My Street Fighter Match Videos from Evolution West 2007
I talked here about the strategy behind my matches at Evolution West 2007. Now you can see those matches for yourself and get a sense of the crowd excitement.
First up, it's me versus Viscant. I'm purple Bison (the dictator) versus his Vega (claw). I mostly flopped around, loosey goosey because I was pretty sure that would be enough to win. Bison has natural advantages in this match and Vega must know exactly what he's doing to win.
Next is me versus the evil Darkside Phill (DSP). DSP won the mindgame of our initial double-blind character selection by choosing Blanka versus my Vega (claw). Watch this whole match carefully because it's definitely the best of the three in this post. You can stop watching at around 4:50 into the vid when the match ends; I'm not sure why the rest wasn't edited out.
Finally, check out me vs. Afrolegends. I start with Vega (claw) versus his DeeJay. In case you get confused about the technicalities of the match, Afrolegends accidentally paused the game at one point, which is a foul that caused him to lose the round and consequently, the game (but not the whole match). Afrolegends played excellently during this match and all his other matches. He's a rising star.
Thanks to James Chen for recording all this and to Seth Killian for the announcing during the event. Seth, you did a great job, but please, please learn the difference between a "round," a "game" (2 out of 3 rounds), and a "match," (2 out of 3 games). It's actually a bit hard to follow what the score is during these videos because Seth uses these terms incorrectly throughout. But let's not be too hard on him because he did an A job overall. I especially liked when he joked about me being one of the developers of the game (referring to my role on Capcom Classics Collection 2, the version we were using in this tournament) and his jab about how I died to one of the most worthless supers in the game during my match against DSP's Blanka. What can I say, it's true!
Hope you enjoy!
--Sirlin
August 10th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
That Honda match was awesome, very dramatic! Congrats
August 11th, 2007 at 3:25 am
I absolutely loved Seth’s announcing. Much less the usual simple play by play and more well.. detailed information about the fight it’s self and some of the factors going into it. It gets boring to just hear “Mix up….. combo.. mix up.. mixup.. joke” all the time. :(
Hopefully he’ll do EVO. :O
August 11th, 2007 at 5:18 am
Damn. I can’t wait to get home and watch these (internet filter at work).
August 11th, 2007 at 8:49 am
‘’one of the game’s developpers versus one of the biggest cheaters'’
lol that was pure gold
August 12th, 2007 at 1:26 am
Sirlin, what arcade stick are you using on those videos? I wanna say it’s a Hori, but clear this out or me, and how did you get your hands on it, I saw Afrolegends had a similar one.
August 12th, 2007 at 2:11 am
I believe thats a hori stick he’s using. I’m kind of surprised you’re using a hori(japanese style stick), I though you would have been using an american style stick like Choi. Choi is using a mas systems stick like my own. Do you like the japanese style more than the american style? Could you tell me the differences? I’ve never actually played on an hori style stick.
August 12th, 2007 at 9:31 am
DISCLAIMER: This isn’t a flame, just an opinion, so plz avoid if you have sensitive feelings.
I’ve never seen a console tourny before but I thought the announcer was total overkill and annoying.
Most of the time all I heard was, “Ooooh low strong - high punch - counter head-butt - no wait throw!” and it was about 1-3 seconds after I already saw it with my own damn eyes.
Then he tries to mix it up by explaining the basics of strategy (for a game 10+ years old) in the middle of the match and that to me just sucked dry what was left of the intensity and action.
The one time I didn’t know what was going when the guy hit pause and I was expecting him to point out what happened and that Afro had to throw the match, but he was completely speechless.
You guys (the players) seemed to be totally out of sync with the announcer and the camera guy too.
He will be doing crowd control and then it will be like, “Oh hey let’s check back in on the match - oh look Blanka is almost dead!”
Then the jerky camera whizzes back and zooms in just in time to focus in on the final blow (And btw, since you know the camera guy do you think you could PLZ lend him a tripod - I mean I don’t think in the year 2007 that this would be an unreasonable request. Logically this would be more feasible than making an animated SRK logo or a 3D title and provide a lot more actual substance, so why not spend your effort where it pays off where it counts?).
For a top level match I wasn’t expecting the utmost seriousness or dead silence, but the impression I got was that if you get a bunch of drinking buddies on stage and give one a mic, then you got EVO.
So anyways, I’m just a scrub or whatever so maybe my opinion doesn’t mean jack sh*t, but IMHSO more of a ref mentality taken by the announcer coupled with a camera man in a fixed position (who is actually interested in covering the matches instead of looking at the back of some guy’s head) would go a long way.
BTW, what was with the sound of Chun Li doing her flying kick - are there other matches going on simultaneously?
In the end I was impressed with everyone (but Choi) because they didn’t fall back on shotos and provided some ST unique gameplay.
