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"Accept death! The other realm awaits. (消え失せろ! 砕け散るがよいわ! Kieusero! Kudake chiruga yoi wa!?)"
Akuma
Vs190501-041

Demon Armageddon in action.

The Demon Armageddon (天衝海轢刃 Tenshou Kaireki Jin?, "Heaven Piercing Sea Plowing Blade") is Akuma's second Ultra Combo in Super Street Fighter IV, and is his most powerful variation of the Tatsumaki Zankukyaku.

The move was first mentioned by its Japanese name in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, where Akuma had perfected the technique through unknown means; in his ending, he used it to destroy the remains of a sunken liner ship that sat on the ocean floor.

Input
All appearances Arcade-Stick-UpArcade-Stick-Up+Arcade Button Kick x3
Damage
Raw 500
Via Ashura Senku 421

Description[]

Akuma demon armageddon

The Ultra finish against Abel.

Executed by pressing up twice and pressing all three kicks, Akuma turns away from the opponent before delivering a high spinning heel kick that sends them several feet into the air, zooming after them with an extremely powerful Tatsumaki Zankukyaku that envelops him in a whirlwind. As he hits his opponent, a giant red kanji of "heaven" (天, ten) appears in the background, acting as a sort of "wall" which the opponent is pinned against until Akuma flies through them with the Tatsumaki Zankukyaku, shattering the kanji and causing the opponent to scream as if they were knocked out (regardless of whether the move actually resulted in KO'ing the opponent). The opponent then tumbles to the ground. If the move does result in KO'ing the opponent, the background changes into Akuma's signature black-and-white backdrop after the kanji is shattered, while no KO is announced and the opponent remains silent.

If an opponent is "chipped out" (i.e. knocked out while blocking) by the initial kick, the Ultra Combo will end there, with the opponent flying back silently and in slow-motion while the background turns to Akuma's signature black-and-white backdrop.

Changes[]

In the original Super Street Fighter IV, the Ashura Senku-canceled version only dealt 400 damage on a full Revenge Gauge, and the hitbox was only slightly bigger than the regular version. Starting from Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, its hitbox is now large enough to hit any crouching character, and in the AE 2012 update, the damage was slightly increased to 421.

Tactics[]

By itself, the move deals 500 damage when used with a full Revenge Gauge, half of Ryu's health.[1] However, it is considerably ill-favored by other players because of how easy it is to dodge. The opposing player can either block, crouch or back dash away from the attack, leaving the user wide open to a counterattack.

The main use of Demon Armageddon for Akuma lies in its ability to be used during his Ashura Senku (at the cost of dealing reduced damage); when performed this way, it can either be a combo finisher, a safety net against characters that are able to chase Akuma down while he uses the Ashura Senku, or a punisher for moves with long recovery times.

Advanced Tactics[]

Akuma can cancel his crouching medium attacks, close standing medium attacks, and any of his heavy punches into the Ashura Senku then immediately connect the Demon Armageddon successfully (the far standing heavy punch cancel being possible only in Ultra Street Fighter IV). The timing to cancel the medium moves into the Ashura Senku and Demon Armageddon is extremely strict, while the heavy punches are more lenient on timing due to their longer hitstun durations. It should be noted that Akuma when he cancels into the Demon Armageddon from Ashura Senku, the vertical hitbox of this attack extends downwards to ensure the attack connects and can't be Low Profiled by attacks such as Ibuki's Neck Breaker. It can also hit any character following a very well-spaced Zanku Hadoken (regular or EX) as long as they are not crouching (in which case an Ashura Senku-cancel is required).

After a crumple as a result of a Focus Attack, the Demon Armageddon by itself can still hit certain characters (mostly tall characters such as Zangief or Sagat).

Due to pre-jump frames, it is also possible to do the Demon Armageddon without doing any buffering whatsoever, but the difficulty and the time frame to do so (four frames) makes it very impractical and nearly impossible to incorporate in actual gameplay without significant modifications to a controller.

The boss version of Akuma can also combo several normals into the Demon Armageddon that are not possible for the playable version of Akuma, the most notable one being standing hard kick.

In Akuma's OMEGA Mode, the range of combos which can end in the Demon Armageddon widely expanded due to its slightly altered properties compared to Akuma's other Editions. Most notably, the Focus Attack + Demon Armageddon combo can now affect every grounded character. In addition, a non-EX Gohadoken (from long range) or EX Gohadoken (from either range), then an EX Focus Attack Dash Cancel into Demon Armaggedon is now possible.

Gallery[]

Video[]

Trivia[]

  • In Asura's Wrath, Akuma performs this move on Ryu after his fight with Asura; the force of the final aerial kick was so powerful that it sent Ryu to another dimension (presumably back to his own).
  • The ending sequence of this attack where the opponent falls to the ground while Akuma faces the other way may have inspired the ending sequence to Ogre's Super Art in Street Fighter X Tekken, as it has a very similar end.
  • The way Akuma traps his opponent with his giant "ten" (天) kanji and hitting the trapped opponent with his kick is similar to the Exceed Charge finishers used by the Kamen Riders of Kamen Rider 555. In this case, it is based on the titular Rider's Crimson Smash.

References[]

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