Following Capcom’s Winter Update 2021 stream, the Street Fighter 5 Season 5 update is weeks away as information trickles out for fans. Officially announced as the final season of Capcom’s Street Fighter 5, Season 5 re-introduces several fan-favorite characters including Dan and Rose from the Street Fighter Alpha series, Oro from Street Fighter 3, and Akira from Rival Schools.
Prior to the showcase, information relating to one of the characters expected to be revealed in the showcase, Eleven, was leaked by Twitch hours before the event. The leaked information referenced this entirely new character who was not included with the initial four announced characters. As speculation involving the character rose, the Winter Update 2021 showcase began, answering the questions fans may have had involving Eleven.
Eleven’s first appearance in Street Fighter 5 lore was as an NPC in Urien’s story mode. It was revealed that it was the prototype to Twelve, a character in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, whose gimmick involved copying another fighter’s appearance and moveset as an optional super move. Eleven possesses similar abilities to that of its successor, except it completely changes into a character at random, determined at the start of each match. The characters it can change into is determined by those the player has already unlocked.
The random factor involving the character’s moves and the uncertainty of who the player will begin the match with has been compared to other characters from various fighters of the past. Mokujin from the Tekken series has been such a comparison, known as a mimic character who begins each round with a different character’s moves at random. As the reveal of Eleven is a preview for his potential, it is uncertain if Eleven has any inherent abilities that would deviate his copied form from the original fighter. Eleven will be included as a “bonus” for those who purchase Season 5 of Street Fighter 5
The announcement of Eleven answered another concern that many fans had involving the identity of the final character. The thought of the still-unannounced fifth character coming during Season 5 being reserved for a character who was essentially a “random select” didn’t sit well for many fans on Twitter. As of this writing, the identity of the fifth character remains a mystery.
During the Winter Update 2021 showcase, Street Fighter 5 director Takayuki Nakayama and producer Shuhei Matsumoto revealed gameplay of Rose. In the brief showcase of the character, Rose retains several of her moves from previous games, including the infamous Soul Satellite from Ultra Street Fighter 4 as a V-Skill and her Soul Illusion from Street Fighter Alpha 2 as a V-Trigger. Dan was also showcased, refining his taunts as a gameplay mechanic to apply pressure to his opponent. New balance changes and an evasive option utilizing the V-Gauge known as V-Shift were also introduced in the showcase.
Street Fighter 5 is available now for PC and PlayStation 4.
