Girl Ryu is back in town, and this time she’s graduated school, ready to deliver some educated beatdowns. It feels like the most ordinary thing in the world for a Shotokan character to headline a new Street Fighter expansion, but strangely comforting at the same time.
Comforting seems to be the order of the day for Street Fighter V’s upcoming expansion/relaunch. Of the six characters coming to the game, four are returning favourites, but the final two? Well, that’s where things get interesting.
Next year is looking crowded, with as many games re-launching as debuting fresh. Have you picked out your must-haves from our list of upcoming 2018 titles?
It’s no surprise that Sagat & Blanka are returning. They’ve been causing a ruckus since the days of Street Fighter 2 in arcades, and honestly, it’s felt a little quiet without the hairy green electric Brazilian and the kickboxing projectile-spammer among the characters. While it’s likely that each will have picked up a new move or two, don’t expect anything too shocking from them.
A little more interesting is Cody’s return. Always a bit of a wild-card character, this time he’s sporting a sharp suit, although still wearing his trademark prison shackles. Has he escaped again? Or maybe that’s just what passes for fashion sense among street fighters these days. If anyone is likely to see a major change to his gameplay style, it’s him.
Still, the final two characters – Falke and G – are all new. Falke seems to be wearing similar Shadaloo soldier gear to Cammy – especially the teensy tiny hat – but I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a wildly different fighting style from her, with perhaps a few moves crossing over from Cammy’s pool. With Sakura returning, it would feel a little on-the-nose to give Cammy her own Ken-equivalent counterpart.
G is a complete mystery though. Looking like a cross between a shaved gorilla, a circus ringmaster and Abe Lincoln, his beefy build suggests that he’s some kind of grappler character, but beyond that, we know absolutely nothing. Still, after the shock of Abigail’s introduction to the world of Street Fighter, I don’t think much could surprise series fans at this point.
Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition is set for a multi-platform release on January 16th, and includes the original version of the game, as well as both season passes worth of characters, and a few new extras, such as Sakura’s new stage. The new release of the game will cost $40, although interestingly, many of the upgrades and features will be patched into the base game for free, with the characters unlockable in-game, although requiring a great expenditure of time.