Akuma is now just mere hours away from finally launching in Street Fighter 6, and there’s one pro player in particular who’s esepecially ready to take control of his favorite demon again.
Longtime top competitor Rohto|Tokido recently released a new video going through Akuma’s moves in SF6 and discussing what he’s most excited to use.
The video is also something of a reaction to Akuma’s official character guide, which released while Tokido was still in Belgium for the Brussels Challenge tournament.
Like the guide points out, Tokido says the returning demon’s fast walk speed and decently long reach should be very good for him, but he specifically points to the Gou Hadoken as something fun he wants to play with.
That’s because the grounded version can be charged up to two stages for extra hits, and it’s something he hasn’t really gotten to mess around with to see how the different projectiles can be applied for pressure situations.
He also ponders if Overdrive Zanku Hadoken is fast enough to bait and punish throw attempts like Cammy’s dive kick since people asked him about it, but from his one early play session, that didn’t seem possible (except maybe on larger characters).
After skimming throuhg Gou Shoryuken and Tatsumaki Zanku-kyaku because they seem about what you’d expect, Tokido takes a closer look at Akuma’s brand new Adamant Flame special where he wonders how much the OD version will be necessary for the instant corner carry and wall splat.
He’s certainly happy that the slide kick and new overhead chop out of Demon Raid leaves Akuma at advantage on block though he laments that there is no throw option anymore.
As for Akuma’s new command grab out of teleport, Tokido thinks it’ll be effective at catching people by surprise at first, but questions if the move will be good once players get used to the new character.
He says Empyrean’s End should be more useful than Ken’s level 2 Super, especially if Akuma can continue to build meter in the follow-up combo in the corner while having some doubts about using it as a fireball counter.
Finally, there’s the Shun Goku Satsu, which Tokido wonders about how to best use it in combos and finds it interesting to see the Raging Demon beating out projectiles (but not other moves).
Overall, the seasoned veteran is most interested in seeing what Akuma’s brand new options can do for him, and he’s cautiously optimistic about the new character’s strength since he plans to hopefully make the switch over to the Satsui no Hado once again.
If you missed it before, Tokido also previously discussed his initial thoughts after going hands on with Akuma for a short period of time too.
You can find Tokido’s full video below, which does have English subtitles though they aren’t always the best, so we summarized his main points in the story here.
