Introduction
Akuma, or Gouki, in Japan, is a secret boss which has been introduced in Super Street Fighter II Turbo/X. In order to face him, you have to either obtain a high score, reach the last stage quick or defeat many human opponents without losing a single credit. Akuma would appear on the screen, attack Dictator and face you in his place. A toned down version was made available for players to use, but it is still a too powerful character for competitive play. It featured a single air Hadouken instead of two and longer recovery on his projectiles.
How to Choose Akuma
Unlike his counterparts, Akuma is a secret character that requires a special input code. To choose him, do the following at the character selection screen:
- Start with the character selection cursor over Ryu or Ken. Wait a small period of time. (Three seconds should be plenty.)
- Move the cursor to T.Hawk. Wait in the same way.
- Then move the cursor to Guile. Wait a short while again.
- After that, move to Cammy. Wait.
- Finally, move the cursor back to Ryu or Ken. Wait one last time.
- At this point, you may optionally move the cursor to any character. There's no real reason to take this unnecessary step unless you're afraid you might get the code wrong and want to choose a specific backup character in such a case.
- Now press start, and then very quickly after pressing start, press all 3 punch buttons simultaneously. Mash the three punches to increase your chance of success.
Tournament Illegality and Etiquette
Since Akuma is considered an overwhelmingly-strong character, he's banned in virtually every tournament. Choosing him outside of tournaments may also be frowned upon if the games are being played with any kind of seriousness. Playing as him should be done for entertainment value only. He was previously considered balanced in HD Remix, but due to Damdai entering and WINNING every tournament with Akuma, as well as inescapable super setups coming to light, he is now considered overpowered and banned from all sanctioned tournaments.
--Murderbydeath 02:26, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
Moves List
Special Moves
- Hadouken a.k.a. Fireball: (↓↘→ + P)
Akuma becomes invulnerable for a split second, then throws a blue ball of energy at his opponent. The strength of the punch determines its speed: Jab flies the slowest, while Fierce flies the fastest. Akuma's has noticeably better recovery than the other shotos Hadoukens, and it also causes a full knockdown that throws the enemy across the screen if it hits early.
- Shakunetsu Hadouken a.k.a. Red Fireball: (←↙↓↘→ + P)
Akuma glows with some red energy, then throws a flaming ball of energy at his opponent. The strength of the punch determines its speed and number of hits: Jab flies the slowest and hits once, while Fierce flies the fastest and hits three times. The Fierce version can be used to lock the enemy forever in the corner and chip them to death while they are locked in blockstun.
- Air Hadouken a.k.a. Fireball: (In air, ↓↘→ + P)
Akuma throws a small blue ball of energy that descends diagonally to the ground. This does less damage than his other projectiles, but has the advantage of allowing Akuma to recover as he lands, being quite spammable, and hitting moves that otherwise would go through projectiles, such as Zangief's Lariats and O.Dee Jay's Machine Gun Upper.
- Shouryuken a.k.a. Dragon Punch: (→↓↘ + P)
Akuma becomes completely invulnerable and performs a rising punch that hits up to three times, knocks down and juggles, then falls defenseless to the ground.
- Tatsumaki Zankuu kyaku:
Akuma becomes completely invulnerable up until he attacks with spinning kicks that combo into themselves, knock down and juggle. This can be used to go through projectiles, punishing the enemy before he can recover (with the exception of Sagat's low Tiger shot).
- Air Tatsumaki Senpuu Kiaku: (In air, ↓↙← + K)
Akuma instantly attacks with spinning kicks that combo into themselves, knock down and juggle.
- Teleport: (→↓↘ or ←↓↙ + PPP or KKK)
Akuma becomes invulnerable but at his head, then becomes completely invulnerable and teleports to other location on the screen. The direction of the SRK motion determines the direction he teleports to, and punches or kicks determine how far he moves, being punch giving a longer distance.
The Basics
Akuma has better projectiles than the rest of the cast, goes through other characters projectiles with his Tatsus and Teleports, controls distance better with his air Hadouken, is completely invulnerable to cross-ups due to invulnerable Tatsus and never dizzies (it looks like he gets dizzy, but Akuma recovers instantly, effectively saving him from longer comboes and juggles and that's it). He is much stronger than other characters and should not be used for competitive play.
Advanced Strategy
Akuma basically has all option selects from the old shotos, plus other advantages from the CPS-1 Ryu (invulnerable Tatsu in CE and HF) and projectiles traps with air Hadouken and Fierce Shakunetsu Hadouken.