Akuma’s back to grace the world with his spiky red hair, prayer bead necklace, bad teeth and geta sandals. Oh yeah! And his murderous intent. Akuma looks as though he’ll play similar to the way he did in Street Fighter III. The major difference here will be that Akuma will be able to execute EX specials – something he was not able to do in 2nd impact and 3rd strike. So he’s probably going to be a tad more powerful and a bit more of a bastard to fight against. I just hope his EX air fireball doesn’t cause him to lob two instead. I can see it being the case unless Capcom have plans to have Shin Akuma show his face.

I’m not liking Akuma’s remixed Shun-goku-satsu though. I prefer the grab, darkness, the 15 hits going off and then the pose. They also could’ve picked a better stage for him to have done it on for the trailer too. The hip-hop ho and the low rider in the background after he K.O’d Ken with it dampened the effect of the move ever so slightly.

Despite Akuma getting his cool own reveal trailer after the release of Sakura’s, (although he was confirmed for the game a good month ago) he is not exclusive to the home console versions of Street Fighter IV and is playable in the arcade version of the game.