Why Is Akuma Such A Big Deal In Fighting Games & Street Fighter?
Back in 1992, video game publication Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) made an elaborate April’s Fool joke involving Street Fighter 2. Basically, the publication made up a secret boss players can fight named Sheng Long who can only appear if you meet insane conditions in your arcade playthrough of the fighting game. Sheng Long is basically Ryu and Ken’s master and fights using a powered-up version of their fireball, hurricane kick, and Shoryukens. It was so widespread and believable at the time that even developers Capcom had to playtest its own game to find out if it was even true.
Fast forward to 1995, and Capcom decided to turn that grandstanding prank a reality through Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (SSF2T). Through the artistry and designs of Noritaka Funamizu and Akira “Akiman” Yasuda, they made a secret character similar in tone to Sheng Long, but evil and more power-hungry. His name: Gouki, or Akuma to the rest of the world. From then until even right now, he is the boss character everyone wanted to play as and is no stranger to being included in the roster for all of Street Fighter. And he is a big deal in not just Capcom’s stable, but in fighting games as a whole. After all, he is the bookend for the Street Fighter 6 Season 1 DLC Pass, which was released on 22nd May.
Demonic Beginnings
Let’s start with how most players come across this demon of a warrior. Unlocking this secret fight is a lot less complex: all you have to do is not lose a round in your entire SSF2T, with your playtime not exceeding 1,500 seconds total and a score of over 1,200,000. At the final fight with dictator M.Bison, Akuma shadow teleports in and kills him with the trademark Super move Shun Goku Satsu, or Raging Demon to the rest of the world.
Fighting Akuma for the first time was just tough: he had air fireballs, air Hurricane Kick, a super-fast demon teleport that makes him get around the screen lickety-split, and his version of the Shoryuken has multiple hits and stuns opponents easily. And when he has his Super bar ready, he can just activate his trademark Shun Goku Satsu to take out a majority of his opponent’s health when he lands it. His debut appearance and the fight that came with it was a breath of fresh air in fighting games, as many have voted this moment as one of the best entrances in a fighting game.
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