Ultra Street Fighter 4's mysterious new cast addition is Retsu - rumour

Ultra Street Fighter 4 plays host to an unannounced new playable character. A piece of art doing the rounds this weekend suggests it may be the obscure Retsu.

The art in question predates the July 2013 announcement of Ultra Street Fighter 4 by months, having appeared in the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Artbook, which released in Japan in December 2012.

Released as a sample image prior to the book's release and passed around on social media this weekend, the art in question is not credited but suspected to hail from Capcom concept artist Toshiaki 'Shinkiro' Mori. It shows the core Street Fighter 4 cast along with two characters not due to appear till the release of Ultra - Elena and Hugo.

A third unusual inclusion, just to the right of Ryu, is said to bear a strong resemblance to Retsu, a somewhat obscure character who appeared in the very first Street Fighter, where he lost to Ryu in the first world warrior tournament. According to series lore as established by a tie-in comic, he was a friend of master Gouken during Ryu's childhood and was badly injured by Ryu in Satsui no Hado mode.

Ultra Street Fighter adds five new character to the cast - Elena, Hugo, Poison and Rolento and the mysterious fifth character. All we've known about this extra addition to date is that he's never appeared in a fighting game before. CVG argues this description doesn't rule out Retsu, as he's never been playable.

Ultra Street Fighter 4 will be available in northern spring 2014 as a $40 standalone retail purchase or a $15 DLC upgrade to the existing game for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It's not coming to PS4, Wii U or Xbox One. In addition to new characters, it features a major rebalance, new ultra combos, and much more.