The release of Ultra Street Fighter IV before Evo 2014 produced a tidal wave of uncertainty. Veterans were scrambling to find the right character, rookies appeared on the radar and hungry for the throne. But the waves have relatively calmed in the past year, and only a few fresh faces still stand among the community’s top players.
One such face is Anton “Filipinoman” Herrera, a Chemistry junior from the University of California at Riverside. This 20-year-old’s mastery of Rose earned him notable finishes at Evo 2014, Westcoast Warzone 4, and Evo 2015. And if his consistent placing isn’t noticeable on paper, it turns him as one the hot topics in r/Kappa. We recently had the chance to speak to Anton about his climb to the top and other various topics.
Editor’s note: Some of the responses below have been edited for clarity. All photographs courtesy of Robert Paul.
Jason Yang: How did you discover the fighting game community?
Anton “Filipinoman” Herrera: I always loved fighting games since I was a kid. I’m absolutely terrible at other games. I lived in the Super Arcade area for years. So even before I knew about the fighting game community at all, I went to Super Arcade.
But what started me in fighting games was a place called Shuffle N’ Cut at Rancho Cucamonga. Mando, one of the Wednesday Night Fight streamers, hosted Inland Empire. That’s where my real competitive fighting game career started, going to those locals even though I was 14 or 15. I discovered the competitive scene around 2008 when I played Dead or Alive 4, and shifted to Street Fighter IV when it came out in 2009.
JY: What was your reaction when you first discovered the Dead or Alive community?
AH: The Dead or Alive community was very different from today’s fighting game community. Dead or Alive was a common online game. When I watched Dead or Alive, it was broadcast on networks, so I practiced because I wanted to be on TV. I don’t know if that’s what I want [us] to strive for at his point, being in the community as long as I have now, but back then that’s what I got me into the competitive fighting game scene.
JY: Can you expand on that last point a bit?
AH: Nowadays, the fighting game community is very grassroots. There’s a lot of hype behind it because of the pure passion that players bring to the table. In comparison other eSports professional events, there are a lot of things that limit what [we’re] all about. The fighting game community is an open tournament that anyone can enter. That’s the raw nature of the fighting game community: anyone can enter and win and get better and continue to challenge themselves to win, rather than playing for the money and fame.
JY: What was it like transitioning from Dead or Alive to Street Fighter?
AH: Street Fighter was my first 2D game and the first game that I studied and kept up to date with the tech. The mentality of online warriors is they think they are already the best. I wanted to prove I was as good as the top players. The transition went well because when I was able to attend tournaments, Street Fighter IV was a new game for everyone.
JY: So has Rose always been your character of choice?
AH: I wanted to use Viper but dropped her after a day. Then I switched to Zangief because you can mash to victory. That tech stopped working in Super so I started using Rose, easy and efficient.
JY: You describe her as easy and efficient. How would you describe your playstyle? Is it similar?
AH: She’s very rushdown and I abuse her good moves, such as her close range medium kicks, far roundhouse, and slides. People have described my style as disrespectful, but whatever works is what works for me.
JY: What was it like growing up in the fighting game community?
AH: It’s cool because people think that because of your age, you are better than what you are at doing what you do. But [age isn’t] a factor in terms of playing. Daigo said [being] older means you have more experience, but I disagree. I think it’s the way you practice and your knowledge in the game. As long as you have your own style, you can do well. Age doesn’t matter. Maybe we have better reactions, but I wouldn’t even say that because I’ve seen older players have the reactions that I wouldn’t have at any age.
JY: You’ve been in an arcade setting since you were a kid. What are your thoughts on the importance of arcades for the younger generation?
AH: Super Arcade teaches you about the arcade culture: if you lose, you have to stand up, walk to the back of the line, and hold that for a minute. That experience teaches you the importance of playing the game seriously. If you lose three points in an online match, who cares?
It also gives us a place to play. That’s why we have such a strong community. When Super Arcade was closed for renovations, there was no place to play. We had to go to Alex Valle’s house to play every Wednesday, which isn’t as convenient or as big as Super Arcade, where [we’ve seen] 100 entrants for three straight weeks.
That’s why arcades are such a big deal with the fighting game community, but that’s also why they hinder, because it’s such an open playing field. You need places like these, but it isn’t like League of Legend where its competitive gamers can hone their skills online. For fighting games, it’s hard to access competitive games with no lag at all.
JY: Can you comment on the current Super Arcade situation?
AH: The Super Arcade situation is unfortunate, but SoCal, even without the presence of a weekly local that everyone attends, still collectively outperformed most American regions at Evo with five players from SoCal in top 32. I hope for the best and Watson should know he has my full support!
JY: Now that Ultra has been out for more than year, how have you witnessed it change the scene?
