Street Fighter 6 My Akuma Review! Powerful & Surprisingly Simple?

Akuma is the latest new character for Street Fighter 6, and I've been playing him nonstop, so it's review time. I think he's really strong but also surprisingly simple, despite his giant move set. I think Capcom could have gone harder, especially when I think of his previous V-System. I do love the new Adamant Flame attack though, the conversions are awesome. It's also interesting to discuss his main weakness, which is his low health, and why pro players are thinking of switching to him. I'm confident Akuma will seen more in tournaments in the future.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:39 Gameplay Design
02:54 Design Flaws
07:02 Strengths
13:48 Weaknesses
24:11 Potential
27:38 Closing
Twitch / vesperarcade
Twitter / vesperarcade
Discord / discord
#StreetFighter6 #SF6 #StreetFighter #Akuma

[@khoa2610]

vesper just talked capcom into buffing akuma next patch

[@gtsavestheday6569]

It’s crazy to me how tentative Akuma is as a character in this iteration. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a time where en masse people were unsure whether he was weak or strong. I guess he’s just mid, which is fine. I think the actual question is, is Akuma actually mid, his much more is there to learn? I’m sure than answer is no, Akuma is not mid, no one has seen every thing there is. I think everyone is eager to put Akuma in a specific power zone because M.Bison is coming so soon after Akuma did.

[@raics101]

It was kinda similar in SFV too, people didn't think he's good initially, then he got a few minor buffs and then was considered top tier until it was painfully obvious he isn't anymore

[@workoutfanatic7873]

I think your comment is correct, and meta is still developing. But at this point, I wouldn’t place him above Ken or Luke. The change of the demon kick to an FB motion instead of DP is jarring for me lol (I didn’t play SFV)

[@surtrpicks]

I’m thinking Bison will shake up the meta more than akuma. Akuma is like an amplified shoto, lots of tools and walk speed but low life creates snowball good/bad feeling in matches. Bison’s apparently anti projectile potential will challenge current rankings far more.

[@antonsundin2974]

Akuma is definitely strong, i think if tournaments played longer sets Akuma would be more viable. It's just that having low low health in an already pretty volatile game and tournaments are played in short Bo3 sets makes it a no go. Despite this Akuma might still be used as people get better with him.

[@workoutfanatic7873]

@@antonsundin2974 I can see your point. Daigo has a unique way with each character. The way he plays Ken, Jamie and Akuma differ from everyone else. With Akuma, he spams F. Forward, like a lot lol. It’s a good button, and I don’t see Akuma’s trying to use it, they try to skip neutral like most players at a lower level. Even pro Akuma users try to neutral skip like it’s the end of the world. One, thing, no Demon flip throw, and no canceling into teleport - mixups are bland compared to USF4. Plus Capcom decimated air normals starting with SF5, so even less mixups/vortex.

[@workoutfanatic7873]

Tokido and Akumamata. At first glance, it looks like has a great toolkit, but Ken’s is a lot better. Akuma cannot pressure like Ken with strike block high low mixups. Ken still has the fasted low forward in the game, a frame faster than Ryu’s and Akuma’s. Plus Ken can feint his low forward with low short, while Ryu and Akuma cannot. Ken can also link combo from st. Short in to all sorts of options, counter/punish DRC into BnBs. Plus at that top level, the 1000k health makes all the difference. One thing Akuma’s got that *is broken his FB hurtbox. It stops at the shoulder for Akuma. For Ryu, just inside of his fingers, and for Ken, extends outside his fingers. That’s why Ken doesn’t zone, he’s not meant to play like that, you get punished hard, even for an OD FB.

[@SlaineReigns]

Also probably a lot of the reasons that people stick with ken at the moment is because of their mastery with him. A lot of pros have played ken for a year now and Akuma is a newer char. I do agree with the Ken comparison for sure though. Ken's gameplan is just more simple and more effective.

[@fitzciaran]

Exactly what season 1 dlc season needed - and exactly what the s2 kickoff balance patch needed to bring back as many players as possible - simple and fun.

[@user-bv3ok2re3s]

Kawano is also using Akuma/Gouki, but actually struggle when opponent is really good. I agree with your Vesper, that Daigo is the better fit for this character.

[@ibnsabilalInsan]

"if this whiffs your bread" #toast 🍞..

[@heretickishyt]

Thankgod somebody addressed the vs2, but if we can just combo midscreen after heavy adament flame (juggle combo properties), i'll be happy

[@LimitRX]

Another Vesper Masterpiece

[@peteroneill1859]

Akuma is sick in this game iam really enjoying playing him

[@samuelf.tavares4543]

He's realy good, but not as cheap as i thought he would be.

