Street Fighter 5 players are already pulling off crazy combos with Menat
The result is as foretold.
Capcom released Street Fighter 5's latest DLC character on Tuesday and already players are doing crazy things with her.
Menat is a brand new character to the Street Fighter series (she popped up in Ed's backstory). The fortune teller is the apprentice of Rose, with a combat style that revolves around her crystal sphere. It's this crystal sphere that's at the core of her unique abilities.
Using soul power, Menat can extend the base of her attacks, making her a Dhalsim-style zoner. She can also send it out at the opponent to disrupt attacks and then call it back. The cool thing is, while the crystal sphere is out, Menat can cancel any normal attack and her V-Skill into the call back, which lets her do some pretty elaborate and extended combos.
Combine this with her V-Trigger, which summons six spheres each linked to her normal attack, and already Menat has the potential for high damage, show-off combos.
It's worth starting with Street Fighter combo master Desk, who has already put together some brilliant Menat videos. One of Desk's videos shows a 47-hit, 24 second long Menat loop combo, which is pretty crazy.
And as you'd expect, the Street Fighter pros are taking Menat for a spin. Here's Japanese pro player with a wonderful 37-hit combo.
The end of the first round in this video, showcasing Menat gameplay from Japanese master Sakonoko, is brilliant.
Street Fighter 5's combo system has been criticised by some who say it's too basic, and so it's difficult to express yourself with unique, spectacular combos. Menat's design certainly provides combo fans with an opportunity to show off. Here's Singaporean pro Kun Xian Ho with an early effort:
Beyond her crazy combo potential, Menat's design and animations are already impressing the Street Fighter community. Just check out her sassy walk:
Then there's her brilliant taunt, which actually avoids projectiles.
Here's her lovely idle animation:
And I've got to try this round ender:
Capcom rightly came under fire for messing up street Fighter 5's launch, but I have to give the developers credit for a superb collection of season two DLC characters. We've had Akuma, Ed, Kolin, Abigail and now Menat. Each character is unique in both their design and gameplay. And there are some great animation flourishes, too, from Abigail's brilliant back dash to Menat's walk.