Now, the community has done its fair share of speculation regarding what Street Fighter V may or may not include, but that’s to be expected. As the follow-up to 2008’s Street Fighter IV, the upcoming installment of Capcom’s flagship fighting franchise is a symbol of the progress our scene has made in the past few years, a dedication that has been noticed by the developers and reciprocated.
We’ve talked about Street Fighter V a great deal in the past few days, whether it be discussions about its place in the franchise’s timeline or gameplay mechanics, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more to be found.
One of most noteworthy highlights in the gameplay footage had to be Chun-Li launching Ryu through a doorway and into a different part of the arena, and that got us thinking: could there be other tasty morsels hidden throughout the stage? While not proof positive of anything, here are some details we think may be indicative of a borrowed feature and, possibly, even hints towards two more playable characters.
As many of you probably noticed, Capcom Cup advertisements appears in two specific spots in the unnamed stage. This was first pointed out to us by Marden Blake, a digital artist who had a hand in designing the logo. They can be a little hard to spot, so we’ve included a couple of screenshots below.
Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono mentioned in a recent Famitsu interview that this gameplay footage was originally planned for Capcom Cup, but the accidental release of the teaser trailer forced them to make a last-minute decision to show it during Sony’s press conference. The inclusion of the logo, then, makes complete sense, but it could also be a hint at things to come.
Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, the Arc System Works title that recently made its way to consoles, launched with a very interesting feature that allows tournament organizers to customize a stage background, effectively branding competitive footage with the name of the event.
Our theory is that Street Fighter V may come equipped with a similar feature, giving the figures behind major tournaments like Evo, SoCal Regionals, and Community Effort Orlando the opportunity to insert their own graphics for a bit of added flair.
Now, onto the big stuff: characters. While newer players may not have put two and two together as they watched the first bits of Street Fighter IV gameplay footage, the area in which Ryu and Chun-Li are trading blows is reminiscent of the Chinese stages Yun and Yang call home.
Like the twins, a variety of Street Fighter characters hail from China, including Gen, Fei Long, Dan, and even Chun-Li herself. Only Yun and Yang, however, have had unique stages that include the extensive scaffolding and neon signs seen in the screenshots below.
As a reference, here are the Street Fighter III stages in question.
So, what do you think? Will Capcom include some cool tools for the community to play around with in Street Fighter V? How about the dominant, Chinese twins? Let us know what you think in the comments.
(Street Fighter V images courtesy of Capcom, Street Fighter III images via Street Fighter Wiki)