[@oOYourdadOo]

Im curious as to what you consider a lot of midscreen conversions and what are you not doing to believe his midscreen damage isnt good. Like what is the bare minimum damage you consider to be good or better from midscreen? And who do you believe does it better? You didnt really paint a picture for me to understand. Now recently Ive been focusing on improving my AKI, but of course I played a bit of Akuma and REALLY quickly i found quite a bit of corner and midscreen conversions for really good damage and Oki depending on resource management. I even found a 3 touch kill method if your opponent guessing wrong on wake up twice. Akuma has WAY TOO MANY options, as he should have. However, SF6 devs made it quite simple for the player because you can practically combo into anything off of anything with minimal resources, and easily with resources, for midscreen. Damage and/or Oki/corner carry. Very easily setup throw/parry baits. Strong frame traps, where if you are too late to interrupt, or guess wrong, you lose a about 50%. Akuma is really good. And he has probably the best pushback on block in the game with his fireballs to force whiff punish situations. I believe pros sticking with Ken because after whole year Ken is the same and Akuma is wildly different WITH less HP. Ken is simply easier to use. I dont believe you had the opportunity to explore everything Akuma can do you yet. You should try labbing what you can do more off of his back HK, cause you didnt mention that much at all, and a lot of those conversions and side switch combos can come from that back HK. Just an idea.

[@stomboyyuffie8511]

Vesper how do I deal with Akuma air fireball? I legit don't understand the counterplay.

[@ItsAkile]

I might have seem negative judging so early but Vesper and I agree in the end, they went a bit light on my boy in some ways Akuma would excel. I know changes and buffs can change alot so I'm not that mad about it, just like options so charcters don't get too stale quickly. Like I wish his Ex demon flip atleast had the SFV properties and I wish his demon was similar. But overall he's sick still man, does so much damage and Oki like the sea.

[@akumous]

In a sense I feel Ryu is stronger than Akuma because Ryu can make a more mistakes and still win the game due to Ryu’s health.

[@GamerLCD]

I wish Vesper invited me for breakdowns, but I'm to "unhinged" :(

[@dextersLVB]

For that max damage combo what’s the trick to getting the DP after the medium Tatsu? I can’t get it to come out for whatever reason.

[@brandontyler9278]

It's a medium tatsu? I think you can only get a dp follow up after light tatsu not medium.

[@mbuyelomudaka9528]

The opponent has to be high enough for the light dp to connect

[@dextersLVB]

@@mbuyelomudaka9528 so is there like a delay or timing in the DR BHK into the Tatsu?

[@mbuyelomudaka9528]

@@dextersLVB it's a drive rush charger lvl2 gohadoken then a link into tatsu, when doing BHK after drive rush don't delay it at all and then cancel it into the gohadoken and release the charge immediately when it becomes lvl2, look at the frame meter and try to get it as close to 31 frames of start up to make sure the opponent high enough for the light dp after medium tatsu

[@mbuyelomudaka9528]

@@dextersLVB kzbin.info/www/bejne/eV6Vhqhnmd1oZ8ksi=Dyg6_y3okz4X1n9-

[@workoutfanatic7873]

Ken is prob S++ tier. I believe one of the only fighters who can link jab to strong to fierce, and get any kind of follow up. Run stop to bait, close distance. And the opponent is never expecting an overhead. I like to whiff short Jinrai -> overhead x CA. He is fantastic grounded, and has terrific jump-ins, including crossups that hit you on the backside of your knees (jump short).

[@OmnipotentO]

they should go back to making mk tatsu hit crouch and hk tatsu standing. i barely ever use mk tatsu

[@googleuser9073]

Saw the title and thought this was 2 months old

[@KN-592]

Man where the Frick is Dan 💙

[@Kusanagikaiser999]

The best way I can describe this Akuma and how I feel about him is this..............SAGAT SFV release......that's How I feel about Akuma......he is hell of fun, and hit hard, but........lack the strength we associate with the character, this Akuma feel weaker than Akuma from SFV despite technically have as much tools, those not mean much in a game you have Drive Parry, Drive Impact and D.Rushes and him having 900 HP makes no sense......Cammy is also a character who always had 900 HP and they knew ahead that would make her USELESS in this game and give her proper HP, so why in blue hell they didn't give Akuma the same treatment. SFV have a similar issue with Akuma when he got release and was fixed very fast, so I hope they do the same here, otherwise I doubt we will see Akuma dominating tournaments as he usually did. Again he is a LOT OF FUN but requires high level hands to always execute the most optimal gameplay he can archive, like Sagat in SFV did, no wonder why Tokido feel no confidence in him, specially if you want to win that 1 million dollars, you want a very STRONG character......and Ken, Luke and the usual suspects in this game still are way stronger than him.

