Seems to me alot more people are starting to pick him up and are getting farther in tournaments with him. Dont know If its just me but from what I see from the East Coast SBO qualifiers and there being more Gouki players than Dudley and Makoto players this SBO, seems like Gouki is slowly making his way up the list. Maybe its always been like this and I haven’t noticed it yet, but it seems hes been getting alot more exposure through match vids etc. Can’t forget about Harmonaz making it to SBO either. What do you guys think?
I think hes just a character that is fun to play, and gets a really healthy representation, much like Urien.
Were you at the WC SBO quals? I was there, however I didn’t enter. What other Gouki’s did you see besides JR?
ah, I meant the East Coast qualifier. I was speaking of Paul Wall and Therapist. Wasn’t there but seen the vid’s. Forgot about JR at the WC qualifier. Who else was on JR’s team?
There are actually a pretty large number of players for most characters, I’m finding. It’s just that some people end up getting more visibility than others at certain times.
Particularly on the east coast, there are VERY few matches recorded compared to the West Coast, so most people tend not to know who we are.
Eric Chin and Ray Ramos. They didn’t get terribly far iirc.
So are there a lot more Akuma players over there that we aren’t aware of? Or more non-YCK players? I’d love to see that.
I’ve always personally failed to understand what Akuma lacks compared to the higher characters apart from stamina and stun. Are those the only factors?
Akuma isn’t moving up the tier list, hes pretty much where hes always been.
And there has always been a whole lot of akuma players, this isn’t news. There is always someone playing one in a tournament. Its just that now with vids up, they are sucking less.
Its true about there not being many vids of EC players. Me, Sergio, and Tinshi all play Oro on the EC but there are hardly any vids of us playing. At least me maybe.
There were a ton of Akuma players in Coop Cup 4. Like there was one segment where it was nothing but Akuma vs. Akuma. Akuma is just a very versatile character and his low defense doesn’t hold him back as much as people make it out to be. He has so many offensive and defensive options. Basically…once you learn how to use Akuma he has an option for just about any situation and can get out of situations that the other shotos normally cant.
You don’t understand how severe this is though. Given at most 2 mistakes, over half the cast can take the round against Akuma.
Akuma lacks stamina, stun, and confirmable damage from an overhead (UOH xx SA1 = next to worthless as it’s so incredibly range sensitive).
It’s a more than fair tradeoff for his ridiculous offensive, kara-throw, air fireball that shuts down so many bad situations, and 100% safe/pseudo-unparryable anti-air with SA1 or shoryuken xx SA1.
Akuma is an example of a well-balanced character. When you’re in control, you’re in control, and you don’t even really feel your stamina, because when you’re in control, you really are in control. So, it’s hard for your opponent to hit you when the game is in your hands. That’s why it’s only fair that Akuma can get killed quickly, because if he could survive a few combos, then go back into his insane rush down that you struggle to escape from, it would be most unfair.
I’ve been really reaping the benefits of meaty UOH > sa1 lately. It’s really tough to get used to the timing, but I wouldn’t consider it worthless.
I kind of see Akuma as a more balanced character archtype of Yun, if you ignore some of the details. Both of them are weak, but have strong offensive games, however Yun has virtually garunteed damage and control of the matchup with geneijin, Akuma has to work slightly more for it, but not too hard.
I think Akuma has the biggest wild card factor as he can dominate any character due to his move list and mix ups.
Akuma was always at a fairly high position in the tier list. Only Yang is above him apart from the top tiers right?
The wild card factor is why I hate Akuma mirrors :mad:
Funny, I hate them as well.
Well, hes always been uppermid, but what I mean is he moving up higher than say, Makoto, Yang, Dudley. I take this from the Tougeki character numbers.
I love Akuma mirrors. One way or the other, it’s very fast.
Akuma mirrors = pressure, pressure, pressure, one mistake and your dead. God, the thing I always used to love about Akuma mirrors, well with the people I used to play. Was how ridiculous the second round(or any round) when both players had two bars. 
i love makoto vs akuma either person makes 1 mistake and it’s over has to be such a prisice match it’s really fun to watch too.
akuma vs akuma is the best matchup ever. makoto vs akuma is also great. well akuma vs any1, or makoto vs any1:)
Akuma is a Mexican Tier…not an American Tier. 