Capcom Unveils Birdie, Cammie, and Beta Program for PlayStation 4

At the Sony press conference, Capcom has revealed the return of both the British agent Cammy and the street brawler Birdie, as well as preliminary details on the beta program for Street Fighter V. Luckily, I had the opportunity to get private hands-on time with both Birdie and Cammy at the same press event for my initial preview.

Since appearing in the Street Fighter Alpha series, Birdie now sports a gut that spills over his pants, but he's still a hulking 509-lbs beast with a crude leather vest and a crazy blond mohawk. Standing idle for about five seconds, Birdie will even flick a disgusting bugger that deals damage if it hits, much like Sean's basketball or Dudley's rose. As foul as he might seem, he actually has quite a few tricks up his sleeve: a bull head rush similar to Balrog's charging punch, a bull-horn technique that operates similar to Cody's Zonk Knuckle (Bingo!), and several throws that can catch the opponent close or far.

His V-Skill, Break Time, gives him the ability to build his V-gauge quickly with a snack (so long as the animation remains uninterrupted). Birdie can alter his Break Time also by either slipping a banana peel on the floor or rolling a soda can which can actually trip an opponent, though both techniques build his meter rather slowly by comparison. His V-Trigger, Enjoy Time, has him eat a spicy pepper (shades of El Fuerte?) which increases his damage significantly.

Cammy more or less operates as she did in Street Fighter IV. The main differences are the inputs for some of her trickier maneuvers: Her Hooligan Combination has just a standard semi-circle input instead of the diagonal semi-circle one, and she can perform a Cannon Strike out of it now; and her quick-spin knuckle is now just her basic V-Skill (MP+MK), Axel Spin Knuckle, so it's far easier to use against projectiles with its pass-through properties. Her V-Trigger, Delta Drive, allows her to perform tricky combinations like a Spiral Arrow through an opponent and then another Spiral Arrow diagonally from the other side… but only if the first one connects of course.

Capcom will also roll out a multi-phase beta program for Street Fighter V, with an automatic roll-in if you pre-order the game in North America. The first phase will begin on July 23 on PlayStation 4 first. And that's about it in terms of their plans so far.

Street Fighter V is slated for a release in Spring 2016 for PC and PlayStation 4 with cross-platform multiplayer. The demo I played behind closed doors will be available at Capcom's booth at E3 2015.