Street Fighter 4 - Season Summary 2009

Classic Fighting Games Street Fighter IV
1

I wrote a season summary at ESR and thought it was a good idea to write it here too (especially for corrections and additional data you may have).
I’ll spare you the corny introduction as you’re already familiar with the scene obviously.

So what exactly happened this year?

International & major tourneys

[details=Spoiler]
Sinsation (February 7-8)
attendance: ~80 players, videos: here

  1. Gootecks (Balrog)
  2. Joe “ILOVEU” Ciaramelli (Sagat)
  3. Justin Wong (Guile, Rufus, Akuma, Chun)
  4. Andre Lambert (Bison)

Final Round XII (March 13-15)
attendance: 256 players

  1. Justin Wong (Rufus)
  2. Gootecks (Boxer)
  3. Joe “ILOVEU” Ciaramelli (Sagat)
  4. Marn (Boxer, Rufus)

Gamestop Nationals Finals

  • Japan (January 18)
    attendance: 128 players, videos: here
  1. Iyo (Dhalsim)
  2. RF (Sagat)
  3. Kindevu (Rufus)
  4. Riki (M.Bison)
  • Korea (March 21)
    videos: 1, 2
  1. Poongko (Ryu, Seth)
  2. Janet (Balrog)
  3. Laugh (Ryu, Chun Li)
  4. Spider Tao (M.Bison)
  • US & World Finals (April 18)
    coverage: here, videos: here

  1. Justin Wong (Rufus)

  2. Mike Ross (E.Honda)
    3-4. Jason Cole (Balrog)
    3-4. Antwan Ortiz (Balrog)

  3. Daigo Umehara (Ryu)

  4. Justin Wong (Rufus)

  5. Iyo (Dhalsim)

  6. Poongko (Ryu)

WCG Fighter Club (April 26-27)
attendance: 256 players, official website: here, full results: here, videos: here

  1. Justin Wong (Rufus, Abel)
  2. Arturo Sanchez (Dhalsim, Seth)
  3. Nestor Corchado (Sagat)
  4. Joe “ILOVEU” Ciaramelli (Sagat)

SBO Qualifiers @ Stunfest 09 (May 9-10, France)

  1. Marn (Rufus, USA) & Justin Wong (Balrog, USA) <- taking Europe’s spot for SBO 2009
  2. RickyTTT (Ryu, Spain) & HellTPM (M.Bison, Spain)
  3. Ryan Hart (Ken, UK) & Zak Bennett (Sagat, UK)

SBO Qualifiers @ Denjin arcade (June 6)
full results: here, videos: here

  1. Combofiend (C.Viper) & Alex Valle (Ryu)
  2. Ed Ma (Akuma) & Ken-I (Rufus)
  3. Joe “ILOVEU” Ciaramelli (Sagat) & Arturo Sanchez (Dhalsim)
  4. Moval (Blanka) & SoMuchDamage (Sagat)

Devastation 2009 (June 19-21)
attendance: 133 players, official website: here, videos: here

  1. Justin Wong (Rufus, Abel)
  2. John Choi (Ryu)
  3. Ed Ma (Akuma)
  4. Ken I (Rufus)

Evo 2009 (July 17-18)
attendance: 1024 players, official website: here, full results: here, videos: IGN.com (needs subscription), here (matches not covered by IGN)

  1. Daigo Umehara (Ryu)
  2. Justin Wong (Rufus, Abel, Balrog)
  3. Ed Ma (Akuma)
  4. Sanford Kelly (Akuma, Cammy)

Gods Garden Invitational (August 7, Japan)
videos: here

  1. Mago (Sagat)
  2. Uryo (Viper)
  3. Daigo Umehara (Ryu)
  4. Akimo (E.Honda)

Shiozawa Cup 5vs5 (August 13, Japan)
attendance: 46 teams (230 players), videos: here

  1. Team Neko Punch: Nyan (Ryu), Misse (Akuma), Bonchan (Sagat), Iyo (Dhalsim), Daigo (Ryu)
  2. Team VF High Motivation: Koedo (Sagat), Sutoraikun (Ken), Fuu (Ryu), Yoruno Teramachi (Sagat), Itabashi Zangief (Zangief)
  3. Team Sakamoto Shosa: Mahoshojo Zangitan (Zangief), FAX Gimoto (Blanka), Darui (Dhalsim), Yuru (Ryu), Sakamoto Shosa (Sagat)

Tougeki / Super Battle Opera 2009 2vs2 (August 14-16, Japan)
attendance: 32 teams, 64 players, official website: here, full results & coverage: here, videos: here or here (with French commentary by Puyo)

  1. Gosho (Rufus) & Kyabetsu (C.Viper)
  2. Iyo (Dhalsim) & Shiro (Abel)
  3. Mago (Sagat) & Nemo (Chun Li)
  4. Umeso (E.Honda) & Dashio (C.Viper)

