It’s been a while since Street Fighter V made Ed a playable character, and he’s changed a bit since then. Still wreathed in Psycho power like Bison, he has slimmed down a bit aesthetically but his gameplay in Street Fighter 6 feels simultaneously more robust and more focused than his previous incarnation. What results is an incredibly fun, fluid, powerful character that is easy enough to pick up, but with plenty of depth for those who truly want to explore his potential.

During Capcom Cup X, I sat down for a play session with Ed and later spoke to SF6 Director Takayuki Nakayama and SF6 Producer Shuhei Matsumoto to learn more about bringing him back, and the team’s inspirations and goals with him.

“For [me] personally, he’s a very important character,” Nakayama-san said, “He’s kind of the reason why we have Modern controls… [and] World Tour... He has a very interesting story, and one of the main things [we] wanted to accomplish with SF6 is to bring in the new generation of Street Fighter characters; Luke, Jamie, Kimberly, and Ed.”