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A few months ago, I wrote an article about the possiblity of adding new characters to the arcade version of Super Street Fighter 4. Back then my only source for this article was a rumor from a Twitter account, but now that tweet has been proven true with the reveal of Yun and Yang for the arcade edtion.
Now comes a rumor that up to six new characters will be added to the arcade game, and SSF4 producer Yoshinori Ono laughed when asked about more new characters in an interview with Famitsu. (In case you didn’t know, laughing mean "yes" in the world of rumor mills.)
With that in mind, I drew up this list of ten veterans from earlier Street Fighter games and other Capcom series likely to appear in the arcade version — along with their odds of making the cut.
Rolento
Rolento is a mercenary who started off as a boss in the beat-'em-up Final Fight. Like other characters from the game, Rolento made the jump to the Street Fighter Alpha games, where he became very popular. He's since made appearances in other fighters like Capcom vs. SNK 2.
Play Style: Extremely mobile hit-and-run game.
Pros: Rolento just missed the cut for Super Street Fighter 4 and has the most unique play style of the remaining characters.
Cons: Capcom probably won’t include the mercenaries from his victory pose or his “hangman” super move.
Odds: 2-1. Out of the Alpha characters, Rolento has the best chance to make it.
Karin
Karin is SSF4 character Sakura’s rival. She actually made her first appearance in the manga Sakura Ganbaru. Later on, she became a true World Warrior in Street Fighter Alpha 3.
Play Style: Rush-down offense centered around a three-stage "rekka" attack that she can cancel into nearly any other special attack in her arsenal.
Pros: Karin's a popular character among both casual and hardcore players. She has the best theme music in Alpha 3.
Cons: Abel, Fei Long, and the just-added Yang have the same types of moves that she does, and her unique moves — like her counter — wouldn’t work as well in the SF4 engine.
Odds: 30-1. Karin's prospects were hurt the most by the inclusion of Yun and Yang.
Rainbow Mika
Rainbow Mika is a professional wrestler from Street Fighter Alpha 3 who's sort of a fan-service character. Despite only appearing in one game, R. Mika has the one fan that counts: Producer Yoshinori Ono, who regularly mentions on Twitter and in interviews about how he wanted to put her in Street Fighter 4.
Play Style: 360 grappler who trades power for speed. She also has an air-command throw and two versions of a flying butt smash: one with fast start-up and terrible recovery and another with terrible start-up and fast recovery.
Pros: The development team has more of a chance to get her in now that most of the major Alpha characters are in the game.
Cons: Capcom probably wouldn’t include Mika’s wrestling ring from her Beach Special super move. Ono would be making a new Darkstalkers game if he could do anything he wanted.
Odds: 10-1. Ultimately it comes down to what the developers want.
Sodom
Sodom started out as a boss in Final Fight, where he sucked up quarters with his lunging sword attacks. In the Alpha games, he traded his swords for sais and became an early parody of American anime fans.
Play Style: Aggressive poking game with his normals and signature Jigoku Scrape, along with some unorthodox 360 grabs and recovery techniques.
Pros: He could be packaged alongside Rolento and offers some fantastic English voice acting opportunities.
Cons: Sodom doesn't have the fanbase of other remaing Street Fighter characters.
Odds: 15-1. Sodom contains the right mix of obscurity and recognition to be a plesant surprise if he's announced.
Charlie
Charlie replaced original World Warrior Guile in the Alpha games (in the series' timeline it's Charlie's death that drives Guile to fight M. Bison). However, he is popular in his own right, and there are plenty of characters in SF4 who were dead or thought to be dead, so what's one more?
Play Style: Similar to Guile. Capcom would likely make Charlie’s Sonic Boom worse, but would make him better on offense and give him a better Flash Kick.
Pros: Putting Charlie in the game would be “Too Easy."
Cons: See the Ryu and Ken problem: Few people appreciate how two characters can have the same moves but play differently.
Odds: 50-1. Charlie would likely be welcomed with open arms if he made his return in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Here, not so much.
Alex
Alex is the storyline hero of Street Fighter 3, a true street fighter who wants to avenge his mentor’s defeat at the hands of Gill. Alex’s smash-mouth wrestling style signified a shift away from the traditional martial arts of earlier characters.
