Street Fighter 5 adds claw-wielding sex symbol Vega to the lineup

The prettiest ninja in all of Street Fighter history (sorry Ibuki) has been confirmed for Street Fighter 5. Vega, the claw-wielding, mask-wearing Shadaloo villain will return in the upcoming flagship fighting game, with a few big changes to his high-speed fighting style.

Vega's always had to do a little bit of brawling sans-claw when it gets knocked off, but in Street Fighter 5 he can choose to wield or stow the claw whenever. Consequently, he's a more technical character, with different combo and grab possibilities to consider. That flexibility comes with a tradeoff, though: if the other fighter knocks his claw off, it's gone for the rest of the fight.

Capcom also revealed two of Vega's V-Gauge moves: Matador Turn, a V-Skill that lets him nimbly twirl around an opponent's attack and mount an optional knock-down counter-attack; and Bloody Kiss, a V-Trigger that follows a thrown rose with a series of slashes if the projectile connects. Lastly and most importantly, Vega now wears a frilly, billowing blouse in his default appearance.

Chances are you won't be able to try Vega out yourself for a while. But as you wait for Street Fighter 5's postponed beta to recommence, you may as well pass the time blousing-er-browsing the rest of the Street Fighter 5 roster.

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Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.