Hiya!

Recently, Capcom has a big announcement concerning the future of Street Fighter V. I was just expecting to see a few nibbles of info here and there. So color me surprised when Shuhei Matsumoto and Takayuki Nakayama, the new head honchos of Street Fighter V, hosted a program revealing 4 new characters slated throughout this year and the next! That was a huge announcement and something I’m really looking forward to, even though it’ll take the better half of 2021 to get the final final roster in the game.

I generally approve of the characters they selected to be re-introduced into the roster. There were some which I expected like Rose and Oro since they were fan favorites. I was pleasantly surprised with Akira from Rival Schools making the cut. I do remember playing Project Justice, the sequel to Rival Schools, with my brother on the Sega Dreamcast so I’m curious to learn how Capcom will integrate that game’s mechanics into Street Fighter V.

However, the character I’m going to talk about is Dan Hibiki. The master of the Saikyo-Ryu is a personal favorite of mine from the series. I may not main him or really play using him seriously but I really like Dan for what he’s worth! He’s basically a “joke” character with moves which parodies that of the other Shotos in the game as well as some well-known SNK fighters.

The reason I want to talk about Dan is because, during the show, they gave us a glimpse of how Dan is going to play in the game. Not much was really shown and some things are going to change. I can definitely see them altering his back throw as it leaves Dan at point blank range to do pressure while his opponent gets up. There’s no way they’re going to keep that pressure tool!

Even if it was a very abbreviated look at how Dan is coming together in Street Fighter V, they did show us enough to spark my imagination. It got my creative juices flowing regarding what I think with how they’re going to handle the character in the game. In fact, I will downright say these are my predictions on how Dan will play like in Street Fighter V.

First off, Dan will be a normal health character. Although he’s thought of as a weakling who crumbles into dust with a few hits, I don’t think Capcom will do that with this iteration. He’ll probably get the normal amount of health points, which is 1,025 HP. This is comparable with characters like Ryu and Ken. However, his stun value will be a little bit on the weaker side at around 975. This will put him at par with the current stats Vega/Claw has. Not the weakest when it comes to health but is slightly easier to stun than most of the cast.

Most of his normal attacks will be slower than most characters but a lot of them will have better than decent range and will be rather meaty. This is my assumption based on the other video showing of Dan that wasn’t shown in the Capcom video. Some moves, like the ones I think is his standing heavy punch, standing medium kick and crouching heavy kick look really meaty and with some range to them. These move animations may change but it does show you the general direction Dan’s development is going.

Dan will have most of his old moves returning. His Gadoken is still going to have a ridiculously short range but, this time around, the strength of the punch button will determine how fast the “projectile” is. The light punch will come out slow but will come out very fast while the heavy punch button will take some time for Dan to throw it out. The tradeoff for the startup will be how long the “projectile” will stay on the screen, with the heavy version taking the longest to dissipate. Dan’s other moves, the Koryuken and Dankyukyaku will generally have the same properties from the older games. Quick side-note: I do hope Capcom changes the animation of his Koryuken and make him use his forward hand like Kage does. Gotta be consistent!

Dan does get a new special move, the Danrestuken, which is a multi-punch move, which he does get in Omega Mode of Ultra Street Fighter IV. It’s slightly changed to end with his old Focus Attack double punch. Although it generally acts like a throw, it will probably work like Ibuki’s Raida attack, which is an auto-combo. A part of me wishes they retain his Saikyo Tenjisan grab move but it might make Dan a little bit too strong for what he’s supposed to be.

The biggest questions regarding any new Street Fighter V character is what will be his V-Skills, V-Reversal and V-Triggers. Well, it’s kind of easy to think of what one of his V-Skills will be and it’s going to be based around his taunt. Dan will get a “standard” taunt, which you execute by pressing all the attack buttons. However, he will have a V-Skill version of the taunt and you can already see it in the footage. His V-Skill taunt will be a cancellable move from some of his normals and all of his special moves. Honestly, this just makes sense to embed Dan’s taunt into his gameplay and this would be one of the best ways to do it.

Dan’s second V-Skill is a little harder to predict as I can’t of anything else that would compare with what we saw in the video. The only thing I could think of is his second V-Skill would be something of an install move which could power up his Gadouken. Maybe if he activates it, it will extend the range of the projectile and do more hits, basically mimicking Urien’s but in a wimpier way.

His V-Reversal is also tricky to pin down as there are several things Capcom can do. They can give him his Saikyo-Ryu Defense from Omega Mode but with an actual animation of him pushing his opponent away. They can also give Dan his silly back dash from Street Fighter IV or have him leapfrog over the opponent much like Ibuki’s in Street Fighter III. I just want it to look funny!

Now, for his V-Triggers, I have a couple of thoughts on what they can be. The first one could have Dan simply perform his Haoh-Gadoken super projectile from Street Fighter IV. It can be used twice much like Urien’s Aegis Reflector or Chun-Li’s Kikoken V-Triggers. His second V-Trigger will have him enter a new mode much like Akuma’s V-Trigger 1, the one that buffs his fireballs and Dragon Punch. Dan’s version will buff his Koryuken and Dankukyaku special moves and give them new animations. The biggest difference is that, once the meter runs out, Dan will be helpless for a brief second as he recovers from expelling all that energy. Basically, it’s a parody of Akuma’s version because it makes so much sense.

This does lead us neatly into what could be Dan’s Critical Arts. The obvious choice would be his Hissho Buraiken, the multi-hitting attack that was his Super Combo in Street Fighter IV. Like in that version, it will have very little range but can suck in people from a short distance. The final hit will also guard break a blocking opponent but you won’t really have enough time to get a good hit in afterwards.

However, he will get a more powerful version of the Hissho Buraiken if you have the Akuma parody V-Trigger active! It’s going to work pretty much like his old Ultra Shisso Buraiken but the animation will be changed to parody Akuma’s Raging Demon. I don’t know how it’ll look like but I just hope Capcom makes it look funny.

Obviously, I could be way off and Dan will get any of the things predicted above. This is just me wistfully thinking and how I would personally design Dan if I were all by my lonesome. Still, I think these are good ideas and I’m bound to be right about one thing, right?

Now, what is this new battle mechanic you have yet to reveal, Capcom?

Byee!

How do you think Dan will play in Street Fighter V? Let me know your predictions in the comments section below!