Comedian and actor Tom Arnold is older than most of us, and was alive to see the first wave of video gaming in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Now, he is exploring the modern era of gaming, and how far that has come from its predecessors in a documentary called Unlocked.
In this clip that will be sure to excite fans of the series to watch the rest of the documentary, Arnold talks to Capcom’s marketing manager Matt Dahlgren about the company’s most storied franchises. The topic then shifts to what is considered by most of us to be the most storied of all–Street Fighter.
The entire docu-series will be released on Decmeber 15th, and will feature celebrities such as Penn Jillette and Zelda Williams.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.
When I checked the results for Dreamhack Summer and saw who won, my first reaction was “Who?”
BX3.TP-Link’s Arman “Phenom” Hanjani elicited that response from many people in the community, after he secured his berth to Anaheim this summer. A relative unknown despite his strong performances in 2015–falling just one match short of Capcom Cup qualification–Phenom had only won one weaker event in Italy prior to stamping his ticket to Capcom Cup in Sweden, and the Norwegian has now shown up on the circuit in a big way.
Now, what will it take for Phenom to bring the Capcom Cup championship to Europe?
Besting the Best
Phenom claimed his pass to Capcom Cup by beating some of the best in the world at Dreamhack Summer. Just a sampling of the players that he beat on his way to the title include fellow Capcom Cup qualifiers RZR|Fuudo, Daigo Umehara, and Mago. He is fully capable of taking anyone out at any time. There is no doubt about this.
Some of this can be attributed to the fact that Phenom is so newly a top-level threat on the circuit that many people do not have experience against him. However, to simply attribute it to this would imply that Phenom is a fluke. This implication would be dead wrong. Even at tournaments where he has not emerged the champion, he has defeated players like RB|Bonchan, /r/Kappa|John Takeuchi, and Daigo Umehara yet again, putting him up against the legend 2-1 in tournament sets since Dreamhack.
Make no mistake about it, Street Fighter V is Phenom’s game du jour, and he is making the most out of his abilities in this new title.
Character Picks
Phenom has a fine mix of character choices. He plays an obviously strong, high-tier character in Necalli, but also plays lesser-used Bison–his original and SFIV character of choice–as well. He has strong play with each character, and should be feared whichever he picks.
But this could also be to his detriment, as very little has been seen of his Bison since June, and he has said that Bison is not working to advantage at Canada Cup. This leaves him with Necalli. While a strong character, is he really the best Necalli out there? That’s a hot debate, as you could argue him over ZOWIE|GamerBee or YouDeal MJS|Haitani. But currently he’s barely sitting higher on the leaderboard than GamerBee–who has stronger recent results, so there’s arguments to be made either way.
Tournament Tested?
Probably the hardest case for Phenom leading up to Anaheim is how much tournament experience he has. Prior to Street Fighter V, Phenom had only seen himself tested within Europe, save for Summer Jam and Evolution in 2015. At Evolution that year, he just finished outside of top 16. When he came back to Evolution in 2016, he finished at the exact same spot. At Evo, he found himself losing to Hugo101 and Filipinoman– neither in the conversation for Capcom Cup.
His recents tournaments have found him back in the groove against top players. However, at ESL’s Brooklyn Beatdown he finished 17th again, losing to Humanbomb and RZR|Infiltration. One of said players is again not in the Capcom Cup conversation, and the other I have projected to not finish as highly as usual. It is also of note that his loss to Infiltration came during a downturn in Infiltration’s results. His high-pressure experience, and lack thereof, does not bode well for his placings at Capcom Cup.
Fearless
Phenom has borrowed some pages out of Daigo’s book, because he is one of the most fearless players when it comes to mind games on the circuit. He makes amazing reads on what the opponent will do, and make them pay for it. He puts them in situations where they are afraid to do anything, and makes them pay for it. If you want a specific example, harken back to Canada Cup, where he put Daigo Umehara himself into the corner and caught him with four command grabs in a row, leading to stun and the round.
Time and again, Phenom has proven himself grimy, and unafraid to do anything to get the wins. This bodes well for him to place high if players are not mentally prepared to bring the same griminess to the fight.
Final Thoughts
Yes, Phenom can beat anyone at any time. Yes, he has beaten some of the greats. But in high-pressure situations, he doesn’t appear ready. He has proven that.
