is follow-through.
- **Frame Meter Legend** [2:08] — In-game legend calls startup 'counter state' and recovery 'punish counter state' because hitting during startup gives counter hit, during recovery gives punish counter.
- **Numbers on Frame Meter** [4:04] — Numbers count frames: e.g., 11 startup frames shown as 11 on the bar. A light blue bracket marks the end of a move.
- **Startup Number Convention** [4:50] — The startup number above the bar is one more than the bar count because it includes the first active frame. This is community convention.
- **Total Frames and Recovery Label** [6:04] — Total frames is the full duration. The 'recovery' label shows frame advantage (how plus or minus you are after the move).
- **Two Bars: Player 1 and Player 2** [6:27] — Top bar is player 1 (you), bottom bar is player 2 (dummy). Boxes directly above/below each other represent the same moment in time.
- **Hitstun and Blockstun** [7:59] — Yellow boxes represent hitstun or blockstun. Hitstun is longer than blockstun. Comparing recovery vs stun gives frame advantage.
- **Frame Advantage Example** [9:32] — If Ryu finishes his move before Luke's hitstun ends, Ryu is plus (can act first). If blockstun ends earlier, Ryu is minus.
- **Recovery Label Shows Advantage** [10:36] — The 'recovery' label directly shows how plus or minus you are. For example, after heavy punch Ryu is -2, Luke is +2.
- **Hit Stop and Extra Recovery Animations** [11:18] — Hit stop freezes the game clock for impact feel; it doesn't count as frames. Extra recovery animations after the bracket are cancelable.
- **Multiple Moves and Cancels** [12:56] — The frame meter can display multiple moves in sequence. Cancels overwrite the normal's data. Long sequences wrap around.
- **Other Colors: Light Blue, Purple, Striped** [14:44] — Light blue = committed action (dash/jump), purple = armor, striped gray/white = full invincibility, striped red/white = strike invincible, striped orange/white = projectile invincible, orange = projectile.
- **Projectile Color** [18:43] — Orange boxes indicate projectile active frames. Some physical moves count as projectiles (e.g., Ryu's palm strike).

### Conclusion

The frame meter is a comprehensive tool for understanding frame data, including startup, active, recovery, hitstun, blockstun, and frame advantage. Mastering it helps players improve their punishes, combos, and overall game sense.

## Transcript

the frame meter in Street Fighter 6 is
an extremely powerful tool that has
never been seen before in a fighting
games training mode this video will help
you understand what you are seeing and
the information you can get from it in
great detail if you want a quicker
summary of what the frame meter is there
is a shorter video on this channel that
you can search for as well
to begin we have to understand that a
frame is simply a measurement of time
literally you can think of frames in the
same way as animation frames fighting
games such as Street Fighter 6 process
all of its information at a rate of 60
frames per second regardless of the
refresh rate of your monitor so a frame
is essentially just a unit of time
equaling 1 60th of a second
each box in the frame meter represents
that 1 60th of a second AKA a single
frame if we slow this down you can see
how the animations of Ryu change at each
frame so what this Frame meter is
showing us is essentially just how long
a move lasts when performed
one of the most important pieces of
information we can get from the frame
meters comes from what each of the
different colors in the boxes represent
in almost every fighting game a move is
comprised of three parts one the startup
frames which is all of the frames of a
move before the move can actually hit an
opponent two the active frames which are
the frames of a move that can actually
contact and hit the opponent M3 recovery
frames the follow-through of an attack
that has to be completed before the
character is free to perform another
action
it's pretty clear now that the colors
shown in the frame meter represent these
three states the green boxes are the
startup frames the red ones are the
active frames and the blue boxes are the
recovery frames now if we look at the
frame meter Legend provided in the game
itself they list these colors more
specifically as counter State hitbox
appearance period and punish counter
State this is because traditionally in
many modern fighting games when you are
hit during a startup frame the opponent
is typically rewarded with a counter hit
and this holds true for Street Fighter
6. however when struck during your
recovery frames this is referred to as a
punish and Street Fighter 6 has turned
this into a full-fledged mechanic called
punish counters thus in the in-game
frame meter Legend startup frames are
referred to as counter State and
Recovery frames are listed as punish
counter state
uh as an aside uh getting hit out of
active frames also registers as counter
hits in Street Fighter 6. uh this
actually wasn't the case in streets in
in previous Street Fighter games like
Street Fighter 5 and Street Fighter 4.
