Street Fighter 6 launched to critical and commercial acclaim earlier this year, quickly claiming the flag as one of the best fighting games on the market. Since then, the developers at Capcom have slowly been rolling out updates, including the first Year 1 DLC character Rashid. A few weeks ago we got our first tease of the next Year 1 character A.K.I. and today Capcom revealed her full gameplay trailer and release date. As a brand-new character to the franchise, Street Fighter 6 fans will likely be excited to see how A.K.I. slithers around the battlefield in this footage.
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A.K.I. is an assassin who trained under Street Fighter 5‘s F.A.N.G. That, of course, means that she makes heavy use of various poisons as she takes down her opponents. Game director Takayuki Nakayama said that A.K.I. is “a combination of the Poison Hand and the Fanged Snake Style martial arts.” Essentially, if you were to take a snake and transfer its brain into a person, that combination would look a lot like A.K.I.
How does A.K.I. fight in Street Fighter 6?
Like her mentor F.A.N.G., A.K.I. makes heavy use of poison. If A.K.I. is able to infect her opponent with one of her abilities, they will continue to take damage until the effect wears off or they’re able to deal damage to her. This works perfectly for A.K.I. because she excels at long-range attacks and has incredible elusiveness. As you can see in the trailer above, A.K.I. can use moves like Sinister Slide to dodge past attacks and get to her opponent. She also has a poisonous take on the classic fireball with Nightshade pulse, which she can pop early to affect a larger area.
In short, A.K.I. is likely going to be tough to master, but once you do, you’ll probably cause headaches for your opponents. Her Sinister Slide, in particular, looks like it will be annoying to deal with as she uses her serpent-like flexibility to evade attacks. The way she slithers around the stage is a bit reminiscent of Voldo from Soulcalibur, though A.K.I.’s poison attacks certainly set her apart.
When is A.K.I. Coming to Street Fighter 6?
Fortunately, fans don’t have to wait too much longer to play as A.K.I. in Street Fighter 6. The young poison master is coming to SF6 on September 27. If you have the Year 1 Character Pass, Deluxe Edition, or Ultimate Edition, you’ll get her as part of your original purchase. Everyone else can use a Rental Fighter ticket to try her out for an hour. Plus, she’ll have an extra “elegant outfit” available to purchase at launch.
As far as the rest of the Year 1 characters, we know that the final two will be Ed and Akuma. The current plan from Capcom is that Ed will come sometime early in 2024 and Akuma will come next spring. Of course, things could change over the next few months, but for now, players should expect to pick Ed up in the new year.