I don’t expect this to happen any differently than Brooklyn Beatdown. He will go 1-2 or 2-2 most likely in this bracket, but should he travel more and put himself in more high-pressure situations next year, I’d mark him as one to watch.
We have seen a rise in leagues centering around a single title in the FGC. Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, and The King of Fighters have all received their own circuits to show who is the best at their respective games. But none are more remarkable than Tekken 7’s King of Iron Fist Tournament.
In a game that has yet to see release outside of Japan and Korea, it is remarkable at how widespread the tournament series was in North America. Not escaping Red Bull’s attention, they have written an article that capitulates exactly how the series has been the fuel for this game’s much-needed promotional vehicle. In the article, they talk to Tasty Steve and Katsuhiro Harada about the game, its rise to prominence through the series, and the chances of America vs. Asia in the finals.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.
For much of the last two decades, Justin Wong of Evil Geniuses has been synonymous with American tournament success. If Daigo Umehara is the embodiment of the winning spirit (being the winningest player in tournament history), Justin is right behind him.
So with Justin making his way to Anaheim, what can we expect from America’s greatest player?
One of America’s Greatest Treasures
Justin has a hard time being stopped. He is one of the fastest players to learn the mechanics and what works in fighting games. The results do not lie on this. He has won multiple titles through the years in games like Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter V, Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat 9, Mortal Kombat X, Skullgirls, and Pokkén Tournament. He’s even a dab hand at games that he doesn’t actively compete in, like Tekken 7.
Part of this is due to his ability to take solid fundamentals across games. Another thing to note is that Justin looks for the characters or strategy that look overpowered in a game, and uses it to his advantage. This allows Justin to adapt fast and find success, even while still learning how to function within the game. By doing this, Justin usually draws first blood in regards to tournament wins, while others are still trying to get comfortable.
Back to Roots
Justin has always had a reputation of playing the very stereotypical East Coast turtle style: defensively and reacting, instead of making opponents react. He has always trusted his defensive prowess more than offensive oppression, and the results prove that it has served him well.
In Street Fighter IV, we saw a deliberate change of pace when Justin chose to play more aggressive characters in Rufus and–for a time–Yang. These characters take a much more offensive approach, and Justin made it work for the most part–at least early in the lifespan of Street Fighter IV.
However, as the game matured, so did players’ abilities to outdo Justin on the aggression front. This saw Justin pull back to his comfort zone, and begin using characters that could be played in a more balanced or completely defensive style, such as Elena and Rose. This mostly worked to Justin’s advantage, as it played on what he was most comfortable with.
In Street Fighter X Tekken, he did likewise, playing a very defensive-oriented Hwoarang and Chun-Li. And in Street Fighter V, Justin has used a very turtley Karin to gain his early success.
While this is not as exciting or flashy to the spectator, this is great news for Justin fans. Simply put, this is Justin playing to his advantages, preying on his opponents’ flaws, and playing at his best.
How Good is Karin Defensively?
Honestly, while Karin is strong while on rush down, she also makes sense for Justin’s turtle style. She has good footsies, which always plays to a defensive style’s advantage–and echoes Justin’s famous 3rd Strike Chun-Li in style. She also has good normal anti-airs, and deals good damage when she can get a solid punish.
With some weak reversal tools, Karin is not the greatest defensive character in the game, and some flaws–such as only having a DP-style move with an EX stock–stick out like a sore thumb, but the way Justin plays her has been as successful as a rush down-oriented player such as Mago.
The Late Game
Here’s the thing that is worrying about Justin. Justin always does well early in a game’s lifespan. Outside of Marvel games, however, his effectiveness in these games down the stretch are questionable at best. It may be that he plays too linear, or that he relies on old tech that worked when everyone was new. But once players begin to figure out the game, he invariably becomes less of a threat.
This has been happening for as long as I can remember. If you look at his tournament results, you can tell that the meta has passed him by when he stops entering tournaments for that game. While these are usually the titles he views as fringe games in comparison to his main titles, Marvel and Street Fighter, the fact is that relying on what he views as “broken” tech stops ensuring results. Players adapt and figure out how to counter what he is throwing in their face. This always proves whether Wong is serious about the title he plays, or if he was just in it to get a few titles before everyone else catches on.
