With the help of my Level|Up Series partners Alex Valle, AJ Papa, and Frank Reyes as well as Andrea Sams and Tournament Legacy, SoCal Regionals was a success this past weekend. The countless time and sleepless nights I put in to carefully plan and execute SCR paid off.
I’d like to personally thank Mark Julio and Mad Catz Inc., Yuuki Mizutani and Hori, Play N Trade Pasadena, GameChronix, Powersurge, Battle247, Seth Killian and CAPCOM, Triumvir Spqr, Aksys Games, and SNK-Playmore for supporting SCR. When it comes to supporting a tournament, it’s not all about the prizes you provide. To me, it’s about having a presence. It shows that you all care about the gaming community. I really appreciate that each sponsor was able to come out to support and enjoy this event.
I would also like to thank all the players and participants that came out to compete, spectate, and enjoy the festivities. In addition, I would like to thank all that joined us on the stream. Although some of you could not come out, it’s good to know that many enjoyed it at home as much as those in attendance.
And this one goes out to James Chen, David P Graham, skisonic and the other commentators that helped provide insight of the games to the audience. You all pave the path for those willing to learn how to interpret the action seen on the screen.
Congratulations to all placers/finishers of their respective games. You guys did what you sought out to do, finish on top of the competition. A special congratulations goes to Ryan Ramirez for beating out Daigo and keeping the title on US soil, namely California. It really is about the community that makes all of these events memorable. Without you all, I would have no motivation to do any of this.
I know I promised a few people that I would drink with them this past weekend, but I pretty much didn’t even have time to do that. Let’s just double it up for next time… when I’m not running a tournament.
I would like to especially thank the international players that came to SCR: Tokido, Sako, Gamerbee, and Daigo. It is always an epic time when the US faces off with international players of such high caliber. I am looking forward to seeing you all again and hopefully hang out outside of a tournament setting.
Also, thank you Kara for taking pictures and video at the event. And to Box Arena for loaning me copies of Tekken even though I did not need all of them. And a BIG thank you to the bracket judges. You guys are troopers.
If I missed anyone, I apologize. This is recovery week for me and I’m swamped at work. The brain is fatigued.
With that said, let’s go over my most memorable moments of SCR.
- Tokido’s Raging Demon
- I was front row witness to this. Ever since meeting him for the first time at EVO UCLA, he always found ways make the crowd love him. Not only is he great at Street Fighter, he has a great personality. How do you even plan such an epic win pose? Easy, he’s just THAT godlike. It also helped that we used a front viewing projector too. lol.
- Daigo vs Alex Valle - SSF4 Top 8 Winners Bracket Match
- The last time I saw these two compete at such a high level was the 1998 Alpha 3 Championships. Watching this Ryu vs Ryu match definitely took me back in time and relived how us old schoolers played Street Fighter back then. Not only was this match intense, nerve wrecking, and age-inducing, it provided me and many other old guys a lot of sentimental value.
- Stream not crashing
- What happened at EVO was a direct stab through the heart. As the finals approached, I’m pretty sure everyone was wondering what was going to happen in the grand finals. As each game went on, I kept glancing over at the stream area to see if there were any WTF reactions. Thankfully, I did not see any. AJ rushing the stage after Filipino Champ winning to announce that the stream did not crash was a big sigh of relief. The inner demon that was birthed at EVO is now gone.
- Live Dogface show
- I mentioned to Vic either last year or the year before that there needs to be a show about the OGs. When I was told Vic and his crew agreed to do it, I was nothing but happy. The best part? It happened at SoCal Regionals! This episode of the Dogface Show is definitely one for the history books.
- Seeing the OGs
- It’s always a good time when I see the OGs. Friends of many many years. There are too many of you to list, but you know who you are.
I’m sure I have more to say, but lunch time is almost over.
Jimmy