We’ve been given another character trailer for Sega’s Virtua Fighter Crossroads. This one is a familiar face, it’s good old Virtua Fighter staple Lion Rafale, or Lionel Rafale rather.

As said, Lion is a staple in the Virtua Fighter series, having debuted in Virtua Fighter 2 all the way back in 1994. But there are some interesting mysteries behind Crossroads’ version of him. For one, his name is presented as ‘Lionel’ rather than simply ‘Lion’ now. Second, there’s a big undisclosed time jump between Virtua Fighter 5 and Virtua Fighter Crossroads yet Lionel looks incredibly young despite that. Third, he has a grounded French accent instead of Lion’s classic hilarious cornball voice.

These things, alongside the bit about Lionel’s father, hint towards Lionel actually being Lion’s son, having been born and raised over the timeskip to make him an age-equivalent rival to Crossroads’ main character Cielo. Of course, that could just be an older Lion who has aged gracefully (think Lee Chaolan from Tekken) and become more arrogant with age, but we won’t know until the game actually comes out.

Regardless if Lionel is Lion’s son or not, he’s certainly inherited Lion’s moveset; Lion’s iconic Mantis Style is on full display here, utilizing precision strikes complimented with explosive acrobatic kicks. We see some of Lion’s legacy moves thrown in there, like his elbow strikes and his wall throw. Lionel’s pummeling of Cielo is also set in a gorgeous downtown stage.

Joining Cielo, Wolf Hawkfield, and the Bakunawa Killer, Lionel is the latest addition to the cast members who have been given a trailer. We’re still waiting on the other 3 new characters introduced in Crossroads, as well as fellow Virtua Fighter veterans Akira and Pai Chan. With Crossroads’ 2027 release edging ever closer we can definitely expect to see more characters revealed for what is looking to be a very exciting new entry in an old series.