Earlier today Capcom posted the reveal trailer for Charlie in Street Fighter V to their official Street Fighter franchise YouTube account. Charlie’s presence has been expected in the game, especially after Capcom Cup 2014. The Capcom Cup is the annual culminating event in a series of Capcom-sponsored fighting game tournaments (including those officially run by Capcom and tournaments run independently) known as the Capcom Pro Tour. During last year’s Capcom Cup 2014 in December, a trailer debuted that briefly hinted at Charlie’s presence, and series producer/renowned troll Yoshinori Ono spoke briefly at the event in a Charlie costume.
Capcom has also announced that they are planning online beta testing on PlayStation 4 and PC for this game, with more details to be announced at a later date. Online beta testing is a first for the genre and for a fighting game franchise as high-profile as Street Fighter, it’s an ambitious and interesting move.
In this trailer we see Charlie in action, and his moveset seems a stark departure from what it was in the past. Besides his Sonic Boom, we see new special moves including a variety of arcing kicks and what appear to be teleports that function in relation to your opponent (similar to Chipp from Guilty Gear, and contrasted with Wesker’s teleports in Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3.) He also seems to have a command grab-type move, as demonstrated when he brutally smashes Chun-Li’s face. This Street Fighter V depiction feels like a much more sinister Charlie than we’ve known; let’s not even speak about all the patchwork and discolored skin on his body.
Charlie is the best friend of Street Fighter icon Guile. He debuted in the Alpha series of Street Fighter games, and on the surface his moveset was similar to Guile’s with some stylistic differences (for example, Charlie performed the Sonic Boom with one arm, and Charlie’s version of the Flash Kick involved him facing away from his opponent.) As the Alpha series concluded, canon dictated that he had apparently lost his life or otherwise went missing in a failed attempt at finishing off series villain M.Bison. Since then Guile has been holding on to hope that Charlie is alive and is searching for his friend.
Interestingly enough, a certain Shadaloo boss can be seen briefly at the end of this trailer.
