Recently, Echo Fox’s new resident murderface Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi was interviewed by Japanese gaming site DenfaminicoGamer. The interview covers a breadth of topics including some that have been discussed before, such as his motivations for going pro (if Daigo could do it, so could he). However, it also contains some interesting new material that hasn’t been covered before.
On his background in fighting games, while most people associate Tokido with Street Fighter and The King of Fighters, in the interview he reveals that he got his start with Virtua Fighter 2, which an older cousin introduced to him when they went to the arcade. According to him, practicing Virtua Fighter 2 helped him endure the boredom that he felt in school at the time, training every day for a year just to be able to beat his cousin. From VF2, he transitioned to other games, namely Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and KOF, joining his first ever tournament with the latter in 1998.
His in-game name of “Tokido” however stems from The King of Fighters. He became known for using a specific move from Iori Yagami where the character says “tonde,” “kikku shite,” and “doushita?!” from which “to-ki-do” was born.
He also talks a bit about his parents and the support that they gave him: they bought him his first ticket to Evo after all. Additionally, he goes on about how their perception of him playing video games changed after he won at Evo (in Capcom Vs SNK 2 in 2002). While they still didn’t understand the games themselves, they did understand the scale of the tournament and the prize money involved.
Speaking of money, he also reveals that he does get a salary from his management office. However, with the prize pools from tournaments increasing in value, he feels that he cannot neglect them as a source of income.
Now for those thinking of going professional, he states that while games are played primarily for fun and to relieve stress, aspiring pros shouldn’t treat the game that they play merely as a “game.” That said, while tournament wins are important, he states that they should also entertain their audience with fascinating play.
Of course, that’s just a part of this interview; you can head on over to DenfaminicoGamer for the full interview or, for those who can’t read Japanese, Sonigo’s translated notes over on TwitLonger.
Source: DenfaminicoGamer, via Sonigo & PVP Live