The Demon is back and he's powerful. Akuma is most similar to his Street Fighter 3 Third Strike version. He does a lot of damage with his moves and some big time combos he can throw out there during the match.

But he takes more damage when he's hit than any character in the game besides Seth, so eating a few large combos will wipe you out.

Akuma has three handy projectiles in which he can use to help control the match, and his damage potential is still very, very good.

He's versatile in that he can apply a lot of offensive pressure or kick back and use his excellent Fireballs to frustrate some opponents.

• Strengths •
+ Powerful character, takes off a lot of damage when he hits.
+ Excellent offensive options. Lots of ways to mix up his attack plan.
+ Medium and Hard Red Fireballs act like an EX-Projectile.
+ Air Fireball can set up some great pressure situations.
+ You can easily combo after landing a Demon Flip Dive Kick.

• Weaknesses •
- Horrible defensive (stamina) ranking. Can die very quickly.
- Gets dizzied easily.
- Red Fireballs have a terrible recovery time, can leave you wide open.

Setting up your Light Hurricane Kick

Landing Akuma's Light Hurricane Kick sets up a Hard Punch Shoryuken to finish off your opponent, and this sequence does fairly good damage.

You can Cancel into your Light Hurricane Kick after a couple of Crouching Light Punches or Kicks — this gives you time to confirm you've hit your opponent and launch into a devastating combo. This set up lets Akuma apply a lot of offensive pressure.

But the timing may throw some people off initially. For example, when you do a Crouching Light Punch, Crouching Light Kick and Cancel into a Hurricane Kick, if you do the Crouching Light Kick too quickly, you won't be able to Cancel.

Instead you'll want to time the Crouching Light Kick in this sequence so it's more like a Link. Delayed enough that you can Cancel, but also still combo into your moves.

The timing on this can be tricky at first, but being able to land a huge combo because your opponent does not block a Crouching Light Kick is HUGE. Your best bet is to go into practice mode to learn how to combo this consistently.

It will make you a much better Akuma player.

Cross up and cheese tactics

Akuma has a really good cross up move with Jumping Medium Kick. The range is nice, it does solid damage, plus it's easy to combo into other attacks after landing it.

A common tactic for Akuma is to cross up the other player as he gets up off the ground. If they block the resulting attack, throw out either one or two Crouching Light Punches and go for a throw.

If they don't block the cross up, follow up with two Crouching Light Punches, Link into Crouching Medium Kick and do a Fireball, EX-Fireball if you have Super meter, for a 5-hit combo.

Bouncing back and forth between these two tactics after you cross the other fighter up will make most good players attempt to Tech your throws, or try and hit you back with a few Light Punches or Kicks. When this starts happening, after your first Crouching Light Punch pause for a split-second and then go into your Crouching Medium Kick, then Cancel into Fireball.

If the other fighter is attempting to tech or throw out a move, you should hit them, and if they block, you've taken a small amount of chip (block) damage off.

The tactics above work wonders because you're putting yourself in a real good position to consistently cause damage whenever you cross the other fighter up.

Special Moves

• Fireball (Gou Hadouken) •
This is very similar to Ryu and Ken's fireball. You'll use this to control spacing and pester opponents who have a difficult time dealing with projectiles.

Do not avoid this move in favor of Akuma's other projectiles. It's quick and there's many times in a match where this will work better than his Red or Air Fireballs.

(In the air)
• Air Fireball (Zankuu Hadouken) •
The punch button pressed determines the angle and speed of your Air Fireball. Light Punch flies the most vertical and goes slowest, while Hard flies forward the most and is the fastest. Medium is a mix of the two.

Because of the speed and angle of the Light Punch Fireball, many Akuma players will use it at the peak of their jump against opponents in the corner as they stand up. Then they'll land and follow up with a low attack, or his overhead hit as the fireball is coming in making it difficult to block correctly.

Because Akuma briefly stops moving when he throws this in the air, you can also use this to alter the trajectory of your jump to avoid landing on projectiles or limbs.

• Red Fireball (Shakunetsu Hadoken) •
This comes out much faster than the version seen in Street Fighter 3 Third Strike. Akuma briefly powers up, and then unleashes a fireball. Hard Punch hits three times, Medium hits twice and Light hits once.

