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Akuma made his debut in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, the fifth and final arcade iteration of the Street Fighter II games, where he appears as a hidden character. After meeting certain requirements, Akuma appears prior to the player's final match with M. Bison and obliterates Bison before challenging the player. He can also be selected by the player via a secret code. In the Japanese arcade version of the game, Akuma would introduce himself to the player before the match. He also had two endings in the game as well: one for defeating M. Bison, and another against himself. While these endings were omitted from the overseas arcade version, they were edited into one ending and included in the English localization of Super Turbo Revival for the Game Boy Advance.
Akuma was characterized by Capcom as the younger brother of Gouken, Ryu and Ken's deceased master. Both trained under the same master, Goutetsu, who taught the brothers an unnamed martial arts originally made for assassination. Akuma embraced the killing aspects of the art, eventually killing his master, and later his brother.
Akuma appears in Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams once again as a hidden opponent and unlockable character. His backstory remains the same as in Super Turbo. Akuma was added to the immediate roster in Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Street Fighter Alpha 3, with a powered-up version of the character named "Shin Akuma" appearing as a hidden opponent. The character's relation with other Street Fighter characters begins to be fleshed out, establishing rivalries with Adon, Gen, and Ryu, who gains an alterego known as "Evil Ryu" who uses the same techniques as Akuma.
Initially, Akuma was not included in the first iteration of Street Fighter III, as the designers originally wanted to focus on a new cast of characters and it wasn't until the second game, Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, that Akuma was added.