now obviously some moves can hit more
than one time this is also represented
on the frame bar as you can see in this
example reuse heavy spin kick AKA The
Heavy Tatsu can hit three times so
you'll see during the progress of the
frame meter filling up three separate
chunks of red boxes this is for each
time the move can hit reuse medium Tatsu
can only hit twice and the light Tatsu
can only hit once and you can see that
easily here you'll notice that the areas
in between each hit are considered
punish frames by their blue color so if
you do get hit out of those the opponent
is rewarded with a punish counter this
won't always be the case uh it'll be a
move by move basis but this will be true
of the majority of multi-hitting moves
so now that you know what the three main
colors are this also explains what most
of the numbers you see are on the frame
meter itself they're counting the frames
for you for this particular attack there
are 11 startup frames so you see 11
written on the frame meter at the end of
the green startup frames
on the other side there are 20 recovery
frames for this move so 20 is written at
the end of the blue recovery frames also
when a move ends the game draws a light
blue end bracket on the last frame so
you could more easily see when a move
ends and we'll see what this is for in a
bit
however above the frame meter you'll see
more data
startups should seem obvious but you'll
notice that the startup always seems to
be one larger than the number written on
the frame meter itself
in this case the frame meter reads 11
and the startup is listed as 12 frames
that's because when describing a move
startup it has become convention in the
fighting game Community to list the time
it takes to get to the first active
frame as a move startup so it's always
the total number of startup frames plus
one for the first active frame the
reason for this is easier calculations
for Combos and punishes but you don't
need to know the reason for now just
keep in mind that startup listed up here
will always be one larger than the total
number of actual startup frames
it's confusing yes uh but it's too late
to go back 15 years and change history
uh when the community decided to go this
route it's now convention and thankfully
Capcom went with our community's
convention the more you play fighting
games the more you'll learn that knowing
the startup of moves is super important
so it being listed here is very helpful
total frames is just that how many
frames your move takes from start to
finish nothing crazy to explain here
however recovery data that you see here
is not the count of recovery frames uh
like the number that you see written on
the frame meter for now just keep this
label in mind uh it will be explained
later on in this video
so obviously up to this point I've been
ignoring the fact that there are
actually two bars on the screen well the
top bar represents the first player the
character you are typically controlling
in training mode the Bottom bar
represents the second player typically
the training dummy
okay
this is very important so listen
carefully
literally the boxes directly above and
below each other represent the exact
same moment in time so if both
characters are performing something you
can see exactly what state both
characters were in at any given specific
frame which again is just a moment in
time
in this example here you can see that
Luke starts his move four frames before
Ryu does
so that's why you'll see four empty
boxes in reusebar representing that he
wasn't performing any move for those
four frames his bar starts to fill up
with information part way through the
bar once he actually starts his move and
you can see the exact moment Ryu starts
in comparison to Luke thanks to these
Frame data bars again when two actions
are occurring at the same time each
column of boxes match the exact moment
in time
so understanding that each column is a
moment in time is even more important
when it comes to the concepts of hitstun
and block stun
every move when contacting the opponent
causes a predetermined fixed amount of
hits done which is the amount of time a
character reels when struck and a fixed
amount of blocks done which is the
amount of time a character is stuck in
guarding state after blocking an attack
a single attack in Street Fighter 6 well
99 of the time have different lengths of
hit stun and block stun with blocks done
being shorter than hitstun but both mean
that the opponent is stuck in that state
until the hits done or block stun ends
this is what the Yellow Boxes represent
periods of time a character is stuck in
either hit stun or block stun as you can
see here as soon as Ryu reaches his
first active frame AKA a red box and
hits Luke Luke's frame meter now starts
to fill up with yellow boxes starting at
the same time as that first Red Box
indicating that he is now beginning his
period of hit stun
then Ryu completes his move afterwards
and Luke goes through the predetermined
length of hit stun but you'll notice
something
Ryu finishes his move
before Luke finishes his period of hits
done
this means Ryu can act for four frames
before Luke can this is what we refer to
as being Plus in this situation on hit
Ryu is plus four
but let's see what happens when Luke
blocks the same move the block stun is
shorter than the hit stun so Luke
actually recovers much quicker four
frames before Ryu in fact so this time
Luke can act for four frames before Ryu
this is what we refer to as being minus
in this situation Ryu is minus four
keep in mind whatever we call the
situation for one character it's the
exact opposite for the other character
Ryu being plus four means Luke is minus
four were you being minus four means
Luke is plus four
so remember the recovery label I told
you to remember
that's the information this label gives
you how plus or minus you are after your
action completes as you can see here
after heavy punch Ryu is -2 but at the
bottom Luke is listed as plus two this
is because Luke can act for two frames
before Ryu however after heavy kick Ryu
is plus one and Luke is minus one so in
this instance Ryu can act one frame
before Luke
so the game counts the advantage for you
and displays it here very conveniently
under recovery
now before we keep going uh there's a
couple of clarifications here because
I'm sure these questions will come up
um one when a move connects there are
some frames of Animation where the frame
meter doesn't fill up at all uh these
are referred to as hit stop uh or block
stop even though the game animates a few
frames at the point of impact the game's
internal clock has technically Frozen
time you can see this because the frame
meter doesn't change during this period
these periods of freeze are there to
create a more impactful feel for the
moves uh for just visual appeal as well
as giving players more time to react to
hits for confirms as cancels but they do
not count for Frame data at all and uh
the second clarification is that at
times the frame meter clearly shows that
