Street Fighter 5's New Character Rashid Has Been Revealed

Capcom has announced a brand-new character for Street Fighter 5 called Rashid. During a games event in Dubai, they showed off the first gameplay footage of the fighter.

Rashid's character design is, frankly, a little confusing. He's wearing traditional Middle Eastern garb but then a few futuristic props. He's got a jetpack (?) on his back and what looks like a Scouter from Dragon Ball Z over one eye. I'm not sure what to make of all that.

It's possible his futuristic tech is what allows him to perform the wind-based attacks he unleashes in the leaked gameplay video. He can summon a small tornado and launch it at foes, or create a taller twister that slowly moves across the stage:

The first trailer for Rashid, posted on YouTube by a NeoGAF user, seems to show off his V-Trigger ability. Rashid lifts Ryu into the air with a giant tornado and holds him up there while unleashing a barrage of strikes.

Rashid is the second new character announced for Street Fighter 5's roster thus far. The first was Necalli, a dreadlocked fighter with a "feral" fighting style. Street Fighter 5 will launch with four new characters in total. They'll be accompanied by 12 veterans such as Chun-Li, M. Bison and R. Mika.

Street Fighter isn't the only franchise adding a Middle Eastern character to its ranks in their latest sequel. Tekken 7 will introduce a Saudi Arabian fighter named Shaheen. Both developers are presumably hoping that they'll be able to expand their game's reach throughout the globe by making their roster more diverse.

SF5 will launch early next year on PS4 and PC. Capcom plans to keep adding features and fighters to the game well after its release, though.

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