Street Fighter 5 Is "Something That Nobody Is Expecting"

Veteran Street Fighter designer Yoshinori Ono did not hold back when boasting about the upcoming PlayStation 4 and PC fighting game Street Fighter V recently. Speaking with Edge magazine, as reported by GamesRadar, Ono said Street Fighter V is a game that "encompasses all that Street Fighter has become" and one that will deliver "something that nobody is expecting."

"We've been working on Street Fighter IV for the past seven years now. There's been a lot of rebalancing and so on, but the game is still going strong, even today," Ono said. “All this means that, with Street Fighter V, we have a fantastic opportunity to create something with a larger scope, a game that encompasses all that Street Fighter has become in the last few years, but which also expands on that to become something it has never been before as well."

"So now we want to create something that nobody is expecting."

Ono also stressed that Street Fighter V will "cater to fans" of the famous fighting series. But at the same time, Ono said he hopes the game will bring new players into the fold and build off the success of the last game in the series. "Street Fighter IV was about reviving a passion. Street Fighter V is about growing that passion," he said.

The full interview also touches on Ono's transition "from student to mentor" in the Capcom development structure, the greenlight process for Street Fighter V, meeting fan expectations for the game and more. You can buy the latest issue of Edge online right here.

Street Fighter V was announced in December as a PS4 and PC exclusive. Recently, Capcom announced that it plans to run a public beta test that it claims will be the "largest and most ambitious online beta program in franchise history." A date for when it will begin hasn't been shared, but we do know you can guarantee yourself access by preordering the game.

In March, a spring 2016 release window for Street Fighter V was revealed on Capcom's own website. However, the publisher has since clarified that this was "just a tentative release time and no official announcements have been made regarding the release of Street Fighter V."