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 reveal trailer was officially unveiled before the Evo Japan 2024 Street Fighter 6 finals this past weekend. Fans were hopeful that Capcom might finally release this gameplay showcase at the event, and the company did not disappoint.
Among the returning staples of Akuma's move set like his air fireball, uppercut, and Hurricane Kick, the raging demon also has what, on the surface, appears to be a brand new command grab move that is tied to his teleport. You might be surprised to learn, however, that this special move isn't actually an all new move for Akuma, and in fact, it originally made its debut in one of Capcom's more obscure fighting game ventures.
In Street Fighter 6, Akuma sees his ability to teleport and glide across the screen retained. This time, though, he has access to a follow up during the teleport that allows him to glide back toward the opponent and snatch them up with what almost looks like a mini Raging Demon.
Capcom describes this "Oboro Throw" as follows: "Like his previous iterations, Akuma uses Ashura Senku to glide on the battlefield cloaked in shadows. Be wary of using this ability since it can be stopped mid-way by an opponent’s attacks. However, Akuma has honed this move’s vulnerabilities and can now use Oboro Throw during the approach to surprise opponents."
While the thought of Akuma with a command grab is terrifying, it's also not necessarily a new concept. Back in December 2014, Capcom added the ability to select the edition (version) of Street Fighter 4 you wanted to play when picking your fighter on the character select screen.
Edition Select made it so that if you wanted to, you could run matches against your friends with something like vanilla Sagat versus original Arcade Edition Yun to see who truly was the most broken. Along with all of the past editions of Street Fighter 4 to choose from, Capcom also added an "Omega Mode" to this list.
Omega Mode versions of the various characters on the roster essentially had all kinds of experimental tools that weren't remotely supposed to be balanced. It was the wild west of editions, and while we figured Omega was basically a testing ground for future games back then, Capcom did indeed implement some Omega ideas into actual move sets in Street Fighter 5.
Outside of being a test bed for Capcom and something that was fun to mess around with for a little bit, Omega Mode wasn't really a prominent thing that everyone used all that often. Some folks came up with cool combos using the alternate edition, but due to its sheer imbalance, it wasn't something people played in any real capacity.
As NurseLee on Twitter points out, Akuma's new command throw special move actually stems from Ultra Street Fighter 4: Omega Mode, where he had a very similar maneuver at his disposal. As one might expect, Akuma's Ashura Senku in Omega Mode was a short teleport move that he could perform a command throw out of at the cost of one 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 any Drive Gauge (as there's no Overdrive yellow flash or anything like that). However, we also did not get to see the health bars or gauges in the trailer, so we can't say for sure on that front.
SF6 & USF4 Omega - Akuma's, Ashura Senku
— NurseLee (@NurseLee_) April 29, 2024
- Interestingly, back in USFIV Omega mode, Akuma could spend 1 bar of meter to grab during Teleport.#SF6_Akuma #SF6 #USFIV pic.twitter.com/2PHNoMP6hG
Akuma now has an official release date. You will be able to purchase and play as Akuma in Street Fighter 6 on May 22.
