Akuma Street Fighter 3 Third Strike Strategy Guide and Moves

Akuma players live by a basic philosophy, "Win quickly, die quickly." He's an offensive juggernaut, but the price you pay for this is that he has the worst stamina and stun ranking in the game.

Akuma's moves have good priority, he hits hard and has quick ground and air options. But when you start taking a lot of hits, it's easy to get stunned and killed.

Despite these shortcomings, he holds an upper mid-tier position, which is natural considering some of his dominating tactics.

• Strengths •
+ Above average damage on combos.
+ Fast ground movement to get in on the opponent.
+ Can really lock someone down once he gets momentum going.
+ Has a solid and reliable Super Art game with Messatsu Gohadou and the Raging Demon.
+ Can keep juggling the opponent from a lot of attacks.

• Weaknesses •
- Dies the fastest when pressured.
- Against several prominent characters it is entirely possible to get 100% stunned from one mistake.
- No EX moves to strengthen his special attacks.

Notable Normal Moves and Unique Attacks

Zugai Hasatsu

Great range on this overhead attack. It also moves you forward enough to work as the starter for a kara throw. It's also unthrowable for the entire duration of the move, making it an even more deadly attack.

Tenma Kujinkyaku (Air Only)

A fantastic angled dive kick that can only be activated at the very beginning of the descent of an angled jump. It throws off parry attempts and lets you get in the opponent's face very quickly. A speedy and dangerous attack and you can combo from it if you land it at the right angle.

or
Crouching Light or Medium Kick

These two crouching normals are the lead starters to cancel into Akuma's SA1, Messatsu Gohadou.

Far Standing Hard Punch

A great long range whiff punisher for Akuma.

Jumping Medium Kick

Akuma's crossup attack.

Straight (Universal Overhead)

You can link into Super Arts if you land this at a far enough distance, though this is incredibly difficult to do. It's best to just use this move for its standard purpose of hopping over low attacks.

Taunt

Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 43.8% and increases stun damage for the next hit/combo by 28.1%. Akuma can only store one of these increases at a time before it is used.

Special Moves

Gohadouken (Fireball)

Damage

Light
??

Medium
??

Hard
??

Akuma's ground fireball has very limited uses. Since he doesn't have an EX version he cannot challenge parry users at mid range.

You can use it as an extra hit confirm into your Super Arts if you need more time to visually confirm a normal hit has landed. You can also use the Hard version as a quick long range poke to throw people off to your offensive timing.

Zankuu Hadouken (Air Fireball)

Damage

Light
??

Medium
??

Hard
??

Properties

Akuma's air fireball is good for applying pressure or trying to stop the opponent from moving. All air fireballs come out at the same angle.

Mix up your air fireballs enough, and you'll trick the opponent into thinking one is coming after your next jump-in, which will mess up their parry timing.

Because of the dangers of having this move parried, most Akuma players don't use this move unless they are jumping neutrally or backwards. It's also a good idea to wait until you are about to hit the ground before using this move so you can recover on the ground before your opponent can start a punish lest they parry it.

Shakunetsu Hadouken (Red Fireball)

Damage

Light
??

Medium
??

Hard
??

Akuma's red fireball has the fastest recovery on the Light version. There's really only one use for this fireball though, and it is to use the three-hit version against an opponent's wakeup to chip them at the right distance.

Even if they parry all three hits of the Hard Shakunetsu, you'll recover before they do allowing you to set up an attack.

The chip setup described above is much more powerful with a cancel into SA1. Obviously, you'll only want to do this as a final setup to KO the opponent.

Goshoryuken (Dragon Punch)

Damage

Light
??

Medium
??

Hard
??

Akuma's dragon punch is great in certain juggles, and it's three-hit property makes it a very risky (due to parries) but rewarding anti-air or reversal.

Akuma's Hurricane Kick is better for a lot of Akuma's combos though.

Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku (Hurricane Kick)

Damage

Light
??

Medium
??

??
180

Properties

Akuma's Hurricane Kick is a fantastic combo extender. The juggles you can get off the move are strong and powerful no matter where it lands. It starts up quickly and does a lot of chip damage against the opponent, with the Hard version being the toughest to punish on block.

The Light Hurricane Kick juggles the opponent right in front of you where you can follow up with an air reset using a normal move, a second (Hard) Hurricane Kick or a Shoryuken. This move whiffs on crouching characters though, so you must confirm that they are standing first.

Aerial hurricane kicks juggle into ground hurricane kicks, Super Arts or Goshoryukens easily. It's also a strong air-to-air option due to the long active frames and range of the move.

or
Demon Flip (Hyakki Shuu)

Damage

Punch
??

Kick
??

Slide
??

Throw
??

When Akuma flips forward to attack, the Kick button pressed determines how far he travels before you can choose an option.

The great thing about this move is that you can wait for an extremely long time before you choose an attack option, allowing you to throw off parry attempts and other counters.

Kick (Dive Kick): A nasty dive kick that does a ton of hitstun and must be blocked high. It's safe if blocked and you can wait until you're almost halfway towards the ground before you activate it.

Punch (Palm): A palm attack that has to be blocked high and knocks down. It has slow startup and it's not hard to parry. However, it whiff-recovers on the ground quickly enough for you to block most attacks.

Throw (Flip Grab): This throw is a lot easier to land on large characters and is a deadly attack because it beats anti-air parries of your other Demon Flip options. A great option if you've managed to freeze your opponent's reactions temporarily.

No Input (Slide): Pressing nothing will cause Akuma to perform a slide kick that hits low. Very unsafe if blocked, and not at all hard to punish. It's only really good use is a desperation counter against a high parry.

