Street Fighter V winter update reveals Rose, Dan and more

After a year of no major content updates, Capcom finally revealed what it has in store for season five with the Street Fighter V winter update.

Much like the summer update six months ago, SFV Director Takayuki Nakayama and Producer Shuhei Matsumoto introduced the new content. The duo featured Rose in action, as she will be the second character coming in season five, after Dan. The update also included her stage, Marina of Fortune, a revamped version of her stage from Street Fighter Alpha 2.

The Rose of Italy returns

Rose’s standing heavy punch and crouching heavy kick are back with all of their range and power intact. One of the biggest changes from Rose’s last appearance is she can now fire her projectile at a downward angle, in a way very similar to Akuma, that can help her control space while she makes an airborne approach It even seems that, if Rose is far enough away from her opponent, she can fire a steep air fireball followed up by one on the ground.

Rose has a new move called Soul Punish, which sets an orb on screen at various distances depending on the button used. After a short amount of time, the orb will explode and deal damage. This lets her apply pressure and extend, which will help her maintain ground control. She also has a new anti air move. Instead of jumping into the air to meet her foe, Rose will instead snatch them out of the sky with her scarf. Keeping her grounded makes it much safer if the attack whiffs, and the EX version even causes a wall bounce. Jumping in on Rose could be extremely dangerous, since she can turn a jump in into a full combo with one bar of meter.

Her V-Skill 1 also really leans into her backstory as a fortune teller by using Tarot cards that can either power herself up or weaken the opponent. It also seems that by holding down buttons, she can charge her V-Gauge manually. Additionally, her Soul Satellite is now her V-Skill instead of her super. With it, she can summon a maximum of two orbs at once to float around her.

Her V-Trigger 1 lets her teleport forward, backward or directly above her opponent. This lets Rose fire a projectile and then appear above the opponent as the fireball makes contact. Her V-Trigger 2 is called Soul Illusion, and it summons a copy of Rose to duplicate her moves. The clone appears as a blue shadow, very similar to the afterimages seen when using V-ism combos in the Street Fighter Alpha series.

Saikyo Powah!

The update then moved on to the star of the show: the Streetest Fighter, Dan Hibiki. His Battle Outfit sports a tengu mask and tattered, orange gi that appears to be a call-out to fellow fighting game, SNK, which notoriously copied Ryu with its character, Ryo. The Tengu mask is very reminiscent of Mr. Karate and the orange gi looks very similar to Ryo’s.

Dan’s V-Skill 1 was featured next, which lets Dan cancel out of all of his special moves with a taunt. As a result, Dan can do things like follow up his fireballs or extend his combos. Of course, because this is Dan, there is a drawback. Every time he uses his V-Skill, both players’ V-Gauges will increase.

Dan’s V-Trigger 1 is only one bar long, meaning players can use it much earlier in the match than other characters. Using the V-Trigger lets Dan fire his super Haoh-Gadoken fireball. If fully charged, it can cause a wall bounce or break guard, similar to Ryu’s V-Trigger 1. Dan can activate his V-Skill 2 off of any normal except his crouching heavy kick. He performs a small taunt with his arm that smacks the opponent for a little bit of damage. With proper timing it’s possible to cancel out of one normal into another normal or special. This gives Dan a lot more combo potential with this V-Skill. But if mistimed, he will be left completely vulnerable. Also, just like Dan’s V-Skill 1, using this V-Skill will fill both player’s V-Gauges.

When activated, Dan’s V-Trigger 2 lets him use an enhanced version of his fireball and uppercut for a limited amount of time. This is extremely similar to his “pupil” Sakura’s V-Trigger 2. The powered up fireball will have more frame advantage and the powered up uppercut will have complete invincibility. Also, if players press the attack button at the same time as the last motion input, Dan uses an even stronger version of each move.

V-Shift offers new defensive options

After a short exhibition match with two Dans, Street Fighter V’s combat director, Ryuichi Shigeno showed off the new system mechanic coming to the game. This new defensive mechanic,V-Shift, costs one bar of V-Gauge to activate and lets players perform a special backdash that is invincible to throws, projectiles and physical attacks. Unlike V-Reversals, which can only be used when actively blocking an opponent’s attack, V-Shift lets players act defensively on reaction or prediction.

If players time the V-Shift right when the opponent’s attack would connect, similar to a parry, they will become completely invincible until the end of the backdash and can perform a counter attack called a V-Shift Break.

Many of the top tier characters in Street Fighter V, like G and Seth, rely on relentlessly pressuring the opponent and smothering them in their offense. This tool could even out the field for both players and put more of an emphasis on defense.