The Street Fighter VI Story Thread: Shadaloo Died so Luke Could Live!

CESTUS III · February 27, 2022

14 hours ago, ShockDingo said:

I feel that with the troopers, most of them should have been like the beret guys fought in India with their sleeves rolled up. I was also hoping we got more of the Troopers that were a tribute to the movie Bison troopers, that would have been cool. The only real place I'd put the comical guys is in the fight scene where FANG is showing off how he can put psycho power in others and Vega and Rog destroy them, other than that, they should have been anything but buffoonish.

Tbh i'm ok with the one they picked, the half face covered allo capcom to spam them, they could still have done like 5 different standard faces imho, to increase the illusion of them being unique

I liked the design you say (red berets one right?) but being completely maskless make it harder use them in great number without be too blatant on duplication of the models, like fight an army of twins/clones 😄

Him as low level official works, they could have done also there like 5 face variations and use them as the leaders of small groups of the usual troops

All that and again, PLEASE give them fucking weapons. Even "legit" SF characters use weapons, lmao at shit tier soldiers having to fight fair with punches and kicks

For punks in Final Fight made bit more sense because urban gang context (lot of them used weapons though), shadaloo guys are an army

If i could change shada-soldiers, that's what i would do:

- color scheme: fuck the bright azure, make them darker, more like a shade somewhere between blue and gray

- design: keep Bison-inspired steel protections they already have, just give them also something for the torso to sell they will not crumble at first body shot, simple black sleveless bulletproof jacket would do the trick. Also put a firearm weapon on them, be a gun on the hip or a rifle on the back

-weapons: my biggest issue, give them a melee weapon that may justify even bother fight them... if knife feel "too violent" to developers (but good guy Cody does it lol) at least give them a fucking baton. Then give them a special move where they use the firearm, just like Fevrier does or with similar dynamic of when Falke use the stick as a rifle.

Could have made even the fight themselves bit more fun, giving them long range specials

7 hours ago, Daemos said:

The only salvageable soldier designs are possibly the Gold Skulls who reminded me of Emperor Palpatines elite guard, and therefore can be allowed some semblance of eccentricity.

Yes, i agree the skull ones were good, they could have used them much more

On general they had bunch of concepts they never used that could have been nice in ASF, war on shadaloo could have been waaay more interesting and could have got more unique fights that could have gave some more spotlight to characters that did'nt had much

This not counting the robots we see in Bison stage, could have been used too

Plus my biggest regret, they could have this to try stop Zangief, even have Shadaloo logo on the chest lol

Not that Gief did'nt had awesome treatment in ASF, i was surprised by how good he got it in SFV (even up to imply Gief>Shadaking Rog), but still would have been awesome Godzilla-MechaGodzilla scrap LOL

Edited February 27, 2022 by CESTUS III

sKreetFighteZ · February 28, 2022

I'm still waiting on Gief to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame 😐🤚🏽

CESTUS III · February 28, 2022

7 hours ago, Daemos said:

It's no more of a cheat than Gill and Urien's GMO bullshit. I also don't think that was Nash, that was Nash imbued with Gill's powers. He too had a "cheat trick".

Of course Gill/Urien/SFVNash are cheaters too, they're artificial enhanced

Bison, Gill, Urien, Nash, Necro and anybody else that got the boost.

We can add also weapon users and these that get external help like Mika, Akira or Juni&Juli(Team version)

Anything that is'nt the natural character body and ki is cheating away from the fair fist fight

But even accepting some kind of manga/anime combat philosophy where some stuff is somehow still fair game and whatever a character declare his fighting style can be sold as "martial art" (HnK or Baki are good example of all above stuff not making much outrage), you have next level cheater stuff wich is have artificial shit breaking the very core dynamic of "two fighters clash, who fight better win"

Bison in ASF is next level cheating, he lose the fight but the machine charge him back to a position of advantage, that's worse than anything above because it change the result of the fight itself

Similar level of cheater bullshit is Gill using Resurrection when he lose

Elena healing does it in fair way, she's 100% natural, the technique is surely based on her own ki and she can only do it when she did'nt lost yet

15 hours ago, Daemos said:

Oro is the only top tier character not using shortcuts, he paid his dues with over a century of training. Ryu is destined to be Oro 2 but in half the time probably because he is genetically gifted.

Akuma, Bison, Gill, Seth, etc. are all using shortcuts to gain and maintain power/strength and they each have their own rationalization for the shortcut which checks out from their worldview. They pay a heavy price for it whether they know it or not. I wouldn't call it a cheat trick, it's a bargain and it either pays off or it doesn't.

As much i dislike Akuma he's not a cheater, everything he use in a fight is his body and his own ki... SnH is corrupted ki but is still his energy, never used any artificial device to increase it or get extra dose of it in case of need

You may call it shortcut because indeed allowed him to get stronger quickly, but still it can be compared to a different way of training

Difference between Akuma and Bison is like if to go faster in a foot race, the former started training in an atypical method that allow him to run faster, the latter got bunch of scientist to build him high-tech rollerblades... smarter for sure, but is not run anymore (wich is likely the ideological reason of why Akuma consider Bison scum)

Only way Akuma would be a cheater too (even if an involuntary one) can be if Capcom chose to change the current canon and retcon the nature of SnH, making that embrace it create a connection with some sort of external demonic entity that gift the fighter extra power... but reality is at the moment does'nt seem the case

Good way to understandd the nature of SnH, "Kage" is NOT a demon

Ryu visualize it as some sort of demon but Kage is still just a part of Ryu... by "his" own definition, "i'm the strongest part of you"

SnH is just result of human inner conflict, does'nt need supernatural external help to develop

20 hours ago, Daemos said:

Anyway, I do think that Urien and Gill are on the same level in terms of skill and power (at least they are in SF5), but Gill is smarter and far less emotionally unstable.

I think on athletical level they're about even and possibly the best in whole cast, as they're literally designed to incarnate ultimate superhuman olympic athletes concept... that and the fact that Secret Society did 99 things on them before and after birth to obtain what they consider the highest peak an human can reach

Of course, not the best at every single specific athletical feat, as we have extreme characters that focused/specialized on this or that particular direction... but overall?

