After watching so many 3S vids, I was just wondering if the Japanese Third Strike scene has a structured ranking system, a la chess? With ratings? Is there an official 3S world champion?
I used to be under the impression EVO was a world championship, but with Daigo and KO not there this year, I wonder, “who else doesnt show up each year?”
And then, when it comes to Japanese’s elite, are Daigo and KO and Ohnuki and Kokujin and all the guys I’ve heard of as high up there in rankings as american SRKers would think? I am guessing yes, but I heard somewhere that in GGXX, Daigo’s pretty much average as far as top japanese players. shrug But like, is Kokujin the best Dudley in the world? Or just the best one with vids available on the internet?
So yeah, for those who might know, I was wondering how they handle rankings and titles and stuff out there for 3S where everyone is amazing, and the nature of their “world championship.”
A lot of players from certain areas only play in their own local arcades, so it’s hard to say who’s the best and who isn’t really.
The closest thing you’ll get to a big time championship in Japan is probably the 3 on 3 Third Strike SBO tourney.
As for the best players. The players you see at EVO are ‘some’ of Japan’s best, but a lot of other good players never come to EVO, either because people don’t know about them, or because they don’t have the time to go over to the states.
I’m disappointed that guys like Aruka, Kuroda, and Hayao have never been flown over here.
As for Kokujin being the best Dudley player, I’m not sure. I’m sure he’s up there though.
The thing about Kokujin is that most of his Dudley combos are fairly simple in comparison to the ones most high level Dudley Players do. He just tends to play smarter than the rest of them. Kind of like Pierre and his Urien.
Player rankings are changing all the time, people spend less time at the arcade, arent able to keep skill level up. Before Kokujin there was 178 before 178 there was Fujiwara etc…etc, it just keeps going. About 2 years ago Hayao was rarely mentioned due to few vids being available. Everyone thought TK was the most mazing Q player ever just cause he was the first to be shown in match vids. These day people on SRK think vids are the holy bible of 3S.
Thats not even flashy, besides, the slightly more damage that combo can do isnt really worth the risk of fucking it up.
I played both Vic and Kokujin, seriously I dont see that much difference in terms of concepts. A flashy Dudley wont win. Erotic Teacher, Fujiwara, Danna, 178, Munakata… non of them are that “flashy” really.
