Akuma has a new teleport command grab in Street Fighter 6 that was actually pulled from an obscure Capcom venture

It finally happened. Akuma’s Street Fighter 6 gameplay trailer was officially revealed ahead of the Evo Japan 2024 Street Fighter 6 Finals this past weekend. Fans were hoping that Capcom could finally release this gameplay showcase at the event, and the company did not disappoint.

Among Akuma’s move staples, like his aerial fireball, uppercut, and Hurricane Kick, the enraged demon also has what, at first glance, appears to be an entirely new command input move tied to his teleportation. You may be surprised to learn, however, that this special move isn’t actually a brand new move for Akuma, and in fact, it originally debuted in one of the most popular fighting games. more obscure from Capcom.

In Street Fighter 6, Akuma has his ability to teleport and slide across the screen retained. This time, however, he has access to a follow-up while teleporting that allows him to return to the opponent and catch them with what almost looks like a mini Raging Demon.

Capcom describes this “Oboro Throw” as follows: “Like its previous iterations, Akuma uses Ashura Senku to hover over the battlefield shrouded in shadow. Be wary of using this ability as it can be stopped midway through an opponent’s attacks However, Akuma has refined the vulnerabilities of this move and can now use Oboro’s throw during the approach to surprise his opponents.

While the idea of ​​Akuma with command input is terrifying, it’s not necessarily a new concept. In December 2014, Capcom added the ability to select which edition (version) of Street Fighter 4 you wanted to play when choosing your fighter on the character select screen.

Edition Select made it so that if you wanted, you could set up matches against your friends with something like vanilla Sagat versus the original Arcade Edition Yun to see who was truly the most broken. In addition to all the previous editions of Street Fighter 4 to choose from, Capcom has also added an “Omega Mode” to that list.

The Omega Mode versions of the various characters on the roster basically had all kinds of experimental tools that weren’t meant to be balanced. It was the Wild West of publishing, and while we thought Omega was essentially a testing ground for future games at the time, Capcom actually implemented some of Omega’s ideas into actual movesets in Street Fighter 5.

Aside from being a testing ground for Capcom and something that was fun to play around with a bit, Omega Mode wasn’t really a big thing that everyone used very often. Some people came up with cool combos using the alternate edition, but due to its imbalance, it wasn’t something people actually played.

As NurseLee points out on Twitter, Akuma’s new command throw special move actually comes from Ultra Street Fighter 4: Omega Mode, where he had a very similar move. As expected, Akuma’s Ashura Senku in Omega Mode was a short teleport move with which he could perform a command throw at the cost of an EX bar.

Based on the effects and animation in the new Akuma trailer, it doesn’t look like the latest version of this attack uses a Drive Gauge (as there’s no yellow Overdrive flash or something like that). However, we also didn’t get to see the health bars or gauges in the trailer, so we can’t say for sure on that.

SF6 and USF4 Omega – Akuma’s, Ashura Senku
– Interestingly, back in USFIV Omega mode, Akuma could spend 1 meter bar to grab while teleporting.#SF6_Akuma #SF6 #USFIV pic.twitter.com/2PHNoMP6hG

– NurseLee (@NurseLee_) April 29, 2024

Akuma now has an official release date. You’ll be able to purchase and play as Akuma in Street Fighter 6 on May 22.