As the fiery rage of Akuma looms closer to his release in Street Fighter 6, we had an opportunity to speak with Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi, a professional fighting game player reigning from Japan.

Dubbed one of “The Japanese Five Gods of Fighting Games”, Tokido is a three-time EVO champion most known for mastering Akuma in various Street Fighter games, able to utilize the character to its full potential to win dozens of tournaments.

Interview is edited for clarity

General Thoughts

Considering Akuma is his main in most games he competes in, we asked Tokido how he feel about the reveal of the character for Street Fighter 6.

In response, Tokido expresses how cool the reveal and the new version of the character are. He especially highlights the new rendition of the fighter’s iconic Shun Goku Satsu (better known as Raging Demon in English) super move.

In one of Tokido’s videos, he mentioned that he had tried out the character in an early playtest at Gamagori Japan. He recommended the place, which is called Real Battle Hub, is a great spot for people to chat about the latest version of Street Fighter 6.

As for Akuma, Tokido mentioned that other players who joined and tried the playtest said the character now has “so many options in neutral” and that “it is important in this game”.

Noticeable Differences 

When it comes to noticeable differences between the new Akuma and versions from older titles, the absence of V-Trigger in Street Fighter 6 was mentioned.

“Akuma was kind of an easy-to-win character in Street Fighter V because of the V-Trigger,” said Tokido. He then added that he does not have a clear idea of what is the V-Trigger replacement for the new Akuma, saying “I am wondering what is the substitute for that in Street Fighter 6.”

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, V-Trigger was the major mechanic in Street Fighter V, in ways similar to how the Drive System is to Street Fighter 6.

For Akuma, his V-Triggers are Dohatsu Shoten and Shiretsu Hasshi. The Dohatsu Shoten buffs Akuma up, while Shiretsu Hasshi allows him to cancel Special Moves into EX Special Moves using V-Gauge instead of his Critical Art Gauge.

Tokido also added some interesting details about how Akuma has brought in some new techniques from TEKKEN 7, where the character showed up as a crossover guest fighter. The move he mentioned is Shakunetsu Messhou, which is a technique where Akuma performs a quick right palm strike followed by a more impactful left palm strike.

“Maybe I can use it for good damage combo,” added Tokido. 

Tier List and Tournaments

Whether Akuma can be a top tier character when he arrives in Street Fighter 6, Tokido said he hope so. Tokido explained that the character “has low health but good mobility”, which makes him a very interesting character to play.

It just so happens that DreamHack Dallas is the closest scheduled Street Fighter 6 tournament to be happening soon, on May 31st, 2024. When we asked Tokido if he was ready to bring the character out for tournaments, he did not hesitate to say he’d love to start competing with his flagship fighter.

Costume of Choice

Concluding the interview, we asked Tokido about his impressions of Akuma’s new look and what costumes he would love to see return. He expressed that Cyber Akuma was very fun and that he still likes the original classic look. However, he expressed that he wanted to play Akuma in his default Street Fighter 6 outfit and noted the new design gave the character a more pronounced aura of power and speed.

Here concludes our interview with Tokido about his enthusiasm and opinions about Akuma in Street Fighter 6. We would like to thank Tokido for taking the time to answer our questions.

Akuma will be stomping into Street Fighter 6 along with the Year 1 Character Pass content on May 22, 2024.

Street Fighter 6

Publisher: Capcom

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: 2023-06-02

PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Steam, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

Here comes Capcom’s newest challenger! Street Fighter™ 6 launches worldwide on June 2nd, 2023 and represents the next evolution of the Street Fighter™ series! Street Fighter 6 spans three distinct game modes, including World Tour, Fighting Ground and Battle Hub.