After many leaks, Laura has finally been revealed at Brazil Game Show. Some may have been disappointed by the fact that we’ve already seen her trailer and know more or less what her gameplay looks like, but one detail that eluded all but those lucky few to read the description of the leaked trailer yesterday: her full name is Laura Matsuda. For those among us that don’t remember the days of yore, Street Fighter III featured a young Brazilian fighter named Sean Matsuda who was taken under Ken’s wing. Meaning we might see Sean in Street Fighter V at some point to join what I can only guess is his older sister. But I do Digress. Laura is classified as a grappler, though from her trailer, she seems to be sort of a mixed bag like Abel in Street Fighter IV: with a decent amount of grapples in addition to using combos that end in throws. As of now, not much is known about her specific moves besides her slow-moving projectile known as the Thunder Clap, so let’s go on and take a look at her V-abilities.
V-Skill: Linear Movement
A rather aptly named skill, Linear Movement is a command dash that can move forwards or backwards; if a direction is not chosen, she will perform an overhead kick instead. Though this hasn’t been explored in-depth, it will likely be a strong tool considering Laura’s grappler nature.
V-Trigger: Spark Show
In somewhat similar fashion to Ryu, Laura becomes electrified in her V-Trigger. This power-up allows her to cause more stun, move farther with linear movement, and also makes her Thunder Clap projectiles fly farther (whether this means they go faster or last for a longer period of time is currently unknown).
V-Reversal
Like the other V-reversals before it, this move is unnamed to those who haven’t seen move lists due to Capcom’s insistence of not covering them in their character breakdowns. Laura’s Reversal is an electrified strike which knocks the opponent down; nothing fancy, but it looks great for escaping pressure as it seems to knock back pretty far.
In all, Laura look like a pretty interesting character with decent mobility and utility alike.
Now, only two characters remain to be revealed for the starting roster. Will a certain blonde make a re-appearance in his hometown at New York Comic Con this weekend? Only time will tell.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0U49aqA2MM]
