Akuma (Street Fighter)

Akuma / Gouki
'Street Fighter' character
File:Super X Gouki.jpg Akuma in Super Street Fighter II Turbo
First game	Super Street Fighter II Turbo (1994)
Created by	Noritaka Funamizu

Akuma (in Japanese, "Devil" or "Demon") known in Japan as Gouki (豪鬼, Gōki, lit. "Great Demon"), is a video game character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games. Akuma made his debut in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret character and hidden boss. In the storyline of the Street Fighter video games, he is the younger brother of Gouken, Ryu and Ken's master. In some games he also has an enhanced version named Shin Akuma, or Shin Gouki (真・豪鬼, the "true Great Demon") in Japanese. Akuma has achieved significant success, popularity, positive critical reaction, and has been mostly well received by both fans and critics.

Character design

Akuma has dark red hair, glowing red eyes with black sclera, wears prayer beads around his neck, a black or blue dogi and a piece of twine around his waist in lieu of an obi. The kanji 'ten' (天) - meaning "sky/heaven" - can be seen on his back when it appears during certain win animations. Shin Akuma's appearance is very similar to Akuma's; for example, in the Street Fighter Alpha series, Shin Akuma had a purple gi instead of a gray one and marginally lighter tone. Akuma's introduction in Super Street Fighter II Turbo stemmed from the development team's desire to introduce a "mysterious and really powerful" character, with his status as a hidden character within the game resulting from later discussions. When asked by Game Informer regarding the presence of Akuma as a secret character in several of Capcom's fighting games, Capcom's Noritaka Funamizu stated that while he did not personally support the concept, he supposed that "Akuma is a character that can fit in any game design nicely".

Gameplay

Akuma's play style incorporates the trademark techniques of Ryu and Ken, the series' protagonists, only noticeably stronger in comparison along with additional techniques. Akuma has also been one of the characters with the lowest health and stun meter in most of the games he has appeared in. As the franchise expanded, the three characters have been differentiated somewhat while still retaining their common techniques (e.g. different regular attacks, throws, Super moves). In games where Akuma has appeared as a boss, he has had many upgrades, from extra meter to being able to use EX moves without meter at all.

Video games appearances

Street Fighter series

Akuma made his debut in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, the fifth arcade iteration of the Street Fighter II games, where he appears as a hidden character. After meeting certain requirements, Akuma appears prior to the player's final match with M. Bison and obliterates M. Bison before challenging the player. In the Japanese arcade version of the game, Akuma would introduce himself to the player before the match, proclaiming himself to be the "Master of the Fist" (拳を極めし者, Ken o Kiwameshi Mono). He also has two endings in the game as well: one for defeating M. Bison, and another against himself. While these endings were omitted from the international releases of the arcade game, they were edited into one ending and included in the English localization of Super Turbo Revival for the Game Boy Advance. Shin Akuma is, however, an unlockable playable character in the Game Boy Advance version of the game, Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival, as well as the Japan-only Dreamcast version of the game, Super Street Fighter II X for Matchmaking Service. In the latter version, another version of Akuma referred to as Tien Gouki can also be selected.

Akuma appears in Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams once again as a hidden opponent and unlockable character. His backstory remains the same as in Super Turbo. Akuma was added to the immediate roster in Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Street Fighter Alpha 3, with a powered-up version of the character named "Shin Akuma" appearing as a hidden opponent. The character's relation with other Street Fighter characters begins to be fleshed out, establishing rivalries with Guy, Adon, Gen, and Ryu. Shin Akuma, rather than "Final Bison", is Evil Ryu's final boss in the console versions of Street Fighter Alpha 3.

Akuma and Shin Akuma were featured in Street Fighter EX as hidden boss characters, where he is one of the few characters able to move out of the 2D playing field, during his teleport.

Akuma was featured in the Street Fighter III sub-series beginning with Street Fighter III 2nd Impact: Giant Attack. Like in his debut in Super Turbo, Akuma is both a secret opponent who serves as an alternate final boss and unlockable character, with the CPU-controlled version being the "Shin Akuma" incarnation introduced in Alpha 2. He is a regular character in Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future. Akuma reappears in Street Fighter IV, once again as a hidden boss in the Single Player Mode as well as an unlockable secret character in both the arcade and home console versions. Shin Akuma also returns as a hidden boss Super Street Fighter IV.

Both secret boss and playable versions of a new form of Akuma, known as Oni (狂オシキ鬼, Kuruoshiki Oni, lit. The Mad Demon), were confirmed in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition by leaked videos. Unlike Shin Akuma, Oni is the being that would consume Akuma after mastering the Satsui no Hadou.