AH: I feel that Ultra Street Fighter IV is the most balanced game in the series, and objectively it is also the “endgame” for the series. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. The scene has undeniably grown with this game, possibly because people feel they can use whichever character they want or even because they see success [with] characters they like. This past year has been the pinnacle of Ultra Street Fighter IV, and gameplay level isn’t going to be higher than what it has been. This is it, and people are either motivated by that or at the very least excited for the new Street Fighter game that is soon to arrive.
Herrera with Team Wednesday Night Fights at Evo 2014
JY: What do you think the community and developers need to do to push fighting games to the mainstream level?
AH: The players are doing fine, but I feel like companies such as Capcom and Namco need to invest similarly to how League of Legend invests into their competitive scene. Capcom needs to put more money into prizes and pot bonuses to encourage expansion. Money is a petty thing, but it’s still what people play for. And knowing a lot of money is on the line makes the matches more exciting.
JY: Can you talk a bit on how you prepared for Evo 2015?
AH: I actually didn’t practice that much for Evo. My only true practice was the Thursday before Evo. I was stuck in the League of Legends vortex. Before that, I was actually in crunch time, raising all my grades to maintain my GPA, so I didn’t practice during the school year. With the hiatus of Super Arcade, I had nowhere to go that was nearby, and no motivation to practice, so I barely practiced for Evo!
JY: Did you expect to go as far as you did?
AH: Absolutely not. I expected to lose to sako, actually. Instead, I underestimated and lost to Damdai in pools. But I somehow pulled it off versus Snafoo in one of the most sloppy fighting game matches in my gaming career. [Due to] lack of practice, and tilt, I didn’t think I was gonna go far. But I surprised myself and even though ninth place hurts, I was very happy with my performance.
JY: In terms of overall strength, where would you place Rose in Ultra Street Fighter IV? Which characters are above her?
AH: Rose is probably number 10-15 in the game, with good matchups [against] a lot of the top tier, but she loses to a lot of random characters and goes even with key characters. Top three is easily Evil Ryu, Akuma and Ken, probably followed by Ibuki, Seth, and Elena. Other characters that are probably better than her include Cammy, Yun, Juri, and Rolento. That’s just off the top of my head.
JY: You’ve become known for emotional responses to certain wins, such as at Evo. Where do these emotions come from?
AH: It depends on the context of the emotion. I’m never really “popping off” at another person or the person that I just beat, it’s just that, when I play Street Fighter, I actually feel like I’m not as good as I perform, so I surprise myself a lot. I feel Street Fighter as a community has a very difficult time telling each other that they’re good at the game. They’re very good at pulling out the negatives of a person’s gameplay and personality rather than pulling out the positives. This is why I feel a majority of Street Fighter players aren’t sponsored, because we spend a lot of time trying to tell each other, “You aren’t fundamentally good at the game,” rather than telling each other that we played a good set and that we are good at the game. The Smash community does this very well, which is why they have a lot of support from large sponsors.
JY: How do you feel about being seen as an antagonist on r/Kappa?
AH: I feel like I’m less and less of an antagonist to r/Kappa. I personally may view the game different, but for the most part, I haven’t really done anything to provoke Kappa into trying to expose me as of late. This interview may spark something, but otherwise, I’ve actually posted on Kappa a few times and mostly had positive responses.
Most people on Kappa watch the fighting game community because they’re interested in the personalities and gameplay that the games have to offer, and they found r/Kappa because they actually do enjoy playing and watching fighting games. But I feel that there are a few nuts in there that seriously encompass about 100 of the Kappa members on alt accounts.
r/Kappa is actually kind of fun to read, the things anonymity can do. I’ve never had someone actually come up to me and say the things they would say on Kappa for sure though. I have, however, had people come up to me and apologize on behalf of Kappa to say that not all Kappa members are bad, and I agree.
I want to apologize to r/Kappa for popping off on the entirety of their community and the really cool foreign players that they sent to Final Round for that one popoff–it was pretty unwarranted to say a big, “Fuck you!” to the entire community that actually just wants to make the community hype. But to the selected few that make dozens of alternate accounts, what I said was definitely warranted; the popoff should have been much more specific in target. And thanks to Kazunoko, KitasenjuDJ, and Infiltration for understanding that what I said was definitely not geared towards them.
JY: What does your future look like?
AH: I plan to play a lot more and go to every local now instead of picking and choosing. I need to travel more and win majors. With the SoCal scene becoming bigger and bigger, there will be more majors. The fact SoCal is more unified in a larger region is impressive. So it’s just play and play, to unify all the SoCal communities.
JY: Any advice for the fighting game community’s next generation?
AH: Just play. Learn and play and look up the proper techniques. Study your character, apply what you read, and create your own style. If you can’t go to tournaments, play online. If you have the ability to travel, do that as well.
For more, you can follow Filipinoman on Twitter.
