Play as Akuma

Remember how Akuma was a hidden character in Super Street Fighter II Turbo? Remember that horribly long and complicated code you had to do to unlock him? Well, X-Men features Akuma as a hidden character again, and has an even more horrible unlock code! At the character select screen, player 1 needs to highlight Spiral and about a second, then press left, left, left, left, right, up, right, right, down. You should be highlighting Silver Samurai at this point and you need to wait around another second before pressing and holding down the weak kick, heavy punch and heavy kick buttons all at the same time.

If player 2 wants to use Akuma they need to highlight Storm, wait for around a second and then press right, down, left, left, left, left, down, right, right. You should be highlighting Spiral at this point and you need to wait about another second before pressing and holding down the weak kick, heavy punch and heavy kick buttons all at the same time.

Fight Akuma

A less known secret in the game is that you can fight Akuma. The requirements from it differ (nobody seems to have a definite method), but one way I got him to appear was to play through the single player mode, getting the first attack for every round. Don't lose any rounds, and you can't use a continue. You also need to win at least 4 rounds with a hyper combo (and it needs to "hit" the opponent -it won't count if you win with chip damage as they try to block it). The game must also be set on manual, not automatic.

If you do all of that then when you reach your sixth opponent, Akuma should appear. You will fight him in the Danger Room stage, and he'll probably tear you apart. He moves fast, his moves do big damage and he knows a fair few nasty combos. Defeat Akuma and you'll move onto Juggernaut as usual.

Continue beating up your opponent

Once you've won the winning round, press the start button. You will be able to move your character around again and you can keep beating up your fallen opponent. Normal moves only though -no special moves, X abilities or Hyper X moves allowed.

Special ending

If you manage to beat the game without losing any rounds or using any continues, you'll be treated to a special credits sequence featuring all of the characters walking around, followed by the bosses and then by Professor X in his hover-chair.

Akuma's special ending

If you beat the single player mode with Akuma without losing any rounds or using any continues, he has a unique credits sequence which features the various characters you have fought in their stunned animations followed by Akuma, who will go into one of his win poses as the Capcom logo is displayed.

Magneto's special win pose

If Magneto wins with a perfect in the last round, he'll have some words for you...

Beat the game without fighting Magneto

Play through the game until you get to Magneto, then have a second player challenge you. Your opponent needs to pick Akuma. Beat Akuma and you will have to fight a CPU controlled character who won't be Magneto. But when you defeat this character, the game will think you've defeated Magneto and your character's ending will start to play! The background will be slightly glitchy due to the game thinking you're on the Avalon stage, but once your character leaves Magneto, the background will change and be correct.

PC version cheats

Press F10 to go to the options menu, then type in the following word: spam. In the configuration menu, you can now select free play (which gives you infinite credits) and you can also unlock the boss characters. To play as Juggernaut, choose a character and when the guard select comes up, hold down all three punch buttons. To play as Magneto, choose a character, and at the guard select, hold all three kick buttons. The bosses can be used in versus mode.

Playstation version cheats

To activate the boss select option, highlight options and hold down L1 and R1. With these buttons held down, press the X button and go into the system settings. "BOSS SELECT" should be in there, turn it to the "ON" setting and then go into the versus mode. To play as Juggernaut, pick any character and hold L2 until the fight starts. To play as Magneto, pick and character but hold R2 until the fight starts.

SEGA Saturn version cheats

To unlock Juggernaut, go into the versus mode and select Akuma as your character. After the match is over, go back to the character select screen and press up back twice. Juggernaut's portrait should appear, press any button to select him. I've head this code only works in the Japanese version, can anyone confirm it works for the American and European versions?

To unlock a screen width option, go into the options menu and start pressing up and down rapidly until a new option appears.