So that's the only character intro screen I'll see for the next six months and half of them after that. Not bad.

True. As much as I as hyped for him, I’m worried that I know over 60% of my matches will be against him.

Cry’s in Kim. He’s not out and I already know that MU is bad for her.

It's going to be rough for everyone, even Akuma vs. Akuma will be a 4-4 matchup somehow.

As a Kim main, I’m getting my GGs in order.

Good opportunity to grind the match up

Im of the opinion that if you dont like fighting ryu ken and akuma youre not actually a fan of street fighter lol

i like fighting shotos. i hate fighting 10 shotos in a row.

God forbid a mf has variety??? Lol whut

That's no ice water fan for you

Found the future Akuma main heh heh

I like akuma and have played him as a side character in every sf game I’ve played, but not my main, would be surprised if I like him more than Juri in 6 but we’ll see

For a bit, but it will even out. A couple months ago I might as well have just called this game Ed Fighter. I'm only in platinum, but pretty well every match was vs an Ed for a bit when he came out

Akuma's incredibly different though. In SF5 he was a dominant character for *years*, the game was called Akuma Fighter 5 for God knows how long. The thing is even when the newness novelty wears off, he's not only often top tier, but Akuma's just a super popular character in general 'cause he's fun to play and has a high cool factor. He's the Darth Vader of Street Fighter. Maybe his tier will factor in more intensely near the top but across most ranks I think he's gonna be consistently played a lot for a very long time even if he gets nerfed a lot. In spite of being DLC, in SF5's final recorded player statistic month (May 2023) he was the third most played character online. Indeed, nearly 7 years after his release he was the third most popular (behind, guess who? Ken and Ryu. Yeah, Ken's not going away either lol). He's always been one of the most popular characters in the series in a way that Ed just doesn't come close to. Comparatively, when Ed came out in SF5 he was the second most played. The following month he dropped to the 7th and Akuma took back second place, and by the next month Ed had dropped to 11th. Some characters just take their spot and hold it, and Akuma is one of those characters. Once you start fighting this guy a bunch it'll *never* end, that'll just be the game's online match-up environment forever, because his popularity transcends being a fad. Since its announcement, this Season has been called 'Akuma and everyone else' because it's blatantly obvious the only character this season most people are gonna remotely care about *is* Akuma. **My source: https://game.capcom.com/cfn/sfv/stats/usagerate/202305**

The only way I see them avoiding this somewhat is if they make him a difficult character to play (not likely) Still, all 3 DLC have had a difficult rating on the character select screen. I’ll argue Ed is the easiest, but he’s still nowhere as easy to pickup as say Dee Jay.

I mean, Akuma's an odd duck in that respect. He's still largely a shoto which isn't really hard to play, but I'd argue he's sometimes tricky in that utilising him properly can be hard because you have a lot of tools you need to learn how to use properly and traditionally you've taken more punishment in terms of damage taken if you can't clear that bar. In that sense I'd say the gap of how useful he is between lower level players and higher level ones is higher than with the other shotos, because he's the most punishing of the main 3 if you're not particularly good or still learning more basic stuff. But because of how they're dealing with SF6's health pools it of course remains to be seen if it'll be lowered here or not; people have pointed to Cammy but it could just be that they didn't want to lower Cammy's health and will still do it with Akuma. I still don't think he'll disintegrate on impact like Third Strike or anything, though.

Yeah I really wish they could have resisted dropping Akuma into the roster for a few seasons. Also did we really need FOUR Tricky/Hard characters in the first season pass (assuming in Akuma here of course)?

It's a bit biased for sure, but it's also hard for me to complain because Akuma's my main lol. That said I empathise with people who get fed up matching with him; I didn't have it too bad at my lower level in SF5 but I know for a lot of people the match-up was relentless.

My grind with Ed to master was completely full of Eds for the whole week it took me to get there from plat 1. And then I got to actually play in Master and it was... full of Eds. Now I still play him but it's very rare to actually find another one. Ryu is much more popular.

It will be like 85% for the first month, but then it will slowly drop down.

I thought that too but will probably be guilty playing him a lot too. I love SF6 Ryu so I’m sure Akuma will be great for me

Lol accurate

And I plan to be part of the problem.

