Street Fighter 6 on Cross|Up - Cross|Charge Motions

Sticks and levers have come to be thought more and more as the "weakest" controller style for charge characters when compared to all-button-controllers and traditional DPad.  The logic being that the joystick needs to travel comparatively a very large distance across the center horizon (from back-to-forward) and vertically (down-to-up) for charge motions.  Standard DPads have less travel distance than lever, and Hit Box is leverless utilizing multiple fingers to discount this travel distance altogether.

The Hit Box Cross|Up equalizes the traditional arcade joystick to make charge motions as competitive and efficient to that of a leverless design.  It relieves any down-to-up awkwardness and wrist pain as well.

The standard XU layout has access to both analog and digital directions, just like a traditional gamepad.  This means you can use both the joystick AND buttons together to accelerate your input speed and accuracy!

Perfect Sonic Boom

Currently in Street Fighter 6, Guile has a "Perfect" Sonic Boom, meaning the Punch button needs to be pressed within a few frames of hitting Forward.  So far in the Beta it looks to be required for Guile's big combos, but changes can occur while the game is still in development.  But as things stand now, Cross|Up users can hit it frame-perfect nearly every time.

Down + Back (charge with lever)
(Release Down-Back)
Forward + Punch (buttons)

With sharing the motion between both hands, there is no travel time that you would get on a traditional joystick or pad.  Just let go of the stick and finish the motion with your right hand.  It is also very consistent and easy to time "Forward + Punch" with your right-hand's fingers.

 

 

This is how you efficiently throw a Sonic Boom and return to charging instantly.  It is also much kinder on your wrist than snapping forward and back as fast as humanly possible over and over again.  How many Booms do you typically throw in one play session?

X|SOCD Flash Kick

Notice how I am never letting go of Down-Back?  We are utilizing the power of SOCDs, or to be more Cross|Up specific, X|SOCDs (Cross Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Directions).  This is when you combine and resolve conflicting Left Analog + DPad inputs.

Imagine your typical gamepad and holding Down on the Left Analog Stick, then pressing Up on the DPad.  What happens?  Naturally, without resolution or 'cleaning,' it actually varies from game to game, but Cross|Up resolves these directions in a controlled way that lets you wield the power of both.

But in this case, charging Down-Back on the lever is still literally seen as Down + Back in the game's eyes.  When the Up Button overrides and replaces the Lever Down, the Left direction is still active and combines with the Up Button for a Cross|SOCD Up-Left.

Just-Frame: Low Flash Kick

"The Jump Button" (Up) with your right thumb makes it extremely easy to hit Up + Kick together at the same time!  If you master this technique, Guile will remain crouching as the attack animation begins.  Staying low keeps more distance between you and your opponent -- giving more reaction time for an anti-air!

Typically, there is a safety timing gap between Lever Up and pressing Kick.  It is risky to try to time Up + Kick perfectly with the traditional lever alone, because if you press Kick before Up, the move fails and you just kick.  It is safer to slightly delay the Kick during pre-jump frames.  However, this makes Guile stand up and begin jumping before the motion is complete.  Your hurtbox is raised and your anti-air might get stuffed; whereas a perfect input would keep Guile crouching as the Flash Kick begins.

 

 

Horizontal Charge Cross|Super

Down-Back (charge with lever)
(release lever)
Forward (tap button)
Back (lever)
(release lever)
Forward + Punch (buttons) 

Normally there is a gigantic travel distance of a stick tilting back and forth multiple times, but sharing the move between our left and right hands we can quickly juggle the stick and the movement buttons much faster for Sonic Hurricane!  Remember that Left + Right = Neutral, so try it slowly at first and the coordination will become second nature.  You do not want to start full speed and develop sloppy muscle memory!

In the video above I am counter-hitting the lever with my thumb as soon as it snaps back to Neutral for a quick double tap.  This is not a required technique.  At the demonstrated speed this is challenging since we need to sneak a Forward button tap between the hits.  Focus primarily on the timing of alternating the Forward Button between releasing the stick and tapping the button.

Mastering this technique is challenging, but the payoff is worth the effort.  This technique is very fast, which means we can react to whiff punish normals and stuff EX fireballs with a Sonic Hurricane!  That trumps almost every move - and do not forget about breaking those pesky armored Drive Rushes!  A crouching Guile just got even more terrifying.

Happy Training,
HBDustin

@hitboxarcade Better Flash Kicks on #CrossUp by using both hands! #StreetFighter6#SF6CBT#SF6#スト6#HowToCrossUp#FGC#FGCTikTok♬ original sound - HitBoxArcade

 - HBDustin co-created the Hit Box controller with his brother Shawn and is currently acting as company president.  He also creates educational content for you with love and has been the acting hands guy in Hit Box videos for the past decade.