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

[00:00] the frame meter in Street Fighter 6 is

[00:03] an extremely powerful tool that has

[00:06] never been seen before in a fighting

[00:07] games training mode this video will help

[00:10] you understand what you are seeing and

[00:12] the information you can get from it in

[00:14] great detail if you want a quicker

[00:17] summary of what the frame meter is there

[00:19] is a shorter video on this channel that

[00:21] you can search for as well

[00:24] to begin we have to understand that a

[00:26] frame is simply a measurement of time

[00:29] literally you can think of frames in the

[00:32] same way as animation frames fighting

[00:35] games such as Street Fighter 6 process

[00:37] all of its information at a rate of 60

[00:40] frames per second regardless of the

[00:43] refresh rate of your monitor so a frame

[00:46] is essentially just a unit of time

[00:48] equaling 1 60th of a second

[00:51] each box in the frame meter represents

[00:55] that 1 60th of a second AKA a single

[01:00] frame if we slow this down you can see

[01:04] how the animations of Ryu change at each

[01:07] frame so what this Frame meter is

[01:10] showing us is essentially just how long

[01:13] a move lasts when performed

[01:16] one of the most important pieces of

[01:17] information we can get from the frame

[01:19] meters comes from what each of the

[01:21] different colors in the boxes represent

[01:24] in almost every fighting game a move is

[01:27] comprised of three parts one the startup

[01:30] frames which is all of the frames of a

[01:33] move before the move can actually hit an

[01:35] opponent two the active frames which are

[01:39] the frames of a move that can actually

[01:41] contact and hit the opponent M3 recovery

[01:45] frames the follow-through of an attack

[01:48] that has to be completed before the

[01:50] character is free to perform another

[01:52] action

[01:54] it's pretty clear now that the colors

[01:56] shown in the frame meter represent these

[01:58] three states the green boxes are the

[02:00] startup frames the red ones are the

[02:03] active frames and the blue boxes are the

[02:05] recovery frames now if we look at the

[02:08] frame meter Legend provided in the game

[02:10] itself they list these colors more

[02:13] specifically as counter State hitbox

[02:16] appearance period and punish counter

[02:19] State this is because traditionally in

[02:22] many modern fighting games when you are

[02:25] hit during a startup frame the opponent

[02:28] is typically rewarded with a counter hit

[02:31] and this holds true for Street Fighter

[02:33] 6. however when struck during your

[02:36] recovery frames this is referred to as a

[02:39] punish and Street Fighter 6 has turned

[02:42] this into a full-fledged mechanic called

[02:45] punish counters thus in the in-game

[02:48] frame meter Legend startup frames are

[02:51] referred to as counter State and

[02:53] Recovery frames are listed as punish

[02:56] counter state

[02:58] uh as an aside uh getting hit out of

[03:00] active frames also registers as counter

[03:03] hits in Street Fighter 6. uh this

[03:06] actually wasn't the case in streets in

[03:08] in previous Street Fighter games like

[03:09] Street Fighter 5 and Street Fighter 4.