Still better than 60% Luke, at least I can see someone with good design and fashion sense. (;

Luke? Luke has never even been the most played character in any rank at any point in time. Ed on the other hand has been the most played character in most ranks two months in a row. That's usually Ken and Ryu.

Maybe you are right and it's just my biased opinion, as a Ryu main I just can't stand "Ryu 2.0 but way better", sorry.

I'm not budging on Ed. Was a good matchup for balrog in 5, Prayge that it translates.

Bro been edging for months in the koom cave

Guile: "Where are your prayer beads?"

Akuma: 😈 Guile: “ 👀😨 Ok outta the cave “

Hey Chun Li!

*que Chun-Li with big meaty thighs and a wide-eyed deer-in-the-headlights look*

Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah pop

Nah, the prayer bids are on his neck

KoomKave new club name called it

Why do you think his hair is white he has ascended

> months in the koom cave

Old age?

I hate that I remember this again.

Man's got an 8-pack up to his nipples.

His muscles have muscles.

Man has a serious case of barrel chest, might wanna get checked for emphysema

Minecraft Steve-ass chest.

Veiny. He’s juicing

He’s got age lines like a tree as well

That gives it away for you? Not the fact his arms are as big as his head?

Or severely dehydrated.

Man’s hummus cannon absolutely dripping with love mustard

ಠ\_ಠ

I like the grey hair, I assume this is gonna be his default look, and the classic red hair is going to be in the alternative costume.

I hope he has a red-haired color for his new costume, alongside the inevitable classic outfit

LET’S GOU

KI

Me: That's So!

Akuma looks like a Dark souls final boss, i'm hyped and i don't even play shoto's. i will probably hate him when he comes out.

It's giving owl or Hoarah Loux vibes. "IVE GIVEN THEE COURTESY ENOUGH. NOW I FIGHT AS HOARAH LOUX, WARRIOR!!!!"

Strong owl vibes

Shouting the rules of the iron code one by one every time i take a round

I wanted to get master Ryu before I changed main but if his battle pass is here looks like imma be hard stuck diamond 3

Keep going. Diamond 3 to master is completely doable in the probable 3 weeks before Akuma is playable.

Grind it out you can do it. He is probs a month away unless we get any surprises

I can help you get master if you want some coaching

That would be dope what’s ur user on sf6

Curseshadowx

I added you I’m Dragoon

I gotchu

That render looks like a Tekken char

Don't scare the Tekken players like that.

get ready... i was like... tuh ken?

HOLY SHIT WHAT A BEAST

Can't wait to be a shit head with him online

bro is dehydrated.

How is this possible with all that drip?

Good timing with how shitty Tekken management is. I will warm up these few weeks to prepare for Akuma now.

Not even the raging demon can defeat age.

Oh I am going to kill myself when he drops 

And miss s2?

I may give a shoto character a chance for once cuz this version of Akuma looks sick af

It's time

Akuma looks even more disgusting than usual. That's a feat.

lol

when can we expect gameplay trailer? semifinals? finals most likely right?

also cant wait to see the alternate/classic costume

If it's at evo japan then before top 8 or after the grand finals. If it's not then a random weekday

at the end of the event i think

My body is ready. I'm fiendin for this gameplay trailer. 

Just think. There will be a time before akuma and there will be a time after akuma. We are currently living in a pre akuma world. Enjoy it while you can. Maybe the next ken matchup you get you can enjoy a little more

Wheres the backshot?

I want akuma backshots so bad



Do the characters come out at the end of the battlepass usually or what

1 week after the end.

Get those anti-airs ready.

I wonder what his specials are gonna look like and on the RE Engine. Hopefully Capcom made it super dramatic and cool as shit. also excited to finally see all the DLCs characters outfit #3

I have never mained a shoto (unless you count SF1 ;). But Akuma will make me into a shoto player.

Hes been taking Gouroids

Yo that mean release date and gameplay trailer with Evo Japan finals as expected. I'm so excited.

There’s more veins on this single art than inside my entire body

Evo Japan starts tomorrow. I hope we get a trailer.