It doesn’t mean that Justin can’t put up results in these games. But his wins become fewer and further between. He was winning nearly everything in the west prior to 2011 in Street Fighter IV, but with time it became increasingly harder for him to do so. Part of this could be attributed to an influx of international players at American events thanks to the Capcom Pro Tour. Part of this could also be attributed to his focus on Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. But given the fact that American players were also starting to defeat Justin, his own personal play has to be a factor.
The question is this; has everyone else had the time to catch up? With less than a full year of play under SFV’s belt, the meta is still far from completely developed. Justin may still have something up his sleeve that others have yet to work out, despite the unmatched level of scrutiny gameplay now comes under. There’s still likely to be a goldmine of undeveloped tech that lies underneath the surface of this young game, and if Justin finds it first and fast, then he will hold an ace under his sleeve.
Primary Focus
Furthermore, this year is different. Justin is focused primarily on Street Fighter V. He has seen the writing on the wall as far as Marvel’s health. He is enjoying the game. He is playing well, and making it no secret that he takes Street Fighter V very seriously.
While this has helped his results, he has still had a hard road to success. If we view narrow success down to solely tournament wins, he has won 12 events in Street Fighter V. Those wins came from 24 tournaments–a 50% success rate. A decent number of these were in events that were not on the Capcom Pro Tour, or were mere ranking events. In Premier events, the very top level of competition, he has not fared as well. Where he’s winning ranking events such as Manila Cup, he finished 25th at Canada Cup. If he’s not winning or at least doing well in these events, then it calls into question whether he can pull it off in Anaheim.
Final Thoughts
Justin is a player I always want to root for. He does it his way, he has great sense on how to play these games, and always has his share of hype moments–he was, after all, part of the very best moment of them all. But right now Justin has a way to go to catch up to the cream of the crop.
I’m expecting Justin to go 1-2 at Capcom Cup. Perhaps 2-2, but he will not come close to the top 8 unless he’s been hiding his final form–a very real possibility. We’ve Justin working at SFV with a focus that he rarely displays, so it would be no surprise if he has a few tricks hidden up his sleeve. Only time will tell, but you’d have to be crazy to count out the Wong Factor.
Derek “Nakkiel” Bruscas is no stranger to the highest level of competition in the BlazBlue series. From top 8 at Evolution 2015 to two-time representative at ArcRevo, Nakkiel has known his way around the anime fighter.
Now he–like many airdashers–are finding their way through the plethora of changes that came to the series with the release of its newest installment, BlazBlue: Central Fiction. The changes to the Overdrive system as well as the addition of Exceed Accel and Active Flow mechanics has completely set the game apart from the system in place in Chronophantasma, let alone the relatively simple system found in Calamity Trigger eight years ago.
With all three mechanics adding more incentive for offense into the game, Nakkiel talked with Red Bull eSports about the changes, his attempts at adjusting to them, and which characters he thinks benefits from the changes most. Read the interview here.
Wolverine-Master is known for his exploits of the Vs. series, and he definitely doesn’t fail with this display of combos. In the title, he describes these as “practical,” but not. While all of these could be done in the course of a match, they do have various timings on OTGs and assists–as well as unusual assist and character combinations–that may never see the light of day in competitive play.
Take a gander in particular at the impressive Strider TAC wall carry in the middle of this video. Actually, take a look at the entire video, because there’s bound to be something you have yet to see.
XusesGB has just released the fourth volume of his comeback compilations. With the no-chip kill mechanics brought about in Street Fighter V, this has given us even more players returning from the brink of death with and winning by hanging on to their magic pixel.
If you learn anything from this video, you should learn to kill when you have the chance if you are ahead, and never give up if you are behind. Featured in this video are matches from notable players such as ImStillDaDaddy, Cobelcog, Poongko, Mago, and AiAi–both winning and losing.
Red Bull’s Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis has been known as the Zangief player premier across three version of Street Fighter this decade. But his life may not have hinted at his future success in esports. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles during the 90s, Lewis had to deal with violence and gang activity outside during his daily life. He took to video games to stay inside and away from trouble.
On the Red Bulletin Podcast, Snake Eyez opens up about his life before gaming, his choice of character, and his career in esports today. As someone who always likes to hear the stories of why people play, it’s amazing to hear his life story and how it translates into why he is the player he is today.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.
Latin America has long been under-represented in the FGC. You hardly hear a peep out of these guys–with the obvious exception of players like KaneBlueRiver–but Capcom is looking to change that, through supporting events going on in the area throughout the year. Shout-outs to them for doing that.
