Street Fighter 5’s fifth season kicks off Feb. 22 with the release of Dan Hibiki, the first of five new characters promised for Capcom’s flagship fighting game. But Season 5 of Street Fighter 5 will also include a new, previously unannounced bonus character, Eleven.
Eleven, a precursor to Street Fighter 3’s Twelve, is one of the stranger things we’ve seen in Street Fighter 5. It’s a mimic character, and when players pick Eleven, it will choose a random fighter to imitate and choose a random V-Skill and V-Trigger. It’s slightly different from the random select feature in Street Fighter 5; Eleven decides which fighter it will be as players load into battle, so the randomization will be a surprise to all involved. In battle, Eleven will take the shape of other street fighters, but retain its bubble gum-like look.
Here’s how Eleven, as Ryu and Chun-Li, will appear in-game:
Eleven will be included as part of Street Fighter 5’s Season 5 Character Pass ($24.99) and Premium Pass ($39.99). Both passes grant access to the fifth and final season’s new characters, which include Dan, Rose, Oro, and Akira from Capcom’s Rival Schools series. The fifth character coming to Season 5 has not been revealed yet.
During a streamed presentation on Thursday, Capcom showed off Dan’s new moves, and previewed the game’s next fighter, Rose from the Street Fighter Alpha series. Capcom also revealed a brand-new mechanic coming to Street Fighter 5 called V-Shift, which the developer described as follows:
This new defensive mechanic allows you to get out of tough situations. It can be executed at virtually any time in a match at the cost of one bar of V-Gauge and if timed correctly, will allow you to execute a fully invincible backdash that slows down time for a short period and allows you to plan your next move against to counter your opponent’s attack. This move is also invincible to throws, so it’s an incredibly effective defensive option during many situations! If you successfully time a V-Shift, you will regain half of your used V-Gauge bar.
V-Shift, a new round of balancing for all 40 characters, and a new version of the grid training stage are all coming to Street Fighter 5 on Feb. 22, alongside the launch of Season 5. For more details on the game’s new additions, check out the Street Fighter 5 winter update video below and read more details on the PlayStation Blog.