As overall score of power/speed/agility etc they probably rank first

I can see characters like Oro or Akuma being able of even greater shit, but there his their enormous ki allowing them to do so, not classic "athleticism"

Outside that i think on ki and maybe skill pov, i think that Gill > Urien and that Urien has been intentionally designed to be a toned-down, weaker and more human version of his brother, both on gameplay and canon wise

There's bunch of stuff that makes me think so, but that would take another post

By the way for what's worth Urien is one of my fav SF characters and Gill is'nt, but still i stick to what i see/know and not to what i wish

Daemos · February 28, 2022

39 minutes ago, CESTUS III said:

the ideological reason of why Akuma consider Bison scum

Bison is scum to Akuma, and Akuma is scum to Gouken. Different degrees on the same spectrum of "shortcuts" IMO where Bison is on one extreme "Will literally do anything to become the strongest fighter" and on the other end you have characters like Ryu who will "only do one thing until they become the strongest fighter".

Akuma is closer to Bison, but if he knew how to harness outer human conflict like Bison (who mixes both skill and science to do this) he probably would eventually as that is the nature of the power he seeks. Bison is likely much older than Akuma and has been at it for much longer. Look at Necalli for example, he's been at it for centuries and now he's literally eating people. The path towards this kind of power will make you do things you may not have intended to do (see Akuma killing Gen for example vs Akuma refusing to before).

Edited February 28, 2022 by Daemos

Shakunetsu · February 28, 2022

The thing is Akuma and Bison they haven't met yet nor interested to each other. In the new timeline retcon.

I don't really think hard for the story this time in SF6 unlike before and I don't think many of ONO era introduced character and SF3 characters would return unless there are strong fans behind them making them DLC potential. Because the new leads has different priorities and that can easily seen of how they deliver the trailer.

Many of Ono's idea and staged setting would had likely be scrapped unless it is DLC potential, I think the last of Ono influence was the season 3 where of G and Falke are introduced. Ono was even saying in social media that he'll ask the one in-charge or the higher-ups for new characters, that was the radio silence time it wasn't Ono anymore at that point.

As Ono were set aside, Season 4 he wasn't in-charge anymore and everything was almost cut. This is were everything starts to change from the direction and priorities.

CESTUS III · February 28, 2022

13 hours ago, Daemos said:

Bison is scum to Akuma, and Akuma is scum to Gouken.

Yeah but i don't know how it apply for what i'm saying

Gouken disprect Akuma because he's a piece of shit and all the moral thing about SnH, to not mention sending him on coma/whatever, killing their Master, trying to ruin Ryu's life

Akuma disprect Bison because he's a cheater (wich Akuma associate with weakness/cowardice), doubt he care much he's piece of shit too

I'm not saying Akuma is in the position of judge anybody's morals, just that cheater shit is the reason of him see Bison as scum, simple straightforward fact

13 hours ago, Daemos said:

Akuma is closer to Bison, but if he knew how to harness outer human conflict like Bison (who mixes both skill and science to do this) he probably would eventually as that is the nature of the power he seeks.

That's about the opposite of what Akuma character is tbh

Require to get power from others is an admission of weakness (you are'nt enough by yourself) and the negation of everything he believe lol

13 hours ago, Daemos said:

Look at Necalli for example, he's been at it for centuries and now he's literally eating people.

It's been hinted that Necalli is'nt even human, so you're basically blaming a snake because he does snake shit

His human look come fron having eat/absorbed the warrior prophet

13 hours ago, Daemos said:

The path towards this kind of power will make you do things you may not have intended to do (see Akuma killing Gen for example vs Akuma refusing to before).

that's true but in line with what Akuma path is, does'nt bring him closer to Bison ideals aside on where they stand the piece of shit scale

They will keep being very distinct characters with opposite approach, the difference will just be that people will be more inclined to recognize Akuma as simply evil rather than neutral-with-moral-code-that-make-him-kill-people

Darc_Requiem · February 28, 2022

Unless you are counting the fact that he was brought back from the dead. I don't consider SFV Nash as cheating, at least from a power stand point. It's pointed out that Nash is a powerful as he was when he died. It's actually the reason listed for why he was so handily trounced by Bison. That they hadn't considered that Bison would have gotten stronger while Nash was dead. If anything the Secret Society should have enhanced Nash if they wanted him to have a chance of defeating Bison.

CESTUS III · February 28, 2022

57 minutes ago, Darc_Requiem said:

Unless you are counting the fact that he was brought back from the dead. I don't consider SFV Nash as cheating, at least from a power stand point. It's pointed out that Nash is a powerful as he was when he died. It's actually the reason listed for why he was so handily trounced by Bison. That they hadn't considered that Bison would have gotten stronger while Nash was dead. If anything the Secret Society should have enhanced Nash if they wanted him to have a chance of defeating Bison.

That's straight out false though, we seen clearly that he have bunch of new powerful abilities he never had despite being just come back from death... could block a sonic boom with one hand (vs Guile), move around at such speed that's basically like he's teleporting or his ability to absorb Psycho Power (on Abel and Bison)

Most reasonable way of take their "powerful as was when he died" was to point out that they did good job at restore that great fighter from the grave, so once fully recovered (was not 100% at begin, was mentioned) would have not lost anything compared to his past self... but of course on top of that they clearly gave him new powers

I don't think the "power level" of SFV Nash was much the issue of why Secret Society failed the mission, timing was.

Rashid being too slow is what fucked up the plan (in fact Nash realized it, saying "too late")

Actually Nash in his final fight "defeated" Bison, but moons being still active charged him back as new (while Nash at that point spent most of his energies), if Bison did'nt had chance to re-charge is possible Nash "Gill power" attack could have finished him

They fucked up, but not on hitman choice or not giving him enough... without stopping cheat machine first, not even Ryu could have done it, Bison had basically the possibility to get defeated multiple times and ever return fresh as if he just woke up, while his opponent will be every time more tired, injuried and without much energies left

Maybe somebody with such destructive power to completely destroy him before he can recharge... guess Oro or Akuma could have pulled that feat, i doubt anybody else of characters we know

Darc_Requiem · February 28, 2022

1 hour ago, CESTUS III said:

That's straight out false though, we seen clearly that he have bunch of new powerful abilities he never had despite being just come back from death... could block a sonic boom with one hand (vs Guile), move around at such speed that's basically like he's teleporting or his ability to absorb Psycho Power (on Abel and Bison

That's what the narrative says. You can say they retconned it but according the story in SFV, Nash is at the same level he was when he died. Despite being an established character, Nash is a bit of blank slate. They kept filling his details over time. He didn't start off as the previous All American Martial Arts champion that taught Guile the Sonic Boom and Somersault/Flash Kick. He was just Guile's friend that was killed by Bison. According to things as they are now, Nash has always had a significant edge over Guile. It's the reason he throws Sonic Boom's with only one hand. Similar to how Gouken only needs one hand to throw Hadokens. It's way to visually convey a difference in strength. They add new abilities/retcon characters all the time. Bison being the biggest example of that. Capcom, to their credit, will incorporate ideas from other sources. Bison's teleporting wasn't a thing but they took that aspect from SF2:TAM. We knew he couldn't do that before but according to the games narrative he always had that ability. The same is apparently true for Nash.

