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Yoshinori Ono, Street Fighter 5’s executive producer, revealed a teaser trailer for Akuma, who will be playable in the game at the PlayStation Experience in December.
The fan favorite Street Fighter character, Akuma was announced for Tekken 7 in 2015. Crossovers between fighting games aren’t new, especially ones between Street Fighter and Tekken, but what made people raise their eyebrows is Akuma’s inclusion in the new Tekken, and the fact that this time around he won’t be featured in Street Fighter 5. Nine months after the release of Street Fighter 5, Capcom announced that Akuma is finally coming, to disband the idea again.
He was confirmed for Street Fighter V at the Red Bulll Battlegrounds tournament by the game’s executive producer, Yoshinori Ono. Akuma’s announcement came with a brief teaser that featured a Kanji symbol on his back, but this time different than the one he ususally wears. Instead of his usual Kanji symbol that says ‘heaven’, his new Kanji symbol in the Street Fighter V says ‘destruction’ and is nearly identical to the one he had in Capcom vs SNK 2.
Akuma, in Capcom vs SNK 2, had the ability to transform into Shin Akuma, a more poweful version of himself. Now that the Kanji symbol matches the one he wore in Capcom vs SNK 2, fans have theorized that he will have an identical move list as the one in that game.
Fans can only speculate what Akuma has in store for now, as the trailer doesn’t offer any answers. Though, fans won’t have to wait much longer to found out about Street Fighter V’s version of Akuma. He will be a playable character for anyone who shows up at the PlayStation Experience event in Anaheim, California, which will be held from December 3rd to December 4th.
Adding a fan fave character to Street Fighter V’s roster is a smart move, but it’s a move that came too little, too late. Street Fighter’s sales are hitting solid bottom, and Capcom will have to take some drastic measures in order to improve the game’s performance. Maybe Akuma will be enough to draw something that has held off Street Fighter V for it’s lack of content, but everyone will have to wait and see.
