Street Fighter V may be satisfying the competitive itch of many a fighting game player, but its initial lack of content – from its incomplete story mode, to the absence of amenities like functioning lobbies and proper anti-ragequit penalization – soured opinions of the game in the eyes of the general gaming populace. An upcoming patch, set to release this month, aims to resolve many of those issues. It’ll also mark the appearance of Street Fighter V’s first DLC character, Alex, about whom Capcom revealed tasty new information today.
Capcom’s Digital Media Manager, haunts, brought Alex to the fore in his blog post earlier today. Alex, who was teased last month by Capcom, is from the Street Fighter 3 series and has been much-requested by Street Fighter fans to make a return. His backstory is as follows:
Having made his first appearance in Street Fighter III back in 1997, Alex is a brash grappler whose bold attitude tends to get him in trouble. His parents died while he was still young, so he was raised by his father’s friend, Tom, who taught him everything he knows about fighting.
Alex’s grappling style differs from the rest of his SFV peers. Zangief’s goal is to lock his opponent in hard guessing situations at close range; R. Mika overwhelms her opponents with a variety of pressure moves that lead to mixup scenarios; Laura traps her opponents in disadvantageous positions with well-placed normals and resets. Alex, meanwhile, is described by haunts as “a methodical grappler who can do big burst damage up close, yet [can] still do well at midrange.” While his signature Power Bomb deals significant damage at close range, he can also keep his opponents at bay with his long limbs.
Alex’s V-Skill is called Overhaul. Upon activation, Alex will perform a quick stretch animation. Afterward, the next hit that he lands on his opponent will count as a hard hit and damage the opponent as if they were counter attacked. This could lead to damaging combos from anywhere on the screen, in any situation. If that attack misses or is blocked, though, Alex loses the hard hit bonus.
His V-Trigger is called Rage Shift. Players can hold the V-Trigger buttons to charge a devastating clothesline. During the charge, any attacks that hit Alex will be parried, nullifying their damage. When the clothesline is fully charge, Alex will break the guard of a blocking opponent if he makes contact with them, which will leave his opponent open to attack.
Alex’s Critical Art, Heavy Hammer, causes Alex to deliver a brutal chop to his opponent, knocking them down. He then grabs them, tosses them into the air, then leaps up and locks his opponent in a crucifix hold before plummeting back to the ground head-first.
Alex will become available later this month with the following patch. Keep in mind that by playing through all of the existing story mode content, players will have more than enough in-game Fight Money to purchase Alex for free. The option to buy him using real money is still present.
The rest of the patch will offer a bevy of improvements to the overall Street Fighter V playing experience. First among these is a new Challenge Mode. Challenge Mode will contain tutorials and demonstrations that cover every character in the game. Different tutorials exist for different skill levels as well; Beginner tutorials will cover gameplay basics like movement and attacking, while Intermediate and Advanced tutorials will teach players about esoterics like anti-air options and frame advantage/disadvantage. After completing the tutorials, players will be able to put their lessons to the test with Combo Trials.
The in-game Shop will finally make its appearance as well. Here, players will be able to spend their Fight Money to purchase extra content, such as DLC characters and alternate costumes.
A Rematch option will also be introduced for Ranked play. Want revenge on the guy or girl who just beat you? Send a Rematch request after battle and, if your opponent accepts, both players will engage in a best 2 of 3 match for the chance to earn those coveted Ranked points.
As was requested by many players, 8-player lobbies will be added to the Battle Lounge system, complete with a match spectating option.
Finally, the patch will address numerous bugs players have found in the game. An “option select” that currently allows players to simultaneously execute a light attack and a throw escape will also be removed. You can read all of the changes below:
- Vega:
- If you hit V-Trigger Bloody Kiss (anti-air) in certain situations, Vega will no longer continue to rise off the top of the screen.
- M. Bison:
- If M. Bison is interrupted by an opponent’s V-Trigger or Critical Art during his invisible frames of Double Knee Press in V-Trigger mode, M. Bison will no longer remain invisible until his next move.
- Rashid:
- Rashid will no longer float in the air for a moment if you perform his V-Trigger after he touches the ground upon a missed Eagle Spike.
- Chun-Li:
- During V-Trigger activation, the hit stop and block stop has been made the same for multi-hitting moves (medium or heavy attacks for both normal and special moves).
- She was previously able to perform option selects involving standing HP into Houyokusen, so this has been removed.
- During V-Trigger activation, the hit stop and block stop has been made the same for multi-hitting moves (medium or heavy attacks for both normal and special moves).
- Vertical and Back Jump Frames:
- All characters except Birdie and Zangief: Vertical jump and back jump frames have changed from 3f->4f.
- Birdie: Vertical jump and back jump frames have changed from 4f->5f.
- Zangief: No changes to jump frames.
- These changes reduce the effectiveness of throw tech option selects involving jumping (also known as “jump grab”). Changing forward jump frames would affect the game balance too much so those remain unchanged.
- Throw Escape Change:
- If you push buttons during the normal throw delayed tech window you are unable to escape throws for 2 frames.
- Prevents using light attacks to option select with throw escapes.
- If you execute specific special moves during the normal throw delayed tech window you are unable to immediately escape throws. Each characters V-skills, V-triggers, V-reversals, critical arts, and moves have been set individually.
- Prevents throw escape option selects involving specific moves such as Shoryuken, etc.
- If you push buttons during the normal throw delayed tech window you are unable to escape throws for 2 frames.
The above Street Fighter V patch is set to release later this month. Other features, such as the previously announced cinematic Story Mode, will be touched upon in the coming months as Capcom nears its completion.