Edited February 28, 2022 by Darc_Requiem

sKreetFighteZ · March 1, 2022

3 hours ago, Darc_Requiem said:

That's what the narrative says. You can say they retconned it but according the story in SFV, Nash is at the same level he was when he died. Despite being an established character, Nash is a bit of blank slate. They kept filling his details over time. He didn't start off as the previous All American Martial Arts champion that taught Guile the Sonic Boom and Somersault/Flash Kick. He was just Guile's friend that was killed by Bison. According to things as they are now, Nash has always had a significant edge over Guile. It's the reason he throws Sonic Boom's with only one hand. Similar to how Gouken only needs one hand to throw Hadokens. It's way to visually convey a difference in strength. They add new abilities/retcon characters all the time. Bison being the biggest example of that. Capcom, to their credit, will incorporate ideas from other sources. Bison's teleporting wasn't a thing but they took that aspect from SF2:TAM. We knew he couldn't do that before but according to the games narrative he always had that ability. The same is apparently true for Nash.

It seems like they can’t even keep a solid story for this man.

CESTUS III · March 1, 2022

4 hours ago, Darc_Requiem said:

That's what the narrative says. You can say they retconned it but according the story in SFV, Nash is at the same level he was when he died. Despite being an established character, Nash is a bit of blank slate. They kept filling his details over time. He didn't start off as the previous All American Martial Arts champion that taught Guile the Sonic Boom and Somersault/Flash Kick. He was just Guile's friend that was killed by Bison. According to things as they are now, Nash has always had a significant edge over Guile. It's the reason he throws Sonic Boom's with only one hand. Similar to how Gouken only needs one hand to throw Hadokens. It's way to visually convey a difference in strength. They add new abilities/retcon characters all the time. Bison being the biggest example of that. Capcom, to their credit, will incorporate ideas from other sources. Bison's teleporting wasn't a thing but they took that aspect from SF2:TAM. We knew he couldn't do that before but according to the games narrative he always had that ability. The same is apparently true for Nash.

I don't have problems with Nash ever been much better than Guile, but as more skilled/technical guy(as you said , ability to throw SB with one hand being good example)... shit he does in SFV clearly show he got "special" powers that he never had, stuff that takes the form of bright azure energy and it's clearly powered (showed in more than one case) by the Secret Society gem on his forehead

That stuff is not simply new techniques (that he had no time to learn btw, as he was dead) that the old human Nash could have done, but totally new powers related to SS gifts

Even doing big stretch of imagination and accepting (honestly, i don't) the fact that Nash is now simply able to move teleport-speed fast definitely not because he got SS power-up but because we want assume exist a retcon that say he was ever able to do it, we have still even more undeniable facts of their tech helping him

We literally see

-Kolin charging the gem to cure him after Urien

-we see him taking a moment to concentrate to charge the gem and generate enough energy to absorb Psycho Power out of Abel

-we seen Bison clearly surprised to see Nash hand glow of that unknown ki as of course normal Nash he fought in the past never had that shit

-Nash last kamikaze move it's literally Nash absorbing PP from Bison to such extreme that overloaded the gem, we see his gem getting crazy and his face/head literally start to crack open (showing bright azure light under the skin) just before the big boom

All shit i'm saying is here in ASF, if we want deny this stuff EXIST as part of the absolutely canon sory we may have played different games 😄

To be clear this does'nt make Nash a worse character, if that's the problem that get us stuck here despite evidences

It just show that SS used him as human weapon and Nash as a soldier with a mission was ok with it, as rightfully could not give 2 shits about martial arts philosophy or challenge Bison in a fair honorable duel, he just wanted complete his mission and kill the bastard

They actually developed him well imho

Edited March 1, 2022 by CESTUS III

Darc_Requiem · March 1, 2022

31 minutes ago, sKreetFighteZ said:

It seems like they can’t even keep a solid story for this man.

That's been obvious for sometime. A lot of debates happen because of this. The initial Ryu and Sagat battle. Hell, Ryu's had three different hair colors.

10 minutes ago, CESTUS III said:

I don't have problems with Nash ever been much better than Guile, but as more skilled/technical guy(as you said , ability to throw SB with one hand being good example)... shit he does in SFV clearly show he got "special" powers that he never had, stuff that takes the form of bright azure energy and it's clearly powered (showed in more than one case) by the Secret Society gem on his forehead

I guess I had a different interpretation of his gem. It seemed to be his "battery", what powered his reanimation. I looked at it like Goku "having a day of life" in the Buu arc and going Super Saiyan 3 burned though his time faster than the 24 hours he'd have otherwise. After giving it more thought, I could see that would give him the an additional ability to absorb ki. Although I can't rationalize that have anything to do with his speed. There is no way an Alpha era Nash defeats a Bison without having that level of speed. Even prior to anything shown in SFV, Nash was one of the most overlooked fighters in terms of ability in Street Fighter. If we were to use a tier list style metric. Most people seemed to have him at "B" level. He's not "S" Tier but I think he's" A+" or at worst an "A"

YagamiFire · March 1, 2022

10 hours ago, Darc_Requiem said:

Unless you are counting the fact that he was brought back from the dead. I don't consider SFV Nash as cheating, at least from a power stand point. It's pointed out that Nash is a powerful as he was when he died. It's actually the reason listed for why he was so handily trounced by Bison. That they hadn't considered that Bison would have gotten stronger while Nash was dead. If anything the Secret Society should have enhanced Nash if they wanted him to have a chance of defeating Bison.

Which does reinforce what we had discussed before in the thread that Charlie was basically a top-tier character in the Alpha timeframe and able to match-up against Bison

CESTUS III · March 1, 2022

8 minutes ago, Darc_Requiem said:

Although I can't rationalize that have anything to do with his speed. There is no way an Alpha era Nash defeats a Bison without having that level of speed.

