For some reason, people keep asking me who my favorite Street Fighter players are. I watch matchvids and root for certain individuals just like everyone else, so i guess it wouldn’t hurt to write out an (overly complicated) answer. At least the examples should be entertaining, right?
The obvious choices are CaliPower, ChoiBoy, and watts. They’re the first names to pop into my head because they were at the top of the game when i first discovered the tournament scene. They placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd overall at B4 – the precursor to Evolution. I’ve always admired their playstyles and i still think nobody in the world has more sophisticated Shotos.
Unfortunately, it’s been a while since the days when those three were winning literally every tournament they entered. That’s partly because in their case, the complete answer has slowly become: prepared Valle, losers bracket Choi, and angry-enough-to-practice Watson. By the way, the amazing thing about watts is how he takes everyone out of their element. Look up some matchvids of your favorite players facing him. You’ll barely recognize their play.
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Instead of writing another serious strategy article, i hope nobody minds if i take a break today to share this dumb list i’ve been working on. Here are my official nominations for the category of worst slides in fighting game history. Ready?
#5: Evo2k5 ST 3on3 Grand Finals – CaliPower vs Gian
At the 5:02 mark, Gian’s Dhalsim throws out a desperation c.HK slide to escape the corner, but Valle’s Ryu sees it coming and lands c.MK xx Shinku Hadoken for 60% damage.
#4: SoCal SSF4 Winners Finals – ComboFiend vs Shizza
At the 2:44 mark, ComboFiend’s Guy gives up a 25% lead by whiffing a mistimed c.HK slide to punish Chun Li’s whiffed c.HK sweep. Shizza happens to be standing just outside Guy’s slide range, so he responds with c.LK xx EX Lightning Legs, Kikosho to take the round.
#3: a-cho SFA3 2on2 – Shinya vs Crusher
At the 2:40 mark, Crusher’s V-Sodom tries to apply some lazy pressure with two consecutive c.HK slides, while sitting on a comfortable 30% life lead. Except the second one barely misses Shina’s A-Guy and the round abruptly ends.
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If you’ve never been to a major tournament before, it’s hard to explain what it feels like to experience the main event: Evolution World Finals. There’s a widespread misconception that Evo is a Street Fighter competition. It’s not.
Evo is a fighting game community social event. This past weekend was the highlight of the year for me so far, and i could probably say the same for every year i’ve been able to attend. It really is that much fun.
I hung out with old friends i hadn’t seen in several months, some of whom had moved away to other states or countries. I finally got to meet people i’d known for many years via SRK and other forums. I even made some new friends through random conversations about everything from MvC3, to Skullgirls, to the World Cup, to chewing.
I stood in the crowd and cheered on underdogs and people’s champs (Clockw0rk, GamerBee, TheGreaterForce) taking on giants (Justin Wong, Sanford Kelly, Daigo Umehara). Sometimes they pulled off the upset, and the whole audience erupted. Other times they got absolutely dismantled, and the whole crowd winced.
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Well, my Lakers just rocked the rat bastard Celtics to force an NBA Finals Game 7 for the first time since forever ago, so i’m in a pretty good mood. I also happen to have nothing to talk about today, so let’s try something different. If i could ask for anything (fighting-game-related), this would be my impossible wish list:
1) Footage of SF2WW testers playing the game the week before release, just to see how the design team intended the game to be played versus how Street Fighter is played today.
2) Any original TZW Tape or DVD. To this day, i’ve never seen a genuine copy in person.
3) A complete history of the Street Fighter scene written by Watson, Choi, Valle, and Killian. Yeah i know this is a hopeless request, even without adding Ohira or Osaki to the mix.
4) Playable beta of Capcom Fighting All Stars. I can’t help but wonder how fun it would be to mess around with that bizarre game. They even gave Charlie his own Sonic Hurricane. I feel like there’s a void in my life, and the only prescription is Ryu’s Shin Standing Fierce fatality.
5) CvS3 in 2D!
Okay, your turn now. What’s your top five?
I just got home after buying the game and of course picked Guile (vs Balrog) right off the bat. The very first button i pushed was DF+HK. The second button i pressed was DB+HK to check if they had changed his High Kick command. Guile did a sweep. And it comboed.
SSF4!
