Street Fighter V will receive a brand new brawler, Capcom has announced today.

Capcom has been staggering its reveals of the fighting roster for its upcoming PS4 console exclusive brawler. 8 characters have been announced so far, but up until today all have been pre-existing fighters. Last week’s announcement that Ken Masters will be playable would have come as a surprise to absolutely no-one who has any knowledge of the series, but speculation has been mounting about what the publisher has in store when it comes to injecting new blood into the fighting roster.

That speculation is now answered, as Capcom has revealed Necalli - a guy with dreadlocks so large that any barber would run a mile before attempting to tackle them.

Necalli is described as a primal fighter. With distracting flowing locks, first impressions appear to be that he lends himself to a heavy handed brawler play style. You can view him in action in the announcement trailer below.

“Possessing a wide variety of savage and close range attacks, all of Necalli’s moves have been forged through the heat of battle to ensure he’s inflicting maximum pain upon his opponents,” Capcom said in a press release. “Making full use of the Battle System mechanics, Necalli’s V-Skill allows him to pound the ground with both fists, creating an explosion that damages the enemy whereas the powerful V-Trigger allows him to channel a mysterious energy that changes his hair colour and alters his personality for a short period of time.”

The punishment Nicalli is able to give out during the duration of his V-Trigger seems pretty beastly, giving him access to new combos, frame data, and some snazzy Critical Art.

This all comes in hand with the news that all content (including characters) brought out in later editions of the game no longer need to be locked behind a paywall. Capcom’s new “service-based” approach means that everything and anything can be earned by players willing to put the hours in.

“Long gone are the days of forced Super and Ultra upgrades! Enjoy free balance updates as soon as they become available, and find and choose the post-launch characters that you want to get.”

A resonating leap forward in this ones humble opinion, in the past Street Fighter would often bring out bundles of content all at once, for instance with Street Fighter IV and then Ultra Street Fighter IV. Rosas gave us a little insight into what made them change direction.

“While these one-time updates did revive interest in the series every few years, it was difficult to keep players engaged for long periods of time unless they were competitive,” Capcom said. “This also punished players who took a break from playing the game, because if they wanted to start again in a few years, they would be forced to purchase an upgrade to join the existing player pool who had already moved on to a new version. On top of that, this old method also forced players to purchase all of the new content, even if only a few characters may have appealed to them.

“With Street Fighter V, we want to change the way that players interact with the series, and create an ever-evolving environment for players to enjoy. By releasing new characters on a regular basis, it will ensure that there is always new content to look forward to in the short term, and it prevents the competitive environment from ever becoming stale.”

Furthermore in regards of the new addition of Fight Money, essentially the currency acquired through playing the game and used to unlock content, Rosas sound pretty bullish.

“Players also have more freedom in their decisions, as they only need to purchase or earn the content that appeals to them,” Rosas explains. “This will also create more long-term engagement, because the more you play the game, the more you are rewarded and can earn new content. The player base is never shrunk by requiring a paid update like in years past. Players can take a break from the game, but then come back at any time and continue to play with the characters they already own, with the newest gameplay balance.”

Hyped yet? At the Evo Championship Capcom promised us a roster of 16 characters on launch, including four brand new ones (including Necalli), which leaves us eagerly awaiting the next announcement and wondering who or what the next fighter will be, and more importantly, their fighting style.

Street Fighter V will be released on PC nad PS4 in early 2016.