By now, you’ve probably seen that Street Fighter 6 clip where BigBird’s Rashid tossed out the character’s level 2 super against a burnt out Akuma with no super and very little life left making for an inescapable situation. The win was so guaranteed, in fact, that the Rashid player even took the opportunity to taunt from fullscreen away while the massive tornado closed in on the Shoto and ultimately chipped him out for the KO.
This exact situation came very close to repeating itself in a match featuring Hoji_FGC’s Akuma, however, things played out a little differently this time. Feel vindicated as you watch the Akuma player find a way out of this terrible situation.
During one of Hoji’s recent online sessions the Akuma player took on a Rashid that aimed to pull off the same troll tornado taunt set up that BigBird did.
We see a burnt out Akuma get into a scramble with the Rashid player that culminates in a dropped punish opportunity for the Shoto. The Rashid player hits a quick meterless combo, then lands a raw crouching medium kick to put Hoji at just a sliver of health left.
From the looks of the gameplay here and based on the resources Rashid had when landing the previous two openings, it seemed as though they were actively aiming to finish the game with this set up. Sure enough, Rashid backs up, throws out an OD tornado (which Hoji neutral jumps and avoids), then tosses out level 2 super and immediately goes into one of Rashid’s taunts.
As the massive whirlwind heads toward Akuma and Rashid is jumping and flipping around in glee, Hoji uses the one answer to this scenario that could enable escape. Akuma fires into his Raging Demon Critical Art, which has projectile invincibility, and though it doesn’t quite reach Rashid itself it does allow the Shoto to pass right through the tornado unscathed.
One thing about Street Fighter 6’s taunts is that whenever you activate one your character is locked into it (and vulnerable) until the animation runs the entirety of its course. Rashid was still flipping and trolling all while Akuma recovered from the big super, which allowed him to crack the master of the turbulent wind with a heavy punch to close out the round.
If that original Rashid clip ticked you off, you’ll definitely want to see him get his comeuppance in the footage below.
NEVER GIVE UP pic.twitter.com/XR8QsgAdiO
— Hoji_FGC (@Hoji_FGC) October 9, 2024