He actually did alright in his first game against Chris G. I think that proves he wasn’t just mashing.
Thing is, I fully understand dropping a game to Hulk/Sent. That’s a deadly combo and just one mistake or calling an assist at the wrong time can lose you two characters and the match.
But to not learn from that and have it happen again right after? I guess a lot of guys’ brains would shut down in that situation.
But still…Top 48???
Yeah, this Evo (as well as DP, Tom, and Roski) has made me realize that it’s time for me to take on a new fighting game(s), one that will make me a fundamentally stronger player. SF4 has been my first and only. I’m thinking I may only casually get into Ultimate and SFxT and focus primarily on 3SO.
Just goes to show how silly MvC3 is. No dis to Noah, just that a game with X Factor in it has too many elements of random.
Apparently he was blowing people up in AE prior to the tournament as well. Have a feeling we’ll be seeing him alot more as long as they continue to make fighting games…
But like I said before, rewatching the kid’s streamed matches I think a large part of it was the kid was just pretty solid and the other part is that the people he was playing just didn’t have it in them to be the bad guy or just flat out couldn’t handle the pressure. To a certain extent the pressure of playing Noah, especially after you see he’s not just mashing buttons, is somewhere close to playing in a Grand Final with crowd reacting to anything you do to him or he did to you as well as the at the worst time of his streamed matches their was about 30,000 viewers watching you. Think it just took a bonafide champion thats handled that kind of pressure to finally take him out.
That’s no excuse, because EVO is surrounded by pressure.
I guess people should start taking their little 5 year old brothers to guilty gear tournaments to get that free money. All the vets will be too intimidated to compete.
What Noah did was just fish for the option select fierce with hulk and sentinel. People kept falling for that. He played to win 
I’m not saying that is an excuse. Just saying some players just can’t handle that kind of pressure. Its kinda like a reverse JWong effect except instead of dropping combos and playing “poorly” an of a sudden because you can’t believe you’re going toe to toe with him you end up playing scared and missing some routine reversals/combos because you can’t believe an 8 year old just bogo’ed 2 of your characters off of a seemingly random Hulk/Sent DHC and if you let the idea of “this kid might beat me” then thats probably whats going to happen. Like I said before its not an excuse as the better player should win regardless, just simply a possible explanation.
good luck CT! Also heard the shout-outs to DP from James Chen during the stream. he was talking about all the players that put the music together and he mentioned “Jibbo the Gen player” 
@old man doom
I see what you’re saying… But you gotta ask yourself why this 8-year-old-wong-factor isn’t (and never has been) relevant to other games. Nervousness might not have been the factor at EVO… That’s why I made that “5 year old at a guilty gear tournament” comment. Sure there’s gonna be talented kids… but we’re talking top 48 in an 1000+ man bracket at EVO. An 8 year-old has proven to be probably top 95% in the world in this game, and there’s nothing that you (or the majority of MvC3 community) can do about it. I think that’s more of the problem here, rather than nervousness…
I don’t really think its that big of a problem honestly. Listening to the commentary on his earlier streamed matches he was apparently doing very well in AE casuals over the weekend or something like that. Judging from that and his showing in MvC3 this kid might very well have a real future playing in competitive tournaments. I mean it was a little over 10 years ago that a 16 year old prodigy named Justin was taking down all the vets in MvC2 and that did nothing but help the fighting game scene, kinda hoping the kid can travel in a similar path. And the reason why you’ve never seen this happen before is 3 fold. One, the games as a whole are being made simpler to pull in a broader audience. Two, it takes some dedicated or crazy parents depending on which way you look at it, to take their 8 year old kid to a fighting game tournament in Sin City filled with a bunch of “old men.” And lastly, besides the 8 year old playing “Through the Fire and the Flames” perfectly on Guitar Hero and a few young kids I’ve heard doing fairly well in FPS’s you will rarely see an 8 year old playing with that much competency or skill. Not to mention they have to go to school, they probably have a curfew, they have to ride in the back seat of a car, and they have to talk their parents into driving them to some hole in the wall, staying with them the entire time there, and having them spend a lot of time around a bunch of “20 to 30” year old men cursing up a storm. Not exactly the best thing to do according to the parenting handbook.
Double post
Did a check as to where this kid is from as there is a whole thread dedicated to him in the Evo forums. Apparently he has 2 older siblings who also play competitively(15 and 17), he plays on XBox live regularly(probably getting blown up for requests right about now since someone threw out his gamertag in the thread), he’s been to a few tournaments in Cali(most notably the Japan Relief gathering), his parents and uncles sponsor him and his siblings, and from all accounts he’s dedicated to getting better in AE, UMvC3, and SFxT(when that comes out). Sounds like the perfect storm at this years EVO and someone to watch out for in the future.
Jwong at 16 was twice the age of this kid… An extra 8 years of experience goes a long way.
