Akuma’s Raging Demon is back and better than ever in Street Fighter 6

Akuma's Raging Demon (also known as INSTANT PRISON MURDER if directly translated from Japanese - how awesome is that?) might well be the most famous super in the Street Fighter series, despite not being usable until the Alpha games came along. I have fond memories of destroying my cousin repeatedly with this move in Alpha 3, and I'm happy to say I'll be able to make him relive that terror again when Akuma debuts in Street Fighter 6 shortly.

Following up its Akuma cinematic teaser last month, Capcom has dropped a gameplay trailer showing off the infamous shoto, and it delivers about what you'd expect, which is to say the traditional shoto gameplay you're used to (i.e. fireballs, roundhouses, beefy punches, and so on) but with the mostly usual Akuma twists thanks in part to more air-based options (air fireball doesn't look any less painful to deal with now than it did 20+ years ago).

I found myself watching the footage and saying, "Do the thing!" only for the trailer to seemingly come to a halt. Fortunately, the dastardly fellows at Capcom saved the best for last and snuck in Raging Demon at the end.

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In past games, Raging Demon starts as a simple forward teleport into a soul-destroying grab combo, and that's preserved here, but made all the more badass thanks to modern cinematic production values. Though it was cool in past iterations to just see the screen fade to black and my victim get annihilated as mysterious (to my non-Japanese speaking self anyway) symbols appeared on the screen, Capcom has taken it up a notch here. Seeing poor Ryu struggle to understand what the hell is happening as he's surrounded by 20+ Akumas telling him to 'become the Demon' just before pulverizing him is truly a sight to behold.

I look forward to the inevitable Akuma takeover when he drops May 22.

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