Other games

Akuma has appeared in some form or another through many Capcom games outside the Street Fighter franchise. The first of these appearances was in the fighting game X-Men: Children of the Atom, where Akuma (in his Super Turbo incarnation) appears as a hidden character. He also appears in Marvel Super Heroes as part of one of Anita's special moves, in which his sprite from X-Men: Children of the Atom briefly appears. He would appear in the later Marvel-licensed fighting games (see Marvel vs. Capcom series), including in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, where he also appears in mechanized form as "Cyber Akuma" (Mech Gouki (メカ豪鬼, Meka Gouki) in Japanese), a version of Akuma enhanced by Apocalypse acting as the horseman of Death and the final boss. In Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, he appears as an alternate fighting style of Ryu; Akuma himself would later appear as a playable character in its sequels: Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. He is also an unlockable character in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix. He appears as both a playable character and one of the final boss characters in the crossover fighting game Street Fighter X Tekken. Akuma also appears in the fighting video game Street Fighter X Mega Man, as a hidden boss.

In the SNK vs. Capcom series, Akuma appears in Capcom vs. SNK and SVC Chaos as both regular Akuma and as a version of "Shin Akuma". In Capcom vs. SNK 2, a different form of Shin Akuma appears. This form of Akuma achieves a new level of power when a dying Rugal Bernstein pours his Orochi power into him. His name is spelled in Japanese as 神・豪鬼, with the "Shin" character meaning "God" instead of the usual "True." He also appears in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Pocket Fighter, and in the Japanese console version of Cyberbots as a mecha named "Zero Gouki." Also, various version of Akuma have appeared in the SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash series.

Akuma is featured in a DLC episode of the action video game Asura's Wrath, alongside Ryu as an opponent.

In other media

Although the character was not featured in the 1994 live action Street Fighter movie, Akuma appears in Street Fighter: The Movie, the arcade game based on the movie developed by Incredible Technologies as a regular selectable character and is portrayed by Ernie Reyes Sr. He also appears in the Capcom-developed home version of the same game. Akuma made cameo appearances in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie and in the Japanese TV series Street Fighter II V. Actor and martial artist Joey Ansah played Akuma in the short film Street Fighter: Legacy. Akuma will also appear in Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist, and upcoming short film by Capcom and the creators of Street Fighter: Legacy.

Akuma's first speaking appearance in animation was in an episode of the American Street Fighter animated series titled "Strange Bedfellows", in which Akuma traps Guile and M. Bison on his island, forcing the two sworn enemies to team up. He reappears in another episode, "The World's Greatest Warrior", in which he defeats Ryu and Ken's master Gouken, and challenges Gouken's two students to a duel.

Akuma also figures prominently in the Japanese OVA Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, where Ryu's encounters with Akuma triggers the "Dark Hadou" in Ryu. Akuma is also the central focus in the OVA Street Fighter Alpha: Generations, which explores his past and ties the character's past with Ryu's. In the English dub, the character is addressed by his Japanese name Gouki. In Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation Ryu and his supposed brother Shun are hinted to be the biological sons of Akuma.

UDON Entertainment's line of Street Fighter comics sets Akuma into a role similar to the one he filled in Street Fighter Alpha 2, acting as an antagonist for Ryu's dark desires. Akuma begins the series by killing his brother and Ryu and Ken's master Gouken in battle. This action is what sets Ryu on the path of vengeance, swearing to find and fight Akuma in his master's name. Because of this, Ryu must confront his darkest and most hated side, which is something Akuma has hoped would happen. Akuma emerges at the end of the first arc (in issue #6) and engages Ryu and Ken, which he easily dominates. It is here that he first tastes Ryu's lust for victory and sees that his intent of bringing out Ryu's corrupt spirit is bearing fruit. Rather than kill him, he tells Ryu to seek him out at the next Street Fighter tournament. Prior to the series, Akuma had a skirmish with an assassin named Gen. Because this fight took place years ago, Akuma had yet to fully embrace his killing desire (the Satsui no Hadō) and could not overcome Gen. However, Gen's most powerful technique did not fell Akuma and because of this, he was spared out of pure intrigue. Akuma and Gen vowed to fight once more but due to time and disease crippling Gen, it was not to be (the two do meet one final time during the comics but it is not a full-fledged fight, as both participants note). Ryu seeks out Gen due to his connection to Akuma but determines that Gen's philosophies do not agree with his own. During the final series of comics, Street Fighter II Turbo, Akuma makes his final appearance at the grand finals of the Street Fighter tournament, stepping between Ryu and M. Bison. Bison is enthused at the potential of Akuma's power and chooses to fight him, which ends fatally for Bison when Rose's spirit interferes and Akuma seals his soul with his Shun Goku Satsu technique. With Bison out of the way, Akuma is free to fight Ryu, which he does as Shadaloo island begins to sink beneath the sea. The battle favors Akuma but as he is about to defeat Ryu, Gouken's spirit is returned to the living world and he intervenes to finish the fight. The end of this battle is not seen as Shadaloo island is consumed by the ocean and Ryu is transported from the island by Dhalsim.

