All those wacky Soul Calibur 6 custom characters are causing problems in ranked mode

Beyond deceptive appearances, players say hitboxes are the real problem

Soul Calibur 6 players have had a lot of fun playing around with the game's remarkably in-depth Create-A-Soul character creator. They've already made countless impressive lookalikes ranging from Nier: Automata's 2B to Thanos and - of course - Bowsette. The trouble is, these custom characters have now invaded Soul Calibur 6's ranked online mode, and according to some top-level players, they're ruining the experience. 

In a video (above) posted earlier this week, competitive fighting game player and Soul Calibur champion AvoidingThePuddle criticized the decision to allow custom characters in ranked mode. For starters, dubious players can use some items in the character creator to obscure their fighter, making it more difficult for opponents to react to their moves. However, according to AvoidingThePuddle and many other players - like YouTuber Steedoj - the main problem is how custom characters differ from the characters they're based on. 

"Customized characters in this game are a false representation of the character that they are portraying," AvoidingThePuddle said. "I've heard many top-level players complain about this. If you create a character that's using, let's say, Yoshimitsu's move list, your created character is giving you a false sense of Yoshimitsu. You will be able to do things that Yoshimitsu cannot do. You'll be able to escape combos that work on Yoshimitsu. And you will be able to reach further, or higher, or lower than Yoshimitsu because your character is not the same shape or size as Yoshimitsu. This is, like, a disaster." 

Reddit user Wazaaaaa posted a useful clip (below) showing how custom characters may differ from genuine characters - in this case, Ivy. Due to hitbox discrepancies between the two, this custom character is able to escape from a combo which would normally stunlock Ivy. 

Many players have argued that character inconsistencies like these disrupt competitive play and undermine the spirit of ranked mode. As such, many have called for Bandai Namco to ban custom characters from ranked mode in Soul Calibur 6, or at least lock their hitboxes to ensure a consistent experience. I've reached out to Bandai for more information and will update this story if I receive a reply.