Although Heidi “Zerochan” Kemps did an amazing job providing us with some hands-on impressions from her time Street Fighter V, you can never beat hearing about gameplay straight from the source. Earlier today, Capcom’s Peter “Combofiend” Rosas jumped on the Capcom-Unity stream with Twitch’s Mike Ross to delve even deeper into the systems and characters included in this upcoming game.
One mechanic that we didn’t touch on in our hands-on impressions is Counter Crush. Each character has one normal available to them that, when used to counter an incoming attack, puts the opponent in a sort of spin state and opens them up for more punishment. Think of them sort of like Fatal Counters in BlazBlue and Persona.
Oh, and, crossups are now indicated by the in-game HUD, so no more guessing! Now, onto the characters.
Birdie
While he was a mainstay during the Street Fighter Alpha series, Birdie hasn’t been seen since. His grand return in Street Fighter V is initially notable due to his massive weight gain, but he’s picked up a variety of new tools during his time away.
Unlike other characters, Birdie is all about reads. Due to his low execution ceiling (a common core that runs through Street Fighter V in general), competitors will want to condition opponents and then capitalize off their complacency. Funny enough, the British punk rocker may have the easiest move in the game, a neutral animation booger flick that does minuscule damage and requires zero input from the player.
But onto his actual attacks. First up, Birdie’s Bull Head has been changed from charge to motion-based inputs. Similar to Street Fighter Alpha, it will travel different distances depending on which button you use. Bull Horn has also been simplified, and merely requires a single punch button to be held instead of two. Birdie also gains a fair bit of air this time around when using this attack, and its projectile invincibility makes it a great maneuvering tool against zoners.
Even though 360 inputs currently don’t appear in Street Fighter V, don’t worry, Birdie still has a couple of command throws at his disposal. Bull Revenger, which acted as his super move throughout the Alpha titles, is now an unblockable special. And, despite appearances, Hanging Chain is actually not a throw, meaning it can be blocked. The angle of the attack can be changed depending on the button used and can even be canceled to fake out opponents.
For normals, Birdie has been given a multitude of long-range attacks that give him the ability to keep opponents just out of range but still in sight of his specials. Forward heavy punch has a sliver of armor to ward off errant attacks if the button is held. Keeping in line with his read-based gameplay, Birdie only has one cancelable normal, standing medium kick, and a decent looking overhead, forward heavy kick. Oh, and his jumping medium punch seems to be an insane crossup at the moment.
After eating his fill of donuts, bananas, and energy drinks, Birdie can scarf down on a pepper with his V-Trigger, Enjoy Time. In addition to giving him extra damage and giving guard-break properties to his specials, it also ups the distance each of his attacks travel. Combofiend says that players will want to activate V-Trigger and go nuts.
Cammy
According to Combofiend, players already familiar with Cammy will recognize her normals and what they add to her gameplay, a detail that seems to apply to much of her gameplay. Just like her Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition ver. 2012 iteration, the Killer Bee has returned to being an insanely offensive character, so much so that players really don’t have to waste time on defense.
That being said, there are obviously some differences. The movement on her Cannon Spike has been greatly increased (“Crazy,” as Combofiend put it), giving her the ability to shift forward with greater momentum than previous games. Cannon Strike, on the other hand, has been toned down a bit from its Street Fighter IV appearance, and is now much less effective. Finally, Spiral Arrow can now be blocked while standing.
Cammy’s V-Skill, Axel Spin Knuckle, allows the in-your-face competitor to close the gap on zoning-heavy opponents and pass through projectiles. When she’s already close to an opponent, Cammy passes through them to the other side, which may prove useful for creating mixup opportunities.
As for command normals, Cammy’s forward heavy kick is a double-knee attack that serves as a great combo filler. Her standing medium punch from Street Fighter IV is now her back heavy punch and is mostly useful for extending combos and thwarting airborne attacks. She also has a new target combo (back+heavy punch > heavy kick) that launches the opponent and can be finished with her Critical Art, Cross Stinger Assault.
The most interesting part of her gameplay (in my humble opinion at least) are the changes to Hooligan Combination. Apart from the fact the command has been simplified, all of the move’s follow-up attacks now autocorrect, giving Cammy the ability to pull of some pretty nasty mixups and crossups should players time them correctly.
M. Bison
Let’s just get this little section started that M. Bison looks insane. The most noticeable change is that he’s lost his Psycho Crusher and the dreaded standing heavy kick from Street Fighter IV, but other than he is looking to be a very strong addition to Street Fighter V.
Replacing Pyscho Crusher, M. Bison now has access to Psycho Blast, which is basically a giant orb blast with little range. Head Press returns with both of its follow-ups, all of which need to be used as maneuverability tools due to the dictator’s low walk speed. From normals to specials, Bison is all about damage and the pressure game he’s been known for in previous installments.
As far as regular attacks go, Bison finally as a reliable anti-air in crouching heavy punch. His standing heavy punch works well as a footsie tool, and adding a forward command gives him a rather intimidating swipe with more range. All in all, Combofiend says the antagonist’s buttons have gotten a lot better; for example, linking medium punch and crouching medium punch gives Bison enough time to charge his iconic Double Knee Press and continue to dominate opponents, blocking or no.
Where things really get crazy, though, is with his V-Trigger. By embracing the Psycho Power, Bison’s normally poor movement gets thrown out the window in favor of teleporting dashes and disappearing specials. Have a fireball coming your way? Throw out your scissor kicks and completely bypass the projectile for a punish. Want to take to the air and mixup your opponent? Take advantage of Head Press’s Devil Reverse and completely disappear, only becoming visible before you strike the opponent like Divekick’s S-Kill. As Bison literally disappears and doesn’t only become invisible, he’s able to dodge attacks with nimble enough timing.
Finally, the V-Skill Psycho Reflect gives Bison the ability to absorb attacks and send them back towards the enemy. While most will think this only applies to projectiles, any move can be reflected and turned into a two-hit fireball. It does have it’s weaknesses, of course, so watch out for the opponent’s own mult-hit attacks.
All in all, Street Fighter V is looking like another worthy entry in Capcom’s storied franchise. While still in development, what we’ve seen so far is very promising. Let’s hope this work-in-progress continues to impress as we near its spring 2016 launch date.
If you missed out on the live show, be sure to check out the archive.
Source: Capcom-Unity
