I thought this was one of the best interviews with a fighting game player. Maybe because it was just a transcription of his thoughts on various things but it gives me a new view of Daigo.
Alpha 3 just also happens to be one of the games that Daigo was most known for. It was probably the game he was active in for the longest next to Super Turbo.
CVS2 was pretty much Street Fighter.
Daigo played CvS2, which does have Guard Crushing.
It’s called Guard Crash in Japan, which can very easily be mistranslated as Guard Clash. It’s actually happened in previous interviews with Daigo. 
He’s definitely not talking about parrying (which is just called blocking in Japan… fire up your JP copy of dreamcast 3s and see for yourself).
Which fighting games were booming when SFIV came out?
Well it’s a pretty serious revival for FGs right now, while SF4 was in arcades, there were a ton of other games that were either out or came out that were hugely popular in Japan, including Tekken 6, VF5, KoF2k2UM, BB, MBAC, as well as a boom in other fighting games coming out that were less popular like TvC, Power Instinct, donjon shit, etc.
I’m pretty sure Daigo really liked Alpha 3. Also it appeared in CvS2 which Daigo was also crazy good at.
Yeah definitely forgot about CVS2. Nobody remembers CVS2. :lol: K groove Sagat raged c.HP’s equals free crushes.
Heh…that’s a good question. I’m going to assume he’s going to talk about the Japanese arcades that were starting to get a lot of new releases around the time SFIV came out (Tekken 6, Arcana Heart 2, Guilty Gear AC, BB, Sengoku Basara etc.). New fighting game were popping up all over the place in Japan even before SFIV came out and plenty of games you’ve probably never even heard of. It’s just SFIV garnered momentum from far more due to how highly anticipated a new SF series was in the west. Maybe he’s just trying to say that he believes SFIV came out at almost too perfect of a time when there was just a sea of new stuff coming out that people were playing but almost nothing with the name recognition SF had.
In my personal opinion SF would have done pretty well even if it was the worst SF game since Street Fighter the Movie. It’s just pure name recognition that people especially in the states had for SF. It’s just since the game was developed with the SF fan in mind and precisely hyped and advertised to the masses it was the perfect storm that improved the game literally to the Modern Warfare of fighting games. Before SFIV Tekken, VF and Soul Calibur were the only fighting games really making sales worth talking about in the US. Now all of those games have pretty much bowed down to SFIV. If you had asked me if all of this was gonna happen with SF 2 or 3 years ago…I would have said you’re crazy. Multiple millions of sales for a SF game would just be unheard of considering how hard it was for Capcom to sell anything else. They marketed it right though…that’s for sure.
Capcom did a lot of the work Evo was trying to do by putting a IV in front of SF’s name.
No I didn’t forget about CvS2, but CvS2 isn’t really Street Fighter.
And yes, Alpha 3 was the game Daigo was known for, but when was the last time he played it?
Anyway you cut it, that quote doesn’t make any sense.
I didn’t really see it as a boom though. To me, it seemed like SFIV was the game that revived the scene. Tekken, VF5 always had a great following (and KOF to a lesser extent), and BB fit into GG’s niche (also came out after SFIV). So I honestly didn’t really see any sort of revival, but it could have been different in Japan.
It’s also interesting to compare some of the things he said in this interview with what he said in the Arcadia earlier this year.
eg. "“Right now, there’s nobody younger than me that I feel threatened by.”, “I have mastered nervousness and tension.”
vs.
“The interviewer asked if he thought it?d be hard to win against Justin, and Daigo comments that he was scared.” (Gamestop Tourney)
Maybe it means that he only started feeling this way recently?
I’m not hating, but a lot of people do that. Concentration. Doesn’t necessarily make him a robot, just able to absorb himself in the moment. But yes, Daigo is pretty damn ridiculous.
Yeah I laughed too when they called him tall.
Well when does an interview from a Japanese person ever make 100 percent sense? He definitely wasn’t talking about parries that’s all I can say for sure. :lol:
I guess you could consider Daigo tall for a Japanese guy but he ain’t pushin more than a typical girl’s height in the US. Five six at most. The only Japanese players I’ve seen with any real height are Kindevu, Kuroda and KSK. KSK is practically Godzilla in Japan.
As far as Daigo being scared of Justin…yeah that was probably just considering early on during the game’s release when J.Wong was one of the few Americans that could actually make Daigo sweat from any pore. By now though Daigo has a handle on most people’s playing styles in SFIV and I can’t imagine him being afraid of anyone anymore. He can definitely lose to anyone but Daigo definitely feels at this point that there is no one that could outclass him in overall skill. He can download just about anyone in SFIV after a long set. I would assume his comments are mostly directed towards the people that are playing SFIV but yeah. Daigo himself apparently after Seasons Beatings IV told J.Wong something to the effect of “you’ll never beat me because you fight me like an American”. As in to say he only plays well enough to punish mistakes that are commonly made by American players. Whereas he believes the Japanese are stronger in whiff punishing and not whiffing as often.
Get rid of the revenge meter to start with, there is no good sense in rewarding a player for getting his ass kicked.
Good interview.
He can’t say shit like that when he hasn’t even won a major tourney in Japan.
…Which was the last SF game before SF4, so it makes sense he’d talk about it being “removed”
Yeah but his BP speaks for him. Daigo kinda purposely stays away from SF tournaments in Japan. He’d rather just play and prove he’s the best by just winning consistently outside of tournament events. Nearly all SF tourneys are one match any ways so even if Daigo was participating in them consistently he wouldn’t see himself at the top of a bracket all the time. Not that BP should be the number 1 way to rate a player but he’s pretty much number 2 in overall BP next to Mago. Especially with how many points gets taken away from you for each loss it’s undeniable how strong Daigo is to keep his points up consistently. Not to mention Daigo pretty much has Mago’s number right now and Mago is otherwise considered the king of SFIV in Japan.
3rd Strike was released after Alpha 3.
And even if it wasn’t, it’s the only SF game that’s been really played for years leading up to SF4, so while he probably he is talking about Guard Crush, it still doesn’t make any sense.
ST and Vampire Hunter/Savior are also some of his main games (which the interviewer never bothered to bring up) and they’re pretty offense-heavy for games without Guard Crush.
It’s most likely the writer’s fault for how dumb and inconsistent the article is though, not Daigo and his translator.
The guy obviously started following the scene in 04 with the Parry vid, and wrote the piece for like-minded morons. Blimey.
Subtle. Well done.
Unless I totally misunderstood that >_>
Anyways the article was most definitely an interesting read. Enjoyed it.
o right im dumb
Well, he probably wrote it for the site’s readership, which probably isn’t the majority of the people on this forum.