Can we talk about the character redesigns?

Street Fighter V
1

I remember some people, mainly me, were talking about how characters “getting older” and changing could be a good thing for SFV to differenciate the game from SFIV and signal a leap. It seems it is being the case here, since practically all the roster is being redesigned with new costumes, appearance changes and new gameplay elements.

It’s interesting to see they went “safe” with the first announcement, since Chun-Li and Ryu’s appearances were the same, but these “new costumes” they announced for them I think are supposed to represent their “new looks” just like what they did with the rest of the roster.

IMO:
Favorite changes
Bison (nice change on his design and it fits him)
R. Mika (I always thought her design was too kooky, the removal of the boob hearts was a step in the right direction)

Least favorites
Vega (I think Vega’s original design was simply perfect, the shirt covers his great muscles and cool tattoo, and I don’t think that was necessary)
Nash (Frankenstein, that’s ridiculous)
Ken (I personally prefer him to be in uniform with Ryu, and the new costume isn’t good at all IMO)

Mixed thoughts
Birdie (being fat does fit him, but it makes him a little too goofy and much of a stereotype)
Karin (I like that they’re moving away from the schoolgirl cliché but her new costume doesn’t look iconic and a little too clunky, I liked the dynamism of her original outfit)

The classic designs are most likely to return as DLC costumes, and that would be very good, but who knows, remember Cammy never got her Alpha costume in Street Fighter IV…

As for gameplay changes:
Favorite changes
Vega (I think it’s a great sign they’re taking risks with this, and also other characters like Rolento had shown this “leap on the wall” gameplay can work without being a charge character)
Nash (they finally made him different to Guile and I think it looks really cool)
Birdie (it looks very effective and that’s a nice change for a character whose gameplay never worked very great)
Ken (looks cool and completely different to Ryu, that’s good)

Mixed thoughts
R. Mika (it makes her more dynamic but the Nadeshiko thing is a bit gimmicky and OP, and I really miss the leg scissor grapple and the extra butt attack)

Least favorite
Bison (he has had changes in previous episodes, but this one is one of my least favorite incarnations)

2

Ken’s new costume is fine. His hair/face need to be reworked

3

I really don’t like Ken anymore. He looks retarded.

The rest are just things like slight wardrobe changes or things that show aging which I happen to like. Old designs aren’t going anywhere, they might even be costumes but for SFV they want to move the story forward and that’s cool.

4

Imo, the only costume that is too original to ever be redesigned is Chun Li’s.

5

I’m pleased with them except for ken and vega. For ken, it’s just his hair though. I understand what they’re trying to pull with it and it makes sense for the character but get your shit together. It looks terrible atm. Banana hair ken is called banana hair ken for a reason. Vega’s face looking wonky as fuck and I think he could of done without the shirt. It’s not like the shirt is terrible or anything, but I believe his design is one of those akin to chun li’s; original and timeless. I think a redesign should have a reason behind it, not just redesign for the sake of it. I can deal with vega’s costume but please work his face. He looks like he’s had plastic surgery or something like that.

I can really dig birdie’s redesign on the other hand, which was met with negative reception. He’s kinda goofy but nowhere near hakan/rufus/fuerte level goofy. I think his added bulk both on muscle and fat really accentutates the scumbag personality and makes him look intimidating. It’s hard to pull off something like that and I think capcom did a great job with birdie.
Bison looks badass, no complaints. Cammy looks very similar to her original self, but maybe more sleek? I like it either way.

Karin is by far my favorite one so far, simply because it made me go from not caring at all about to her to actually really wanting to have her as a sub character, god knows, maybe even main. The schoolgirl type character was never my thing but she now looks classy and slick as hell. A+ redesign.

6

only design i dont like is ken’s. he is butt ugly lol but ill still play him cuz his rework is awesome. i dont really care much for costume changes or how the character looks. if i like their play style ill play em. not a big deal to me

7

I don’t think you know the definition of the word “Dynamism.”

8

Personally, I like Mika, and Karin’s redesign. They look great while still retaining the original style of the character. I also really like Vega’s new look. He’s more than just a spanish matador fighter, but a narcissist and longs to be as beautiful as he can, so I dig the regal shirt.

I feel mixed about Birdie’s new appearance but dig it overall. We don’t have too many Fat characters in SF when you think about it.

The one I’m not fond of is Ken’s new look. I think it’s the pony tail. Like… too much is going on with his hair and none of it looks particularly good. I think if his hair was just down and not tied up, he’s be on the same level as Birdie, but as is, I just plain don’t like it.

9

I like them all except for Frankenash.

When I first saw Karin, I was like wtf she looks the same? Then I looked closer and it’s a little different. They didn’t change her too much so that she’s still recognizable. It was a nice touch. Now she looks like a college girl.

