I’m not sure if that’s the best title for this post, but here goes.
I had dinner with my bromance partner Derek Daniels last night. And we both confessed how in the nineties we had Alex Valle posters on our walls, and wore wife beaters to the arcade Valle -Style. Valle was our King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and would beats on anybody who walked on God’s green earth.
I remember watching B3, and thinking how beastly Valle’s shotos were. And how, thank to the patented Valle CC trick and working at SHGL, Valle was undisputed King of A2. The only one who seemed to dispute that was NorCal’s finest Korean Robot and Heart of Steel, John Choi.
Have you watched B3? It’s fucking required reading for any Street Fighter player. It’s gorgeous and old school, when VHS was the norm. In it, you see all these OGs go to war, and Valle and Choi come out on top. Now Valle is just a fun beast to watch. Forgive me for diminshing Valle down to this, but when I watch him play, I think of Abraham Maslow’s quote, “When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem resembles a nail.” And Valle used that mighty hammer (no homo) to smash through all his opponents with amazing brutal shoto skill.
On the other end of the bracket is Korean Machine John Choi. And true Olympic style gameplay, with textbook Ken. You jump, he st. forwards. You jump in close, he st.mp. All the smarty smart stuff that when I was a teenager I A) didn’t have the patience or execution to do and B) thought wasn’t as dangerous or as exciting as the wildebeast Alex Valle.
So I always remember Choi vs Valle finals. It felt a lot like the prototype of things to come. The two greatest playstyles (NorCal vs Socal. EC vs WC. US vs Japan perhaps?) facing off. Place yer bets on ths shit folks! It was (and still is, go back and watch it) ELECTRIFYING!!
So Valle (spoiler alert) beats John Choi and is a legend. And John Choi was already a legend. And my idol worship of Valle continued. The man could play so many fighting games (SF, Tekken, VS) and was Gawdlike before the term existed.
I know, I know, I loved Alex Valle. Shoot me okay.
To this point, I don’t think US had faced Japan yet. It was coming in 1998’s Valle vs Daigo, but before then I don’t think it had ever manifested. All that existed were the legends. TMZ and Skillsmith. Stories of Gawdlike eleven year olds doing 22-Hit Impossible Combos!! Ah, the myths were ever expanding. I wonder if they had legends of US player? If they did, it was probably some Japanese Business man would say that a US player would do a 2-in-1 and then they’d all gaffaw at our ignorance.
So anyway, the World Alpha3 Championships arrive and Daigo beasts on everyone in Japan and comes to America to wait and see who are champion wins. Valle beats a Wolfe brother in typical “down to the wire, ohmigod I’m gonna faint” style play. Then, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Valle vs Daigo.
Okay, remember when you started playing Street Fighter, and someone at the local arcade beat you? Humiliated you? Remember those days? We all had them. But in your mind, you always had the best guy *you *knew, who could destroy the guy who just desecrated you. It was like always having that big brother, but in the SF world. You know what I’m talking about? Well that was Valle. No one could beat him. So no matter who beat me, ever anywhere, I thought of my hero Valle, showing up in a 1999 Infiniti, destroying everyone with on quarter, then giving me a high five and getting me drive though Dairy Queen. Ghetto Don Sneddon says it in “Bang the Machine”: noone beats Valle. No one. Not one exists that can defeat him on God’s Green Earth.
So it was time. Him, Valle, the extroverted people’s champ, vs the quiet and adolescent Daigo Umehara.
We all know what happened next. If you don’t go to youtube right now. Long story short, Valle lost and Daigo beat everyone in the building except the Wolfe brother’s Dhalsim, whom he lost to with Gen.
So like Superman vs Doomsday, or Batman vs Bane, or Luke vs Darth Vader, our hero, MY hero lost.
Daigo played nothing like had ever been seen before. People use the term combovideo in turney play, and that’s what it was like. It was like Daigo had come from outer space. In actuality, he just came from the Land of the Rising Sun.
And thus, Japan is established as King of SF and the United States like second. It was a shitty feeling.
Years later, Valle would redeem himself and beat Daigo in 3S at EVO. Somehow it didn’t resonate as much. Japan was still beating the US in everything excepy Marvel 2. Wow, big deal. When it came to technical *traditional * Street Fighter, we still lost.
Look at the last couple EVOs. Japanese KO wins Third Strike. Japanese BAS wins CvS2. Japanese Gian wins ST. Japan wins Japan wins.
Now, here is 2008, ten years after Daigo beat our champion.
And who was our champion’s number one US rival. Why it was John Choi.
You ever drive down the street and see and old classic car that’s in perfect shape? Like a 66 Mustang that’s imaculate, and you’re like, “Wow.” That’s John Choi. Mint condition.
But still, until two weeks ago, John Choi had never even won an EVO, and United States best bets were Pyrolee, Ricky, Justin, Combofiend, etc. This new generation of players. Choi belonged with Valle, Cole, Watts (although Watts is an exceptional 3S player, but go with me), and the other Old Timers, hardly playing street fighter anymore.
Yet, somehow, Choi returned like a fireball and won not only CvS2 but also Super Turbo! Wha!?
Ten years after Daigo graced our shores and took our livelihoods, John Choi defeated their NUMBER 1 CvS2 player Bas and defeated the man who’d beat him prior in ST, Tokido.
John Choi proved that the United States can be number 1 again.
Yes, it too ten years, but now, when you see anyone beat *anybody *on ST or CvS2, you can say, “yeah, but you’re lucky john Choi’s not here.”
John mutherfuckin Choi.
Crazy isn’t it. Ten years later. United States is the best again. Maybe not 3S yet (hey, Jwong/Gootecks/KoFiend **WON **their first game at SBO! I think that’s a first!) Yet now, the scales have shifted and the reign of Japanese dominance has ended. It’s like being a Rebel in Star Wars and the Death Star just got blown up. Japanese > US isn’t a certified formula in SF quadratics anymore.
It’s all thanks to the Korean Machine that took second place to Alex valle. Thanks to him staying mint condition. Thanks to him fighting to win and uppercutting more than ever. We all knew it was possible, but the fact that it was John Choi, the yin to Valle’s yang (no homo) makes it even sweeter.
I love Street Fighter.
love,
Vic
