Since the game's launch, Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid has significantly expanded its roster of playable characters. Across its 21 characters, the game features heroes and villains from the original Mighty Morphin series, the Boom Studios comics, and even the 2017 live-action movie. After Season 3 wrapped up with villain Scorpina, there have naturally been questions of if any more characters will be added. Turns out the answer is yes but not from Power Rangers, but from Street Fighter.
Earlier today, IGN exclusively revealed that both Ryu and Chun-Li from Capcom's Street Fighter series will be the next two additions to Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid. The announcement trailer mostly focuses on Ryu, showing off his gameplay, with Chun-Li only appearing right at the very end. However, the two won't be depicted in their classic appearances and actually dress up as Power Rangers themselves, with Ryu listed as the Crimson Hawk Ranger and Chun-Li as the Blue Phoenix Ranger.
From a gameplay standpoint, it looks like they will function no differently to how they do in their home series, with them retaining their iconic Street Fighter attacks like Ryu's Hadouken and Chun-Li's Spinning Bird Kick. That said, it seems there might be some unique flairs to them. Ryu's Hadouken, for instance, can have a new red coloring, with an afterimage of a falcon that knocks the opponent towards him, rather than send them flying back. He's even accompanied by his classic theme music, albeit a new remix of it.
The two characters will be sold together in a Street Fighter DLC Pack for $12.50 from May 25, which will also include some exclusive skins that will be revealed at a later date. At the very least, it's probably safe to assume that classic Ryu and Chun-Li skins will be among them. Both characters can be bought individually as well for $5.99 each.
As surprising as this might be to some fans, this isn't the first time the two franchises have collaborated. A mobile fighting game called Power Rangers: Legacy Wars also featured Ryu and Chun-Li as playable characters. In fact, their Power Ranger outfits are lifted from Legacy Wars. It also had other Street Fighter characters like M. Bison and Akuma, but they never received alternate Power Ranger forms and there's no guarantee that they'll be added to Battle for the Grid as well.
Given that it's described as a DLC pack and not Season 4, it's always possible that more characters are in the works, though developer nWay will likely stick to Power Rangers characters in the future. Considering Season 3 was announced in May 2020 and only concluded in December, any potential Season 4 will probably be announced later in the year after the Street Fighter DLC has released, but nWay has yet to officially confirm or deny its existence.
Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Switch, and Xbox One.