For fighting game fans who have lost track of Street Fighter IV, through all its iterations over the last seven years, Capcom is just about ready to move onto Street Fighter V.
With a fresh new entry into the long-standing fighting series, Capcom is installing an all-new combat system right on top of the game's foundation.
Like the parry system installed in Street Fighter III and the focus assaults built into Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter V is getting its own add-on to the game's core fighting system. For Street Fighter V, that unique combat component will be the V-System, as laid out by Sony in a blog post announcing the new system.
The V-System is a set of skill modifiers developed around V-Gauge, which is sort of like a mana or magic bar. The three new V-System mechanics include V-Reversal, V-Trigger and V-Skill.
V-Skills are character specific abilities—modifiers for mobility, offense and defense—that can be triggered by combining medium punch with medium kick.
"V-Skills are rather important in battle as they may help a character in an area they're weak at or help to fill up the V-Gauge quicker," said Sony. "Learning how to properly and efficiently use each character's V-Skill will be key in winning matches."
V-Triggers, which require full V-Gauges, are massive attacks Sony compares to Ultras in Street Fighter IV.
With V-Triggers, a player can access a character's full potential, but that's only the beginning. The player has the option to maximize the benefits of V-Triggers to influence the outcome of the battle.
Next, there are V-Reversals. These counter-attacks consume just one stock of V-Gauge and can be compared to the Street Fighter Alpha series' Alpha counters, though V-Reversals can have various effects on aggressors—some V-Reversals push aggressors back, others toss them into the air and others, still, simply knock them down.
Lastly, there are the Critical Arts. Critical Arts are "highly damaging, cinematic attacks" that can only be performed when the EX Gauge is full.
Street Fighter V is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4 and PC in March 2016. While that's quite a wait, you can glimpse the game, specifically the V-System, in the video below:
