As the sun sets on Street Fighter V in its final season of DLC, Capcom is pulling out all of the stops. Not only is the game about to get several returning fighters from throughout the series' history, but new costumes being added into the mix also homage other Capcom games. New DLC duds turn Rose and Akuma into Ruby Heart and Cyber-Akuma, homaging Capcom and Street Fighter's crossovers with Marvel.
The once-venerable Marvel vs. Capcom series has become dormant, with a particularly less than well-received entry killing the franchise's hype. These new costumes take a look back at those games' heyday, however, rounding out Capcom's current fighting game juggernaut while possibly paving the way for a new crossover with a certain American comic book company.
Cyber-Akuma, as his name would suggest, was a cyborg version of the dark and brooding Street Fighter villain. Upgraded into this form by the X-Men's fierce foe Apocalypse, Cyber-Akuma debuted in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. A secret boss, his upgraded form gave him a robotic arm, wings and extra appendages in some attacks. Besides another appearance as a DLC costume in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, he never showed up again, let alone in the main series.
Ruby Heart was an original character who appeared in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. Though she hadn't appeared in any previous game, she was apparently a rejected concept from Capcom's horror-themed Darkstalkers series. A pirate captain obsessed with obtaining valuable treasures, she eventually united the world's greatest heroes in that game to defend against Abyss. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is still one of Capcom's most popular fighters, and despite its imbalance is seen as one of the gaming developer's best fighting games ever. Ruby Heart never appeared again in any game series, though Capcom would sort of introduce her into the Street Fighter mythos. A very similar young woman named Ruby has become part of the official canon, and she's basically identical to Ruby Heart.
These characters now make their playable Street Fighter debuts by virtue of DLC costumes. Cyber-Akuma looks just like he did in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, although his robotic wings only flare up during certain attacks. He's, of course, a downloadable costume for Akuma, turning the dark master of the Hadou his most powerful form yet.
Ruby Heart, on the other hand, is a DLC costume for Rose, a fortune teller from Street Fighter Alpha who was only recently added to the game as a DLC fighter. The costume doesn't just involve a change of clothes or hair color, as Rose's weaponized scarf is replaced by Ruby Heart's chains. These costumes are just some of the ones in Street Fighter V referencing older Capcom games, such as an alternate costume for Ryu that turns him into Jin Saotome from Cyberbots.
The focusing on the Marvel vs. series, in particular, is rather interesting, especially given that the series has been dormant for a bit. Both of these new costumes represent characters exclusive to that series of crossovers, so it's possible that Capcom is gearing up for a revival of the series. After all, it's been heavily requested for the second game to at least be ported onto modern consoles. This could be a tease for the future, but it is worth noting that previous DLC referencing the Darkstalkers and other games hasn't manifested in new titles for those forgotten series'. Still, Ruby Heart and Cyber-Akuma are certainly welcome additions in the final hours of Street Fighter V, even if they're just costumes.
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