For what's worth we even have ingame the V-Trigger (2?) where he have glowing forehead gem and suddently he's able to do super fast dashes

We may also consider that in Alpha while surely agile for his size did'nt even gave the feel of be SO focused on run fast (as let's say Guy or Juni who even had some sort of dash similar to SFV Nash), he was more like great balance of power/weight/speed/agility... a dude roughly same size of Guile (so bigger/heavier than Ryu/Ken standard) that had greater skill/technique and could move in bit more acrobatic way

You go into SFV and suddently is probably the fastest character in the cast in terms of top speed he can reach, definitely different vibes

"Strong point" of Nash was being a genius fighter so talented that relatively young already invented his own legit martial art (and even teach it to Guile, who became world level too) , with great skills and accuracy (one hand SB, more refined FK) and HUGE sense of justice that gave him great determination (big deal in anime/manga).

Match up Nash vs Bison i ever figured it as likely had the former having to make great use of his own skill/technique/instinct/smart/timing/movement etc etc basically shit you do when you boxing sparring with a guy 20kg heavier lol... you know he know to have superior firepower and you have to work to don't let him have the chance to impose that weight on you, force you to trade, or get you in a corner

Basically you need to play super smart, keep attention high whole time and don't do mistakes

I think as pure martial arts ability Nash had and edge over Bison

10 minutes ago, Darc_Requiem said:

Even prior to anything shown in SFV, Nash was one of the most overlooked fighters in terms of ability in Street Fighter. If we were to use a tier list style metric. Most people seemed to have him at "B" level. He's not "S" Tier but I think he's" A+" or at worst an "A"

Absolutely agree, for what's worth i think he's(was) the best american fighter of SF world, even better than both Ken and Cody... even if tbh i consider all them to be kinda close to each other.

Maybe Cody have best natural instinct/talent, but he's more like a rough diamond that never truly reached his full potential, while Nash maximized it

YagamiFire · March 1, 2022

Okay gotta say...

Orochi-possessed Gill in the Capcom Vs SNK manhua is really cool looking

YagamiFire · March 1, 2022

Also because of all of the unfortunate grief he has caught and a severe lack of deserved spotlight, I gift this "Alex getting props" pic from CvS Manhua to the thread

Alex needs some love

Daemos · March 1, 2022

15 hours ago, CESTUS III said:

Require to get power from others is an admission of weakness (you are'nt enough by yourself) and the negation of everything he believe lol

Fair point. But I guess this comes down to how you define yourself. If Bison is now Psycho Power incarnate and Psycho Power is the physical/ki manifestation of negative energy/Evil then Bison's "self" extends far beyond his physical host (this is alluded to in Alpha 3 strongly), he's wherever is exists! The host body of Bison merely acts as an anchor for his spirit in the physical world so that he can more freely interact with this plane. As Bison would say, Power is just Power.

15 hours ago, CESTUS III said:

It's been hinted that Necalli is'nt even human, so you're basically blaming a snake because he does snake shit

His human look come fron having eat/absorbed the warrior prophet

I think the point here is that Necalli was once human, but his desire for fighting/war made him give in to his culture's equivalent of the SNH and he turned into an "Oni-like" creature, irrevocably inhuman.

11 hours ago, CESTUS III said:

Actually Nash in his final fight "defeated" Bison, but moons being still active charged him back as new (while Nash at that point spent most of his energies), if Bison did'nt had chance to re-charge is possible Nash "Gill power" attack could have finished him

I don't think he "defeated" Bison. Watch the sequence again. Even without the moons, and Nash's Psycho Negating Kamikaze attack, Bison was more or less unscathed. Not even his hat fell out of place. This all happened without the Moons acting as conduits for Psycho Power from all over the world.

The point being driven here is that it was never Nash or Gill's destiny to stop Bison (Gill recognizes this), it was always going to be Ryu and the Power of Nothingness. Even Bison knew this, which is probably why he dismissed everything and everyone that came his way until Ryu arrived.

5 hours ago, YagamiFire said:

Which does reinforce what we had discussed before in the thread that Charlie was basically a top-tier character in the Alpha timeframe and able to match-up against Bison

He definitely is Top Tier and was probably stronger than Guile and Ryu in the Alpha 2 days. But ultimately Bison was much stronger than he let on as both he and Rose discovered the hard way. However, it makes perfect sense that the Illuminati chose him as their warrior, because he is TT. It wasn't just his hate for Bison and his nihilism.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Daemos

Daemos · March 1, 2022

https://eventhubs.com/news/2022/feb/24/poll-characters-not-sf6-roster/

Look at these fuckers trying to vote out Bison! May their website collapse under the weight of their stupidity! Bison foretold the world of the evils of democracy. A thousand Psycho Axes upon them!

Edited March 1, 2022 by Daemos

Shakunetsu · March 1, 2022

3 hours ago, Daemos said:

Look at these fuckers trying to vote out Bison! May their website collapse under the weight of their stupidity! Bison foretold the world of the evils of democracy. A thousand Psycho Axes upon them!

The new leads in Capcom doesn't really care of who not to be in, and eventhubs polls are very small niche

The general poll that was shared across social media already got the data they need, it's about ranking about interest and priorities rather than dislike that is more on gatekeeping characters for reasons that aren't really practical and profitable.

CESTUS III · March 1, 2022

6 hours ago, Daemos said:

Fair point. But I guess this comes down to how you define yourself. If Bison is now Psycho Power incarnate and Psycho Power is the physical/ki manifestation of negative energy/Evil then Bison's "self" extends far beyond his physical host (this is alluded to in Alpha 3 strongly), he's wherever is exists! The host body of Bison merely acts as an anchor for his spirit in the physical world so that he can more freely interact with this plane. As Bison would say, Power is just Power.

Reality is, i have no problem with that and agree

I want to be clear, i like Bison as character to stay exactly like he is

Bison trying to become himself the incarnation a mass dectructin weapon was cool af concept

Same reason i said before that i don't blame Nash for being powered-up (not that he chosen it either lol), as Nash never romanticize himself as honourable knight who dream holy duel with evil in some sort of narcisistic ego trip... Nash is just a soldier, with a terminal disease and not much time left, that want to kill his target

Same way Bison is a Dictator that just want power and immortality, his actions and path make sense

His viciousness, narcisism, malice and even the lack of honor are all traits that make him awesome villain

You lose me when you compare Bison to Raoh (think to remember you made the comparision in the past, correct me if i'm wrong) speaking about warrior pride or shit like that, because while on imagery he have stuff of Raoh too, as philosophy they're world aparts, on moral level Raoh is way closer to Akuma's pride (even if Akuma himself link hard also with Jukei and Kaioh)

6 hours ago, Daemos said:

I think the point here is that Necalli was once human, but his desire for fighting/war made him give in to his culture's equivalent of the SNH and he turned into an "Oni-like" creature, irrevocably inhuman.

