It stands about 12 inches tall (or will when it's done, this is just a prototype render), and should be out sometime in September, with a price of $120. Along with this Akuma piece, SOTA will also be releasing Cammy, Bison & Guile statues as well.

Akuma sounds easy enough — you just have to be "perfect" — but Gouken is anything but straightforward. First you have to unlock him, which requires two lengthy steps; then you actually have to beat him after satisfying what sounds like crazy-hard conditions. Seriously, Smash Bros. Brawl has nothing on this.

1. Complete Arcade Mode playing as Akuma and watch (not necessary to watch everything) an ending.
2. Then, unlock Gouken as an opponent, and defeat him.

Necessary conditions to unlock Gouken as an opponent:

- Play with any characters with which you watched the ending once (so play using a character you have already beaten the game with)
- Do not continue at all.
- Do not lose at all. Not even one round (easier if you only play 1-round matches)
- Achieve certain number (or more) of "Perfect" rounds. The number of Perfect Win you need to achieve are:

If you play on
- 1 round match: 1 time or more
- 3 round match: 2 times or more
- 5 round match: 3 times or more
- 7 round match: 4 times or more

- Achieve certain number (or more) of Super Combo -OR- Ultra Combo Finishes. Super and Ultra finishes both count toward this number. The number of perfect win you need to achieve are:
s
If you play on

- 1 round match: 3 times or more
- 3 round match: 5 times or more
- 5 round match: 7 times or more
- 7 round match: 9 times or more

- Achieve certain number (or more) of First Attack (this means you must score the first strike in a match—the screen gives you the "First Attack" message, and you can mostly do this without even noticing):

The number of First Attack you need to achieve are:

If you play on
- 1 round match: 5 time or more
- 3 round match: 10 times or more
- 5 round match: 15 times or more
- 7 round match: 20 times or more
- Then Gouken will appear. Kick his butt to unlock him!

Sheesh. I'll just stick to Chun-Li.

SFIV: The Real Story on How to Unlock Akuma and Gouken [Capcom-Unity]

I've had plenty of time to play Street Fighter IV both in arcades and at shows, but I'm still blown away with the game's seamless blending of 2D and 3D in an aesthetic that polishes the look of characters I've grown so accustomed to.

I'm typically a Ryu or Ken when I play SF, but Akuma is close enough to their move set that I've played around with him over the years as well. This new Akuma maintains the tattered look of previous versions of the character delivering relatively fast, relatively powerful blasts as he hops around the screen. His moves seem to have remain unchanged, which makes him a great middle option for those of us who tend to cycle between Ken and Ryu when they play.

I've never been a fan of Sakura in the past, but that's certainly going to change. Ignoring the pleated-skirt physics built into her character design which seem to be geared toward maximum up-skirts and panty peekaboos, ignoring the fact that Sakura's look has drifted from a very disturbing sexy 16-year-old to a slightly less disturbing, and barely legal, hottie Sakura's a straight-up bad-ass.

The budding teen pulls off fireballs (think Street Fighter Alpha) effortlessly, laying out backup attacks as the shimmering globes float lazily across the screen. Her uppercuts remain some of the longest reaching in the game and her spinning leg attack seems to be a cross of the hurricane kick and the spinning bird kick. Another attack in Sakura's arsenal appears to be a head stomp or mid-air grab that I never actually connected with. Its starts with a lunging hop toward the other character, feet first. Her Ultra starts with a split kick, knocks the character in the air and then wraps up with a two-footed stomp into the ground.

Add to all of that sizzle and speed a mini-skirt and a suspiciously large category of attacks that get her legs above her head and you've got one of my new favorite characters.

「いよいよ、豪鬼が？！」　プロジェクトマネージャー：塩沢夏希 [SFIV Blog, thanks Marcus!]

SF4: Direct feed of Gouki in action!!!! [The Street Fighter Blog via the Shoryuken Forums]