This works much like an EX-Fireball in that the Medium Punch version it will absorb another projectile and keep going through to hit your opponent. The Hard Punch Fireball will absorb both hits of an EX-projectile and continue through to hit the other fighter.

The drawback is it has almost double the start up time and a bit more recovery than Akuma's regular Fireball, so you have to time your execution on this or you'll be setting yourself up for a big jump in combo.

Against top quality opponents, you're not going to have a lot of chances to throw this out there unless they're projectile happy, or getting up off the ground so you can score some chip damage.

• Demon Flip (Hyakki Shuu) •
The button pressed determines how far Akuma flips forward. Light flies the shortest distance, while Hard travels the farthest.

While you're in the air during the Demon Flip animation, you can do the following:

• Kick button: Dive Kick — A GREAT move, because no matter when you initiate the Dive Kick, whenever you land it, you should always have enough time to go into a combo. This even works against tall characters like Sagat and Zangief. You can hit them in the top of the head and still combo. Nasty.
• Punch button: Hammer Fist An armor breaking move that knocks down when it lands. Can he handy to set up a cross situation.
• Light Punch and Light Kick: Throw — You'll need to pretty close to your opponent to throw them. Does a bit more damage than a normal grab, and it's a good mix up move to add in there when they may be expecting a Dive Kick instead.
• Slide Kick: Pressing nothing at all will make Akuma do a fast slide kick when he lands. Hits low, and will score a knock down.

• Hurricane Kick (Tatsumaki Zankuu Kyaku) • *Armor Breaking*
Knocks down if it hits, and the Medium and Hard versions of this move can hit multiple times.

The Light version can be used to juggle the other fighter if your next move has a short recovery time. For example, you can hit them with a Light Kick Hurricane Kick and go into a Hard Punch Shoryuken for a 4 hit combo.

(In the air)
• Air Hurricane Kick (Tatsumaki Zankuu Kyaku) •

• Shoryuken (Dragon Punch) •
A high priority attack. The Punch button pressed determines the strength, range and number of hits for this move.

Light Punch has the smallest range, only hits once and does the least damage, but if you miss with it you're not as open to counter attacks as the heavier versions. This is good for countering pokes and tick throws.

Hard Punch has the longest range, hits 3 times and does the most damage. It's good for finishing off juggles and combos, and as an anti air move. If you miss with it though prepare to take a lot of damage.

Medium Punch is a mix of both Light and Hard version. It hits twice.

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• Teleport (Ashura Senkuu) •
The joystick motion may be reversed with either 3x punch or kick to teleport backwards.

The punch version of this move will take you forward a full-screen's distance away, and the kick takes you about halfway.

This move has a much faster recovery time than in SF3 Third Strike, making it more difficult to counter-attack Akuma as he's coming out of it.

(In the air)
• Dive Kick •
You must be jumping forward and near the peak of your jump to execute this move.

EX Moves

• EX-Fireball (Gou Hadouken) •
A 2 hit version of his normal fireball, useful mainly for combos and the like. Sometimes handy for pressure situations and in projectile battles, because it comes out pretty quickly.

If you land this with your opponent in the corner, you can juggle with a Hard Punch Shoryuken if you're close.

• EX-Air fireball (Zankuu Hadouken) • (In the air)
This throws out two fireballs, somewhat like Shin Akuma in previous Street Fighter games. It's not a fireball that hits twice like other character's EX moves. These come out at the same angle as the Medium and Hard Punch Air Fireballs.

The damage if both land is... OK, but it is an excellent offensive pressure tool. Throws these at a downed opponent as they're standing and then get in close to them. If these hit, go right into a combo and if they block the Air Fireballs attempt a throw.

A simple strategy, but an excellent one regardless.

• EX-Red Fireball (Shakunetsu Hadoken) •
Hits three times like the Hard Punch version, but it has slightly faster recovery time. Recovers in 50 frames instead of 63. Rarely is this move useful though.

• EX-Demon Flip (Hyakki Shuu) •
This move "tracks" based on wherever your opponent is. You can use it from full-screen's distance to punish Fireball throwers. Works from pretty much any distance, although from point blank range it can be difficult to land your Dive Kick.

Also Akuma gets into a state where he can attack faster than a normal Demon Flip.

This is a pretty solid move, especially for the element of surprise from long distances when your opponent wouldn't otherwise be afraid of being hit.