Oh hey and I gotta ask, why purple Bison - is purple your favorite color (or did they just not have pink ;) )?
August 12th, 2007 at 10:23 am
i think i didn’t know who you where when i went to evo north, but i think i faced you in a casual, and got my ass whooped. I mainly used the black Boxer, and i was struggling to figure out how to use the arcade controls (that arcade is the closest one to my house, and its a 2 hour drive to get there). I’m going to get my own stick to practice with, so i can relearn the things i already know how to do. Things like kara/renda canceling, charge buffering, and being able to walk left and right without crouching or jumping (lol). I’m not expecting to beat you, i just feel that i played way too much like a scrub when facing you and NKI, and i knew i could do so much more then what i was doing if i had my pad. I hope your coming back to evo north, mainly for my redemption as a player.
August 12th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Great matches. Thank you for sharing them.
August 12th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Hi Ken Masters. You have no idea what you are talking about. Maybe you’re just troll faking it all, I don’t know. The announcing was terrific and very appropriate for a mixed crowd of a few experts and mostly non-players. Also, your comment about Ryu shows how little you know about ST. Winning with Ryu is no joke in that game. Choi is one of the only people who can in the entire US. Only the highest expert has any chance with Ryu vs. Dhalsim, so you just witnessed a master player play a top game and you can’t even recognize it.
Matt. Japanese sticks are better than US sticks. They are more sensitive, so you can make smaller motions and be more precise. I don’t think this is even debated. The issue is which kind of sticks you’re comfortable with. I was comfortable with US sticks and could not play on Japanese sticks at all, but I made a conscious choice to switch because I know Japanese is better if only I can get used to them. I think it’s been three years since I switched and maybe only now am I up to full strength (or nearly full) on Japanese. I am using the Hori Real Arcade Pro 2. Afrolegends was using HRAP1 (and he should REALLY get an HRAP 2 so he doesn’t pause accidentally anymore). Choi is using an old-school MAS stick (US).
–Sirlin
August 13th, 2007 at 7:38 am
Good job Sirlin, Afrolegends is definetly top tier. He beats me bad in xbox live.
Not that it matters that much since it is online. I usually get a win or two in a 5-10 match set.
Haven’t played him offline and in over 8 months though. I’m sure he has improved.
And curiously enough, the first time I saw the video I noticed how close the start is to the rest of the playing buttons. Definetly an accident waiting to happen and it did… twice I believe. He should definetly get an HRAP2.
BTW. Is your stick modded ?
August 13th, 2007 at 8:24 am
Hey Sirlin:
Like I said I haven’t seen many tournaments other than a few Japanese ones on you tube where the camera was basically focused on the screen and the announcer said a lot less.
To me it was surprising that you guys are able to play so well with the announcer talking the whole way through and cracking “Look at Vega’s Bones!” type jokes.
As for ST and Ryu, I didn’t say he was the best in the game. I said ST unique gameplay because Ryu is in every game with just about the same basic move set. I’ve never really seen people use ST chars like Dee Jay that well.
I wasn’t impressed with Choi because I expected him to pick Ryu and kick ass - didn’t you expect the same?
I’m just a fan of the game not a pro playing with people I’ve known for years, so from my perspective I was just a bit disappointed with how the presentation was more focused on being at EVO than watching a game with minimal distractions during the round.
Sorry if that makes me a troll.
August 13th, 2007 at 9:55 am
One of the reasons I’m getting an American styled stick is because I’m planing to compete in evo north again and they don’t use Japanese sticks there (American arcade tourney). And on my earlier comment, when I said black Boxer, I meant the color scheme, I know who Balrog is and I used the international term for Balrog/M. Bison (Boxer).
August 13th, 2007 at 11:13 am
You know, you’d think there would have been some option by now to disable pausing, either in the game or on the controller. Maybe you could put that in ST HD.
August 13th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Alex, I suggested disabling pausing during the development of CCC2. When we had a mad dash to emulate 50 games in 6 months (20 Capcom, 30 Sega), stuff like that had to fall to the wayside. It’s amazing that I got to write new questions for Quiz and Dragons, produce 3 ST tutorial videos, write new gameplay tips for every character, and add a training and versus mode in that time.
But more to the point, disabling pausing is a very special feature in that it endangers the game from passing Sony’s requirements (therefore risking your ability to ship). Sony’s requirements say that if you have a pause feature, it must be activated by pressing Start. So we could have no pause during gameplay, but that’s a terrible answer, especially when you factor in that we DO support remapping buttons during the round if you pause. The only other option is get a special exception from Sony to allow some kind of secret button combo to pause. Even then, how would the average user know when to pause? 99% of people who buy CCC2 would much rather they could pause the game than care about our tournament situation. Anyway, a feature that endangers our ability to ship and requires special exceptions from Sony when we already had to bargain with them on other issues was not exactly a popular idea with anyone except me. And even I had to admit it wasn’t meant to be this time around.
