WHERE IS THE NEUTRAL IN FIGHTING GAMES?!

Justin Wong addresses the "death of neutral" debate in Street Fighter 6 — the recurring community complaint that modern systems trivialize spacing and footwork through mechanic overload. The top comment nails the counterargument: complaints about "neutral skips" often mask resistance to game evolution rather than actual design failure. Wong's framing separates footsies (distance control during pressure) from neutral (the neutral state itself), arguing that neutral hasn't disappeared, it's just compressed relative to offense and setplay. The matched pairs in comments — cheap character-specific neutral skips versus universal system mechanics — highlight a real design split between older and current fighting game philosophy.