[@lama8984]

He has more tools than ken it's just that currently, Ken takes better advantage of the systems and meta for the most part.

[@demarcogrant-santana2602]

Yeah if you lab it you can find akuma can 2 touch most of the cast with only 4 bars of drive gauge. It’s ridiculous

[@garretwoeller7669]

I couldn't dig into Akuma in this game hopefully Sagat next season

[@superspecky4eyes]

You eat two EX SPDs as Akuma and you are brown bread mate. Its actually hilarious.

[@killahteck402]

Didn’t itabashi just smoke daigo’s akuma

[@TriFF51]

Idk if 2-1 going to final game final round is smoked.

[@killahteck402]

@@TriFF51 Sure but according to Vesper it shouldn’t even be close at that level of play

[@Poisonchaos]

Akuma is fine in this game but his fireball is way too good for the kind of character he is

[@kenshin391]

Akuma is strong, but he not stronger than Ken or Ryu in this game especially after that patch.

[@hectorgarcia5814]

HOROSHO!!!

[@JS-zz9lg]

No i think hes just much harder to play. Always has been of the shotos. He does so much dmg and his neutral is incredible, hes one of those long term investment characters though, the more time you put in, the better you get and more things you unlock. He has every tool, but because of his health you have to be more careful, you cant be ex DPing every KD

[@workoutfanatic7873]

Plus SF5 decimated air normal variety, which is almost literally nonexistent now compared to USF4. The Akuma USF4 vortex was based around neutral/forward jump and a variety of (air) normals.

[@WutTheDeuceGaming]

These reviews are nice and all, but why are you showing stuff without the frame data on? Look no further than Tokido's statement on the Ken/Akuma discussion. TLDR, Ken is far more braindead and easy to play. He didn't say exactly that, but that's definitely how he describes it, he just wasn't black and white the way he described the differences in them. IMO, Akuma is not top 5 and with that health, people aren't gonna find him worth investing in. Tokido also stated that before the Melbourne tournament, he wasn't confident in his Ken and he felt the character felt sluggish. He STILL took the whole thing. Daigo, he's been relatively quiet tournament wise since SF6 launched, so he really has nothing to lose by switching to Akuma. The only real problem I have with Akuma is his tatsu whiffs. It's so stupid his medium kick tatsu whiffs on crouchers, it's the only SF game where this actually applies. In every other game his light tatsu whiffs on crouchers while the other two do not. I think that change was primarily made to accommodate his burning fist move which is pretty annoying.

[@g-string4609]

Super tired of fighting Akuma at this point

[@Lexicon865]

Maybe I'm just ass but I feel Akuma struggles with Blanka and Rashid. These characters feel far more volatile that it gets overwhelming and I struggle to find consistent answers against them. Cammy I think beats Akuma but I feel the gap isn't that big but idk. Though I went from JP to Akuma so this matchup is now far easier as Akuma than it was with JP

[@user-qx9py5fs8e]

As an Akuma main since SF4, I hate that he still doesn't have his normal air Hadoken from either jump direction. That could be REALLY helpful in certain situations.😒

[@lpilpi1456]

Sfv akuma was just much more fun to play with

[@marlin1846]

😂😂😂

[@Yishu_Art]

Akuma is not very impressive in my opinion - like hes not incredibly strong, but he's annoying as F. I feel like SF6 generally encourages turtling and its not very fun to play against.

[@metalgear475]

Let's be honest, Akuma walk speed is the only strong thing about him, everything else is mid. Akuma combo routes are also too boring, for the most part, it feels like there is only one option for the situation. Was hoping for a sub for my Rashid, but I'm going to have to wait for those future dlc characters to see.

[@Dirge_Prime]

Akuma has lower health, but his damage output is insane. oh so that more then makes up for the lower health then.

[@R4V3NU5]

Ken>Luke>Akuma>Ryu, Akuma still top 8 btw

[@Mitsu_Vagrant]

So, what you’re saying is that Ken is Akuma, but better. …and also we need to nerf Ken because he shouldn’t be this strong (anymore).

[@TheMandanga]

More like aWHOma

[@BuMp2RuN]

I think he sucks… demon flip is hot garbage.. really has no use in a matchup.. total gamble and i got no hlth.. cant even go through fireballs with it… plus the slide is easily grabbed out of .. his ex fireball loses to all dps and flash kicks with no ex.. i mean cmon folks how am i supposed to pressure!? St mp is the only plus button and pushes back to far… i dont understand the design..

[@BuMp2RuN]

Air ex fireball**

[@patrickcang8154]

easy and strong, Akuma player don’t complain about the 9000 hp anymore

[@WorldOfWeebcraft]

Its become Akuma fighter 6