One player seeing the benefits of the newly found attention in the area is Ray “DR Ray” Rosario, of the Dominican Republic. I must admit that I’ve heard little of this guy due to the lack of attention shown to the Caribbean region, so I’ve had to do a great deal of research into his play before I’d written this article. What Latin American flair can Rosario bring into the competition?
Regional Champ
From what I can tell, GAM|DR Ray was not even remotely in the picture for Capcom Cup until the end of October. Having only participated in as many events as can be counted on one hand, there was no way that he was getting in on points alone. Coming into the Latin American Regional Finals, it was do-or-die for Ray, and he chose to do. To top that off, he had to defeat internationally tested Evil Geniuses pro Kenneth “K-Brad” Bradley to secure his spot. He did so with a flourish, beating him 3-1 in winners finals, and 3-0 in grand finals, putting to bed any doubt that he can compete at the highest level.
Clawing His Way Through
One of the best tools that DR Ray has available is his choice of character. Vega is as under-represented in high-level tournament results as Latin America is in the grand scheme of fighting games. But this does not mean Vega is not viable, and I believe that DR Ray’s play has proven just that.
DR Ray has established a style that is a beautiful blend of hyper-aggressive and hyper-patient. On one hand, he is unafraid to rush in and set up situations for mix-ups and frame traps. On the other hand, he is equally unafraid to back off, even refraining from pressing buttons if he feels like it is the right approach to the match at that point. Thanks to Vega’s ability to change stances to suit, he even has the right tools for whatever style he picks. Moreover, he understands his spacing very well, and can fish properly for counter hits and whiff punishes off of even the most minor opportunities. While this is more important for a Vega player than with most characters, DR Ray does this extraordinarily well–better than other Vegas such as M. Lizard or NVT|Flash.
What really sets DR Ray apart is his use of slides. Often you see Vegas use slides errantly as a means to get in, or even as a footsies tool. This is a highly punishable move and can lead to big damage and loss of position for Vega should the other player know how to punish it. DR Ray seems to realize this, as he was using–from what I could see–his slides much more conservatively, and finding good opportunities for whiff punishes off of them.
Adaptability
One of the things that I saw that impressed me the most about DR Ray is his adaptability. He adjusts his play properly on matchups and players that at first frustrate him, often mid set.
In the linked video, you see DR Ray at first struggling on approaching Dark’s Alex. It does not take him long to adjust from dashing in and getting poked back out to jumping in on an Alex who struggled with anti-airs. He is a quick learner, and this will work to his advantage at Anaheim.
We Require Experience
The thing that is going to cripple Rosario, however, is the amount of tournaments he has played, and with whom. He has only had five events that he has participated in, and only four events in the Street Fighter IV series. He has never won an event until the Latin America Regional Finals. Further, playing against other international players, he has lost miserably. Winning to K-Brad is great. Losing to HM|GO1 and EVB|Chris Tatarian does not bode well for him. If he is struggling with players on the cusp of qualification, it’s going to be a tough road in Anaheim.
Further, if he’s having a tough time with players who have not automatically qualified, then what happens when he gets paired up with players who have? When he faces a Tokido, EG|Momochi, or Qanba Douyu|Xiaohai, what happens then?
Final Thoughts
To me, DR Ray is like the Oscar nominee that is just happy to be nominated, but doesn’t expect to win. I’m sure he’s not thinking like that, and is looking to shock everyone with his play. He is playing a lesser-used character and has far less play for people to dissect on the internet. He is a dark horse for sure, and that could all work to his advantage.
Does he have a realistic shot of winning it all? Does he have a realistic shot in winning matches? It really depends on who he plays. He is going to be on the lower end of the seeding, so he has it up against him. I’m expecting him to go two and out. But let’s see what a few more events next season will do for him. Hopefully he gets out to travel more, because his Vega is exciting to watch.
For anyone that caught the event live, Capcom Pro Tour Asia Regional Finals gave us a load of hype matches. The grand finals ultimately came down to Mago, and MOV–two players who were already qualified, but wanted to put a punctuation mark on their seasons by qualifying directly.
Both are arguably the best players of their characters, and both were showing some amazing wherewithal in the match. While the results ended with Mago taking the set out of losers bracket, the match that brought him to victory was one of note–and one that should be the pace-setter for what Capcom Cup will shape up to be.
