Street Fighter V took a drastic shift from Street Fighter IV in many ways, and the loss of proximity normals — normal moves that change depending how close you are to your opponent — is one of them. James Chen feels that this is one of the most glaring errors in the design of modern Street Fighter.
In his most recent episode of “Unchensored”, he discusses why he thinks this the case. Citing how the speed of proximity normals worked within Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter IV, he shows how the stripping down of non-command normals in Street Fighter V of their utility has created the linear playstyle that the game has been known for. He thus explains that by adding proximity normals, he feels that the variety of game-play would start to return.
Source: UltraChenTV