[03:12] now obviously some moves can hit more

[03:15] than one time this is also represented

[03:17] on the frame bar as you can see in this

[03:20] example reuse heavy spin kick AKA The

[03:23] Heavy Tatsu can hit three times so

[03:26] you'll see during the progress of the

[03:28] frame meter filling up three separate

[03:31] chunks of red boxes this is for each

[03:33] time the move can hit reuse medium Tatsu

[03:36] can only hit twice and the light Tatsu

[03:38] can only hit once and you can see that

[03:41] easily here you'll notice that the areas

[03:43] in between each hit are considered

[03:46] punish frames by their blue color so if

[03:50] you do get hit out of those the opponent

[03:52] is rewarded with a punish counter this

[03:55] won't always be the case uh it'll be a

[03:57] move by move basis but this will be true

[04:00] of the majority of multi-hitting moves

[04:04] so now that you know what the three main

[04:06] colors are this also explains what most

[04:09] of the numbers you see are on the frame

[04:12] meter itself they're counting the frames

[04:15] for you for this particular attack there

[04:18] are 11 startup frames so you see 11

[04:21] written on the frame meter at the end of

[04:23] the green startup frames

[04:25] on the other side there are 20 recovery

[04:28] frames for this move so 20 is written at

[04:31] the end of the blue recovery frames also

[04:34] when a move ends the game draws a light

[04:36] blue end bracket on the last frame so

[04:39] you could more easily see when a move

[04:41] ends and we'll see what this is for in a

[04:44] bit

[04:45] however above the frame meter you'll see

[04:48] more data

[04:50] startups should seem obvious but you'll

[04:53] notice that the startup always seems to

[04:56] be one larger than the number written on

[04:58] the frame meter itself

[05:00] in this case the frame meter reads 11

[05:02] and the startup is listed as 12 frames

[05:05] that's because when describing a move

[05:07] startup it has become convention in the

[05:10] fighting game Community to list the time

[05:12] it takes to get to the first active

[05:15] frame as a move startup so it's always

[05:18] the total number of startup frames plus

[05:21] one for the first active frame the

[05:24] reason for this is easier calculations

[05:26] for Combos and punishes but you don't

[05:28] need to know the reason for now just

[05:30] keep in mind that startup listed up here

[05:33] will always be one larger than the total

[05:36] number of actual startup frames

[05:39] it's confusing yes uh but it's too late

[05:42] to go back 15 years and change history

[05:45] uh when the community decided to go this

[05:47] route it's now convention and thankfully

[05:50] Capcom went with our community's

[05:53] convention the more you play fighting

[05:55] games the more you'll learn that knowing

[05:57] the startup of moves is super important

[05:59] so it being listed here is very helpful

[06:04] total frames is just that how many

[06:06] frames your move takes from start to

[06:08] finish nothing crazy to explain here

[06:10] however recovery data that you see here

[06:13] is not the count of recovery frames uh

[06:17] like the number that you see written on

[06:18] the frame meter for now just keep this

[06:22] label in mind uh it will be explained

[06:24] later on in this video

[06:27] so obviously up to this point I've been

[06:30] ignoring the fact that there are

[06:31] actually two bars on the screen well the

[06:35] top bar represents the first player the

[06:37] character you are typically controlling

[06:39] in training mode the Bottom bar

[06:41] represents the second player typically

[06:44] the training dummy

[06:46] okay

[06:47] this is very important so listen

[06:51] carefully

[06:52] literally the boxes directly above and

[06:56] below each other represent the exact

[07:00] same moment in time so if both

[07:04] characters are performing something you

[07:06] can see exactly what state both

[07:09] characters were in at any given specific

[07:13] frame which again is just a moment in

[07:18] time

[07:19] in this example here you can see that

[07:22] Luke starts his move four frames before

[07:24] Ryu does

[07:26] so that's why you'll see four empty

[07:28] boxes in reusebar representing that he

[07:31] wasn't performing any move for those

[07:34] four frames his bar starts to fill up

[07:37] with information part way through the

[07:39] bar once he actually starts his move and

[07:43] you can see the exact moment Ryu starts

[07:45] in comparison to Luke thanks to these

[07:48] Frame data bars again when two actions

[07:51] are occurring at the same time each

[07:53] column of boxes match the exact moment

[07:57] in time

[07:59] so understanding that each column is a

[08:01] moment in time is even more important

[08:04] when it comes to the concepts of hitstun

[08:07] and block stun

[08:09] every move when contacting the opponent

[08:12] causes a predetermined fixed amount of

[08:16] hits done which is the amount of time a

[08:19] character reels when struck and a fixed

[08:22] amount of blocks done which is the

[08:25] amount of time a character is stuck in

[08:27] guarding state after blocking an attack

[08:30] a single attack in Street Fighter 6 well

[08:33] 99 of the time have different lengths of

[08:36] hit stun and block stun with blocks done

[08:39] being shorter than hitstun but both mean

[08:43] that the opponent is stuck in that state

[08:46] until the hits done or block stun ends

[08:51] this is what the Yellow Boxes represent

[08:55] periods of time a character is stuck in

[08:59] either hit stun or block stun as you can

[09:02] see here as soon as Ryu reaches his

