This story is about my first accidental encounter with Akuma and my hope that I can recreate it soon.
During the early to mid-90s, the best gameplay was still found at the local arcade. The SNES and Genesis had great arcade ports, but they were not as good as the real thing. For an authentic in-home arcade experience, the only options were an actual arcade cabinet, which would be hideously expensive, or a Neo-Geo MVS, SNK’s $700 über-console that used actual arcade boards in cartridge form. To a recently married twenty-something with limited financial options, such devices were beyond the realm of practicality.
For my arcade fix, I went Fun-O-Rama, an arcade located in a local mall. The arcade was open until 2 A.M. and housed all of the latest arcade games, as well as enough classic cabinets to please an old codger like me. On any given day, I could spend a token playing Ms. Pac-Man as a warm-up and end up playing whatever new game hit the floor.
When Street Fighter II hit the arcades, I jumped on it almost instantly. 2D fighters of that quality were new, and I loved them. Even when Mortal Kombat arrived and carved its niche in the genre, I stayed loyal to Capcom’s fighter. I graduated to the Champion Edition and Turbo versions of the venerable fighter, and kept playing though each subsequent iteration.
My encounter happened with Super Street Fighter II Turbo. The new fighters, balancing changes, and speed boost were all nice, but I was oblivious to them. My fighter of choice at the time was Ryu and I could hold my own when playing as him. I wasn’t good enough to rule the cabinet; I had just enough skill to last a few matches.
The rules for playing popular fighting games at the arcade were unspoken yet understood: single-file line, waiting for someone to lose, next up puts his or her token on the edge below the screen. When it’s your turn, you take on all comers until you lose, then it’s to the back of the line.
This particular night was not my night. I couldn’t last 3 matches without getting tossed, and when one of the hotshots of the arcade got on, it was curtains for all of us. He favored playing as Cammy and was unbeatable when he did. Soon enough, everyone grew tired of being tossed and stopped challenging him. As he cackled and taunted us for our lack of intestinal fortitude, he went on, beating the game. As a further taunt, he vowed to start a new game, intending to beat the high score. Some of us went off to play something else or go back home; the few left decided we needed to watch this.
It was when he reached the final match with M. Bison in this playthrough that it happened. Right before the match started, a figure flew in from the left and stood in front of M. Bison. Before we could even react to that, the screen turned white, a few flashed went off, and we were suddenly facing off against him, M. Bison a crumpled heap at his feet. He had no name, and his profile picture was black.
We were all stunned, even his opponent. He stood no chance; the mystery character made short work of him. A loud chorus of howls, yells, and WTFs echoed through arcade. We did not know what happened, but we wanted to see it again.
It did not happen that night, but we collectively decided to meet at Fun-O-Rama the following Wednesday evening to try again. During this marathon session, the hotshot got to the M. Bison fight and we would take turns, using the same single-file rules as before, trying to best this mystery character. It took us a few hours, but we finally beat him. Our reward? The simple satisfaction of knowing we beat him, along with learning his name: Akuma. But we felt accomplished that we found something secret in a game.
Remember, this was a time before the Internet and GameFAQs. There was no information readily available to gamers who wanted to find these secrets out. I couldn’t even tell how I eventually found out that, once you beat him you unlocked the ability to play as him using a secret code at the character select screen. It had to have been a magazine, most likely Electronic Gaming Monthly, but old-man memory fails me. Hell, I even forgot the code! Select one guy, wait 3 seconds, move to another character, clear your throat, scratch your right armpit twice, and he appeared – I think. What I CAN tell you is, from that moment I never played as anyone else. Street Fighter Alpha made him a hidden selectable character, and he has been in just about every Street Fighter game since.
Except Street Fighter V, for now. When the final roster was released, I wept silently. Akuma, my favorite brawler since that Wednesday in Fun-O-Rama, was not there. Of course, Capcom is hiding some characters and stated that hardcore gamers who want to grind the game can unlock them (well, at least the dedicated gamers that won’t pay the microtransactions, but PLEASE don’t get me started again on microtransactions!) Will Akuma be one of them? There have been rumors of Oni, Akuma’s “Super Saiyan” form, being in the game. If that’s the case, Akuma cannot be too far behind. I hope so, and I wait for Street Fighter V’s eventual PS4 release. I’m sure it will be a great game; Capcom may be dumb about their other franchises, but Street Fighter has been mostly well handled by them. But my hope is that, if I grind enough, I’ll be able to unlock him and get back to kicking ass with my “secret” character all over again.