• EX-Hurricane kick (Tatsumaki Zankuu Kyaku) • *Armor Breaking*
The EX-Hurricane kick makes you spin in place and will vacuum in the other fighter if they're close enough, hitting multiple times.

This is Akuma's most damaging EX-move, so it's an ideal combo ender, although it only does 10 more points of damage than a Hard Punch Shoryuken.

(In the air)
• EX-Air Hurricane Kick (Tatsumaki Zankuu Kyaku) •
Can be a decent anti air because of the damage, but you basically have to predict the jump in because Akuma stops all movement and spins in place. You won't use this move very often.

• EX-Shoryuken (Dragon Punch) •
This does the same amount of damage as a Hard Punch Shoryuken, but it offers frames of invulnerability, so it makes it more desirable for some Reversal and Anti Air situations.

You probably won't be using this too much, but it is a handy move in some situations.

Super and Ultra Moves

• Super Raging Demon (Shun Goku Satsu) • *Armor Breaking*
This move comes out FAST. Faster than in previous games. It does about 30% damage (character dependent), beats out most normal attacks and goes about a full screen's distance, but it does not go through fireballs.

Without doing a level 2 or 3 Focus Attack, there's no known way to combo into this move.

Some say this Super shouldn't be used pratically ever because the damage is weak and you're better off using Akuma's EX moves, but because of its speed some players find it handy.

• Ultra Raging Demon (Shun Goku Satsu) • *Armor Breaking*
Akuma's Ultra travels further than full screen's distance, does about 60% damage when fully charged, it's very powerful.

Like his Super, there isn't a known way to combo into this without doing a crumpling Focus Attack.

This can be a difficult move to land if you're playing against a good player, because in many cases they can just jump away. So you'll want to use this in instances where your opponent cannot recover in time from whatever they're doing. The other fighter attempting a throw, or trying to cross you up can give you good opportunities to land this move, because you can time your Raging Demon to grab them the moment they land or attempt to toss you.

Sometimes as you're getting up off the ground, the other fighter may be trying to stick out a meaty move or throw a Fireball. Time this to go right through it and make them pay a heavy price for being foolish.

Also works good after a missed Shoryuken or any attack that leaves them wide open.

If you're having trouble executing the Raging Demon, make sure you're doing the movements in the correct order. It seems obvious, but many players will press the Light Kick button before they press Back on the controller.

You don't have to be lightning quick to pull off this move, simply tapping out the motion in a reasonably fast matter will get it out there — the most important part is not doing things out of order.

Combos

• Jumping Hard Kick, Standing Hard Punch, Cancel into Light Kick Hurricane Kick, juggle with Hard Punch Shoryuken •
Akuma's bread and butter combo. Great damage and not too difficult to pull off.

• Jumping Hard Kick, Crouching Light Punch 2x, Link into Crouching Medium Kick, Cancel into Hard Punch Fireball •
You can drop the two Crouching Light Punches from this combo if you have difficulty pulling it off.

• Crouching Light Kick, Crouching Light Punch 2x, Cancel into Light Punch Shoryuken •
You can skip the Crouching Light Kick and use a Hard Punch Shoryuken instead after the Crouching Light Punches.

• EX-Air Fireball, Crouching Light Kick, Link into Crouching Light Punch, Cancel into Light Kick Hurricane Kick, juggle with Hard Punch Shoryuken •
Another way to land the core part of Akuma's bread and butter combo.

• Standing Hard Kick, Link into Crouching Light Kick, Cancel into Light Hurricane Kick, juggle with Hard Punch Shoryuken •

• (Opponent in corner, close range) EX-Fireball, juggle with Hard Punch Shoryuken •
You can also add in a few moves before the EX-Fireball, the key here is being close enough to hit with your Shoryuken as your opponent is falling back.

Normal Moves

Note this is not a complete list of all of Akuma's normal moves, just the ones we think are noteworthy.

• Standing Hard Kick •
One of Akuma's best normal moves because of the combo potential and speed. Link into a Crouching Light or Medium Kick after wards which sets up some good combos.

Also following up with this move after an Air Fireball is a good tactic to put pressure on your opponent.

• Overhead Chop •
Akuma's classic Overhead Chop is back. Hits twice.