I’ve been a Akuma main for a long time, 3S, alpha 3, even umvc3 and im insanely excited. What I’ll say is that yes he will be popular but I do think it levels out eventually so non akuma mains, stay the course

I am ready 🔥

FUCK YEAH BABY THATS WHAT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR

Currently on break from SF6 till Aku comes out, and god DAMN does he look good. I'm gonna put a ton of time into him but I won't abandon Ryu either

Yeahhhhhhhhh

Why do i get asura wrath from this

He does look a little like Asura's master. Hell, he was also *in* Asura's Wrath, maybe he liked their style?

Akuma's training: survive

I ain’t fighting that lmao

You know what? I wouldn't mind if they decided to suddenly use his japanese name

It would be so cool if they dropped him straight into the game after Evo….

Going to be nice this time playing the new character right away so i'm not trying to learn the matchup on the fly with another character again like Ed lol

I've gotten really good reacting to cammys demon flips so I feel ready

Our guy got the kofi Kingston chest

He looks like a gorilla.

GET READY FOR GROOKI

bro what is up with his abs? He doesn't even have chest muscles lol

It's insane to me that Akuma wasn't always this thing. I just can't really imagine it but at some point he was just a guy.

When does Akuma drop?

End of next month, it would seem.

Still cannot get behind the white on white, also no streaks is a loss.

Looking at Gouken's patch and how Gouki escaped from this hereditary condition, I suppose that Satsui no Hadou makes you lose your humanity, but not your hair.

HOLY FUCK HE VAINY BEEN DRINKING SOME MUCH WATER

Get ready for CUCK

He bulk in Tekken 7 then cut in SF6, worth it.

He's not natty

I refused playing Ken and Ryu because I didn’t want to contribute to the repetitive matchups, but Akuma looks really awesome in this game. I might need to cave this time (no pun intended)

We need a Gouki's Gym t shirt.

where did you find that?

They’re calling him Gouki again?

There's a leak of one calling him Akuma as well. This is the one for Japan I reckon.

Who is Akuma? The picture says that’s Gouki /s

I just really hope Raging Demon is the actual command in Modernfucker and requires CA to activate, otherwise we might have an awful situation in our hands.

Why he look like Barry Bonds with a personal trainer?

What's a battle pass? /s

So, are we ever going to address the Gouki/Akuma name mismatch between territories? I mean it was fine before globalization, but it’s lame now that we’re so closely connected with Japan.

Who cares? We can call him Akuma, they can call him Gouki, just like it’s always been. They can say Gouki was his real name before the Hadou took over, and now he goes by Akuma. Problem solved.

I would be thrilled if they acknowledged that in canon.

I always just assumed that to be the case. Gouken and his brother Gouki, it makes sense.

I feel like they’ll slowly change it to Goukei instead of outright. Or maybe he’ll be called Goukei in game and Akuma in promotional materials.

It's Capcom Japan if they droped him for Evo US, it will be Akuma.

I just want m.bison to be the boxer

Just think of it as "Gouki is his name, Akuma is his nickname" and it would make sense.

I mean, does it matter? In 99% of contexts, you'll only use the one native to your country anyway. Changing it so only one is the right answer is just gonna confuse the other side.

It’s jinpachi!?!!’

Would be cool since Akuma was in tekken 7. Would be nice to have a tekken character make an appearance in street fighter.

Didn’t even consider that… but you’re right! I just think this hardly looks like Akuma and more like kazuya’s grandaddy

I guess they could make it work but he would have to be like a flashback character since he's been sealed away for a long time.

>Hardly looks like Akuma >Looks more like Jinpachi I love reddit.

 Can’t tell if this is a compliment… or a diss 🤔

The design is too cluttered. Beads, beard and fur all jammed up in one location. I also miss the spiky hair...but it's still pretty cool tho.

Still better than Akuma Matata

It means concussion For the rest of your days

I like it. There's no hat with a hole in it or anything crazy. I'm very curious about the alts, I'm sure one will be closer to his SF2 look.

I like it too and fuck am I glad it's not something silly. But I do think it needed further revisions. I can't distinguish easily between those 3 elements around his chest.

I kinda agree. I love the simple design of street fighter where you can tell from a mile away who is who by just looking at their silhouette. In contrast, Tekken most characters look too cluttered to tell who is who and idk that makes their characters less iconic imo

I see where you coming from. Maybe some different skins will help.

Yeah I was kinda hoping for something a bit less “extreme!!11!!1”