As like-minded game engine savants, James Chen and i first met while trying to unravel the mysterious juggle systems of CvS2, and we’ve been friends since. With all the changes taking place in the community, we sat down (asynchronously on opposite sides of the internet) to discuss everything from stream commentary to character design to combo videos.
Maj: Let’s start from the beginning. What got you into fighting games and the tournament scene?
jchensor: I got hooked into Fighting Games because they were new. I was hooked ever since the original Street Fighter II. And even way back then, I was entering tournaments for Street Fighter II. So it was just something I always did.
However, I can easily say I never REALLY got into the Tournament scene until Street Fighter Alpha 2. Previous to that, I was pretty scrubby. A2 is probably the period of time where I really made that leap from being good to being truly tournament worthy.
Maj: What was your first tournament experience?
jchensor: It was a classic Street Fighter II tournament. I think it took place at a mini-golf arcade. Me, my brother, and one of my friends were pretty good at the time, before others really got good as well. So we took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pretty easily, though I was the one that got 3rd place.