You make good points for the most part though. Most parents aren’t gonna fly with their kid to vegas for a tournament. However, I guarantee you that if parents see that their child has a talent, most will make sacrifices to get them to tournaments. MLG has already proven this to me.
But I think the guitar hero comparison is a little lopsided. Guitar hero relies on two skills (reaction and dexterity). Fighting games use those skills + a hundred other things you have to learn and worry about. So in general, it’s going to take a much longer time to reach “top-player” status…That’s why within 20 years of competitive fighting games, there has yet to be a top player at such a young age (til now). Because it can take years of experience before you can hang with good (lets not even mention top) players…What happened at EVO is just that…
which kinda what I was hinting at in the first place. So I guess the discussion is over? xD
Yea they don’t make games like they used to although if you look back MvC2 was kinda the beginning of a “simpler” fighter just based off of it button setup. That being said I’m really looking foward to 3SO as I’ve always enjoyed that game, just haven’t had a platform to play it on in years…
Noah is the next CJ Truth while CJ is gonna be the next JWong.
Watch ._.
The difference now, is that so many parents are supporting their kid’s hobbies.
Learning how to deal with crowds is part of the tourney experience- and is one of the areas where online warriors can suffer when they enter tournies.
They often don’t know how to handle being the heel, or just the hype in general. Even Lucky’s can make me choke up sometimes.
That said, if you play enough tourney, online helps with covering the holes you get from just playing local offline (mostly matchup experience, and not getting predictable due to playing a person not a character)
The reason why you’ve got the 8 year olds being awesome is the same reason why you see 3 year old kids playing mozart. Children’s brains make more connections than an adults. I.E. They learn much quicker. The reason there’s so few isn’t because it’s hard, it’s cause most parents aren’t gonna let their kids play these video games in their spare time like they’d need to reach these levels. I fucking beat Mario 2 for NES when I was 2. All I did was damn play games. I dominated the NES as a kid. I struggle with those same games now. Out of practice + not picking up on it as quick is KILLING me. 
The stress of the real world doesn’t hit kids either. Sitting at home at 8 years old afterschool playing Guitar Hero… is the only thing in the world that exists at that time. Complete undivded attention and immersion. I can’t stay up too late playing games now cause “I’ve got work tomorrow.” “I need to eat soon.” “I gotta do laundry now.” I can’t turn my brain off to games like I could as a kid, on TOP of not learning as fast as I used to.
Edit:
And in response to 7th, the 8-year old isn’t the only person not being relevant in anything else but MvC3, I’ve been seeing that a lot.
I have to agree with Smurivs on the Noah topic, minus the kids learn quicker part. Just as Smurvis said, “the stress of the real world doesn’t hit kids.” People typically have other things on their mind as they grow up, but for a kid what’s in front of them is just enough. This is why some teachers say to think as a child when trying to learn something. A kid is typically not gonna complain about lag or frames or whatever, just play and learn what they need to do in order to win. For example, when you first started learning how to speak you didn’t correct someone as to how something should be said. You listened and practiced saying it until you got it down.
I only disagreed with the kids learn quicker part due to games I may have struggled and/or beat as a kid not only are easier for me today, but I feel have helped me in other games as well. Once your brain picks up on certain habits and techniques its hard to get rid of them. Super C was a pain to finally beat, but projectiles flying all over the place seems like the norm now.
EDIT: I believe that its less kids learn quicker and more so that kids are willing to accept, unlike with adults.
But was he getting top 48 like that in other games? Like I definitely recognize that the kid is not average. I know he’s really good. And I do agree with you 100% that kids learn faster, and don’t have to deal with the responsibilities that adults do.The main thing is just that in the past 20 years, there has been no other kid has proven to be better than the top percent of competitive players of a certain game. Like we’ve never seen top GG/CvS2/Tekken/etc players who were 8-year-olds…
Even in Japan where arcades are openly available to kids (unlike here in the US), you would think that they would be able to learn even quicker and reach a high-level of play in such an environment… but it’s never happened. Not even in Japan where they get games early and are surrounded by players who may be better better than our own (on average).
So again, I do agree that kids have more time to play / practice / learn these games. In a way they actually do have an advantage.
The only thing that has me in doubt is that these factors have never been proven relevant until MvC3 came along.
Thanks to everyone who wished me good luck.
Why is it a big deal whenever a kid or girl is successful in the competitive fighting game scene? Kids and girls are routinely successful in the competitive shooting and strategy game scene and they’re praised for their accomplishments. In the fighting game scene though I see nothing but backlash. Only time they seem accepted is if it’s an attractive girl but at that point players are more concerned with their beauty than respecting their actual skills.
Baltimore, MD–Xanadu Games Monthly/COOKOUT next weekend. 8/13. Would love to see some NC representation…
:lovin: