What Is Frame Data in Street Fighter 6?

Capcom has made several major changes to the upcoming Street Fighter 6 including its frame data. Casual players may be unfamiliar with the term frame data as it is predominantly used by competitive players who want to take their combat to the next level. Frame data is a common term used in fighting games like Street Fighter and Tekken to decide which types of attack to use and when to use them. Here is all you need to know about frame data in Street Fighter 6 and how Capcom has changed things up.  

What is frame data in Street Fighter 6?

A ‘frame’ is a single movement in a sequence used to execute any action or attack. It is used to represent the smallest unit of time in the game. In Street Fighter 6 and other similar fighting games, a frame is 1/60th of a second since the game runs on 60 FPS. Every single action including walking, attacking and blocking can be measured in a number of frames. 

When two characters face off, they each have attacks that require a certain number of frames to execute and go back to their default stance. Frame data comes from the addition of all the frames or move stages involved in a single attack. This includes:

• Startup: The initial movement to start executing an attack. You can think of this as winding up for the punch, where a character’s arm is being drawn back. 

• Active: The movement where the character hits or grabs the opponent. 

• Recovery: Recovery also denotes the difference in time between when you or your opponent can act after landing a move. When in recovery, you cannot block or perform any other action.

Here is where the positive or negative numbers come in. If the number is positive, you have a ‘frame advantage’ and you can act before your opponent recovers, if it is negative, they can act before you. A +3 means you can act 3 frames before the opponent, while -6 means the opponent can act 6 frames before you; 0 indicates a neutral advantage where both characters can act simultaneously. If you’re at a frame disadvantage, you can be punished by your opponent if they time it correctly. 

Normal attacks can be quite fast with a 3 frames startup, or as slow as 12 frames. Throws are usually 5 frames. Specials can vary from 3 to 60 frames. Criticals can be as fast as 1 frame. Blocks can also drastically change your positive frames to negative. Some specials are good, but can get you a -8 if blocked, meaning any move that's a 3-8 frame startup becomes a guaranteed punish. Street Fighter 6 comes with a frame data counter in training mode which lets you experiment with stringing different moves together.

Capcom brings changes to throws in Street Fighter 6

Throws are a staple of character movesets in Street Fighter games. While in earlier titles the move took a total of 24 frames to complete, in Street Fighter 6, throws have an additional 6 frames for recovery, making them a total of 30 frames. This makes throws more punishable with a backdash into a light attack, which gives the extra benefit now of putting the opponent in the dangerous Punish Counter state.

Fighting Game YouTuber rooflemonger talks about how Capcom has changed up throws in the game bringing with it some pros and cons. While throws are more punishable, throw loops have been brought back. However, Capcom has balanced it out by buffing throw technicals (moves used to escape throws).