Street Fighter 5 Release Date and Update: New Trailer Shows Vega’s New Look

Aug 05, 2015 06:09 AM EDT

The next installment of the hugely-popular fighting video game Street Fighter, is coming in the spring of 2016 in a worldwide simultaneous launch on PlayStation 4 and PC platforms, the game's developer Capcom has said.

On Monday, PlayStation Blog revealed that Vega, a mainstay of the game since Street Fighter II, is the latest character to be introduced for Street Fighter V and he is donning a "brand new look and new tricks up his frilly sleeves." The report said Vega also has an upgrade on his fighting skills. He now has access to fighting with claw and without claw but still retain his trademark speed and quickness.

"Vega believes that beauty is the truest form of strength and that he alone is the epitome of perfection," the post said. It added, "The mask he wears serves to protect his face from the blood of his victims, and his deadly three-pronged claw ensures he is able to dish out pain from a safe distance away. Learning ninjutsu at a young age from a Japanese acquaintance, Vega quickly shot up the ranks in Shadaloo, eventually becoming one of the four bosses of the criminal organization."

Sheating his claw allows Vega to gain new moves and new attack properties that greatly improves the way he fights. Changing between claw and without claw fighting modes also allows Vega new combo moves, the report added. The key is to know when to toggle between the two styles.

But Vega will not be able to pick up his claw once it is knocked off during a fight so players must develop the skill of fighting without claw when using Vega. Switching between claw/no claw fighting style entails some technical challenge to access Vega's tricky moves.

Vega Matador Turn
(Photo : PS Blog)

To have a first glimpse of Vega's new look and fighting style, PS Blog also provided this fresh trailer.

Capcom has not yet provided additional information about the new characters, except that they have never appeared in any of the previous Street Fighter series. At launch, the game will include 16 fighters including the four new ones. Following the game's launch, several characters will be developed and added to the game via regular updates; these characters, among other post-launch content, will be able to be purchased via either of two in-game currency systems: "Zenny", purchased via real-world currency, or "Fight Money", earned through gameplay.

The current list of characters, include Birdie, Cammy, Chun-Li, Ken Masters, M. Bison, Charlie Nash, Necalli, and Ryu.

It is interesting to note that in the first gameplay trailer released by Capcom about Street Fighter 5, it showed Ryu wearing the same outfit but in its most battered condition. Several of the characters appear to have aged with M. Bison sporting a white hair, Birdie is shown to have gained significant weight, and Ken Masters now has medium-length blonde hair with a topknot ponytail, similar to his appearance in the Alpha games, and wears a new main outfit.