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The surprise announcement (and early leak) of Street Fighter V last week sent shockwaves through the fighting game community — but now, fans have got its their first peek at gameplay from its first full matches played publicly at the Capcom Cup over the weekend, and it offers plenty to discuss about what's new for the next mainline entry in the series.

Series veterans Ryu and Chun-Li go one-on-one in the footage, and while the familiar trappings of the Street Fighter series are present throughout, there's plenty for those in the know to dissect and discuss even from just a few rounds of action. For one, there's the art style — not all too different from Street Fighter IV, but with its own quirks and changes.

The game's animation looks great — particularly for this stage in its development — and it seems like the paint-splashes of Street Fighter IV have been downplayed, if not completely removed. Our first look at the new game suggested that it might not look all too different from its predecessor, but this early gameplay footage confirms otherwise; Street Fighter V looks set to be a stunner, and quite distinct stylistically from IV.

Street Fighter V - Ryu Charging Hadouken

There's plenty to learn gameplay-wise from the footage, too. The Revenge Gauge makes a return from Street Fighter IV, but perhaps more intriguing is the presence of variable EX Meters for different characters; you can see that Ryu only has two bars while Chun-Li has three at the bottom of the screen.

This has prompted speculation that Street Fighter V might adopt a similar 'styles' system to that of the Street Fighter Alpha series. We've seen something similar with the character variants set for Mortal Kombat X, so we might well be about to see a years-old fighting game rivalry resurrected via similar game mechanics.

Street Fighter V Charlie tease

Street Fighter V has other links to the Alpha series, too. A version of this gameplay footage recut as a more traditional trailer ends with a lingering shot of a blonde-fringed character putting on a pair of glasses — known to fans as the Guile-based character Charlie, a fan favorite who many wanted to see make an appearance in one of the iterations of Street Fighter IV.

Development of Street Fighter V is still thought to be in its earliest stages, so it's very possible that the finished product will be quite different to what we're seeing at the moment. However, it certainly seems like the game is on track to be a worthy instalment of the much-loved series — and, perhaps, a potent exclusive for the PlayStation 4.

No release date for Street Fighter V has been announced as of yet, but Game Rant will have all the latest news as development on the title continues.