Street Fighter 6’s new character has real troll potential

Here’s one of my dirty little secrets: I love a good troll character in a fighting game While I play plenty of meta-friendly characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, my personal favorite is R.O.B. thanks to his truly annoying move set. Rather than getting up in my foes’ face, I’m just as happy to piss them off by repeatedly shooting my top and eye lasers at them. Sometimes it’s about overwhelming your opponent so much that they open themselves up to a sloppy mistake.

Street Fighter 6 is about to get its own troll thanks to its next downloadable character, Mai. That might sound a little surprising at first when looking at her fairly straightforward moves. But after toying around with her for a good 45 minutes during a preview event, I’ve discovered some potential for aggravation that I’m already excited to inflict on my friends.

Joining the roster on February 5, Mai is guest character who comes from the world of SNK fighters like Fatal Fury. If you didn’t know that connection, though, you’d probably mistake her for a proper Street Fighter veteran. She fits right in with characters like Chun Li as a buff butt-kicker with legs of steel.

When I started toying around with her, Mai’s move set felt like business as usual. She’s a close-range fighter for the most part, utilizing a string of attacks that can really punish foes who don’t keep their guard up. That includes a string of fiery punches with aerial combo potential and a multi-hit special ability that can knock an opponent across the screen while sticking close to them. She can even hit a few professional wrestling moves, like a head scissors takedown. All of that is fairly straightforward.

Mai has one special trick up her sleeve, though. Throughout a battle, she accumulates fans that she can toss out. It’s a basic projectile that gives her the bit of range she needs. She can’t spam these, as she needs to build up and maintain a stock of them, but they can be crucial when players need to get a little distance during a heated fight.

Those fans have one devilish quirk that makes them perfect for trolls like me. They can be easily blocked, but that doesn’t destroy them. Instead, it just sends the fans up into the air and lobs it back down on the opponent’s head. That stuns them for a quick moment, just long enough to create an opening. In my early tests, Mai’s fans felt difficult to fully avoid thanks to that bit of physics. It’ll take some very quick thinking to avoid taking a hit, creating the kind of infuriating annoyance that I secretly love in fighting games. In some roundabout way, she reminds me of R.O.B. with his dumb little top.

If that sounds frustrating, don’t worry too much. Mai’s limited stock of fans means that she can’t spam that attack over and over. It’s more just handy as an occasional momentum swing that ensures she has a chance to get a hit or two in during a round. Like any fighting game character, it’ll still take practice to know the exact moment to toss one out or the best distance to throw it from. I imagine the Street Fighter community will figure out how to counter her quickly, but I look forward to causing some headaches online until then.

Mai joins Street Fighter 6‘s roster on February 5.