[09:05] first active frame AKA a red box and

[09:09] hits Luke Luke's frame meter now starts

[09:13] to fill up with yellow boxes starting at

[09:16] the same time as that first Red Box

[09:18] indicating that he is now beginning his

[09:21] period of hit stun

[09:23] then Ryu completes his move afterwards

[09:25] and Luke goes through the predetermined

[09:28] length of hit stun but you'll notice

[09:31] something

[09:32] Ryu finishes his move

[09:35] before Luke finishes his period of hits

[09:37] done

[09:38] this means Ryu can act for four frames

[09:43] before Luke can this is what we refer to

[09:47] as being Plus in this situation on hit

[09:51] Ryu is plus four

[09:55] but let's see what happens when Luke

[09:58] blocks the same move the block stun is

[10:01] shorter than the hit stun so Luke

[10:04] actually recovers much quicker four

[10:06] frames before Ryu in fact so this time

[10:10] Luke can act for four frames before Ryu

[10:14] this is what we refer to as being minus

[10:17] in this situation Ryu is minus four

[10:22] keep in mind whatever we call the

[10:24] situation for one character it's the

[10:26] exact opposite for the other character

[10:28] Ryu being plus four means Luke is minus

[10:31] four were you being minus four means

[10:33] Luke is plus four

[10:36] so remember the recovery label I told

[10:39] you to remember

[10:40] that's the information this label gives

[10:43] you how plus or minus you are after your

[10:46] action completes as you can see here

[10:49] after heavy punch Ryu is -2 but at the

[10:53] bottom Luke is listed as plus two this

[10:56] is because Luke can act for two frames

[10:58] before Ryu however after heavy kick Ryu

[11:02] is plus one and Luke is minus one so in

[11:06] this instance Ryu can act one frame

[11:08] before Luke

[11:10] so the game counts the advantage for you

[11:12] and displays it here very conveniently

[11:15] under recovery

[11:18] now before we keep going uh there's a

[11:20] couple of clarifications here because

[11:22] I'm sure these questions will come up

[11:24] um one when a move connects there are

[11:27] some frames of Animation where the frame

[11:29] meter doesn't fill up at all uh these

[11:32] are referred to as hit stop uh or block

[11:35] stop even though the game animates a few

[11:38] frames at the point of impact the game's

[11:42] internal clock has technically Frozen

[11:44] time you can see this because the frame

[11:47] meter doesn't change during this period

[11:49] these periods of freeze are there to

[11:53] create a more impactful feel for the

[11:56] moves uh for just visual appeal as well

[11:59] as giving players more time to react to

[12:02] hits for confirms as cancels but they do

[12:05] not count for Frame data at all and uh

[12:09] the second clarification is that at

[12:11] times the frame meter clearly shows that

[12:14] a move has completed but you can still

[12:16] see the character animating before

[12:18] returning to their Idol animation why

[12:21] don't those frames count as recovery

[12:24] well many moves in Street Fighter 6 have

[12:26] extra recovery animation frames that are

[12:29] simply for style or to make sure the

[12:32] moves look natural animation wise when

[12:35] they complete however if you press a

[12:37] button or hold a direction on any of

[12:40] these extra recovery frames you will

[12:42] immediately cancel the animation and do

[12:44] whatever you want but until the frame

[12:47] meter puts that little end bracket on

[12:50] the bars those recovery frames are very

[12:53] real and cannot be interrupted

[12:56] now the frame meter doesn't have to

[12:58] represent only a single action in fact

[13:01] you can stitch moves in succession and

[13:04] they'll be properly displayed on the

[13:06] frame meter one after another here you

[13:09] see Ryu do two standing medium punches

[13:11] and both are displayed in the bar back

[13:13] to back

[13:14] remember the light blue closed bracket I

[13:17] mentioned earlier well this is why they

[13:20] have it so you can more easily see when

[13:22] one move ends and the next one starts

[13:24] however since you can cancel some normal

[13:27] attacks into special moves the normal

[13:30] attack technically never ends and you'll

[13:33] literally see these special moves data

[13:35] overwrite the normal moves data in the

[13:37] frame meter at the moment of the cancel

[13:40] also if a sequence happens to last

[13:43] longer then the frame meter can display

[13:45] it simply wraps around and draws on top

[13:48] of the previous information

[13:51] this isn't for any reason other than

[13:53] there's really no other way they could

[13:55] have displayed this in the limited

[13:57] amount of screen space they had without

[13:59] inundating the screen with bars

[14:02] everywhere uh there's already enough

[14:05] information on the screen as it is

[14:09] and speaking of already enough

[14:11] information as it is the intention of

[14:14] this video was also to show how the

[14:16] frame meter can clearly illustrate the

[14:19] concept of turns in fighting games as

[14:22] well as showing you how to use the frame

[14:24] meter to come up with new combos or to

[14:27] figure out how combos work

[14:29] however I'll potentially be saving this

[14:32] for a part two of this video that I

[14:35] might produce in the future please let

[14:37] me know in the comments if this is

[14:39] something you'd love to see and I'll get

[14:42] started on it right away

[14:44] now before we call it a day here there

[14:47] are a few more colored boxes you'll see

[14:49] in the in-game frame meter Legend and I

[14:52] just want to explain what those are for

[14:56] many actions there are states in which