10

Eh, I don’t really like new Karin. She’s not Lili, so I don’t know why they tried to make her look like that. Her stance looks silly, and they added silly backflipping and sit-on-your-face moves. I was never a big fan of Karin, but I’m even less of a Lili fan so this makes me even more lukewarm to her inclusion.

The rest of them I’m actually okay with so far. Especially Birdie, the guy’s got personality for once. He used to be one of the most boring Alpha characters ever. Really the ONLY thing I miss about him is his BOO winpose. You know:

11

I wish they had done more with Cammy TBH. They removed her leg paint, but that was it. Could’ve been a little more adventurous with her.

12

I kinna like the harness she got but yea, doesn’t seem like they did too much with her.

13

I’d say Karin and Ken have the best redesign so far

14

I really like Karin’s new outfit (it’s super fun to draw). Also, I personally think Ken looks fine. Even his new hairstyle. The issue I have with his hair is that like the style itself is okay? But right now his actual hair looks really weird. I can’t wait to see the redesigns for the last two returning characters, and the DLC beyond that!

15

Idk if longer leggings and a sleeves is a “redesign”.

Mika has bigger boobs and more cleavage, the hearts removed to make way for that. It’s an improvement.

Ken and Vega’s face leaves something to be desired. Like not being ugly.

Still it’s a vast improvement all around from SF4.

Can’t wait to see Urien and Alex.

16

Yeah i think people are confusing redesign with just being in the actual game and having changes to fit into the game system, i mean karin, looks pretty much the same as alpha karin minus some system fitting changes, it’s not on the level of birdie or nash

birdie 10/10 this is the shit i wanna see real character evolution, even though you might not personally like how he looks or plays i’ll always give credit where credit is due, i mean on the negative side you can say " well it’s birdie nobody gives a fuck what you do to him" and yes that’s true but i still have to give kudos to capcom

Bison 8/10 looks fun, looks different has new stuff, looks miles more fun than chunky bison ever was, still dont think he’ll ever replace my fave bison, which is EX 2 bison, not quite as radical as birdie but still enough changes to say " i feel this character has evolved"

nash 9/10 for the record i love original nash and i dont really like franken nash, but still, you have to face up to the fact sometimes the changes might not be to your personal tastes, but again i feel that character has evolved (i might not like it but then others will and i appreciate that, and who’s to say that my opinion wont change)

Ken 7/10 while at first i was feeling the ken hype, i got to use him a couple of times and i personally dont think they’ve been brave enough, while yes there are some nice changes i dont feel there’s enough, i was expecting better, but having said that i do feel that even though i’m a bit disappointed with ken i do feel that there’s progress

chun li 2/10 dont give me iconic classic and all that other shit, i thought that’s what sf 4 was for, when i first saw the first trailer she had that shit in the air, i was thinking “ok she looks the same but she looks like she’s got some funk” after using her i must say i felt very underwhelmed, outside of system additions and changes she feels the same

Cammy 1/10 i think even if you gave her a makeover outfit wise i think it would have helped, i’m not gonna get into the good or bads of her outfit, but it might have helped people who dont like cammy take her a bit more seriously as a character, but then you couple the fact she hardly has any new moves and still has the personality of a toothbrush, it all adds up to a complete waste of an opportunity

mika 7/10 in terms of actual moves and gameplan i think she looks like a interesting character to play as, how much she feels like she has evolved it’s hard to say for a character that’s only been in 2 games and 2 games with over a decade between them, i can forgive capcom keeping her look the same

vega 6/10 dont like vega never have never will, but looks alot more interesting than any vega i’ve seen since st, i feel there’s enough changes to say there’s a bit of evolution there

ryu 0/10 what redesign? has almost nothing new or interesting that’s not a system aided change, yeah yeah classic yeah yeah iconic, we’ve heard it all before, there’s nothing that sf5 ryu offers i’ve not seen in the last 20 years using ryu

Karin, who gives a flying fuck?

Decent job overall

17

Her Alpha series costume was great. You can redesign an outfit while retaining some of the flavor of the original. I think they did a good job of that with Karin actually.

18

I really enjoyed the changes made to Karin’s outfit. It is spot on, its still young and fresh, but definitely no longer schoolgirl - and it retains the familiarity people have to the Alpha costume

19

Best redesign? Ryu by far. Can you notice the differences?

20

a compare Karin’s SFA 3 design with her SF5 Design here are my notes

1 the top part of her design in SFA3 is a shirt, while in SF5 it’s a long sleeve coat most likely a business coat.

2 she’s wearing a cravat in SF5 while in SFA3 she wears a blue ascot over her shirt. she still wears the ascot in her new design but it’s tuck in.

3 her boots are different in SF5, in SFA3 she had wore red boots but that didn’t have gold buckle on them.

still wears a skirt like in her high school uniform but the top part is definitely not just her top part of her high school uniform with longer sleeves there’s clearly a big difference between what she wears in SFA3 and what she wears in SF5.