Street Fighter's Beloved Menace: Akuma

While General Bison happens to be Street Fighter's recurring antagonist - one can't forget that Akuma is indeed the series' beloved menace of a villain. The name Akuma means demon. You may notice that the name Akuma has been used in other franchises such as Kamen Rider where the final antagonist of Kamen Rider Super-1 is known as Admiral Akuma or Grand Marshall Demon. Gouki (his Japanese name) means Grand Ogre with the characters 豪鬼 depicting it. He's true that Grand Ogre would continue to be one of the most popular villains in the franchise.

The character first appeared in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a hidden character. You could use him (but he didn't have a super move back then but he had very DAMAGING moves) and would also be that bonus final boss IF you met the really ridiculous requirements. I mean, the CPU of SSFIIT is really that ridiculous so getting to fight Akuma is really a chore. He was probably created in response to the Sheng Long rumor. Sheng Long would later eventually "come to life" as Gouken in the SFIV series as a playable character. What's more important is that Gouken is his brother and that they once trained under the same master whom he ATTACKED in cold blood. He supposedly ended the life of Gouken causing his rivalry with Ryu. It's established that he did kill Bison in SSFIIT and it's not just a bonus thing. Bison did manage to return to another host body but was later overthrown by Seth, one of his own host bodies.

I guess the popularity of Akuma caused him to be featured in the prequel Street Fighter Alpha series as Ryu's main rival. The first game had him as a hidden character you could access with a code alongside Dan and M. Bison. The second game had him as Ryu's final opponent to face in arcade mode while his final opponent was Gen. The "Shin" Akuma concept was introduced in Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold and was continued on in the sequel and later installments such as Capcom vs. SNK series. He would really menace Ryu into giving way for the Evil Ryu persona in more than one instance. That alone has caused the rivalry between the two. In Street Fighter Alpha 3 - you could have his Shin persona as the final opponent that Evil Ryu will face in battle.

How popular did Akuma get? Well, so popular that he made it into the Marvel vs. Capcom series namely X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. Akuma though became absent in Marvel vs. Capcom but later returned in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Why he's absent again in Marvel vs. Capcom INFINITE is not really explained. But what could be very clear is that he's got some popularity. A modified version of him known as Cyber Akuma was created. Cyber Akuma is a non-canon character that was created by Apocalypse from the X-Men series as a Horseman exclusive for the MVC continuity alone. I guess his popularity eventually also caused Tekken to jump the shark by suddenly (and I mean SUDDENLY) putting him into its supposed separate continuity when Street Fighter x Tekken is supposed to be just a crossover NON-CANON game. 

I'd say that he still remains one of my favorite villains. Besides, he does deviate from the typical fighting game villain who hosts the tournament. His real mission? To prove that the Dark Energy is superior and that he's the best fighter. He develops a more personal rivalry with the protagonist Ryu than Bison (the main antagonist) ever will. Bison may be gone (or is he) yet he goes on to menace Ryu. He even went into the Street Fighter III series to still menace Ryu. He proves himself to be a villain that's atypical and interesting at the same time.