Despite featuring a million billion gazillion characters, the many versions of Street Fighter IV didn't feature all the combatants present in previous Street Fighter games, which is why the promise of more is a bit exciting. They've drawn on most of the characters from the first two by now, but SFIII and the Alpha series remain relatively unpilfered. That changes a little today with the news that Street Fighter Alpha's Charlie will be in SFV (and that's despite him seemingly dying at the end of Alpha 3.) You can catch a glimpse of ol' Charles in the extended version of last week's reveal trailer, above.
But hang on, don't go anywhere just yet. Capcom had another treat in store this weekend at their Capcom Cup, in the form of a full match of Street Fighter V. It's Ryu vs. Chun-Li again, but this time it's an entire, live showcase of them walloping one another again and again. I haven't played nearly enough SFIV to be able to figure out what's new here, but it seems unlikely that we're going to get something as revelatory as the original version of Street Fighter IV back in the day. Still, this looks very nice, and I appreciate any fighting game that lets you destroy part of the background.
A reminder: when SFV releases, PC and PS4 players will be able to beat each other up, thanks to cross-platform play.
Thanks, Kotaku.