It’s no secret that I love Street Fighter V‘s new character F.A.N.G. As the main villain’s second in command, he’s flashy, he’s flamboyant, and he’s very committed to giving enemies and allies alike a hard time. But when I wrote about how great of a character he was before, it was after a superficial assessment. Back then, he looked like a character I would love, and his apparent personality suited me fine. He also had an amusing obsession with the number “2” (an aspect of his personality that inks its way into his gameplay). But after experiencing the prologue stories that Street Fighter V had at launch (with a more involved story mode coming in June via DLC), I was shocked to discover that F.A.N.G is one of the greatest new characters created for a fighting game sequel in existence. Obviously, he’s different from the rest of the Street Fighter cast (he was explicitly created with that goal in mind) and that freshens up the roster, but F.A.N.G also happens to be the fighting game lore equivalent of an L-Block. Besides having a unique play-style revolving around the usage of poison (a series first), he also completes the puzzle that is Street Fighter‘s story. He himself has perhaps the most developed and nuanced character arc in the series (all told within a prologue story that spans 5 minutes!), his existence answers so many questions about the Street Fighter‘s primary antagonistic force Shadaloo, and his interactions with other members of the cast help develop them further. In many ways, he’s the most important edition to the series to come in this installment of the Street Fighter.

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