a move has completed but you can still
see the character animating before
returning to their Idol animation why
don't those frames count as recovery
well many moves in Street Fighter 6 have
extra recovery animation frames that are
simply for style or to make sure the
moves look natural animation wise when
they complete however if you press a
button or hold a direction on any of
these extra recovery frames you will
immediately cancel the animation and do
whatever you want but until the frame
meter puts that little end bracket on
the bars those recovery frames are very
real and cannot be interrupted
now the frame meter doesn't have to
represent only a single action in fact
you can stitch moves in succession and
they'll be properly displayed on the
frame meter one after another here you
see Ryu do two standing medium punches
and both are displayed in the bar back
to back
remember the light blue closed bracket I
mentioned earlier well this is why they
have it so you can more easily see when
one move ends and the next one starts
however since you can cancel some normal
attacks into special moves the normal
attack technically never ends and you'll
literally see these special moves data
overwrite the normal moves data in the
frame meter at the moment of the cancel
also if a sequence happens to last
longer then the frame meter can display
it simply wraps around and draws on top
of the previous information
this isn't for any reason other than
there's really no other way they could
have displayed this in the limited
amount of screen space they had without
inundating the screen with bars
everywhere uh there's already enough
information on the screen as it is
and speaking of already enough
information as it is the intention of
this video was also to show how the
frame meter can clearly illustrate the
concept of turns in fighting games as
well as showing you how to use the frame
meter to come up with new combos or to
figure out how combos work
however I'll potentially be saving this
for a part two of this video that I
might produce in the future please let
me know in the comments if this is
something you'd love to see and I'll get
started on it right away
now before we call it a day here there
are a few more colored boxes you'll see
in the in-game frame meter Legend and I
just want to explain what those are for
many actions there are states in which
you are committed to the action but are
not actually in a counter hit state or a
punish counter State these actions are
typically movement based such as dashes
and jumping for these actions they use a
light blue box to represent that you are
committed to an action but getting hit
out of them results in just a normal hit
not any sort of counter
many moves in this game are also able to
absorb hits universally Drive Perry's
and drive impacts can absorb hits and
not be stopped characters like mariza
have a bunch of armor on a bunch of her
attacks as well that can also absorb
hits these frames are represented by
purple boxes in the frame meter so if
you ever feel like you hit the opponent
and they went right through it you can
double check with the frame meter to see
if the move actually has armor in Street
Fighter 6 like in Street Fighter 5 there
are various forms of invincibility in
the game some moves are invincible to
literally everything some are only
invulnerable to projectiles and some are
invincible to everything except
projectiles any type of invincibility is
represented in the frame meter as
striped boxes most characters have a get
off me move that when you use the
overdrive AKA EX version of the move it
has actual invincibility and cannot be
hit at all such as reuse OD shodokin aka
the ex Dragon punch the frame meter
displays this with a striped gray and
white box that shows you that you cannot
be hit out of these frames at all
also it's almost Universal in the game
that level one supers can go through
attacks but cannot go through
projectiles these kind of moves are
referred to as strike invincible and
these frames are represented in the
frame meter as striped red and white
boxes
and finally some characters have moves
that just go through projectiles and
only projectiles uh Ken's heavy shot you
can for example is designed to be able
to pass through projectiles and has even
more projectile invincibility when done
from his command Dash you can see here
how the projectile invincibility frames
allow it to pass right through reuse
Fireball
now it should be noted that the initial
active frames seem to also contain
projectile invincibility but because
they can only display one color at once
they prioritize showing the active frame
over it being projectile Invincible they
could have created yet another color but
I think that probably would have gotten
a little too confusing and just to show
you an example uh of it only being
projectile Invincible here is an example
of it trading with another strike
there are actually more types of
invincibility that are not listed in the
frame meter which is unfortunate but as
I said they were probably worried about
making it more complex than it already
is uh but moves that for example are
invincible to Airborne attacks or moves
that are invincible only to throws are
not properly represented here in the
frame meter perhaps a future patch may
add that in or maybe even the release
version already has it we'll find out
soon enough
finally attacks that are just
projectiles get their own color boxes
that are colored orange are simply
periods of time when a projectile can
hit during the move but keep in mind
some moves like reuse hashogeki AKA his
palms strike look like a normal physical
strike but actually count as a
projectile that's why you see reuse
active frames here being orange instead
of red that means that strike Invincible
moves you know with the red and white
stripes will actually get hit by this
but projectile Invincible moves with the
orange and white stripes will go right
through it
also these kind of moves cancel out
other projectiles like we see were you
doing here versus Luke's sandblaster
I hope this video has been helpful in
helping you learn what the frame meter
is used for again there's so much more
you can do with it and the intention was
to include all of it here but I didn't
want to make this video too long so if
the demand is there for it leave a
comment below and let me know that you
want to see a part two explaining how
the frame meter can help you understand
turns and help you figure out Combos and
find out what works as a combo for your
character
in any case thanks for watching find me
on twitch.tv slash Jay chenzor where I
will be streaming a lot of Street
Fighter 6 and I love helping viewers
improve at fighting games especially
beginners so please stop by say hi and
ask me all the questions also I have a
series of educational videos coming out
for beginners as well so do a search for
First Attack 2023 uh here on this
channel all right make sure to like And
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drops peace out and take care