Street Fighter V’s come quite a long way since this time in 2016. From a skeletal roster of 16 characters to 40 characters through DLC, multiple title updates, and dozens of balance patches, the game’s significantly different today than back then. Content updates are nothing new to video games that get continued support.
That being said, today, Capcom unveiled the Street Fighter V Winter Update. This live stream focuses squarely and Dan and Rose, and the upcoming content slated for this Spring. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what exactly happened today. And there’s a LOT to talk about on this short 35-minute live stream.
Here Comes A New Challenger: Rose
First and foremost from the stream, SF5 Producer Shuhei Matsumoto and Executive Producer Takayuki Nakayama confirmed that Rose is getting a stage based on her Street Fighter Alpha 2 stage. In addition to this, Rose herself was shown, too, and it displayed some of her special moves and her entire V-System. Let’s break it down.
One of the biggest changes to Rose is the addition of an air fireball, as it gives her a way to pressure on-ground opponents with angled projectiles. She retains her Soul Spiral (a dashing strike with her sash), and her anti-air throw has been repurposed. She still has an anti-air grab, but she doesn’t leave the ground and switch sides.
As for her V-Skills, V-Skill 1 has Rose use one of three tarot cards, one to give her some V-Gauge, one to debuff her opponent, or one to buff herself. What exactly it buffs or debuffs weren’t disclosed, but we’ll find out soon. As for V-Skill 2, Rose summons Soul Satellite, an orbiting projectile that hits the opponent. Rose can have two Soul Satellites active, a nod to her Ultra Combo II in Ultra Street Fighter IV.
As for her V-Triggers, V-Trigger I is a command based teleport that allows Rose to teleport to various points on the screen. It seems to be usable after specials, so it might add to the teleports’ mix potential. V-Trigger II (shown above) sees Rose summon a shadow copy of herself, and it attacks after she does, altering some frame advantage.
Rose looks to be a potent character that could only get stronger as her metagame develops post-release.
Dan’s V-System Explained
Capcom has also been talking about Dan and showing clips since last summer on the character. Today, they finally fleshed out his V-System and explained it in full detail. Both of his V-Skills seem pretty meaningless at first glance, but that’s only at first glance. V-Skill 1 allows Dan to do a slight taunt at the end of his specials, giving new combo routes or safety. What’s strange is that this V-Skill builds gauge for both players, a nod to his joke character nature.
V-Skill 2, on the other hand, is a whole other beast. Dan cancels into another animation off of any and all normals (minus st.HK and cr.HK). However, you can cancel the VS2 animation into either another button altogether or a special move. This allows him to cancel into specials with normally non-special cancelable buttons, or increase his safety even further.
V-Trigger I gives Dan access to his Haoh Gadoken from Ultra Street Fighter IV. It behaves differently from back then in multiple ways. For one, it’s now chargeable, and on a full charge, it wall-bounces on hit, and guard breaks on block. Another standout distinction is that it’s the game’s only one-bar V-Trigger. Every other V-Trigger in the game is either two- or three-bar, meaning Dan can have access to more V-Trigger uses per match.
V-Trigger II enhances Dan’s Gadoken and Koryuken. His Gakoen becomes more advantageous on hit, and his Koryuken gains full invincibility. However, inputting the last direction of a special and its button strength on the same frame enhances it further, like Kazuya’s Electric Wind God Fist in Tekken.
However, in Dan’s case, it gives him more damage on his specials and makes enhanced Gadoken combo into enhanced Koryuken. V-Trigger II is definitely strong, but it might face a state of irrelevance due to V-Trigger I’s very high charge rate and frequency.
A Shift In The Flow
The Street Fighter V Winter Update live stream also adds a brand-new mechanic to the game, to further alter the balance. This mechanic, known as V-Shift (shown above), gives the player the ability to dodge attacks outright, and if it dodges an attack successfully, the screen darkens and the player has three options:
- Stay in the position they’ve moved to and do nothing
- Follow up with a special move
- Use V-Shift-Break, a move that reaches farther than the other two options and guarantees a counterattack.
V-Shifts consume a bar of V-Gauge, and if the screen darkens, it refunds half the cost. This new defensive mechanic seems to be quite potent. Though, some older tools, like Vega’s V-Skill 2 and Cody’s V-Skill 2 (both functioning like V-Shift) might see a notable dip in usage.
Release Information
Given that we now know all of this information, the next big question is this: When is Dan coming out? Well, the stream also showcased that, too. Dan, the Season 5 balance patch, and the V-Shift mechanic all release on February 22nd (11 days from now). As is customary with content like this, Matsumoto and Nakayama revealed the pricing model for Season 5, which you can see below.
Season 5 comes in two forms, as you can see. However, all that seems different with the season passes is that the Premium Edition, priced at $39.99, is that the Premium Edition comes with the two new stages planned for this season, and more costumes. It also has 100,000 Fight Money, in-game currency. As of the time of publication, the Season 5 Passes are available to pre-order now.
Street Fighter V is out now on PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam.
What did you think about the Street Fighter V Winter Update? Are you excited about the balance patch? Do you want to try Dan later this month? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
If you liked this article and want to see the Summer Update coverage in comparison, you can do so here.