West Coast Warzone (September 4-6)
full results: here, videos: here

  1. Marn (Rufus, C.Viper)
  2. Alex Valle (Ryu)
  3. Ed Ma (Akuma)
  4. Yeb (Gen)

Super VS Battle 2009 (September 11-13, UK)
attendance: 108 players, official website: here

  1. RickyTTT (Sagat, Spain)
  2. Shirl (Akuma, Italy)
  3. Ryan Hart (Sagat, UK)
  4. Zak Bennett (Balrog, UK)

Bar Fights 2 (October 11)
official website: here, videos: here
East Coast (Justin Wong, Arturo Sanchez, Marn, Sanford Kelly, “Joe ILOVEU”) vs
West Coast (Mike Ross, Ed Ma, Alex Valle, Combofiend, Ken I) 5-0 (1st set), 5-1 (2nd set)

Seasons Beatings 4 (October 16-18)
attendance: 300 players, full results & coverage: here, videos: here
Singles

  1. Daigo Umehara (Ryu)
  2. Justin Wong (Rufus, Fei Long)
  3. Joe “ILOVEU” Ciaramelli (Sagat)
  4. Ari “Floe” Weintraub (Sagat)

Teams 5vs5

  1. Team Best Friends Forever: Justin Wong (Rufus), Joe “ILOVEU” Ciaramelli (Sagat) and Noel Brown (Zangief).
  2. Team WTF: Sanford “Santhrax” Kelly (Cammy), Ari “Floe” Weintraub (Sagat) and Vegita-X (Zangief).
  3. Team Daigo: Daigo Umehara (Ryu), Larry (Zangief) and Moses (Rufus).
  4. Team Puerto Rico: Jose “Frodo” Llera (Ryu), Ryan “Fubarduck” Harvey (Akuma), Eduardo “Vvv scrub” Perez-frangie (Balrog).

Active Gamers: Triple Threat (November 14)
full results: here, videos: here

  1. Marn (C. Viper)
  2. Justin Wong (Rufus)
  3. Ari “fLoE” Weintraub (Sagat)
  4. Alex Valle (Ryu)

NorCal Regionals 2009 (November 21-22)
official website: here, full results & coverage: here

  1. Ricky Ortiz (Rufus)
  2. Alex Valle (Ryu)
  3. Peter “Combofiend” Rosas (Abel)
  4. Hsien Chang (Akuma)

DreamHack Winter 2009 (November 26-27, Sweden)
attendance: ~100 players, official website: here, videos: partially here

  1. Ryan Hart (Sagat, UK)
  2. Xian (Dhalsim, Singapore)
  3. Yagami (Dhalsim, Sweden)
  4. Zak Bennet (Akuma, UK)

Korea NStarGame 2009 Season 1 (November)
official website: here, full results & coverage: here, videos: here

  1. Poongko (Ryu)
  2. RealRaiz (Rufus)
  3. Laugh (Ryu)
  4. M.Lizard (C.Viper)

NEC X (December 5-6)
attendance: ~250 players, videos: singles, teams
Singles

  1. Justin Wong (Rufus)
  2. Flash Metroid (C.Viper)
  3. Sanford Kelly (Akuma, Cammy)
  4. Joe “ILOVEU” Ciaramelli (Sagat)

Teams 3vs3

  1. Justin Wong, Noel, Perfect Sin
  2. Eduardo Perez, Marn, Flash Metroid
  3. Sanford Kelly, Andre Lambert, Evil Rahsaan

WCG USA Holiday Heroes (December 12-13)
attendance: 128 players, official website: here

  1. Joe “ILOVEU” Ciaramelli (Sagat)
  2. Arturo Sanchez (Seth, Dhalsim)
  3. Kevin “Dieminion” Landon (Guile, E.Honda)
  4. Phillip “KDZ” Atkinson (Rufus)[/details]

Local & minor tournaments

Spoiler

from the US:

  • Battlefield Arcadia #1 to #9 (videos: here)
  • House Of Cicada (videos: here)
  • Game Unicon (videos: main, side, teams)
  • The Box Arena ranbats (videos: here)
  • Arcade Infinity ranbats (videos: here
  • Temple Arcade ranbats (videos: here)
  • Adnan’s Bar Fights (videos: here)
  • Wallcade series (videos: singles, teams)
  • Digital Mayhem series (videos: here, here)
  • New Castle Fight Night (videos: here)
  • Battle For Bisonopolis (videos: here)
  • Smithtown Play n Trade (videos: here)
  • LA Riots (videos: here)
  • Bar Fights 1

from Japan:

  • Nagoya Street Battle #1 to #10 (videos: here)
  • TRF weekly tournaments (videos: here)

from Europe:

  • too scarce/chaotic to gather and list :<

Bonus round - funniest moments of 2009

[details=Spoiler]

