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Added by Brad Shoemaker on Jan. 13, 2009

The Escapist's Jared Rea (MrJared to you and me) tipped me off to a post over on the NeoGAF forums collecting a series of recorded Street Fighter IV matches between Daigo Umehara, the number one SFIV player in Japan based on in-game ranking, and a list of other top Japanese players. I have fun playing Street Fighter games because I know how to do most of the moves and have a vague sense of which jump kicks have higher priorities on which characters. But these dudes are just on a whole different plane of skill.

  


The NeoGAF post has more match-ups against Crimson Viper, Bison, Sagat, Chun-Li, and others.

It seems first-person shooters have gotten the most attention in the competitive gaming world, but for my money I find fighting game matches between skilled players the most exciting and technically interesting to watch. Certainly they're closer to an actual spectator sport, in my mind. There's much more depth there than you might realize from watching a single match. Here's an excerpt from an eye-opening IM conversation Jared and I had (edited into paragraph form) that reveals a little of that depth.

Me: Did they really differentiate Ryu and Ken that much in Street Fighter 3?

Him:
Yeah, Third Strike is probably where they have the biggest differences. Major differences in their normals, all their specials act differently and have different properties, totally different super arts. But the biggest difference is that Ken has great chains and Ryu really doesn't. So up close, Ken can always go medium punch to fierce to hadouken and it's typically safe to push someone back. Ryu doesn't have anything of that magnitude up close. Really, Ken just has dozens of weapons over Ryu. Stuff like EX hurricane kick in mid-air that can cross people up that Ryu can't do. Ryu's only advantage is that he can apply solid pressure with EX hadoukens to control the ground, where Ken typically has to either combo his way in to lead to a knockdown, or he just doesn't do it at all and pokes them into making a mistake for an easy SA3.

Me:
That's an interesting contrast. But it's gone in IV?

Him: Actually, I think they retain most of those differences in IV, only with different properties. But without parries, Ryu winds up being the better choice. Because now, unlike Third Strike, knocking down is a huge deal. Now Ryu has better options after the EX hadouken for easy damage and knockdown, more consistent shoryuken (thanks to jumping being risky again) and of course, the ease of comboing his ultra. His ultra is also extremely safe, so that helps. The way it's shaping up though, US plays Ken, Japan plays Ryu. But everyone plays Sagat. How appropriate.

I can totally respect that kind of hardcore devotion to the minutiae of one single fighting series, even if I can never fully grasp it. But it does make me really want to put some serious time into learning Street Fighter IV a little better.

And no post about Daigo Umehara is complete without this gem of a video, which is second for second the most exciting competitive gaming video I've ever seen. Dude comes back from basically zero health to perfectly parry every single hit of his opponent's super art and then bust into his own combo to own the match. The crowd's response tells you all you need to know about how impressive that feat was.

  


I'd pay to watch stuff like this.

Filed under : Street Fighter IV

91 Comments

Gunner
on Jan. 13, 2009
Insane

ZombieHunter
on Jan. 13, 2009
thats me playing :P
I wish ....

LK
on Jan. 13, 2009
Wow, that second video is unbelievable!

Meltbrain is online
on Jan. 13, 2009
Holy crap. That dude is good. I've been getting some of my skills back playing SSF2THDR the last week or so, managing to rack up all the achievements, but I'm no pro for sure.

GUnitVer1
on Jan. 13, 2009
The competitive/tournament level fighting game scene is indeed a different beast, which is why fighting games are still alive and well (Street Fighter IV will indeed be the second coming). Watch match videos like these makes you want to step up your game a notch, but it is the amount of dedication that matters in which divides the tournament level players from the rest of the field.

dtran1212
on Jan. 13, 2009
these guys showed some total domination

jakob187 is online
on Jan. 13, 2009
I used to be like that with SFII Champion Edition.  Looks like I'll have a new game to be like that with.  = D

HallwayGiant
on Jan. 13, 2009
Always worth posting EVO 2k4 video, what a amazing comeback.

RHCPfan24
on Jan. 13, 2009
OMG. Those people are amazing. Too good...perhaps.

Artie
on Jan. 13, 2009
Anyone who hasn't seen the Justin vs. Daigo video, they're lucky.

The first time you see it, you just lose your mind at how amazing it is. And to think he did it under pressure at a tournament, man that's amazing.

bobpie24
on Jan. 13, 2009
Dude! that's amazing.

ManMadeGod
on Jan. 13, 2009
That second video was crazy. Great fight

Death_Burnout
on Jan. 13, 2009
I certainly agree with you that fighting games are more close to an actual spectator sport, when brought to a high-competitive level. More so than First-Person Shooters that's for sure.

Seraphim
on Jan. 13, 2009
Now I gotta go pick a fight with someone to see if I can parry like that.

Ututu222
on Jan. 13, 2009
I don't even play that many Fighting games but... damn, that guy's good!

TripMasterMunky
on Jan. 13, 2009
I agree fighting games are also my favorite competitive game to play. I don't go that hardcore though to learn frame data and all that. I mainly just play with friends who are also into the game for fun.  I may research a few things here and there, but I usually stop at frame data lol.

MasturbatingBear
on Jan. 13, 2009
LOL Showing the Daigo Video. Daigo is the best Street Fighter II player in the world (he literally travels and beats people in their homes, same with street fighter 3 and now sf4? dudes amazing. And definitely agree with the watching fighting game matches thing.

MrRedwine
on Jan. 13, 2009
So, does SFIV have any kind of recording features?  Will we be able to watch the most amazing matches of the day?  That would be awesome.  Especially if it include camera support so we could see the player's faces as they played.

GUnitVer1
on Jan. 13, 2009
I don't think console SF IV has replay support of any kind.

lordofultima
on Jan. 13, 2009
Man, that full parry never gets old. I watch it all the time.


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