It's a possibility too, and i like it actually

I loved the fact that he comes from atzec world, i think they missed the opportunity to link atzecs being VERY into human sacrifices with his ki corruption... would have been effectively bit too dark for a SF game (specially an Ono one*) but still could have shown how even more extreme experiences can transform an human far beyond what SnH is doing on Akuma

But on other hand the 99 obvious parallels with JoJo's Pilar Men (Kars and Santana in particular) make me think is possible that like them Necalli is just a different race

Would prefer the former though

*but ironically Ono or not the very first idea for him was have Necalli to be a fucking straight cannibal, no soft "absorb" shit... that would have made him close to the Wendigo myth and the most terrifying villain SF ever had, but effectively seems waaay out of the general vibe of the game

6 hours ago, Daemos said:

I don't think he "defeated" Bison. Watch the sequence again. Even without the moons, and Nash's Psycho Negating Kamikaze attack, Bison was more or less unscathed. Not even his hat fell out of place. This all happened without the Moons acting as conduits for Psycho Power from all over the world.

To discuss these things i watched scenes decent amount of times, it's pretty straightforward to me

Nash and Bison fight. Nash defeat him (gameplay part where we play and win as Nash), next cutscene Nash is the standing one and Bison is the one who got knocked down

Then cheating machine (or "Moons" if make it sound more noble 😄 ) charge Bison back to full health/power/ki/stamina and Nash is fucked, ASF seems pretty straight at that

About Bison being unscathed or have still hat on... exactly same identical shit goes for the Ryu fight

Both Nash and Ryu defeat Bison in the fight/gameplay part, both of times they have Bison knocked down with fist and knee to the ground (graphically unscathed, hat still on)

Differences starts from there

Nash: Bison smile and boast as he know cheat mach... ehm "Moons" will recharge him back fresh as new, Nash is fucked

Ryu: Bison is upset because he know there's no Moons saving his ass this time, he tries to be like "it's not over" but his next attack is so weak that can't harm Ryu despite hitting him clean. Ryu have the opportunity to throw his last attack and finish him (only here you see Bison's body break and after hat falling off)

If anything difference is Ryu fought a Bison that was weakened from the start (by Nash kamikaze/gem explosion), while Nash had to face him fresh

Essentially facts tell us Nash fought an harder fight from the start, that became an impossible one at the end

This from somebody who's Ryu fan and that have Ryu avatar, but it is what it is lol

If we don't stick to story facts what's even the point of discuss what canon is

6 hours ago, Daemos said:

He definitely is Top Tier and was probably stronger than Guile and Ryu in the Alpha 2 days. But ultimately Bison was much stronger than he let on as both he and Rose discovered the hard way. However, it makes perfect sense that the Illuminati chose him as their warrior, because he is TT. It wasn't just his hate for Bison and his nihilism.

Yeah, i think Nash ever been superior of Guile no matter what by concept itself, by SF standards Guile is a very very good fighter, but Nash is an exceptional one

What changed is only how wide the gap became in SFV... see how Guile after fighting him (and see what he can do) does'nt even think he's still Nash and ask him "who are you?" and when Nash block/absorb the Sonic Boom (showing he can absorb ki of any kind, not only PP) with one hand BOTH are like WTF, Nash literally say "what's happening to my body?"

Edited March 1, 2022 by CESTUS III

CESTUS III · March 1, 2022

6 hours ago, Daemos said:

https://eventhubs.com/news/2022/feb/24/poll-characters-not-sf6-roster/

Look at these fuckers trying to vote out Bison! May their website collapse under the weight of their stupidity! Bison foretold the world of the evils of democracy. A thousand Psycho Axes upon them!

Told you spam Bison as final boss does'nt make Bison any favor lol 🤣

I doubt is any problem btw, unless they want be REALLY stubborn about story(wich anyway already opened the door for a return), at some point Bison will show up in SF6

Also these fuckers and their hate on El Fuerte is unreal, he's literally a very good character design with cool moves that just need gameplay redesign and less Ono cooking time retardness

Bunch of great characters are on this hate list too lol, people shit tastes is why i can't have nice things

Guess must watch positive side and see at least Kage/Evil Ryu bullshit got tons of votes (and Zangief NOT in the list) should give me faith in humanity, but still

Chun-Li_Forever · March 1, 2022

Today is a very important day! 🎂🎈🥳🎉

BootyWarrior · March 1, 2022

12 hours ago, Daemos said:

https://eventhubs.com/news/2022/feb/24/poll-characters-not-sf6-roster/

Why is Ingrid hated more than Oni?

Shakunetsu · March 1, 2022

1 hour ago, Chun-Li_Forever said:

🎂🎈🥳🎉

Shakunetsu · March 1, 2022

in other news...

Darc_Requiem · March 1, 2022

54 minutes ago, BootyWarrior said:

Why is Ingrid hated more than Oni?

I'm at work and even if I wasn't, I don't I have enough time to dedicate to that answer. Ingrid is not well liked for a multitude of reasons. It doesn't help that her fans in general come off as creepy. There are a few exceptions. @Miðgarðsormwas the first Ingrid fan I've met that is genuinely into the character for sound reasons. If more of her fans were like him, I don't think she's be as hated. On the flip side, there is this one "fan" that post artwork of Ingrid that makes my skin crawl. He shows up in practically every article's comment section that mentions her. Someone that looks 12 shouldn't be drawn that way. I'll leave it at that. Unfortunately for Ingrid, the latter fan type seems to be the more numerous one.

Shakunetsu · March 1, 2022

18 minutes ago, Darc_Requiem said:

I'm at work and even if I wasn't, I don't I have enough time to dedicate to that answer. Ingrid is not well liked for a multitude of reasons. It doesn't help that her fans in general come off as creepy. There are a few exceptions. @Miðgarðsormwas the first Ingrid fan I've met that is genuinely into the character for sound reasons. If more of her fans were like him, I don't think she's be as hated. On the flip side, there is this one "fan" that post artwork of Ingrid that makes my skin crawl. He shows up in practically every article's comment section that mentions her. Someone that looks 12 shouldn't be drawn that way. I'll leave it at that. Unfortunately for Ingrid, the latter fan type seems to be the more numerous one.

