‘Street Fighter V’s Menat Character Review: “Rose But Terrifying”

Fortune tellers are known for their crystal balls, but none are as ballsy as Menat, the newest Street Fighter V character from projectile hell. Initially just a copy of Rose, Menat has proven herself to be so cheap and dirty you’d think you were at an urban flea market. In India.

Released only last week, she’s as scary as Abigail, only this time she’s just a fusion of long-time favorites Rose, Dhalsim, and Strider Hiryuu. A simple fortune teller, she diverges from Rose’s psycho-powered soul abilities; considering Bison is dead Rose very well might join him. As Rose’s replacement, her inspiration is certainly not Lisa Lisa, she appears to be some random Egyptian girl who refuses to wear shoes. She attempts to take a passive role in the story but fails miserably, not that it matters considering how bad the story is. Bottom line: she’s just here to replace Rose and she’s not very interesting (side note: Rose was a boring piece of crap, too).

Her playstyle is also unlike Rose, who relied on reflecting projectiles in Street Fighter 4‘s fireball-heavy roster. Her normals instead function as a keep-away tool. Her crystal ball effectively makes her a safer Dhalsim, as her hurt box does not coincide with her Crystal ball’s hit box. She has the range of half the screen as a normal hit, a low attack, an anti-air, and she even stole Dhalsim’s Yoga Spear. Her long range normals are only rivaled by her boomerang Hadoken using – surprise, her crystal ball is used more as a full-screen projectile. However, considering the player controls when the crystal ball comes back, the next hits are guaranteed if one waits patiently enough. Crystal ball, crystal ball, crystal ball; is there some sort of pattern here?

Of course, there’s a catch: once your opponent gets in close, you lose. If you are ever overwhelmed by your opponent’s proximity, be warned that other than her special that knocks the opponent away and her standard grabs, you have little to no options. You also have a lack of options if you use your boomerang-crystal-crap because you need to call it back to do your highly necessary long-range normals.

That aside, if you can prevent your opponent from getting in until you have V-Trigger, you’ve already won. Remember Strider Hiryuu’s overpowered move where you can shoot forward multiple projectile-balls constantly for a few seconds? Imagine it lasts much longer and there are six of them. Sure, there are limited shots, but that’s still friggin insane. Not to mention her Critical Art does immense damage mid-combo if your opponent ever does get close, say, at the end of your V-Trigger’s 18-hit combo.

I already hate her so much and I’ve never played against her. If you’re a pro at keep-aways, this character does the work for you. Menat is a big jerk with a dumb face and deserves a fat nerf. Give my Ryu buffs, Capcom, this is UNFAIR.