Street Fighter 6 is almost a year old, and with that, it's season 1 comes to a close. With is comes a ton of changes we won't even begin to list here. But what I will do is tell you about my experience with the true master of the fist, Akuma.
Akuma is so absolutely insane, that the entire game had to be rebalanced around him. You can also find him in World Tour mode and have him teach your avatar moves. It's a little but of a chore, but it's worth it in the end. If I could summarize, find a SiRN poster on the side of the SiRN building, then go to the 5th floor, talk to a guy, beat his robots using certain special moves you learned from other fighters (JP, Luke, and Manon), get the chips, the guy tells you to then go to Retsu in Japan, talk to him, and that will unlock Akuma's level. He will not fight you. Go back to Retsu, then talk to and fight Ryu, go back to Metro City, talk to and fight Luke, go back to Akuma. He will kick you in the face, but then agree to train you. Whew.
His new stage, Emma's Hollow, is available in the shop for drive tickets, or the fight money that's so tough to gain. Drive tickets, however, are easy to obtain, ESPECIALLY with the limited-time new mode Giant Attack. There is a giant Akuma in the Battle Hub, looming over everyone. To fight him, you have to fight in the battle hub at cabinets. From each fight, you get battle points. You can exchange these battle points for a combined attack with other people in the battle hub. Every time you hit em, you'll get triumph points. If you go to the event counter in the battle hub, you can exchange the battle points, and triumph points for drive tickets by the pound. You also get titles, and emotes for your character.
You can also fight "SiRN Akuma" at the front most cabinet. He is a level 8 version of Akuma, except, it's Shin Akuma. You are not worthy of his time. He starts with, and stays at a level 1. He has a double fireball, two other supers, and wombo combos. He will decimate you immediately, and frequently but I found a workaround. My level 70+ avatar character can fight him too. If you go under one of the legs of giant Akuma, you can challenge him like you would do an avatar battle. He is level 80, but with all your power ups, and attributes you've gained from world tour mode, you can take him out with a little skill. Just don't make a mistake. He will make you pay for it every time.
This is a good time to rank up with a new main as well, as everyone you fight will be Akuma for a while, and it's better to get in as they're learning, than fight someone who's had him for more than a week. There are videos of someone doing the most devastating combos after just having him for an hour. One video has a 53 hit combo, accompanied with the Shun Goku Satsu, AKA the Bison Killer. You can only do this if you have 25% health left, and a level 3 super. It's so cool to watch, but so are all his supers.
Capcom went all out with Akuma. While I was not excited about Rashid, I did use A.K.I, and Ed quite a bit. I probably won't use Akuma as much, but I will enjoy punching him in the face with Marisa, and watching his low HP chip away. I think all in all, it's been a great year one for Street Fighter 6, and I'm glad the game feels similar but fresh. I just hope season 2 just keeps adding the coolest characters, though I don't really know who I'm hoping for. Now if you hate words, and want video, I posted all of my experiences below.