Play Style: Inflicting big bursts of damage off of grabs and lunging attacks.
Pros: Alex is the main character of SF3, dammit! If R. Mika can be discussed, then surely Alex can.
Cons: He isn't any more popular than the remaining SF3 characters.
Odds: 7-1. Now that most of the hardcore favorites are in SSF4, Alex can finally get his time in the sun.
Elena
Elena is the only capoeria fighting in Street Fighter and the only character who exclusively uses kick attacks. And isn’t it odd that SSF4 has two stages set in Africa but no fighters from the continent?
Play Style: Mix-up game based on overhead attacks, normal throws, and knockdowns.
Pros: Elena has a unique play style. She could be powerful in SSF4 thanks to her wake-up games and Focus Attack-breaking normals and target combos.
Cons: She might not be used much since people playing her have to guess often, and her attacks sometimes don't work the way you would like them to.
Odds: 7-1. Out of the remaining women not in Street Fighter 4, Elena makes the most sense.
Hugo
Another Final Fight alum, Hugo was a recurring enemy who was transformed into an Andre the Giant homage for the Street Fighter 3 games.
Play Style: Brutal power and 360 throws. He's even stronger than Zangief and T. Hawk.
Pros: Ono mentioned Hugo as a possible new character and could be packaged with Rolento.
Cons: Street Fighter 4 doesn’t need another giant grappler, and big, slow Hugo wouldn't like fireballs.
Odds: 15-1. Hugo isn't the most exciting prospect, but at least we'd see more goofy cartoon reactions from his opponents when he squashed them.
Urien
Street Fighter 3's Urien was originally created as a non-broken version of final boss Gill. He is now the last competitively popular character from 3rd Strike not in SSF4.
Play Style: Poking, juggle combos and unblockable setups using his Aegis Reflector super combo.
Pros: He could finally bridge the storylines between SF3 and SF4, if you're into that.
Cons: His Aegis Reflector wouldn't work the same way it did in 3rd Strike due to how SSF4's super meter and engine are different.
Odds: 30-1. Short of including a new special as a replacement for Aegis Reflector, Urien probably wouldn't meet expectactions.
Q
Q wasn't a great character in 3rd Strike, but several Japanese players have made a name for themselves using this mysterious masked man.
Play Style: Brutal damage with close-range combos.
Pros: Q would be a treat for the arcade edition's intended audience: hardcore Japanese arcade warriors who have played Street Fighter for years.
Cons: Q, along with Oro and Necro, is considered a “freak” character who turned people away from the SF3 games.
Odds: 30-1. As Q himself would say, "…."
Poison
Final Fight’s Poison would have been another generic beat-'em-up enemy if Capcom didn’t take a confusing stance on the character's gender (Poison is a crossdressing male in Japan and a post-op transsexual in America). Poison reappeared as Hugo’s manager in SF3, which raises the question: Can Poison fight, too?
Play Style: Poison's only playable appearances have been in the terrible Final Fight Revenge and the never-released Capcom Fighting All-Stars, so she doesn't have a set play style.
Pros: Poison would be a new character to the Street Fighter series, and it’d be great to see at least one new character.
Cons: How can someone who took less than one combo to KO in Final Fight stand up to the likes of Ryu and Sagat? At least Sodom and Rolento were bosses and Hugo was an elite mook.
Odds: 75-1. Like a current-gen sequel to Chrono Trigger, Posion seems like a fan request that will never see the light of day.
A New Challenger?
The point of my first article was that a brand-new character would be more fun and less contentious than reviving a character who wouldn't meet expectations.
Pros: So far, SF4 has done a great job of making characters that are unique both in design and gameplay. Even if some characters aren’t the best, they’re still useful and fit in with the rest of the cast.
Cons: It’s easier to bring back an old character than to create a new one. SSF4's Juri went through numerous designs before Capcom settled on her final look, and no one thought that Street Fighter would ever have a Turkish oil wrestler like Hakan.
Odds: 25-1. Let's see one more one more for the road, Capcom.