‘Street Fighter V’ Review: Akuma Revealed

That’s right, your favorite self-proclaimed demon is finally here to murder more superhuman athletes. Akuma enters the scene shouting “die one thousand deaths!” and “messatsu!” like edgy weeaboo trash, yet the weeaboo trash fans love. The initial trailer got people hyped, but after Capcom Cup it’s official: fear this dark-skinned Asian man.

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Akuma was first playable at the Playstation Experience during the December 2 weekend, and beady-eyed demon seems to be sporting a lion’s mane and man bun. It’s 2016 alright. Scar with no eyebrows was by no means a disappointment, as the trailer above and the actual matches with him, below, can show you. Before we move on to the next paragraph, I know what you’re thinking so I’ll just get it out of the way here and now: there is DLC coming out to give him his traditional look back.

His stupid, beast-like appearance is no joke, however, as his damage output is stupid and he is, in fact, quite beast to play as. Akuma retains some of his prior, famous combos from Street Fighter IV, specifically light tatsu into shoryuken. Many special moves are the same as they were before, yet fireball usage has been debuffed, the game no longer allowing Akuma to rely entirely on full-screen range fireballs diagonally and horizontally.

The EX moves Akuma has been given gives hitboxes and a launch aspect to his demon flip, allowing for all kinds of fun stuff. One variation of his kicks also has a launching mechanics now, making Akuma a more versatile character than ever before. Also, miss Third Strike? The EX Shoryuken and super similar to Oni’s Ultra should give you that nostalgia you need.

This being said, please remember Oni from Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition. Remember how he played. Yeah, sorry, Akuma is apparently going to suffer from being forced to reference a low-tier character. His movement speeds are similar to Oni (slow), a bunch of his attacks move similar to Oni (SLOW), and he has a strange leap-to-chop move that is just… just terrible. At least V-trigger activates one of the coolest Ranging Demons that leaves less to the player’s imagination.

Overall, Akuma is still the angry, demonic man we’ve all grown to know and fear. Get ready to play as the newest Lion King, Akuma matata, on his signature stage in the upcoming Street Fighter V DLC.