–Sirlin
August 13th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Another option could be allowing a ‘tournament pause’ option where you can choose to make pauses only activate if you hold the button down for a certain amount of time. I saw someone suggest that to Aksys games on their Guilty Gear XX Accent Core forum and frankly, I don’t know why it isn’t in every serious fighting game.
August 13th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Thanks for answering my question. So the Japanese style sticks are more sensitive then a p360 American style stick? It’s good to know the differences, I don’t know if i could switch from my MAS stick to those funny gumball sticks.
The fighting game community in my city is pretty terrible, there are no tournaments here, there isn’t even honestly an arcade here anymore. My city has a bylaw that forbids businesses from having more than 5 arcade machines in a place of business. So the closest place I can go to play is Toronto. I really hope the online play for ST:HD is good so I can actually test my skills, and improve upon them.
August 13th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Yeah hehe that AI is laughably hard :D
That Afrolegend is very impressive. Something feels very “unique” about him and his playstyle, but with my blatant lack of experience in fighting games, I’m unable to point it out.
August 13th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Thanks for answering my question. So the Japanese style sticks are more sensitive then a p360 American style stick? It’s good to know the differences, I don’t know if i could switch from my MAS stick to those funny gumball sticks though.
The fighting game community in my city is pretty terrible, there are no tournaments here, there isn’t even honestly an arcade here anymore. My city has a bylaw that forbids businesses from having more than 5 arcade machines in a place of business. So the closest place I can go to play is Toronto. I really hope the online play for ST:HD is good so I can actually test my skills, and improve upon them.
August 14th, 2007 at 12:51 am
Pretty much. The buttons though are the real killers. Sanwa sticks(or seimetsu, depending on preference and game type) are a better then Happs innately by design I think but not by a huge amount that preference shouldn’t be the deciding factor.
Buttons though? Sanwa buttons are 100 times better then Happs buttons.
August 14th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Thanks for answering the stick question Sirlin, I’ve been using a Namco Stick for a while, it’s great for ST and Soul Calibur.
Check it out here: http://www.emuline.fr/site/uploads/pad/images/arcade_stick_namco_box.jpg
August 15th, 2007 at 3:13 am
Ken Masters - Actually lots of noise, especially from the crowd, are loved by most hardcore fighting game players. Look for a few Marvel matches on YouTube and you’ll see: Justin Wong vs Soomighty Evo 2k3, Duc vs Sanford Evo 2k6, Clockwork vs Dark Prince money match and so on. The crowd noise is huge, and everybody likes that.
As for Seth’s job, the tourney was placed at an anime convention. So many people didn’t know what was happening, since they barely know the game. He had to please these people too.
As for the camera, Evo DVDs are all pretty clear. I don’t know who taped this event, probably somebody from the community, but this is how it happens in most tourneys. Even Evo is not for profit, and is basically a tourney by players and for players, although Evo world is now the biggest tourney in the world. The events have its flaws, but they are mostly as good as you an get anywhere in the world. Singles tourneys, double elimination, many of the best players in the world, and the biggest cash prizes for fighting games.
August 15th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
I have to agree that Seth’s commentating was pretty much telling people what happened 5 seconds ago.
Personally I dislike most commentating in fighting games though. The games just move too fast and there is too little downtime for commentators to try to keep up with everything that is going on. I’d probably prefer it if for the most part they didn’t describe the actual moves much and just focused on the strategy and gameplan and such.
Standing strong against headbutt is tech.
August 16th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Hey Sirlin, if you are going to Evo next week, I hope I’ll see you there!
August 20th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
*I have to agree that Seth’s commentating was pretty much telling people what happened 5 seconds ago.*
Youtube tends to de-sync the audio of a movie really badly. I’d bet my admittedly non-cynical money on that being the culprit.
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:12 am
I use a DOA4 stick, which is all rectangular-like…and I still completely blow on it, being a life-long pad-user (I never really got into the arcade scene, seeing as there aren’t any anymore and I was 7 when they were still popular). I try to play the backwards-compatible fighters on the 360, like SF Anniversary collection, Guilty Gear XX #Reload (I can’t do ANYTHING in that game) and KOF Neowave.
Ironically, all my DOA4 is played on the 360 pad, using the analog stick.
And I’m best on a Dual Shock pad…not that I’m very good on that, either.
August 24th, 2007 at 5:20 am
Man, the pause button might have causes Afrolegends coming in first.
August 24th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
**cost, not causes
Seriously, he either needs to get a new stick or rip the pause button out of it.
August 28th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Nice Sirlin! Finally some of your match videos. I enjoyed them. Well done.
February 8th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Basically, what i hear from pros is, hori for everything, except mvc2. Because you will break your sensitive little hori in half trying to play marvel right.