Street Fighter Alpha 3/Akuma/Introduction

Introduction

With Akuma being a shoto, and thusly having the ability to play a good keep away game, using an aggresive playstyle is the sure way to go. Given his ability to hit hard, control space (and thus the opponent's movement or lack there of), and mix up, it becomes very easy to get in close and land the VCs or Supers that can mean the game.

Keeping on the offensive is also a big part of Akuma's gameplan. To offset Akuma's amazing versatility, his defense/stun are below average. This means that your mistakes get punished harder, especially if that stun damage gets stacked up. Fortunately, you have several tools to keep your opponent on the defensive. Remember, the more your opponent has to think, the more likely it is he will slip up and give you an opening. More on this in the strategy section.

Here's a rundown of the ism choices for Akuma and some of their differences.

• A-ism - A-Akuma has a lot of flexability due to his myriad of powerful super combos, most of which can be cancelled from all of his numerous attack options. He also has the Shun Goku Satsu at his disposal, allowing for very deadly mindgames.

• X-ism - Akuma loses 4 very important things in x-ism. 1, air blocking. Due to his low defense/stun, this hurts his game a LOT. 2, alpha counters. Another terrible loss when coupled with his bad defenses. 3, the hyakki shu. this hurts his mix-up game, which is crucial, and his mobility. And 4, ALL of his super combos, barring the Shun Goku Satsu, limiting his combos, damage capability, and gameplan due to reliance on tactics needed to land the powerful, but predictable super.

• V-ism - This is where Akuma thrives, and it makes him one of the most powerful characters in Alpha 3. His VC flexability is insane, allowing for combos in any situation, including unblockables, that are very consistant. He also has his entire available move set (without supers, of course), and also has all of his close range attack available on command, which expands his ability to mix up his game even further.

Pros	Cons
King of flex. Has options for literally every possible scenario Great set of shoto normals, including the same hopkick as Ryu Divekick is incredibly fast and difficult to react to Great air mobility with both divekick and air tatsu Incredibly difficult to keep cornered due to teleport and air tatsu Difficult to anti-air consistently due to divekick, tatsu and air fireball all being strong air options Tatsus put opponent in a juggle state, setting up tech traps Kick air throw has a very large grab radius and sets up good situations Can easily/safely force damage from a variety of situations with unblockable setups, since you're not limited to only activating as a read or reaction punish. These can lead to nasty resets if the opponent doesn't have meter. Can start OTG customs off sweep Valle VCs that lead to 70-80% damage Insanely fast meter build with tatsu spam Fireball knocks down at close range Strong guard crush potential with b. RH on V-ISM DP option-selects make it difficult for opponents to safely counter-activate or alpha counter against his setups	Fireball recovery is longer than other shotos Red fireball and roll inputs overlap, which can cause more errors than you might think Lacks the stun potential that Ryu has Neutral without meter isn't as oppressive as other top tiers like Sodom or Sakura OTGs have a high execution requirement for consistency