  1. Liston Fail: [media=youtube]wMHc32ygldk]match, [2. Evo footracing: [media=youtube]siDQuyiMEW8]Floe vs MrWizard](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNkgp-iDhcU/media), [3. Danford vs Mariodood - live stream humiliation: [media=youtube]TzZzZv5QxJM]1st encounter, [4. [media=youtube]MmH_K5ZkYVM#t=3m50s[/media]
  2. DSP getting owned online - best moments: [media=youtube]Vl70bnMSmW4]1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6gLrUWDJHE[/media), [6. [media=youtube]_1jpH07LYcY#t=3m05s[/media]
  3. advanced Sagat technology presented by [media=youtube]4C0F_aVAnFU[/media]
  4. Daigo baffle: [media=youtube]AuM60G3fyRA#t=3m40s[/media]
  5. cockblock of the year: [media=youtube]UaWf8v00jVs[/media]
  6. [url=http://frame-advantage.com/beta/images/gifts/img_0262.jpg]Chris Hu t-shirt](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7duU65wVao[/media)[/details]

Additional media

[details=Spoiler]- photo gallery of all major events in 2009: http://karaface.smugmug.com/ESports

  • Super Street Fighter 4 trailers: [media=youtube]XM1LpLC7dfU]New Contenders, [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIMbpuK_K1w[/media][/details]
    notes:
  • results are listed only for first 4 places because a lot of tourneys lacked further placing details and i aimed for a consistent format
  • some attendance numbers are missing or approximated
  • the tournament classification is based on attendance numbers, player pool quality and geographic provenience (also entirely subjective)
  • if someone wants to paste and/or enrich this data on SRK wiki or anywhere else, please feel free to do so
  • please try to provide sources for any adjustments
2

this is a fucking awesome post. It’s great. It tracks all the major tournaments of the year to show the consistently top players.

3

Thanks for the post Aquashark, good stuff.

Let’s hope 2k10 is even hyper-er-ier…

4

awesome post Aqua :tup:

5

Excellent post man, this is the kind of thing that makes sites like this worth browsing. People who are new to the scene and game will learn alot from this.

Really good stuff. Should be stickied.

6

shoryuken!!!

7

Thanks a LOT for this thread! I didn’t know the SVB’09 winner was from Spain, I always thought there’s almost no level here compared to other countries, now I have more videos to watch :slight_smile:

8

The Bonus Round was awesome. Sanford clearly has mastered the Saikyo Style!

9

Hey, even im in there…

oh.

10

heh, no hard feelings man… i bet Sanford’s Dan can beat most of us. it just happens to be funny :wgrin:

PS: you can take your revenge on GGPO Alpha2 anytime :woot:

11

Bonus Round ftw. Hadn’t seen the evo races lol.

12

I liked the funniest moments of 2009. I missed some of them.

13

Aquashark wins my heart and my soul throw. True story!

14

http://shoryuken.com/entry.php?b=1459

January

[details=Spoiler]Smithtown Play N Trade - 9 jan (32 players)
LA Riots II - 16 jan (8 players - invitational)
TRF Nakano - 15 jan (~32 players)
Japan 3vs3 Nationals, Tokyo #1 quals - 16 jan (38 teams)
House Of Cicada 2 3vs3 - 17 jan (20 teams)
Nagoya Street Battle 12 3vs3 - 23 jan (58 teams)
Japan 3vs3 Nationals, Kantou quals - 23 jan
Battlefield Arcadia X - 24 jan (49 players)
Console Warzone Invades Power Play Gaming - 31 jan (43 players)
Japan 3vs3 Nationals, Kansai #1 quals - 31 jan (31 teams)[/details]

February

[details=Spoiler]Japan 3vs3 Nationals, Kyushu quals - 6 feb
Battlefield Arcadia XI - 7 feb (33 players)
Japan 3vs3 Nationals, Chubu Nagoya quals - 13 feb (25 teams)
Sunroute Cup (Denjin Arcade) - 19-21 feb (27 teams)
Japan 3vs3 Nationals, Hokkaido quals - 21 feb
Level Up Series #1 - 27 feb
GVN Winter Brawl 4 - 27 feb (106 players)
Japan 3vs3 Nationals, Kansai #2 quals - 28 feb (29 teams)[/details]

March

[details=Spoiler]World Game Cup #3 (Cannes, France) - 3-7 march (141 players)
Battlefield Arcadia XII - 6 march
Godsgarden #2 (Tokyo, Japan) - 6 march (50 players)
Japan 3vs3 Nationals, Chubu Nagoya #2 quals - 7 march
Final Round XIII - 12-14 march (258 players)
Japan 3vs3 Nationals, Tokyo #2 quals - 13 march (49 teams)
Battlefield Arcadia Special “Double Impact” - 20 march
Nagoya Street Battle 13 3vs3 - 21 march (48 teams)
LA Riots III - 27 march[/details]

April

[details=Spoiler]
Akihabara Regions Tournament 5vs5 - 3 april (6 teams, 43 players)
West Coast Warzone II - 2-4 april (35 teams, 177 players)
Japan 3vs3 Nationals Finals - 4 april (14 teams)
BattleField Arcadia XIII - 4 april
NSB in Tokyo - SuperStreet Summit 3vs3 - 17 april (32 teams)
More Than Gaming - 24-25 april (103 players)[/details]