There was also someone I see in eventhub comment section that regularly reminds everyone about ingrid, I don't know if that the same guy in SRK's MVCi thread that ask and campaign for ingrid in MVCi

Darc_Requiem · March 1, 2022

2 minutes ago, Shakunetsu said:

There was also someone I see in eventhub comment section that regularly reminds everyone about ingrid, I don't know if that the same guy in SRK's MVCi thread that ask and campaign for ingrid in MVCi

I think that it is the same guy. At least I hope it is. Two of them posting what they post....yeah gives me a bad feeling.

CESTUS III · March 1, 2022

3 hours ago, BootyWarrior said:

Why is Ingrid hated more than Oni?

Ingrid is everything i would not like in a SF character

Oni is the incarnation of SF worst gimmicks, the evil version of a character that on his own already was a evil version of a sprite shoto, the ultimate capcom circle jerk over 9000, and even if thanks gods is not canon, this crap is the most powerful character of SF world

Trying to chose wich i dislike more would take me forever, hope to just never see neither again lol

PS: sorry @Miðgarðsorm, you're still a bro

ShockDingo · March 1, 2022

4 hours ago, BootyWarrior said:

Why is Ingrid hated more than Oni?

It's a different case for everyone, but I used to be one of the serious haters. Since talking to Midgarosorm, I've got a different, mellow view, but here's what some of the issue was back in the day;

-Due to some serious mistranslations for the english version of Alpha 3 dash, she appeared to be a literal goddess touching down to fight the mere mortals of the SF cast

-To make matters worse, some materials like the Udon books too the Goddess thing and ran with it, so she was the creator of the Pandora incident in SFxT

-She, with no build up, claims that Psycho Power was hers, thus having all of us freak out that this random character was the sudden holder/origin of this fabled power and then just nopes out all of a sudden into the future.

-As Darc pointed out, she has some fans that are more than just passionate, they get to an either annoying degree of devotion or get kinda creepy in an...aroused way despite her rather young appearance. There's been a guy for ages who, at mere mention of her, would appear and just go on and on and on about praising her, even if there was barely any relevance prior to that and spam art.

Talking to Midgarosorm, she's more akin to Dr. Who, she's not divine in anyway.

Edited March 1, 2022 by ShockDingo

BornWinner · March 1, 2022

4 hours ago, BootyWarrior said:

Why is Ingrid hated more than Oni?

To keep it short, Ingrid is straight up not a street fighter character in any way. I could try and explain it in detail but I would rather wait for someone other than me explain it.

As for Oni, sure he’s a stupid design and unneeded. He still happens to be a Shoto and Akuma which are stupidly popular. Back when I was playing Ultra SF4, every other match I had was against Oni. I’m sure there’s a ton of people requesting him.

Edited March 1, 2022 by BornWinner

Darc_Requiem · March 2, 2022

Oni is Akuma robbed everything that makes him special. The thing that separated Akuma from other Satsui No Hado users was Akuma had mastery over it instead of the inverse. His warrior's codes has nothing to do with Satsui No Hado, it's just his genuine belief. A belief shared by Goutetsu. Which is why Goutetsu died happy. Akuma did what he could not, mastered a technique that he could not, and used it to defeat him honorable combat. Oni, like Evil, is just a murderous savage overwhelmed by Satsui No Hado just like Evil Ryu. He is literally Evil Akuma. Waste of damned character slot, I'd rather have Rufus and I hate that character.

YagamiFire · March 2, 2022

Correction: regular Akuma is Evil Akuma. Oni is Stupid Akuma 😄

BootyWarrior · March 2, 2022

Akuma tried to kill his own brother multiple times. When he meets a strong foe, he forces the fight against their will and the end result is usually death.

Akuma is evil.

Darc_Requiem · March 2, 2022

6 hours ago, BootyWarrior said:

Akuma tried to kill his own brother multiple times. When he meets a strong foe, he forces the fight against their will and the end result is usually death.

Akuma is evil.

Oni kills everyone he comes across. Akuma only kills the elite of the elite fighters. There are degrees of evil. Akuma has a code of conduct. Oni does not. Akuma bumps into Sakura. She gets to walk away. Oni like Evil Ryu would just kill her. If you aren't a martial artist of the highest caliber, you have nothing to worry about. Oni is like a force of nature that kills everything in his path. Like Evil Ryu, Oni is controlled by the Satsui No Hado. Not the the other way around. Resident Goutetsu stans Eventhubs won't bring it up, but Akuma uses the same warrior's code as Goutetsu. Gouken didn't agree with his masters methods and forged his own path. He saw what he thought was flaw in the arts teachings. Ansatsuken believes in a having two rival students to drive both warriors to get the better. Yet once they "master" the art, that belief falls away and rivals of equal strength are to be felled in honorable combat.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Darc_Requiem

Shakunetsu · March 2, 2022

50 minutes ago, Darc_Requiem said:

Oni kills everyone he comes across. Akuma only kills the elite of the elite fighters. There are degrees of evil. Akuma has a code of conduct. Oni does not. Akuma bumps into Sakura. She gets to walk away. Oni like Evil Ryu was just kill her. If you aren't a martial artist of the highest caliber, you have nothing to worry about. Oni is like a force of nature that kills everything in his path. Like Evil Ryu, Oni is controlled by the Satsui No Hado. Not the the other way around. Resident Goutetsu stans Eventhubs won't bring it up, but Akuma uses the same warrior's code as Goutetsu. Gouken didn't agree with his masters methods and forged his own path. He saw what he thought was flaw in the arts teachings. Ansatsuken believes in a having two rival students to drive both warriors to get the better. Yet once they "master" the art, that belief falls away and rivals of equal strength are to be felled in honorable combat.

I remember @bakfromon, thoughts regarding this I used to debate with him about topic this too in SRK, but yeah the keyword is degrees of evil.

I used to see what limiting Akuma from being a full fledge evil person is his pride, Pride was my main argument against bakfromon until I realize that time I missed out that it was Gouken that didn't agreed with Goutetsu teachings and he filtered it.

