8/19/2008 - Afrolegends vs. Daigo

After watching the spectacle of competition that is the Olympics, it occurred to me that they should show videogame competitions on TV. Maybe not on NBC or any of the broadcast networks, but definitely on G4TV at least. There's plenty of drama and excitement involved in gaming competitions... just watch the excellent King of Kong documentary and you'll see what I'm talking about. Heck, you could even go into the personal lives of the gamers like they do for the Olympians.

The gaming competition they should really highlight is the annual Evolution (EVO) competition based on fighting games. Most gamers have had their shot at fighting games like Street Fighter II and they know that the major lure of the games is using your favorite fighter and testing your skills against others, with your status as a gamer determined by how long you can stay on the machine fending off challenges from other players. You can imagine what it's like then to have the best fighting game players from across the world in one tournament competing for money and, of course, glory.

If there is a Michael Phelps of the Street Fighter world, that would have to be Daigo Umehara of Japan. I've already blogged about his amazing full parry comeback in Street Fighter III Third Strike. This display of his prowess is something else. In the game Super Street Fighter II Turbo, you win a match by winning two out of three round. In this match, Daigo (as Ryu) easily wins the first round against Afrolegends (as Balrog). In the second round, though, it looks like Afrolegends is dominating against Daigo, beating him until he's dizzy with little health left. Daigo could merely let Afrolegends win this round and beat him in the third. But that wouldn't be Daigo, now would it?



There are so many things amazing about this performance that you can pick something out each time you replay it. Daigo's control over Ryu is nothing short of a miracle. Just look a the way he can precisely distance himself for the hurricane kick crossups! And something else I just noticed recently is how he was doing the short hurricane kicks so he could build up his Super for the very end. And he was doing this in the middle of his comeback! I bow to you, Daigo...