Street Fighter 5 adds claw-wielding sex symbol Vega to the lineup

The prettiest ninja in all of Street Fighter history (sorry Ibuki) has been confirmed for Street Fighter 5. Vega, the claw-wielding, mask-wearing Shadaloo villain will return in the upcoming flagship fighting game, with a few big changes to his high-speed fighting style.

Vega's always had to do a little bit of brawling sans-claw when it gets knocked off, but in Street Fighter 5 he can choose to wield or stow the claw whenever. Consequently, he's a more technical character, with different combo and grab possibilities to consider. That flexibility comes with a tradeoff, though: if the other fighter knocks his claw off, it's gone for the rest of the fight.

Capcom also revealed two of Vega's V-Gauge moves: Matador Turn, a V-Skill that lets him nimbly twirl around an opponent's attack and mount an optional knock-down counter-attack; and Bloody Kiss, a V-Trigger that follows a thrown rose with a series of slashes if the projectile connects. Lastly and most importantly, Vega now wears a frilly, billowing blouse in his default appearance.

Chances are you won't be able to try Vega out yourself for a while. But as you wait for Street Fighter 5's postponed beta to recommence, you may as well pass the time blousing-er-browsing the rest of the Street Fighter 5 roster.

Seen something newsworthy? Tell us!

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.

Latest in Fighting
Minecraft characters Alex and Steve riding in mine carts in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, being chased by Bowser Jr..
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate villain Minecraft Steve is the star of the "best Smash clip of all time," as genius player makes a literal Trojan Horse to destroy an unsuspecting opponent
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS key art.
Masahiro Sakurai says Super Smash Bros "might have died out" if not for late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata: "There's no doubt that he influenced me in many ways"
Mortal Kombat 2 3DO
After 32 years, Mortal Kombat 2 has finally been ported to the one hyper-expensive '90s console that could actually do it justice
jinx in 2xko weilding a big hammer with a smirk on her face
The League of Legends fighting game spin-off won't be getting its big playtest, but that's so that more of you can play it later this year
Retro Gamer
Retro Gamer celebrates Capcom’s greatest fighting games
A screenshot shows Fatal Fury ninja Mai performing a combat move in Street Fighter 6.
Fatal Fury's top anime girlfriend Mai "bounces" into Street Fighter 6, and her bouncy arrival is driving Capcom to horny madness: "She's giving fierce. She's slaying"
Latest in News
The Last of Us
The Last of Us season 2 is giving a game character the Bill and Frank treatment – and he's so deep-cut you might barely remember him
Cities: Skylines 2
Cities: Skylines 2 on console is still delayed at least until summer as devs work on "improving performance and stability"
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 screenshot showing a group of medieval men sitting at a table with food, cheering together with wooden mugs of beer lifted high
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is getting its new 1.2 update soon, and it sounds absolutely massive as Warhorse reveals there are "34 pages of patch notes"
Game pieces from Artistry which have an art noveau style
After raising $220,000 on Kickstarter, this art history board game is ready to be the prettiest one in your collection
The Last of Us season 2 first look
The Last of Us season 2 will tell "a different version" of the story, but Neil Druckmann loves the changes they've made: "Its DNA is in there"
Doom
Doom: The Dark Ages' new cutscenes exist because of fans' unlikely obsession with the series' lore: "A Doom game that doesn’t have a story is just an arcade game”