Goutetsu was never been Starwars Obi Wan Kenobi, Goutetsu was always a user of the Darkside. And the battle between the two is fair to both the principles they believe into.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Shakunetsu

Scotia · March 2, 2022

Ingrid is lame waifu anime trash but she's still not as lazy as Oni and every other 'evil' version of a pre-existing character. As much as I don't want her, I'd be fine with seeing current Capcom have another attempt at Ingrid if it meant we never saw Evil Ryu/Akuma/Dee Jay or whoever the fuck Capcom can make evil again.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Scotia

CESTUS III · March 2, 2022

8 hours ago, Darc_Requiem said:

Oni kills everyone he comes across. Akuma only kills the elite of the elite fighters. There are degrees of evil. Akuma has a code of conduct. Oni does not. Akuma bumps into Sakura. She gets to walk away. Oni like Evil Ryu would just kill her. If you aren't a martial artist of the highest caliber, you have nothing to worry about. Oni is like a force of nature that kills everything in his path. Like Evil Ryu, Oni is controlled by the Satsui No Hado. Not the the other way around. Resident Goutetsu stans Eventhubs won't bring it up, but Akuma uses the same warrior's code as Goutetsu. Gouken didn't agree with his masters methods and forged his own path. He saw what he thought was flaw in the arts teachings. Ansatsuken believes in a having two rival students to drive both warriors to get the better. Yet once they "master" the art, that belief falls away and rivals of equal strength are to be felled in honorable combat.

Good post, i don't think many people realize that seem is'nt Akuma the one that split from the tradition, but Gouken

Or better, to some extent both departed from Goutetsu path, as he used to master both "normal" hado and SnH... his two students picked one each and focused 100% only there

On the "evil" thing, the code of conduct where killing opponent is acceptable without be necessary considered "evil" thing to do link to ancient japanese warrior traditions, wich i guess why japanese characters are'nt much outraged by it

Good example 37th Bushinryu Master Genryusai (Zeku's Master, old guy you save in FF2) is'nt considered "evil", but it's implied to have killed his Master to get the title of new Master.

38th Master Zeku is the one that chosen (similar to Gouken) to break the tradition to remove the assassination element from the style philosophy, and refused to take his life

But none of Zeku, Guy or Maki consider Genryusai an evil person, but simply a man with a code

Goutetsu did'nt judged Akuma, Genryusai would not either, Oro did'nt either... even characters that despise him seem to consider him more fool/crazy(for believing in such traditions/values without realize SnH corruption) than straight evil

We try to apply modern (and maybe western) tag of "evil", but old Masters seem to understand the kind of code he's trying to live

Would say if anything not only Akuma does'nt do random evil actions beyond the duels to the death thing, he will probably hate himself ending up doing something like that because would mean the inner SnH beast won a round and broke free out of his control

Just like you said, become Oni truly would not represent Akuma's ultimate achievement, but his biggest failure

I truly hate Akuma for 99 reasons, but i find his philosophy well characterized

I believe this pic is worth thousands words

http://grza.net/GIS/Akuma Selling Fruit.jpg

Dude have more than enough power not only to gain through violence all the money he needs... actually he's so powerful that he's above concept of money itself, he can take directly all whatever he want

Yet he chose to do humble stuff (even stealing time from martial arts training) to gain the money honestly and use that little money to buy shit he need instead use violence (on normal people)

Actually i don't even believe he's stealing time from training, force himself to humble job and while keeping SnH on leash is training af lol

Good question can be, do people consider Musashi "evil" ?

Edited March 2, 2022 by CESTUS III

BootyWarrior · March 2, 2022

2 minutes ago, CESTUS III said:

Bushinryu lore

That's a mutual agreement between both parties where the winner takes on the mantle. Akuma sees a strong fighter and will kill them even if they don't want to fight. Akuma is "evil", not as evil as your Oni's or M. Bison but he should be categorized as such. Ryu is "good" but according to official media he's not as good as Ken, Chun-Li or Charlie Nash.

Darc_Requiem · March 2, 2022

I'm not the biggest fan of Akuma but to my knowledge he's only had death matches with Goutetsu, Gouken, and Gen. Of those three only Gouken did not want to fight him. Gen actually was angry that Akuma wouldn't finish him when figured out his was sick. Akuma doesn't kill every strong fighter he comes across. From what I've seen, he has such contest with those he views as an equal. If he simply killed strong fighters he'd have a far higher body count. Ken for example is a 3 Time All American Martial Arts champion that's easy to find. Akuma hasn't killed him. Even with Ryu he's been trying to goad him into accepting SnH so that they can fight on equal terms. He's not the antagonist from Blood Moon, just running up on champions and killing them under less than fair circumstances.

For Reference

YagamiFire · March 3, 2022

Nah sorry that's revisionist history at work

He walks "the path of slaughter" and multiple games and sources talk about those that have fallen beneath his fist. Akuma REGULARLY kills martial arts masters in his quest to prove how strong he is. Typically they're just far beneath him with only figures like Goutetsu, Gouken, Gen and Bison being particularly noteworthy as challengers to him.

Akuma is evil. At least one can argue that Oni is mad and deranged, possessed by the insane Satsui No Hadou that really dictates his actions. Akuma? Not so much. He's conscious of his decision making. I could argue that makes him MORE evil rather than someone driven insane.

CESTUS III · March 3, 2022

4 hours ago, BootyWarrior said:

That's a mutual agreement between both parties where the winner takes on the mantle. Akuma sees a strong fighter and will kill them even if they don't want to fight. Akuma is "evil", not as evil as your Oni's or M. Bison but he should be categorized as such.

Yes but as Darc just mentioned that's not Akuma's way to do things, listing basically all Akuma known fights

Akuma vs Goutetsu - Goutetsu agree to do it, and die without regrets

Akuma vs Gen - Gen agree to do it, and actually due his condition wish a warrior style death

Akuma vs Oro - Oro agree to fight Akuma, At some point they chose to don't go further as would result in mutual death. Considering Akuma's ideology Oro is the most likely one to have said that continue would be foolish, and Akuma respected his decision. Of course is an assumption on my side guess that Oro called it, but Akuma saying "hey hey this fight to the death is getting too deadly" would be immensely out of character, while i can see Oro doing it as his current wish was to pass his knowledge to somebody before die

Akuma vs Ryu, Ken, Adon, SFA Gen - Fought and had the chance to kill them yet does'nt take their lives

Akuma vs Bison - This is a good one (at least before retcon), there Akuma indeed goest straight to kill Bison and does'nt even bother offer him fair duel because "fuck Bison", but thing is almost every #teamgoodguys character want to kill Bison too, so i guess Bison is fair game? (we may add Necalli in same category + Nec tried eat him)

And finally

AKUMA vs GOUKEN - this is indeed the case of Akuma forcing innocent opponent to fight him to the death, but reading all above seems more the exception than the rule.

