Month: June 2015

Yesterday, we shared a video of a strange interaction between Akuma and Sagat that allowed the former to perform a focus cancel in the air after a blocked uppercut. We were naturally intrigued and, after I found myself unable to recreate the bug, asked the community to take a look and see what they could come up with.

After just seven hours and some lecturing by Lab Zero Games’ Mike Zaimont over my incorrect use of the term ‘desync’ (love ya Mike!), Sebastian Rikk stepped forward with his findings. Apparently, the late cancel-point on Akuma’s dragon punch gives him this odd ability when coupled with tall opponents like Sagat and Seth, but only on wakeup.

After the above video was shared, Zaimont posited that this strange occurrence may also be caused by the way the attack’s cancelability on block was implemented. Instead of only the uppercut’s first hit being cancelable, the game may interpret this rule as the first hit to land, even if that hit is technically the second or third of the move.

All in all, this was a pretty fun bit of discovery and explanation, and is yet another testament to the tenacity of our community in figuring stuff out–as well as my own ineptitude in accurately replicating situations in-game. While I’m not going to speculate on this bug’s place in competition, definitely keep an eye out for it if you happen to come up against an Akuma.

Thanks Sebastian and Mike!

Sources: Sebastian Rikk, Mike Zaimont