Everything you need to know to start playing this character.

The legend returns to Street Fighter! Well, perhaps it’s an extraordinary event for us, but for the great Bison, it’s just a Tuesday.

M. Bison joins Street Fighter 6 on June 26. Let’s get prepared for this release and break down the moveset of M. Bison in SF6. It would also be interesting to check out the differences with the previous game.

Playstyle: Street Fighter 6 M. Bison

The fighting abilities of this character were first shown in a dedicated gameplay trailer. Thanks to it, we’ve discovered that M. Bison in Street Fighter 6 has pretty long normals to reach distant opponents, open them, or punish their whiffs. Some of his moves look super quick, so they are effective tools to break an opponent’s offensive actions and start your pressure.

In addition to this, M. Bison has some magic powers on his side. He can control dark Psycho energy — to increase damage and craft combos.

M. Bison Street Fighter 6: Moveset

Even before the release, M. Bison was playable during Summer Game Fest 2024, so some people in the fighting games community (FGC) could try out his new moveset. Also, Capcom released a detailed Street Fighter 6 M. Bison character guide explaining various details.

M. Bison’s best normals

The range of M. Bison normal attacks is simply impressive. His medium kick reaches pretty far and can be used as the primary poke. The heavy punch hits from an even bigger distance, even if it’s not as quick.

To prevail in the attack speed department, M. Bison should use his crouch light and medium kicks or a standing light kick. The range should be sacrificed for it, but the frame data becomes an advantage — with the possibility to link these moves easily into each other.

Unique attacks (command normals)

The M. Bison moveset in Street Fighter 6 has a decent selection of command normals (a combination of directional input and an attack button that changes a move’s properties). The character, for example, has a massive overhead (Psycho Hammer), so you cannot just crouch-block against M. Bison now. Or, he slides quickly from away, delivering a low hit (Hover Kick).

Unique attacks of M. Bison (image via Street Fighter 6)
Unique attacks of M. Bison (image via Street Fighter 6)
  • Psycho Hammer, forward + heavy punch / 6HP — an overhead.
  • Evil Knee, back + heavy kick / 4HK — a quick knee attack from a close distance.
  • Hover Kick, down forward + heavy kick / 3HK — a far-reaching slide and a low hit.

There are some variations of these unique attacks in M. Bison’s SF6 moveset. They include extra hits and can be used for mixups.

  • Shadow Hammer, medium punch into forward + heavy punch / 5MP -> 6HP — the overhead comes after a quick punch, so it’s a good blockstring.
  • Shadow Spear, medium punch into down + heavy kick / 5MP -> 2HK — after his punch, M. Bison hits low, which may confuse a blocking opponent and help you open them.

M .Bison proves his mobility by having a quick air-to-air normal string.

  • Hell Attack, medium punch into medium punch / 5MP -> 5MP in the air— while jumping, M. Bison lands two quick punches.

Special Moves of M. Bison in Street Fighter 6

The character has a few charging attacks, but his special moveset also includes more standard types of input.

In general, M. Bison feels to be quite straightforward, as there are no too tricky options among his abilities. He still has decent scaling with his Psycho Mines — placed them into opponents and then explode them for new combos and bigger damage.

Fighting creativity with this character is guaranteed by his 50/50 unique attacks, and special moves are meant to elaborate on these openings.

M. Bison's specials (image via Street Fighter 6)
M. Bison's specials (image via Street Fighter 6)

Many specials for M. Bisons are far-reaching, but they are not safe on block. He can punish opponents with them alright, but his moves are also punishable.

  • Psycho Crusher Attack, hold back, forward + punch / [4]6+L/M/HP — M. Bison throws himself forward and spirals into an opponent. The move has the projectile destruction property, but only for one projectile. The overdrive version is projectile invincible and less punishable on block.
  • Double Knee Press, quarter-circle forward + kick / 236+L/M/HK — M. Bison lands two knee hits in a flip jump. Overdrive has one more hit as a follow-up, which launches an opponent (for example, to link into Psycho Crusher Attack). Proper positioning is essential with this move, as it’s unsafe on block and too risky if M. Bison lands very close (for a quick jab to reach him).
  • Backfist Combo, quarter-circle backward + punch / 214+L/M/HP — it’s two punches; the second one places a Psycho Mine into the victim.
  • Shadow Rise, hold down, up + kick / [2]8+L/M/HK — it’s a pretty big jump that can have follow-ups: 1. a kick to stomp onto an opponent (Head Press) + a punch to land one more hit (Somersault Skull Diver); 2. a punch as the first hit in the air (Devil Reverse) The overdrive version of Shadow Rise directs M. Bison close to his opponent regardless of the distance. Overdrive follow-ups are more powerful.

Psycho Mine

Planting a Psycho Mine with Backfist Combo is an important part of gameplan with Street Fighter 6 M. Bison. The dark energy explodes in a few seconds or after landing some specials: one more Backfist Combo, Shadow Rise + the kick follow-up, and Psycho Crusher Attack.

WIth a Psycho Mine planted M. Bison’s specials deal bigger damage and are safer on block. 

Super Arts

M. Bison in Street Fighter 6 has three super moves (Super Arts).

  • Knee Press Nightmare, double quarter-circle forward + a kick / 236236K — this invincible series of hits can be used as a combo ender or a counter-attack.
  • Psycho Punisher, double quarter-circle backward + a kick / 214214K — M. Bison jumps and launches an opponent on landing to grab, hit, and throw them. This super move can help to deal with cautious opponents who keep the distance and spam projectiles.
  • Ultimate Psycho Crusher, double quarter-circle forward + a punch / 236236P — the attack starts with a dash and includes a series of cinematic hits.
M. Bison's Super Arts (image via Street Fighter 6)
M. Bison's Super Arts (image via Street Fighter 6)

Differences with M. Bison from Street Fighter V

One of the biggest things to notice about the newest version of this character is his movement speed. M. ison feels more like his classic self than his slow SFV implementation. In Street Fighter 6, his normal walk is quick, and his forward dash is among the best in the entire game.

Also, M. Bison got more traditional SF specials compared to his previously charging-focused moveset. This complements the movement speed improvement nicely, making the character pretty mobile in his offense. 

Street Fighter 6 M. Bison feels to be less complicated for beginners, but the character still has the depth for advanced players to experiment and unleash their potential.

In the newer game, we have M. Bison as a pressure-heavy character, who should succeed with the rushdown style. Opponents have little chance to play a defense-only game against M. Bison, as he has decent mixup tools. M. Bison’s kit has tools to punish active offense too.

M. Bison in Street Fighter V (image via esports.gg)
M. Bison in Street Fighter V (image via esports.gg)

SF6 M. Bison combos 

While it is obviously too early to talk about elaborate combos with M. Bison, here is a route to explore with this character.

  • 5MP -> 2MP
  • 5MP -> 2MP -> 236+LK
  • 5MP -> 2MP -> 236+LK -> [4]6+LP

Players can add Drive Rush to link various combo elements, like:

  • Drive Rush -> HK -> 4HK

Level 2 Super Art (236236P) is great to seal the deal if you have the resources.

For everything else about Street Fighter 6, including the competitive dimension of this fighting game, stick around on esports.gg!