Street Fighter 5 Season 2 DLC Reveals Ed as The Next Fighter

Capcom has unveiled Ed as the newest addition to the Street Fighter 5 Season 2 DLC roster. While Ed may be a new fighter to Street Fighter 5, he has a history within the Street Fighter universe, and he plays like some familiar favorites--borrowing fighting styles from Street Fighter heavies like Balrog and M. Bison.

Ed was originally spotted on a listing in the PlayStation Store before Capcom unveiled the character on its official blog, where his official backstory was fleshed out in detail.

"At a young age, Ed was kidnapped and experimented on by S.I.N., a division of Shadaloo, in order to become a replacement body for M. Bison. Many of you might remember a young Ed appearing in Rose's Street Fighter IV story and Balrog's story in Super Street Fighter IV."

The experiments administered by S.I.N to turn Ed into a suitable replacement body for M.Bison apparently left a toll on the "Young Commander" and as a result, his body ages faster than normal humans. Now, as a teenager, Ed is genetically enhanced with Psycho powers like M. Bison, but trained in boxing by Balrog, making Ed a new fighting hybrid character.

Capcom released a reveal trailer for Ed (shown above) which gives the best look at the new character. The brief overview of Ed's fighting style shows the DLC character utilizing a barrage of punches, but keeping enemies trapped within his hitting distance with psychic powers. Capcom also appears to be experimenting with Ed in terms of how he plays, giving the character an unconventional control scheme, detailed in their Capcom-Unity blog post:

"What makes Ed especially unique is how players perform his special moves. His special moves have simple inputs; they only require simultaneous button presses, repeatedly pressing a button, or holding down a button. Only Ed's Critical Art is done by inputting a traditional motion."

Ed joins Akuma and Kolin, as well as three unnamed characters as part of the season 2 of DLCs for Street Fighter 5. Players who are participating in the Street Fighter 5 CFN Beta can play the new character. Ed, along with the rest of the DLC characters, is available separately or through the Season 2 Character Pass, which includes all the new characters, announced and unannounced, as well as premium battle costumes and character colors. PlayStation 4 players will also have access to an exclusive theme.