Street Fighter V’s Next Season Starts with Kage, an Eviler Ryu

The Capcom Cup occurred this weekend, the final tournament for Street Fighter V to close out the Capcom Pro Tour for the year — a fact Capcom couldn’t help but inform players of through the game itself. While it’s another opportunity to see the best SFV players around demonstrate their abilities against one another for the ultimate prize, this has also been where Capcom has revealed the game’s future content. The second and third seasons were revealed after the Capcom Cup Top 8 in 2016 and 2017, respectively, after all. But there were key twists this time around.

The surprise was spoiled when the update was accidentally dropped during the tournament. It came with a new character known as Kage, who bore a striking resemblance to Evil Ryu in terms of his looks and especially his move set. Everyone who made jokes about how Capcom would start diverting resources from SFV with this season and release character like Evil Ryu should feel bad, but it’s hard not to see the humor there. I’m not apologizing for my joke about it, by the way.

SFV producer Yoshinori Ono, complete with Kage’s horns, eventually revealed the character on stage at the Capcom Cup, though had to acknowledge how the update went out early. The new trailer and Character Introduction video did a good job of showing Kage’s combo potential, which could be even better than Evil Ryu’s.

Ryu finally excised the venomous Satsui no Hado in SFV’s story, the demonic force that triggered his transformation into Evil Ryu, and the same power Akuma uses. The excised power has become its own being known as “Kage.” This plot thread sounds awfully “inspired” by a Dragon Ball one, where Kame excised the evil from within him, which became Piccolo. Something similar happened with Buu in the same franchise. Capcom’s hardly utilizing an original idea here for this very original character, but this could be fine if he’s fun to use.

Kage’s retains several techniques from Ryu and Evil Ryu, including the Hadouken (though it bears more resemblance to Dan’s Gadouken) and Shakunetsu Hadouken. He also has the Ryusokyaku kick Evil Ryu gained in his Street Fighter IV appearance. The only attack with a new spin — literally — is the Kurekijin, an adjusted version of the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku where Kage rotates once for a single one-hit kick. It looks awkward in motion, but it’s useful for juggle combos. This especially applies with the EX version, which essentially gives him the first air combos in the game.

Kage’s V-Skill is the Senha Kassatsu, a lunging forward punch, though whether it’s safe on block and can stun the opponent long enough for extended combos depends on how long it’s charged. His V-Trigger I is the Taigyaku Mudo, which gives him the ability to teleport on the ground. It can also be cancelled into after special moves are executed to make unsafe techniques safe, but only while it’s still active. He can also use this in the air, which he’ll need for the aforementioned air combos. In another bonus, the V-Trigger also gives his V-Skill more range and increased damage potential.

Kage’s V-Trigger II is the Rikudo Osatsu, which unlocks the Misogi attack. This move will let Kage jump into the air and come crashing down with his fist, similar to an Oni (a character to Akuma as Ryu is to Kage) technique from the SFIV games, which can be cancelled into after several attacks. If you read all this and think this seems like a large amount of attacks, you aren’t wrong.

Capcom has given Kage two Critical Arts, though one requires special conditions to trigger. His first one is the Metsu Shoryuken, Ryu’s modified version of the Dragon Punch from previous Street Fighter games. He can also perform the Shun Goku Satsu like Akuma, though this also requires for V-Trigger II to be activated.

There were initially doubts, but Kage is indeed the first new face for SFV’s fourth season, a fact confirmed by Capcom’s blog post, which could mean something. For instance, only two of the last nine characters released for the SFIV games were brand new, those being Yun and Yang — who are twin brothers. The others consisted of Evil Ryu, Oni, the four Street Fighter characters introduced in Street Fighter x Tekken (which bombed, so they were imported into a successful game), and Cammy-clone Decapre. Depending on which characters follow Kage, this really could be Capcom sending a hint that SFV support is starting to fade into the sunset.

Kage is now available for $5.99, or 100,000 Fight Money. He came with a balance patch for the existing cast, which has helped some characters that needed it and nerfed others who were too good; but the key word is “some.” Characters like Alex and Falke received good buffs to help them out, though it’s a shame Capcom has a vendetta against poor Juri. Meanwhile, characters like Akuma and Guile received nerfs. The tournament scene could have a character shake-up next year.

Capcom claimed they’re trying something different with how the next season’s characters are released, but provided no indication as to what that truly means outside starting this season by not releasing a season pass. This could mean there will be more or fewer than six characters in total. We’ll see which one it is in time, but I wouldn’t expect too much from this next round of characters given who they’re starting with.