Developer Arika threw back the curtain for one more surprise at this year's EVO 2017, a trailer for a new Street Fighter EX game.

Yes, you read that right, a new Street Fighter EX game.

The currently untitled game was first teased earlier this year on March 31st, 2017, with many writing the well-made trailer off as an April Fools Joke. At the end of EVO 2017, Arika revealed that the very real game is in development, and is scheduled for release next year.

The new trailer showcased two more characters from the EX series, including the popular superhero/luchador Skullomania and the powerhouse Darun Mister.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gulVi0NDVnU

According to a description on the video, the PlayStation 4 version of Mysterious Fighter Game (Title Undecided) will be the newest entry in the EX series, which was last seen on the PS2 with Street Fighter EX 3 in the year 2000.

The Street Fighter EX series is a spinoff to the standard Street Fighter games. Originally an arcade-only series that utilized 3-D polygonal characters on a 2-D plane (similar to how Street Fighter is done today), the series had three major releases in both arcades and on Sony consoles, which included a mix of popular Street Fighter characters such as Ryu and Chun-Li, and a crop of original characters created specifically for the game.

Developer Arika actually retained the rights to the original Street Fighter EX characters, which is one of the reasons why they have never been featured in the Capcom titles.

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The new game will be a PlayStation 4 exclusive title and is slated for a simultaneous release in Japan and the West in 2018. Arika is also inviting players to participate in a limited beta test at the end of 2017. Pre-orders for the game in Japan will be made available during the beta test, but no details were given for pre-orders overseas.

*Note: The developer name Arika was misspelled as Akira in this article. It has been edited to fix that mistake.

What are your thoughts on Street Fighter EX? Excited for a new game in the series? Leave your comments below