In July 2012, the band MegaDriver released the song about Akuma's character, called "Wrath Of The Raging Demon".

Promotion and reception

Akuma artwork was featured on an officially licenced animated Nubytech/UDON joypad for the PlayStation 2, and a Mad Catz wireless joypad for the PlayStation 3.

In the January 30, 1997 issue of Gamest magazine in Japan, Akuma appeared in the Top 50 Characters of 1996. He ranked at No. 37 sharing the spot with two other characters. In Game Informer's "Top Ten Best Fighting Game Characters" Akuma was at the top for his powerful techniques. He was 11th in Game Daily's Top 25 Capcom Characters of All Time with comments from editor Robert Workman focused on his design and abilities. IGN ranked Akuma at number five in their "Top 25 Street Fighter Characters" article, noting his role as a recognizable "bad guy" in the series. In another article from the same site, Ryan Clements commented that Akuma had one of the strongest movesets from Street Fighter IV, noting his techniques, apart from being able to do a reasonable damage to the opponent, look stylish. He also ranked 9th in the "Top 20 Street Fighter Characters of All Time" from Game Daily, with the writer commenting how different is he from Ken and Ryu despite their similar appearances. GameSpy named him one of the "25 Extremely Rough Brawlers" in video gaming, praising the brutality of his fighting style. GameSpot commented that Akuma is "the most profilic character" in the Street Fighter series due the large number of appearances his character had since Super Street Fighter II Turbo. He was also noted to be the most powerful and strongest character to be added to such series, while his Shin Akuma state was commented to be "a truly unstoppable force" due to all the special moves he has. On the other hand, Akuma's powerful techniques in Super Street Fighter II Turbo resulted in being listed as one of GamePro's "most broken characters" in their article, where he was compared with Street Fighter III's boss Gill. Jeff Keely from Gaming Age said Akuma's introduction in Street Fighter III 2nd Impact was a big improvement for the game, noting him to be "everybody's favorite bad boy". UGO Networks placed Akuma at #9 on their list of Top 50 Street Fighter Characters", stating "As a fighter-in-training, Akuma succumbed to the darker martial arts and embraced the "Killing Intent" martial art".In GamesRadar's article "The 56 characters of Marvel vs Capcom 2", Akuma was described as "One of the top bad guys in the SF universe, and was big in the Alpha sub-series".ScrewAttack ranked Akuma 6th on their list "Top 15 Street Fighter Characters", commenting "Every hero needs a counterpart that invites him to the dark side, and Akuma fits that role perfectly, going as far as sacrificing all of his humanity and soul into the Satsui no Hado".Complex listed Akuma from Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo as the 2nd coolest boss battle in video games.Complex also ranked Akuma as "The Most Dominant Fighting Game Character", commenting "Anybody that can lay out M. Bison with ease gets the number one spot in everything"." Cheat Code Central listed Akuma as the baddest video game fighter ever in a 2012 top ten list, commenting on "How he became so good at martial arts, his ability to kick ass, how powerful his signature tecnhique Raging Demon is and how he very often holds back his true power". Cheat Code Central also ranked Akuma as "The Top Hidden Character In Fighting Games, commenting "How could anyone but Akuma, the inheritor of the Satsui no Hadou, make the top of this list? He was not only one of the first hidden fighting game characters to have ever been created, but he is still one of the most popular. He found his way into Street Fighter games, X-Men games, vs. games of all kinds, and is still one of the most iconic fighting game characters of all time. He threw the first air-fireball, showed us the Raging Demon, and continues to grow stronger in his Shin Akuma and Oni forms. He created the glass cannon archetype, and he remains top-tier in nearly every game he has ever been in. He even murdered M. Bison, for Pete's sake! He is easily the best hidden fighting game character of all time". GameDynamo ranked Akuma as "The Top Fighter in the History of Fighting Video Games", commenting "Akuma has the most devastating move in all of fighting. Plus, he typically beats up the final boss before you can get to him." I'm a Gamer Too ranked Akuma as "The Top Fighting Game Character of All-Time."

Akuma's Oni incarnation has been commented for its appealing design resembling Gouken's and his powerful movesets. Deemed as one the Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition's second strongest fighter, Oni was referred by IGN as an immediate favorite character. However, GameSpot stated that since he uses modified versions from known techniques, he was one of the least interesting additions to the game.

External links

• Akuma's SF2, SFA, SF3, SFEX, MvC, and SF4 entries at StrategyWiki.org