It definitely is, especially if it’s a joke character, like Dan, or in Tatsunoko vs Capcom, Doronjo.
well an advantage to sticking to one character through thick and thin would be discovering new strategies and tech because you’re grinding with that character for wins by any means necessary in the game’s rules. instead of leaving to a stronger set of tools by picking a new character, you have to get creative or just lucky to win. most people aren’t going to be happy with just getting lucky wins so they come up with stuff that evolves that particular character in bad matchups. imo, it stretches the games life span and interest in the game but if all you do is play for money, then maybe it’s better to counter pick.
Mastering a character in both good and bad match ups and winning with both puts you at a far higher level than being good with someone and masterful with a main, and using the secondary for bad match ups for the main. You’ll never master your main character if you can’t get through the thick and thin. It’s not even about honorable play, it’s about being a true master in the character you chose. That sets you apart from people who hit a plateau. Of course, some characters is extremely hard to win with, but look at Hawk and Honda players, like Kusumondo who was so good at Honda that he beat one of the best DJ players in the country, with a match up that goes 3 to 7 or 2 to 8 depending on who you ask. That’s incredible.
20 years, it’s a long ride. He’s still in good shape. Sure at one point a few years back in some clips, he was wearing a full suit. Glad he dropped that look.
Regarding the issue of playing multiple characters not being admirable, I think we may be looking at it from a slightly incorrect angle. I feel that Otochun’s statement has very little to do with honor or any really abstract aesthetics. It’s probably a line of thinking along a mostly common phrase around the world:
“If you have time to do X, you could be doing Y.”
In short, I think he feels that all the time you spend learning to play several characters at a top level could be put toward making a main character that much better, constantly trying to surpass that character’s current limits. He may feel that learning several characters isn’t admirable because, at the end of the day, it really is something anybody can do given enough time…there’s no real sense of awe there, possibly. Playing one character and yeah, playing through their weaknesses and bad matchups sure, but mostly sticking with that one character on the principle of sticking to your guns probably shows more focus and dedication than otherwise.
Could be wrong, though.
Great interview! Many thanks to all those involved. Now I have a desire to visit Nagase Autobahn. LOL
Nice! been looking forward to this. Thanks so much
edit: just skimmed through it . I love the oldschool stories. I need to find time to read through the whole thing from beginning to end sometime soon
Thank you for reading guys.
More interviews with our favorite top japanese players soon!
Pony/Gunze interview plzz
I got hoop dreams coach. I wish for an interview with either Kurashashi, Shooting D, Gian, or Hakase.
Yuuvega man, that dude is way too cool.
Hiroyan, he’s coolness points are through the roof as well.
I’ll do my best to contact ARG, Pony, MAO, Gunze, Shooting D, Gian, Hakase, Yuuvega, Hiroyan, Toutanki, Mayakon Komoda(this one is easy), Noguchi etc etc. And as i said before these guys has Confirmed(in queue): Mattsun and Kurahashi.
My bridge to contact them is Aniken, he could help me to contact some of your requested players. this take time, sometimes is a tedious work, mostly because of the language barrier, so, be patient 
Oh we’re not trying to rush you or anything. If anything, we appreciate the work you’re putting into getting into contact with these guys, working with the translators back and forth, etc. Keep doing your thing phil.
thank you bro!
It’s also a lot of work for the translators who do this for free. I’m starting to think we’ll need another one or two people who can translate.
Wow, after reading this in more detail There’s a couple of things that stuck out
Obviously he doesn’t mean not to adapt, but I tend to sometimes try something i’m not too comfortable with. I take it as you gotta MAKE what you do work with the other player… which is definitely a new way of thinking about it…
wow wtf is jikko… whatever… googles
… baseball?! wow that’s some cute and adorable artwork.
I’d be great to follow up and ask if they can record their matches from the Saturday events. We see no footage from that area …
You know, that’s a great suggestion! I’ll pass it along. The only problem is that they may not want footage of them online if they’re worried about being researched by other players.