[14:58] you are committed to the action but are

[15:01] not actually in a counter hit state or a

[15:04] punish counter State these actions are

[15:07] typically movement based such as dashes

[15:11] and jumping for these actions they use a

[15:14] light blue box to represent that you are

[15:16] committed to an action but getting hit

[15:19] out of them results in just a normal hit

[15:22] not any sort of counter

[15:25] many moves in this game are also able to

[15:27] absorb hits universally Drive Perry's

[15:31] and drive impacts can absorb hits and

[15:34] not be stopped characters like mariza

[15:37] have a bunch of armor on a bunch of her

[15:40] attacks as well that can also absorb

[15:43] hits these frames are represented by

[15:46] purple boxes in the frame meter so if

[15:49] you ever feel like you hit the opponent

[15:51] and they went right through it you can

[15:53] double check with the frame meter to see

[15:55] if the move actually has armor in Street

[15:58] Fighter 6 like in Street Fighter 5 there

[16:02] are various forms of invincibility in

[16:04] the game some moves are invincible to

[16:06] literally everything some are only

[16:09] invulnerable to projectiles and some are

[16:12] invincible to everything except

[16:14] projectiles any type of invincibility is

[16:18] represented in the frame meter as

[16:20] striped boxes most characters have a get

[16:24] off me move that when you use the

[16:26] overdrive AKA EX version of the move it

[16:30] has actual invincibility and cannot be

[16:33] hit at all such as reuse OD shodokin aka

[16:38] the ex Dragon punch the frame meter

[16:41] displays this with a striped gray and

[16:43] white box that shows you that you cannot

[16:47] be hit out of these frames at all

[16:52] also it's almost Universal in the game

[16:54] that level one supers can go through

[16:57] attacks but cannot go through

[17:00] projectiles these kind of moves are

[17:03] referred to as strike invincible and

[17:06] these frames are represented in the

[17:08] frame meter as striped red and white

[17:10] boxes

[17:11] and finally some characters have moves

[17:14] that just go through projectiles and

[17:17] only projectiles uh Ken's heavy shot you

[17:20] can for example is designed to be able

[17:22] to pass through projectiles and has even

[17:25] more projectile invincibility when done

[17:27] from his command Dash you can see here

[17:30] how the projectile invincibility frames

[17:32] allow it to pass right through reuse

[17:35] Fireball

[17:37] now it should be noted that the initial

[17:39] active frames seem to also contain

[17:41] projectile invincibility but because

[17:44] they can only display one color at once

[17:46] they prioritize showing the active frame

[17:49] over it being projectile Invincible they

[17:52] could have created yet another color but

[17:54] I think that probably would have gotten

[17:56] a little too confusing and just to show

[17:59] you an example uh of it only being

[18:01] projectile Invincible here is an example

[18:05] of it trading with another strike

[18:09] there are actually more types of

[18:11] invincibility that are not listed in the

[18:14] frame meter which is unfortunate but as

[18:18] I said they were probably worried about

[18:19] making it more complex than it already

[18:22] is uh but moves that for example are

[18:25] invincible to Airborne attacks or moves

[18:28] that are invincible only to throws are

[18:31] not properly represented here in the

[18:33] frame meter perhaps a future patch may

[18:36] add that in or maybe even the release

[18:38] version already has it we'll find out

[18:41] soon enough

[18:43] finally attacks that are just

[18:45] projectiles get their own color boxes

[18:48] that are colored orange are simply

[18:50] periods of time when a projectile can

[18:53] hit during the move but keep in mind

[18:56] some moves like reuse hashogeki AKA his

[19:00] palms strike look like a normal physical

[19:03] strike but actually count as a

[19:06] projectile that's why you see reuse

[19:09] active frames here being orange instead

[19:12] of red that means that strike Invincible

[19:15] moves you know with the red and white

[19:17] stripes will actually get hit by this

[19:20] but projectile Invincible moves with the

[19:23] orange and white stripes will go right

[19:26] through it

[19:27] also these kind of moves cancel out

[19:30] other projectiles like we see were you

[19:33] doing here versus Luke's sandblaster

[19:37] I hope this video has been helpful in

[19:39] helping you learn what the frame meter

[19:41] is used for again there's so much more

[19:45] you can do with it and the intention was

[19:47] to include all of it here but I didn't

[19:50] want to make this video too long so if

[19:53] the demand is there for it leave a

[19:55] comment below and let me know that you

[19:57] want to see a part two explaining how

[19:59] the frame meter can help you understand

[20:01] turns and help you figure out Combos and

[20:05] find out what works as a combo for your

[20:08] character

[20:09] in any case thanks for watching find me

[20:11] on twitch.tv slash Jay chenzor where I

[20:15] will be streaming a lot of Street

[20:17] Fighter 6 and I love helping viewers

[20:20] improve at fighting games especially

[20:22] beginners so please stop by say hi and

[20:26] ask me all the questions also I have a

[20:29] series of educational videos coming out

[20:31] for beginners as well so do a search for

[20:35] First Attack 2023 uh here on this

[20:39] channel all right make sure to like And

[20:41] subscribe click the little bell icon so

[20:44] you get notified whenever a new video

[20:45] drops peace out and take care