Akuma made his debut in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret character and an alternative boss to the villain M. Bison.

After defeating his brother, Akuma gains interest in several fighters, most notably Ryu as he senses that the protagonist has a similar power to him known as the Satsui no Hadou.

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.

[4] Akuma's appearance remained consistent until Street Fighter V where his hair reaches far longer and has grown around his face, like a lion's mane.

He was specifically chosen by staff member Katsuhiro Harada who believed he would easily fit into the Tekken world.

He joked that a scene with Akuma being killed could negatively affect Namco's relationship with Capcom, particularly Capcom COO Kenzo Tsujimoto who would get back at Harada and Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono, after the latter had struck a close friendship with Harada leading to the collaboration of the two franchises.

[8][9] In the Japanese arcade version of the game, Akuma would introduce himself to the player before the match, proclaiming himself to be the "Master of the Fist" (拳を極めし者, Ken o Kiwameshi Mono).

Akuma appears in Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams, where he was given his name, once again as a hidden opponent and unlockable character.

[14] Akuma reappears in Street Fighter IV, being one of the main antagonists and once again a secret boss in the Arcade Mode as well as an unlockable character in both console versions.

In Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, he appears both as a selectable character and as "Cyber Akuma" ("Mech Gouki" in Japan), a mechanized version enhanced by Apocalypse acting as the horseman of Death and the final boss.

He is absent from Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes; in his stead, Ryu has a Hyper Combo that changes his fighting style to incorporate Akuma's moveset.

In the game's story, he seeks to repay a debt to Kazumi Mishima for saving his life from an unknown critical situation, who asks him to kill her husband Heihachi and his son Kazuya for her if she dies.

Similar to his appearances in the Street Fighter series, Akuma replaces Kazumi as a secret arcade mode final boss if certain conditions are met.

Paste rated Akuma 23rd in their 2016 ranking of Street Fighter's 97 total playable characters, describing him as "a great anti-hero to offset Ryu and Ken.

[49] Elton Jones of Complex deemed Akuma agreed while calling him the "most dominant fighting game character".

[50] On a different note, GamesRadar claimed that Akuma is different from other antagonists seen in gaming as while cannot be called evil, his methods and actions are forbidden.

[54][55][56] Ben Lee of Digital Spy named him the sixth-best series character on the grounds that he was "truly exciting to fight against" in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, "and his cold, emotionless personality was utterly terrifying.

"[61] Gavin Jasper of Den of Geek, in 2016, named Akuma in X-Men: Children of the Atom as the top fighting-game guest character.

[62] While Jason Fanelli of Arcade Sushi considered it "the best guest turn he's ever done," he simultaneously criticized his cameo in Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness: "Akuma doesn't need to be a giant mech for extra exposure.

"[63] Chris Hoadley of VentureBeat labeled Akuma one of the "best fighting game clones" in 2014: "Capcom is no stranger to reusing [character] models.

Ryu has had Ken as a rival since the first Street Fighter, and over time he would meet more 'shotos'[note 1] who had an affinity for karate gis, fireballs, and uppercuts.

"[64] GamesRadar's David Houghton rated Akuma's Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike stage among the "27 most amazing fighting game backgrounds": "Gloomily ethereal, black-skied woodland setting with subliminally oppressive fisheye-lens effect?

[68] GamePro considered Akuma one of the "Most Broken Characters in Videogame History", for his "ridiculously powerful" moves that were "the bane of newbies and veterans alike,"[68] a sentiment that was echoed by Christopher Hooton of Metro.

[69] Lucas Sullivan of GamesRadar ranked Akuma eleventh in his list of "12 unfair fighting game bosses that (almost) made us rage quit" in 2014.

[71] Randolph Ramsay of GameSpot considered Oni "one of the least interesting additions" to Super Street Fighter IV, as he utilized moves similar to those of other characters.

[72] Den of Geek had mixed feelings about Oni, having considered Akuma to sport a better design despite enjoying the concept of Oni being the original character having obtained more power at the cost of his own humanity.he website also praised such form for giving the origins of Ryu a major twist and having a major part in the narrative as Akuma is interested in the protagonist reaching this form.