Shin Akuma's appearance is very similar to Akuma's for example, in the Street Fighter Alpha series, Shin Akuma had a purple karate gi instead of a dark gray one and marginally darker skin tone. The kanji "ten" ( 天) - meaning "Heaven" - can be seen on his back when it appears during certain win animations. Īkuma has dark red hair, dark skin tone, glowing red eyes with black sclera, wears prayer beads around his neck, a dark gray karate gi and a piece of twine around his waist in lieu of an obi. While still being an evil character, Yasuda still wanted to create a major contrast between the regular boss, M. Funamizu wanted the character, Akuma, to be based on Ryu's design. Akuma was designed in order to please fans who were victims of April's Fools in the claims from journalists that there was a hidden character named Sheng Long. Since his debut, Akuma has appeared in several subsequent titles and has been well received by both fans and critics.Īkuma was created by request of Noritaka Funamizu to Akira Yasuda when creating a new Street Fighter character. In some games he also has an alternate version named Shin Akuma or Shin Gouki ( 真・豪鬼, the "True Great Demon") in Japanese. In the storyline of the Street Fighter video games, he is the younger brother of Gouken, Ryu's and Ken's master. Akuma made his debut in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret character and Boss.
"Great Demon"), is a fictional character and secondary antagonist of the Street Fighter series of fighting games by Capcom.