In Gouken's case i think Akuma was also following what he thought he got trained whole life for rather than personal emotions... from his perspective was Gouken the one breaking the rules refusing to face him to settle who's the successor of Ansatsuken school (whole thing make a lot HnK shit, even name "ansatsuken" itself comes from HnK)

One fact make us see that rather than personal desire/ambition Akuma was doing what he thought an Ansatsuken master should do: Gouken win and Akuma ASK TO BE KILLED, because from his perspective that's how Ansatuken-things must go

Not that this make anything less worse, but should say his approach here feels more close to ideologic fanatism rather than evil, more in line with Genryusai/Goutetsu's hardcore vision of martial arts where kill is ok under some circustances, specially if school succession is involved

2 hours ago, YagamiFire said:

Nah sorry that's revisionist history at work

He walks "the path of slaughter" and multiple games and sources talk about those that have fallen beneath his fist. Akuma REGULARLY kills martial arts masters in his quest to prove how strong he is. Typically they're just far beneath him with only figures like Goutetsu, Gouken, Gen and Bison being particularly noteworthy as challengers to him.

Well, path of slaughter -> assassination fist -> Ansatsuken 😄

I listed all canon fights i'm aware of, and so far outside Gouken for the succession he does'nt seem just roaming around looking to kill anybody cross his path or force people to fight him, more like looking for somebody worthy and open to do with him a fight under the only format that he consider legit

Are we sure others that died fighting him were not also masters willing to accept a fight to the death?

Because so far list seem to support that he let go weaker/young opponents and that lot of strong ones accept his deadly duel shit

Dude is supposed to be a death sentence (well, he wish lmao) if he shows up at your door and you accept his life or death challenge

Like, would he kill an opponent that refuse to defend himself?

Before SFV i doubt, bet one like Dhalsim could have got a Draw by simply Ghandi the shit out of the fight lol... post SFV would not be so sure though

Not saying he is'nt a pos by our standards, i'm saying the image many have of him is not accurate

4 hours ago, BootyWarrior said:

Ryu is "good" but according to official media he's not as good as Ken, Chun-Li or Charlie Nash.

Fun thing is i can see it 😄

Idk about Ken being much better, but if you think about it Chun and Nash are definitely people that dedicated much more of their life to help others

Edited March 3, 2022 by CESTUS III

Shakunetsu · March 3, 2022

5 hours ago, BootyWarrior said:

Ryu is "good" but according to official media he's not as good as Ken, Chun-Li or Charlie Nash.

He should not be, his a person about self betterment a wanderer that seek battles not a guardian, not someone devoted to a cause like a super hero, fights for justice or someone out for revenge

YagamiFire · March 3, 2022

We really trying to thread this impossible needle?

Akuma's repeatedly described as 'blood soaked' for a history and he himself talks about all those that have "fallen before his fist". "Countless" warriors have met their fate against Akuma.

Let's stop pretending that he's not evil as hell. Yes we only know of a few battles he's been in but by that logic Ryu has only fought a handful of times instead of the HUNDREDS of battles he's canonically supposed to have had.

Akuma's bloody history is not implied. It is not hinted at. It is explicitly stated many times.

Come on, guys...

Darc_Requiem · March 3, 2022

1 hour ago, YagamiFire said:

We really trying to thread this impossible needle?

Akuma's repeatedly described as 'blood soaked' for a history and he himself talks about all those that have "fallen before his fist". "Countless" warriors have met their fate against Akuma.

Let's stop pretending that he's not evil as hell. Yes we only know of a few battles he's been in but by that logic Ryu has only fought a handful of times instead of the HUNDREDS of battles he's canonically supposed to have had.

Akuma's bloody history is not implied. It is not hinted at. It is explicitly stated many times.

Come on, guys...

No one is saying Akuma is a good guy. This whole thing started because the topic of Oni. The difference between Oni and Akuma is that Oni the character you are describing. He has no code of honor. He just kills. Akuma having a code of honor doesn't make him a good guy. Akuma adheres to the original principles of Ansatsuken . The original teachings of Goutetsu i.e. he kills when certain conditions are met. That's been whole point of this discourse. No one is saying Akuma isn't a killer he is. He just isn't the type of killer you ascribe him to be. If he were any tournament he shows up to would end with everyone but him dead.

YagamiFire · March 3, 2022

5 minutes ago, Darc_Requiem said:

No one is saying Akuma is a good guy. This whole thing started because the topic of Oni. The difference between Oni and Akuma is that Oni the character you are describing. He has no code of honor. He just kills. Akuma having a code of honor doesn't make him a good guy. Akuma adheres to the original principles of Ansatsuken . The original teachings of Goutetsu i.e. he kills when certain conditions are met. That's been whole point of this discourse. No one is saying Akuma isn't a killer he is. He just isn't the type of killer you ascribe him to be. If he were any tournament he shows up to would end with everyone but him dead.

"type of killer you ascribe him to be"

Uh I ascribe him to be what he canonically is: someone that will only fight other warriors to the death including fighters that have no interest in that (like Gouken).

CESTUS III · March 3, 2022

2 hours ago, YagamiFire said:

We really trying to thread this impossible needle?

Akuma's repeatedly described as 'blood soaked' for a history and he himself talks about all those that have "fallen before his fist". "Countless" warriors have met their fate against Akuma.

Let's stop pretending that he's not evil as hell. Yes we only know of a few battles he's been in but by that logic Ryu has only fought a handful of times instead of the HUNDREDS of battles he's canonically supposed to have had.

Akuma's bloody history is not implied. It is not hinted at. It is explicitly stated many times.

Come on, guys...

I'm not denying any of that, he could have killed 100, but as far we seen they were probably all masters that accepted Akuma's challenge to fight to the death (and even in that case, canon fights show us he likely let go lot/most of them) because of their pride as martial artists, or at very least pieces of shit that deserved death (see Bison, Necalli)

Who accepted to fight him knowing what kind of fight was is not much different from the matador that go risk his own life to test himself against the bull, knowing well one single error would lead to death. As far they know Akuma is the most powerful and dangerous bull around, and still they chose to step in the arena with him... blood his on the bull's horns, but is the matador that chosen his own destiny

What i'm saying is that as far we know Gouken was the only not-absolute-scum fighter that Akuma forced to a fight with the intention of kill him, and that in that case the reason was the Ansatsuken succession, not an Akuma's habit to go around and murder people that want none of that

Again i think the Musashi parallel i did before was'nt so off the target... nor people of his time or modern historians consider him "evil", yet he took plenty of lives on his path to perfection the art of murder with a sword

Difference is Akuma does it in a time where that's not nomal, but people he kills embraced (or at least they do in the moment they accept) same old customs he does