Shortly after an advertisement showing off the three characters leaked, Capcom confirmed that E. Honda, Poison, and Lucia Morgan were coming to Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition as DLC. That raises the roster of the stellar fighting game to 38 characters overall and many longtime fans were excited about both E. Honda (a mainstay since Street Fighter 2) and Poison (who debuted in Ultra Street Fighter 4) returning to the series. However, many didn’t know who Lucia Morgan was as she is a more obscure character in Capcom’s backlog, and that’s a shame since she’s actually the most exciting part of the new Street Fighter 5 DLC characters that are launching on August 4.
Despite lacking the name value of the other upcoming Street Fighter 5 DLC characters, Lucia Morgan is actually quite the interesting character in her own right. Just like Poison, she has origins from Capcom’s beloved beat ’em up series Final Fight. However, she doesn’t come from any of the arcade titles that the series is best known for but rather the Super Nintendo exclusive sequel Final Fight 3. She actually a detective and has a history with Final Fight‘s Mike Haggar and Cody Travers. She’s an intelligent woman, but one that prefers to let her long legs do the talking when it comes to combat.
Lucia Morgan is the most unique of the new Street Fighter 5 DLC characters
Her connections to Haggar also comes into play as to why she is now one of the new Street Fighter 5 DLC characters. She’s entering the battle after Haggar tells her about a possible assassination plot by the criminal organization Mad Gear that is targeting Metro City’s current mayor, Cody. Like any diligent member of the police, she is coming prepared and is ready to make sure the hero of Metro City doesn’t wind up in any trouble. Since it is unlikely that we will get another Final Fight game anytime soon, it is great to get so many updates on the character’s lives through Street Fighter installments
Just like in Final Fight 3, Lucia is a highly agile fighter that uses her legs to quickly close the gap between her and her opponents and then lay the smackdown via deadly kicks. Capcom has confirmed that she’ll be able to use a Gun Smoke attack to close distance and then follow up with various attacks such as a shoulder barge, a kick that starts juggling the opponent, an anti-air kick and a damaging combo finisher. This is sure to make her a versatile character for those that learn to master her intricacies.
As far as specials moves go, Lucia has plenty of powerful kicks that will make her a dangerous offensive fighter, albeit one that may have defensive liabilities if not used carefully. She’s got a number of Ryu-like inputs as a Dragon Punch input will release her Hurricane Spinner attack, and she has a spinning back kick called the Fire Spinner. She even has flaming projectiles that can be thrown toward her opponent by using a special called Flipper Shot. These specials will best be used at the end of combos, as they all leave her highly vulnerable if missed, but they seem to make a versatile fighter and worthy addition to the roster.
Lucia Morgan has some great V-Triggers
Every batch of new Street Fighter 5 DLC characters is full of interesting fighters in their own right as Capcom always provides small tweaks to returning characters, but Lucia Morgan will be the only one of this trio that is actually fresh. Poison will still largely play like her Ultra Street Fighter 4 counterpart, although she does have a longer whip this time around, and E. Honda will always use sumo techniques and have some dangerous throws that can change the tide of a match quickly. Those are all great, but Lucia is a wildcard as we won’t know just how effective she will be until the character is released and it’s difficult to know how to match up against her. That breath of fresh air is just what a three-and-a-half-year-old game needs.
What we do know is that her V-Triggers will pack quite the kick and that she has a dangerous V-Skill that can be canceled from most of her attacks. The latter is a multi-hit kick called the Tap-Kick, which is a great offensive maneuver but one that puts her out of position if the opponent blocks it. Meanwhile, her first V-Trigger, which is called Burning Fight, boosts all of her kick-based special attacks such as the Hurricane Spinner and Flipper Shot. Her secondary V-Trigger is called Weapon Fury and it sees the detective equip her trusty police baton and allows her to do a new move called Tactical Weapon that is perfect for extending combos. These are novel concepts for her V-Triggers, further showing how unique of a character she is.
Capcom really knocked it out of the park with their selection of new Street Fighter 5 DLC characters. All three are great additions to Arcade Edition‘s roster and will provide something unique among the growing list of characters. However, Lucia Morgan looks to be one of the most intriguing additions to Street Fighter in quite some time as she’s not only a solid deep cut, but also one that requires a lot of nuance and patience to use properly. She won’t be best for beginners, but this will be a fun character for fighting game fans to use to shake up the competitive meta going forward. Thankfully, fans don’t have to wait very long to see how she plays and to check out E. Honda and Poison as all three release on August 4.
