The roster in indie fighting game Skullgirls Encore grows by one character next week, as Big Band--the game's first male fighter--joins the fray.

Described as a "high risk, high reward" type of character, Big Band is the second of five characters being released as DLC for Skullgirls. The DLC comes as a result of a successful crowdfunding campaign last year that saw almost $830,000 pledged to developer Lab Zero Games.

The eight characters included in the base game, as well as the first DLC character (Squigly), are all female, although a second male is planned as DLC. What sets Big Band apart from the rest of the roster, in addition to his gender and being a former cop who was injured and then rebuilt with a huge, mechanical body, is his ability to parry attacks. Doing so does subject him to do some damage, but the ability opens up new techniques in battle.

Big Band will be available for free for a limited time following release. The DLC that includes him (as well as a new stage, story mode, and tutorials) will be released on the PlayStation 3 and PC this Tuesday, April 22. The Xbox 360 version of the Big Band DLC remains in Microsoft's certification process as of this afternoon, meaning Lab Zero won't be able to announce a release date until next week at the earliest.

Skullgirls was originally released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2012 before being removed from both services late last year when a partnership between Lab Zero and publisher Konami came to an end. The game was then rereleased as Skullgirls Encore this past February, with existing Skullgirls owners being entitled to a free copy.