Street Fighter 6 DLC Character Akuma Finally Has a Release Date — and Yes, His Raging Demon Looks Awesome

Capcom has finally fully revealed Street Fighter 6’s long-awaited DLC character Akuma, confirming a release date and showing off gameplay.

The famously overpowered Street Fighter fan-favorite launches on May 22, Capcom said. Owners of the Deluxe and Ultimate Edition or the Year 1 Character Pass and Ultimate Pass for Street Fighter 6 get Akuma immediately when he releases. Year 1 Ultimate Pass owners also receive the new stage, Enma's Hollow.

The gameplay reveal, below, shows off Street Fighter 6’s version of Akuma, older than previous incarnations but complete with his famous moveset. Akuma has his air fireball, dive kick, and his teleport move. Capcom saved the best for last: Akuma’s iconic Raging Demon attack. It very much looks like poor Ryu dies one thousand deaths.

Dropping right alongside Akuma are three significant new updates: Outfit 3 becomes available for all Year 1 Characters, including Rashid, A.K.I., Ed, and Akuma. Year 1 Ultimate Pass owners will automatically receive these including their colors 1-10 on May 22. The highly anticipated battle balance updates are coming to the game, too. Capcom said it will share more on these in the coming weeks. And there's the newest stage in Street Fighter 6, Enma’s Hollow, "where Akuma resides to continue his hellbent training". Year 1 Ultimate Pass owners will automatically receive this stage on May 22.

Akuma is available across all three Street Fighter 6 game modes, including World Tour where you can learn more about his story, Battle Hub where you can apply his moves to your own avatar, as well as the classic Fighting Ground experience. His throwback Outfit 2 style, in the slideshow of images below, is inspired by his debut look in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo.

Street Fighter 6 Akuma Screenshots

Capcom provided detail on a sample of some of Akuma's moves:

• Gou Hadoken: Akuma’s infamous fireball is back and can be charged up to blast a “red fireball” that gives him more options on hit or block.
• Ashura Senku: Like his previous iterations, Akuma uses Ashura Senku to glide on the battlefield cloaked in shadows.
• Adamant Flame: One of Akuma’s new moves, where he performs a forward thrust engulfed in flames. This move is useful in combos and for exploiting vulnerable opponents due to its long reach.
• Messatsu Gohado: Akuma’s Level 1 Super Art where he fires a highly concentrated ball of Satsui no Hado.
• Empyrean’s End: Akuma’s Level 2 Super Art where he turns the Satsui no Hado into a powerful flame and ignites it within the opponent.
• Sip of Calamity: Akuma’s first Level 3 Super Art where he throws opponents on the ground face-first and follows up with a single devastating blow.
• Shun Goku Satsu or 'Raging Demon': This second Level 3 Super Art can only be performed when his Vitality is low enough for a Critical Art and can be used to end combos. This time, he allows you to see what happens during the one second worth of nightmares.

The Year 1 DLC characters for Street Fighter 6 are Rashid, Akuma, Ed, and A.K.I. Akuma rounds out the list nearly a year after Street Fighter 6 launched in June 2023. The fighting game has sold three million copies so far, and enjoyed critical acclaim. IGN’s Street Fighter 6 review returned a 9/10. We said: “Street Fighter 6 is the most feature-rich a Street Fighter has ever been at launch, but even beyond that, it's roster of 18 characters is excellent, the new mechanics revitalize the one-on-one fighting formula, and it absolutely nails all of the little things that make for a stellar fighting game.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.