Street Fighter 5's next character is an Illuminati ice lady, here's how she'll play

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Kolin is a counter-focused character who can setup devastating combos if used correctly.

Street Fighter V's next character is an ice-powered Illuminati lady named Kolin. She's appeared in the series prior to this—in Street Fighter III and V's story mode—but only as a non-playable character. She was revealed in a flashy video featuring a new Lupe Fiasco song, but now, Capcom's decided to give her a proper introduction—no disrespect to Mr. Fiasco. You can check out how the character will fit into Street Fighter V in the video breakdown above.

Kolin got her ice powers from Street Fighter III's boss character Gil. You know, that multi-coloured guy in the diaper who has definitely caused players to break a few controllers over the years? Oh, and he had flowing locks that would make any L'Oreal hair model jealous. Anyway, back to Kolin.

Kolin's V-Skill is a lunging strike, and while it can be blocked, you can turn it into a good combo opportunity if used at the right moment. And as a very counter-focused character, she can use it to turn a good read into some satisfying punishment. 

Her V-Trigger, on the other hand, shoots out icicles that stop your opponent's stun gauge from recovering and can be used to setup even more combos. And that seems to be the thing with Kolin: her damage output is low, but if used correctly, she can counter and setup combos that put her at an advantage. To balance this, she does not have an invincible reversal.

As someone who was disappointed by Street Fighter 5 at the outset and fell off pretty quickly, I really like the way Capcom has put together this introduction video for Kolin. Don't get me wrong: I love the flashy character reveal videos that most fighting game developers put out. Sometimes you can intuit what they're doing and how they're doing it from the quick flashes of gameplay, but nothing beats actually knowing how they work and what they'll be most effective at. It's videos like these that make someone like me excited for a character.

Kolin joins Street Fighter 5's roster on February 28. She's the second character in Season 2, following Akuma who released this past December. Four more will follow, and we'll keep you up to date when those are revealed.

Mat Paget