Setting up the demon flip usually involves canceling into it from a normal attack. This locks the opponent in blockstun briefly which gives them less time to react. Beware of invincible anti-airs and invincible supers that work as anti-airs.

or
or
Teleport (Ashura Senkuu)

Doing this causes Akuma to slip through opponents and move around the screen. Akuma is completely invincible from the very first frame onward of this move. The movement is dictated as follows;

Punches, Forward DP: Almost full-screen towards the opponent.

Punches, Backwards DP: Almost full-screen away from the opponent.

Kicks, Forward DP: Half-screen towards the opponent.

Kicks, Reverse DP: Half-screen away from the opponent.

The startup of this move is slow, and so is the recovery. It's not hard at all for anyone to punish this move, so it is used very rarely.

Super Arts

Super Art 1 — Messastsu Gohadou / Tenma Gozankuu

Notes

Damage
345 / 380

Stocks
2

EX Moves
??

Properties

This giant fireball is the best Super Art to pick for Akuma. It has great utility either on the ground or in the air for punishing moves. It's also the most reliable in hit confirms.

It also functions well when you need to chip the opponent for a KO. Even if a player parries every hit of SA1 on the ground or air, Akuma will recover before they do which allows him even more time for chip attacks.

Super Art 2 — Messatsu Goshoryu

Notes

Damage
500

Stocks
2

EX Moves
??

This Super starts up in one frame (very fast) but is limited by the range on the first attack. It's almost as good as SA1 in hit confirms, but the fireball tends to be better at range punishes, juggles and chip KOs.

Overall the utility factor of SA1 trumps the cool factor of SA2.

Super Art 3 — Messatsu Gorasen / Messatsu Gosenpuu

Notes

Damage
560

Stocks
2

EX Moves
??

Properties

Like the preceding Super Art, SA3 doesn't have as many reliable hit confirms as SA1 and it also cannot be relied on for chip KOs.

Secret Super Art 1 — Shun Goku Satsu (Raging Demon)

Notes

Damage
490

Stocks Required
Maximum

You can perform the Raging Demon regardless of which Super Art you picked, as long as you have maxed out your Super bar.

The Raging Demon is an instant grab, meaning that if you activate it within range of the opponent they will always be grabbed as long as they aren't in hitstun or blockstun (or trying to escape).

Because of the damage and knockdown it offers, landing this move is a natural part of Akuma gameplay. Not having any EX moves means that it's quite possible to max out your Super bar from time to time within a match.

Secret Super Art 2 — Kongou Kokuretsu Zan (KKZ)

Notes

Damage
720/790

Stocks Required
Maximum

An incredibly powerful super. Unfortunately, there are very few ways to combo into it, and the ways that do usually don't involve landing the KKZ fully.

Notable features of the KKZ include its massive amount of invincibility frames and the fact that the initial wave of energy cannot be parried. You can use it as a specific counter because of this.

It's not a bad option for chip, but two SA1s locked and loaded should be enough to put anyone down rather than using two bars for KKZ chip.

There are really extremely few uses for this move, and the Raging Demon tends to act as a much better use of two super bars.

Target Combos

Target Combo 1

The standing Medium Punch must be close. Rarely used because the second part is not special or super cancelable.

Combos

Important note: Not every possible combo is listed here, just the ones that are noteworthy.

The Kara Demon is a very strong technique for Akuma. It involves kara canceling out of Zugai Hasatsu (Overhead) and going into the super art.

What makes it so good? The Kara Demon gets you closer to your opponent making it impossible to escape (essentially you are moving into instant-grab range).

Also sometimes the overhead hit fakes your opponent out into thinking they have to block or parry high, costing them valuable time in trying to escape your Kara Demon.

Staying on Offense / Rushdown

One of the biggest elements to playing a good Akuma is being able to stay on the offensive to apply pressure to your opponent. Because he's is a terrible defensive character, you're at your best when you're attacking.

Some players like to go for knock downs and keep pressure on the opponent as they're getting up. They'll use jabs and shorts and if these hit go right into a super art. If these are blocked, Akuma can dash up and attempt to throw.

The Demon Flip opens up so many options, if you use it properly it becomes easier to keep the other player guessing. The delay tactics and timing of the Demon Flip Dive Kick and Demon Flip Throw are very powerful and crush defensive options such as guessing parries.

By using Akuma's natural speed and air fireball, plus the threat of constant attacks, and the fact your combos and moves hurt a lot, you should be able to keep your opponents off balance and not knowing what's coming next.

"Kongou Kokuretsu Zan (Slams the ground and energy comes out, requires max super bar) •Do you like to be thrown out of a super art that takes your entire bar away? If so, use this.

While you can find a few ways to use this deceptively, you'd be much better off spending your time learning to Kara Demon."

Are you kidding me? Who is the moron that wrote this?First of all, you can't get thrown out of KKZ. You have a retarded amount of invincibility frames. Second, its nowhere near useless. The initial energy bolt is unparryable, and can guarantee you a Chip victory if they block it with low health. You can also COMBO into it. Technically it's a reset combo (short tatsu>jab reset>kkz) but being in the air and since the bolt is unparryable, you can't escape it. If you think a gimmicky (yet still very useful) move like the Kara Demon is better than the KKZ, you have no idea what you're talking about. A guaranteed combo which happens to take >50% of every character's health is a lot better than a grab super. Don't write guides on things you have no knowledge of, please.

Also, @ #55, I can kara demon on a ps2 pad with 95% efficiency so it is possible. And I'm not even good at this game LOL.