A Conversation With EVO's SF4 Grand Finals Winner, MD|Luffy

Is this eSports?

I saw someone using one of those at PAX Prime last year! It completely boggled my mind. Is it considered better than a Stick? Or just some different?

Did he found One Piece yet?

Didn't expect this to be on the site! Thanks Patrick!

I think that it has the potential to be better. It seems like it would give you the highest degree of accuracy when executing frame-perfect controller inputs, but I've never actually used one. I really want one though so I can see how long it would take to learn to do a standing 720.

Awesome! I watched EVO live to see killer instinct and it had me cheering and shouting like I was watching some MMA. I fucking LOVE killer instinct and almost want to buy an xbox (almost!) just to play it.

I wish they would put Killer Instinct on the computer. I tried to enjoy SF I really did but I just don't like the visual style (I had a super nintendo and street fighter 2 back in 1992 and have played virtually every SF game).

There was so many tears at EVO this year, I think I counted at least 8 people on stage on finals day that had tears rolling down their cheeks.

Thanks for doing this interview Patrick, would love to see you do more stuff about the fighting game community/Smash Bros. scene.

Somebody mentioned it but yeah, Maxwell McGee was at EVO this year, he loves fighting games and was pretty much solely responsible for content of that kind appearing on Gamespot the past few years.

This was a great read thanks @patrickklepek hope to see more of this in the future.

@starvinggamer: Thanks for clearing that up for me, as someone who just watched from the side lines without knowing much of the intricacies, it helped.

Justin Wong is the man.

Great interview, Patrick!

" My family doesn't treat me differently, as games aren't really a successful thing to them. It's not like I've graduated with a PhD."

It's kind of sad reading that. I'm glad his friends and the community could congratulate his achievement but it sounds like his family have such a poor attitude towards his achievement.

Watching all of EVO has made me really want to pick up fighting games, so I've been trying my hand at a few. Hoping for s SSIV release on the PS4 and if not whatever SF comes next.

Yeah, neither of the two surprising things is all that surprising. When you're playing at that level you rarely make input errors regardless of controller choice. And many players pick characters because they like their design/personality/backstory instead of their tier list position.

but... Whens Mahvel?

Lol truer words have never been spoken.

Oh, sure. None of those people will ever get top 8 at evo though. The top players generally have some weird reason for their attachment to characters other than what's flavor of the month.

I do that every single EVO. This time it's Skull Girls. Trying to pick up some of that Big Band tech. In 5 months I'll realize I'll never be good enough to actually have fun online and stop again. Rinse and repeat next summer.

Watching EVO just makes me long for my younger days when I could take on anyone at my local arcades. I was never THE BEST or anything, but I had a lot of fun and won far more than I lost.

Now my achy old hands just can't keep up and my reaction times are so slow compared to younger kids who play I really don't stand a chance in any serious competition or even just online in random matchups. But EVO always makes me nostalgic.

Most of the time I go to great lengths to look forward rather than backwards. But I really miss playing fighting games well. Also; Get off my lawn you darn kids.

Nice interview! EVO is the best, even for someone like me who rarely plays fighting games. Luffy's list of dudes he brought down in order to win the title is truly impressive.

This is cool, loved evo this year and can't wait for next year.

I remember watching a little bit of Evo earlier in the year on the site. Thought it was pretty cool.

This was my visual approximation of Luffy after winning the Grand finals.

Thanks for the interview Patrick! I'm happy that Giant Bomb covers FGC stuff, especially now that Max McGee is no longer at GameSpot, and I don't think they're going to have any more fighting game features.

Thanks for covering fighting games, Patrick!

For those that are new to the FGC and also find yourself entertained by the drama of Sports Entertainment please stop by reddit.com/r/kappa. It's what we like to refer to as WWE-sports. There are some pro players and commentators that post regularly (Xian, Mike "the 4th Ross, Gootecks, UltraDavid etc...). The humor there can be dark and somewhat negative sounding at first glance so I recommend lurking for a few weeks before posting anything so you understand the flow of things. They have a bad rep in small circles of the FGC because of their relentless badgering of "scumbag" players and managers, but Kappa donated around $3k to send three people to EVO this year (Alex Myserssss, Tamba Bison, & Fullschedule) who they feel represent their values of calling people out on their BS, and trying to be a decent human being in real life.

Be warned if you are homophobic you're not going to have a good time as Kappa has a deep love for it's Trans members...deep. Also there is typically a daily fetish post related to feet, anime, thick, and or asian. Not sure how that became a thing but yeah.

Also Noel Brown beats women and the handicapped, stay away from him.

@teabaggins: r/kappa are just the opposite face of the same scumbag coin.

Anyone half decent would do well to stay away from that cesspool.