We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Street Fighter V’s latest character is wrestler Rainbow Mika and she can use a Stone Cold Stunner

rmika

With PAX just around the corner, Capcom have released another trailer for Street Fighter V detailing the newest character who will be playable on the show floor – Rainbow Mika. Originally showing up in the Street Fighter Alpha series, she’s a professional wrestler who uses a lot of grappling moves to get the job done. Naturally, instead of a fireball she has a buttslam, launching herself across the screen rear-end first. Her inclusion in the latest game means a whole new suite of moves in the same ridiculous style.

I love everything about this, despite Capcom not having got the memo on women’s clothing. Come on guys, I get she’s dressed a bit like a wrestler, but she’s actually wearing less than her late 90s incarnation. That aside, her moveset is a love letter to wrestling and far more interesting than the grapplers of Street Fighter’s past. Tag-teaming with her partner is a big focus, with three seperate special moves letting you bring her in for set-ups and combo extensions.

What’s not shown in the video is her V-Skill, which is the catch-all term for anti-fireball moves in SF5. Hers is a wrestling promo, where she pulls out a mic and starts berating her opponent. She absorbs one hit in this state before throwing the mic and getting back to business. It’s a wonderful stylistic choice and matches so well with the rest of her kit. It also powers up all her throws afterwards.

I’m loving the animation on those. They’re over the top in exactly the same way you’ll see if you tune into the WWE. Plus she does an actual Stone Cold Stunnerand it looks better than anything in a WWE game for the past 10 years. Well played, Capcom, very well played indeed.

Her confirmed inclusion means interesting things for some of the rumours that have been flying around. The leak that suggested her also indicated that Street Fighter 3’s Alex, Alpha 3’s Karin and Street Fighter 4’s Juri would be returning. While this doesn’t contain my boy, it would be a fairly excellent cast of old favourites, new blood and unique playstyles. Alex is another grappler with a different moveset from Mika or series classic Zangief, while Juri is a combo machine and Karin is the only currently rumoured character to have “Rekkas” – a specific kind of move that can be repeated for longer chains or stopped early if it is blocked.

Expect more reveals at the upcoming Brazil and Tokyo game shows, all the way up to Capcom Cup, their premier tournament, at the end of the year.

We’ve rounded up all the characters announced so far in ourStreet Fighter 5 character list.