One of Street Fighter’s most beloved (and hated) big bads has finally received gameplay footage and a release date. In a new trailer revealed a few hours ago at EVO Japan, we got to see Akuma and his signature air fireballs, flip kicks, and, of course, his Raging Demon super. The DLC character will be coming to Street Fighter 6 on May 22nd.
The long-time villain looks positively feral in the new game, and Capcom clearly gave him a lot of love in crafting his animations and cinematic supers, which convey his general brutality. His long hair is an extension of his Street Fighter V appearance, and like everyone else in the latest game, it looks like he’s been hitting the juice.
For those who aren’t as familiar with his reputation, Akuma is almost always a problem. First released as a secret character in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, he was so strong that he was generally banned from competitive play. In subsequent games, he’s almost always considered a formidable fighter, in large part because his style of play is usually well-suited for competition: he has high damage and high mobility, with his only major downside being low health (which doesn’t matter as long as you don’t get hit). If you’ve ever gotten mixed into oblivion as he’s varied his approach with tricky aerial options, you’ll understand why he’s so feared.
However, for those who don’t plan on playing as the wielder of the Satsui no Hado, Akuma’s release is still a big deal because he will be released alongside Street Fighter 6’s first major balance patch. In a very unusual move for a modern fighting game, close to a year after its release, Capcom still hasn’t given their game a major balance patch. This was in large part because they didn’t want these changes to interfere with their competitive circuit, which culminated in a tournament where the winner received one million dollars. While there have been a few smaller updates, this will be the first big rebalance, which puts a lot of pressure on it to land and hopefully means we’ll all see less Lukes spamming crouching medium punch.
You can check out the gameplay reveal for Akuma below: