How to turn on Classic controls in Street Fighter 6

Mollie's character stands ready to fight
(Image credit: Capcom)

Street Fighter 6 has one of the lowest barriers to entry for a fighting game, and that's thanks to providing two control scheme choices. Classic will appeal to the majority of longtime Street Fighter fans, retaining the movement and inputs they all know and love. Capcom has also created the Modern control scheme, a slightly simplified version that can automatically input combo strings, condenses the number of buttons, and takes away some of the more complex movement.

It's a great addition for those who are just getting started out in the 2D fighting world, and as a result, Capcom has set everyone's control scheme to Modern by default. Not everyone will want that though, and finding the settings to change it is surprisingly unintuitive. Those looking to default to Classic controls will have to sift through a couple of menus to change it, with the online Battle Hub and singleplayer World Tour modes having different ways of toggling it.

So if you're looking to get your full six-button layout and movement inputs back on your pad, here's how to change your controls to Classic mode in both World Tour and the Battle Hub.

How to enable Classic controls in World Tour 

(Image credit: Capcom)

If you're looking to enable Classic controls straight off the bat, you're out of luck. The game forces you to play with Modern controls for the first chapter, but it's mercifully an incredibly short one. Once Chapter 2 begins, you'll be able to swap to your preferred control scheme on the fly.

To do this, hit Start on your controller or fight stick, or Escape on your keyboard to bring up the main menu. From here, head over to Options. You'll want to switch over to the Controls tab and head down to Avatar Battle Control Type. You can then switch between Classic and Modern as you please. This will also change the control scheme for your player-versus-player avatar battles in the Battle Hub.

Note that you'll have to assign your special and super moves individually for each control type. Make sure to open up your phone with Options on your controller/fight stick, or Spacebar on your keyboard, head over to Status, and then to the Special Moves and Super Arts tabs to sort out your customisable moveset. 

How to turn on Classic controls in Battle Hub 

When you first enter the Battle Hub, Street Fighter 6 will have you set up with Luke on Modern controls by default. You'll need to change your character before you sit down at a cabinet to square off against your opponent, and it's also where you can switch up your control scheme.

Hit X/Square on your pad of choice, or R on your keyboard to bring up the battle settings. Tab over to Character, where you'll find Street Fighter 6's roster to select from. Go to the character you want to play and hit Y/Triangle on your pad or T on your keyboard to bring up yet another menu for specific character settings. From here, you can change things like the costume and colour, but you can also switch over to Classic controls and select your button preset.

Interestingly, Street Fighter 6 allows you to assign different control types to individual characters. If you prefer a certain fighter on Modern controls, you can isolate them to that control scheme. But if you want everyone using the Classic style (or vice versa), you can hit Y/Triangle/T again to apply your chosen type to the entire roster. Now you're all set up and ready to kick some 2D butt.

Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.