Sole Sister
Even I, a dyed-in–the-wool Juri obsessive, was not expecting her to debut this early. But I shoulda fucking better known better — Juri waits in line for nobody. And so it was, at the apex of this weekend’s Evo 2022 tournament, that Capcom announced that the alluring, manic, and incredibly violent spider was making her return to the ring in Street Fighter 6. Something wicked this way comes…
Hailing from Korea, and riding into town like a bat outta hell, Juri Han will be bringing her wild, unpredictable, and dangerous nature to SF6, bedecked in awesome new gear and rocking something of a more Casual Fridays attitude. In a post-S.I.N. and post-Shadaloo world, it seems that both Juri’s role as an assassin and her thirst for vengeance is finally sated, leaving a young woman whose only desire is to seek thrills, stir up trouble, and ensure that all she encounters meet the business end of her powerful legs.
Perhaps taking some of Juri’s Street Fighter V criticism to heart, it appears that the Street Fighter 6 iteration of Juri is an attempt to blend the best of both her SSFIV and SFV iterations while removing some of the hurdles that left her wanting in the face of many matchups. From the trailer, we can already see many of her SFV normals are intact, including her all-important B+HK axe kick, her St. HP, and her St. HK, (though curious by its absence is Juri’s key tool, St. MK, though it is perhaps hidden in new animation). Juri’s SFV target combo can be spotted, as can her Cr. HP anti-air.
In regards to specials, we see a mix of her SSFIV & SFV skills. The DP is in full effect, and her SSFIV dive kick (complete with EX follow-up option) is also on deck. Interestingly, there is no sign of her SFV wheel kick, which was an important tool in overcoming fireball spammers. It could be that the dive kick will take this role, much as it did in SSFIV. The Fuha system returns, but with a new rebuild. While the details have not been clarified, it seems that Juri can still store her Fuhas for chain combos, but that she might not have to store them to use them as singular moves. We need clarity on this.
Oh, and, of course, the Feng Shui Engine is here, live and in living color, once again opening up chained normals/specials options for a high-pressure barrage of quick-fire close-quarters strikes.
Juri’s Super is a callback to her SSFIV days, with the removal of her ultra-dull SFV fireball and the return of her dramatic launcher into sky-high axe-kick into acrobatic catch-‘n’-slam. Capcom, fully aware of what they are doing, has included a little feet action, hilariously revealing an astounding level of intricate detail that has been put into rendering Juri’s soles. Yeah, I’m all for it. And you can @ me I don’t give a shit.
I love Juri’s new look, I love her new model, and I’m really excited to see how her super fast-paced style adapts to SF6‘s somewhat more deliberately paced combo system. I’m definitely all for a rework of the Fuha system — I think every Juri main is — and I hope we will get to spend way more time spacing correctly and way less time performing special moves in order to perform special moves. Could this finally be the Juri that takes me to the next level of my own gameplay?
I really hope so, after all, that would be a simply amazing feet.
Street Fighter 6 launches 2023 on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms. We will take a look at Kimberly later today. In the meantime, check out our previous reports on the leaked character roster, our thoughts on new heroes Luke and Jamie, a look at the sequel’s intriguing new mechanics, and Capcom’s promising confidence in the release.
Oh, and, of course, congratulations to the world’s finest Juri player, JustaKid, for taking our favorite spider shitkicker into the EVO Top 8 bracket for the very first time. Amazing work, kid.
