It seems like every day in the fighting game community brings with it a fresh argument, but if there’s one thing most folks can agree on, it’s that Liquid’s Du “NuckleDu” Dang is one of the most promising young players on the scene today. His relatively short time on the competitive circuit has garnered a ton of attention, and he recently capped off an impressive Street Fighter IV career with a top eight placing at Evo 2015.
But with more attention comes more scrutiny, and the spotlight has been squarely focused on Dang over the past few days due to his actions at two tournaments, both of which took place at eSports Arena in Southern California.
It all started at iBUYPOWER Cup 2015. Dang, a Florida native, made the trip from the southeast to compete, and by “compete” we mean “mercilessly blow through some of the region’s strongest players.” Not only did the Guile master make quick work of all the opponents placed in his path, but he did so in a fashion some may think of as disrespectful.
By now, it’s common knowledge that Dang makes a point to use Guile’s sunglasses taunt on a regular basis. Although they don’t really do anything in-game, one could say those shades help the young competitor psyche himself up for the match at hand. Like a pep talk, really, but those small pep talks quickly became a speech of monumental proportions when he faced local players Brentt “brenttiscool” Franks and Chris Tatarian.
And that wasn’t the end of it. Dang stuck around for this week’s Wednesday Night Fights, and did the exact same thing. While his victory from the weekend’s tournament wouldn’t translate to a first-place finish at the weekly, his dedication to Guile’s shades only grew. Who else have you seen pass up guaranteed damage to taunt their opponent multiple times without any gameplay benefit?
If you saw the second-hand salt but missed out on witnessing this interesting tactic live, USF4 RBK compiled a bunch of footage from both of these tournaments in the video below to show just how far Dang went to spruce up Guile’s outfit in each of his matches.
Did Dang go too far or is this sort of thing to be expected in a competitive environment? Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments.
Sources: JustUSF4, Level|Up Series via USF4 RBK