Akuma/Gouki

Stamina: 850

Akuma is one of the most powerful shoto characters in Street Fighter, and in Street fighter 4, he is no joke. He has a diverse moveset, hard hitting combos, great mixups, and a teleport to go along with all of this. However, you cannot blindly play Akuma like Ryu or Ken. His low health makes you change up the way you play him, because mistakes are punished with big damage to Akuma. You will commonly see players turtling with Akuma for this very reason, as the Japanese Player Momochi has shown. However, there are many players that play him completely different and are more aggressive in their play style. Edma's Akuma is a completely different beast then Momochi, as you will see him using mixups off of the demon flip more than anyone else as of right now.  Hsien's Akuma is where I think Akuma players should be going to.  Exploiting Akuma's mix-ups and high damage while playing safe with his footsies.

His Normal and special moves will be analyzed at the bottom of this post, with character notes before it.

Character notes:

Akuma's standing roundhouse/HK is one of the most unique roundhouses in the game. Where as some characters have a 2 hit roundhouse (i.e. sagat or vega(claw)), Akuma's roundhouse hits twice and moves him forward very quickly at the same time. On most characters this will break focus, giving them less options to use. Depending on how close the attack hits, you can link off of the Roundhouse with a crouching jab or strong, or even get a Shoryuken in if they are close. You can even use this attack to Kara Demon, or for spacing purposes.

Akuma's Demon Flip, executed by a shoryuken motion with a kick, allows for a series of mixup games which are the core of Akuma's gameplay. This attack Launches Akuma into the air with a modified arc with a selectable distance (based on which kick button) and gives him a palm attack, a dive kick attack, and a throw. Left neutral he goes for a low kick. During play, his demon flip can be mistaken for a normal jump in, adding to the mixup. His palm attack has a quick execution and quick recovery, stuffs a LOT of attacks and even breaks focus. You can also use this as a canceling move, because it recovers quickly - giving you access to throws, low short/forward links, and safe jump-ins to bait out attacks. His dive kick changes the trajectory of his jump, and can lead into other quick executed attacks because of its frame advantage on hit. The throw is great as it cannot be teched, and is very commonly seen after an air fireball or link into the demon flip for a mixup. The EX version can go through certain attacks and homes in on the opponent, usually ensuring a throw if done correctly.

Akuma's LK tatsu is different from Ken's and Ryu's. Although his LK will execute a knockdown, it tosses the opponent in the air instead of horizontally, giving access to his three hit HP/Fierce Shoryuken. The ability to link this attack is the basis of his bread and butter combo - Crouching HP ->LK Tatsu -> HP Shoryuken.

Akuma has a non-EX knockdown fireball with 1,2, or 3 hits depending on the punch. Because of its recovery time, you'll see it at full screen fireball wars, and at the end of a FADC Shoryuken for added damage. It can give Zangeif a headache as it makes his banishing flat useless in a match.

Akuma's Teleport is one of the most important concepts to his playstyle - Do your damage and get out. He has 4 teleports; A long teleport forwards and backwards, as well as a short teleport backwards and forwards. It is executed by using the Shoryuken motion with three punches for the long version (reverse the shoryuken direction for backward), and three kicks for the short version. It can get you out of corner traps, Ultras, Zangeif Wakeup games, and many other difficult situations. However, remember to not abuse it because people may sweep you on your recovery or punish you with some damaging combo if they can read the teleport.

Akuma's Super and Ultra are the notorious Raging Demon. Both attacks are grabs, and deal decent damage if they connect. However, because he moves across the screen before he grabs, he can be knocked out of the attack - which is why there are super and ultra setups. Most of the time you use it to punish whiffed attacks, as a sort of anti - air (not always dependable), and after a successful focus attack/dizzy. In addition, since the games release new things have been found out about the Raging Demon attack itself. It can be short executed by holding Down+back, jab,jab, and back+Fierce+Short (DB, LP,LP,B+HP+LK). Or holding back, and then hitting down+back. This trick was first reported on the Gootecks podcast with fubarduck. In addition, the Kara demon has carried over from 3rd Strike, and is done by canceling his overhead attack (-> + MP) into the Super/Ultra. This is done by holding forward, and then hitting LP+MP, LP+MP, then Forward+down+HP+LK. This looks like he is executing the overhead, causing them to block. Then it cancels into the super, with a 1 frame startup (No attack is 1 frame in the game!! So auto connect if you are close). Or, instead of Forward+down, hit back or down+back and get the ultra version of it. Note because of the 5 frame startup, they may be able to get out of it, depending on what character they are. A newer version of this demon cancels the standing roundhouse into the demon, moving you close to your opponent. This is executed similarly, but instead of MP, you hit HK.