What games are you entering(Official or not)?

Tyler: My original plan was not to enter anything.  I felt there was more than enough to do in the way of seeing hyped matches, hanging with friends, meeting the pros and of course, Vegas.  Then I went from entering no tournaments to entering all these tournaments in order:

Street Fighter 4.  Because I’d be an idiot to go all the way to Evo and not at least play SF4.  Soul Calibur 4.  I’m seemingly regarded as one of the main 3d fighters here so I had to represent the genre. Plus I still find the game fun.  3v3 Super Turbo.  When I saw that CigarBob was returning, I decided I wanted to enter his tournament to get the chance to play (and get wrecked) by the SF legends in what would be considered ST in it’s truest form.  Also team tournaments are fun.  Blazblue.  This is the the tournament where I think I’ll get destroyed the hardest but I’m loving the game too much right now to ignore it.  Blazblue 3v3.  Team tournaments are fun.  Tekken 6.  As much as I’m looking forward to T6, the only reason I’ll really be entering this is because it’s free.  I’d much rather learn the game first and just watch the top players go at it but we’ll see how I’m feeling at the time.

Steffan: Street Fighter 4, STHD Remix, Soul Calibur, Blazblue 3v3.

James: I’m entering SFIV, 2v2 3S with Norman from Regina, and 3v3 ST Vanilla with Shane and Tyler.

Shane: SF4, HDR and ST teams.

Whats your goal at evo?

Tyler: Being a generally modest player, I have no plans to do amazing at Evo.  I know that I’m not at a high level and I know how good people can possibly be at these games.  Mainly my plan is to perform as well as I can and only lose the matches I deserved to lose.  That and to overall soak up all the excitement from being at Evo.  But again, Evo to me is mainly going to be a vacation as opposed to a competition.  TST will be my competition.  But don’t worry.  I always try my hardest in every fight and always attempt to win them all.

Steffan: Take each match one at a time and see if I can make it out of pools.  Meet and play some top players, may not be possible but will try to anyway.  Just enjoy the scene, we have 4 good players going and I hope we can represent well.

James: Not go to go 2 and out, and to also promote the Winnipeg scene to fellow Canadians and Americans alike.

Shane: To win SF4. However that will be a tough goal, so my secondary is to do well enough that Winnipeg gets back on the fighting game map for having great players.

What are you looking forward to most?

Tyler: As a player, considering I’m currently on the Blazblue craze, I’m looking forward to the 3v3 for that the most.  As a spectator, I’m looking forward to seeing SF4 regionals.  I absolutely love grudge matches and I simply cannot wait to see SoCal vs East Coast.

Steffan: Playing in SF4. Since it is going to be the first ever EVO tourney to have SF4, it is going to be interesting. The first EVO champion in this game will be crowned, and I have the opportunity to participate. If I was not going to be excited, I would be surprised.

James: It’s Vegas! There are a shit ton of things to look forward to. The biggest would be the tournament finals on Sunday. Also just seeing all the people from around the world just come together to the biggest competition in Fighting Game history. I’d like to see Choi and Valle play in person as I believe they are awesome to watch. Some of the new generation players such as Combofiend and Ed Ma would be cool to watch as well.

Shane: SF4. This may be the biggest tourney ever for any fighter.

What else are you looking forward to?

Tyler: For the SF4 finals, I most want to see Daigo and John Choi hopefully beating Justin Wong, the inevitable fights between Daigo, Alex Valle and John Choi and to see Mago serve EVERYONE a demoralizing piece of humble pie.  I’m also excited to see how well Shane performs.  Especially against anyone with a name.  I wouldn’t mind seeing the Tekken and Blazblue finals as well.  I don’t remember if the rumour about Tomo going to Evo is still true but if it is, I’d honestly want to get his autograph and see him play a Hyper Fighting match.

Steffan: Probably Tekken 6. It would be an opportunity to play one of the games that has not come out yet. If I get a chance to play in the tourney, I wil. May drop a tourney to play in it.

James: I’d say sightseeing would be a pretty big thing, and just chillaxing with the other Canadian Fighting Gamers such as the GTASF, Regina, Ottawa, Alberta.

Shane: Playing Japanese and American legends.

How are you going about practicing?

Tyler: Well I’m going through a crash course with Blazblue.  I’m attempting to learn as many of the combos and get used to the flow of the game as quickly as possible along with hopefully learning a couple tricks in the matchups.

My SFIV is mostly sticking with the games at our gatherings.  The main things I can see myself wanting to learn at the moment are srk xx FADC Ultra and the Daigo combo after a lvl2 FA and I’m doubtful I’ll get either of those down pat before Evo.  I also think I’m nearing my glass ceiling with the game (and no, I’m not quitting and still plan on learning) so I’m not doing too much more with SFIV before Evo.

SC4 I’m pretty much going cold turkey outside of the one or two sessions I’ll do with Jason and Steffan before Evo and ST will be cold turkey too.

I’m personally not too concerned about my performance at Evo.  I’m mainly going for the experience.  This I believe might benefit me in the long run though because I know that if I’m too concerned, I will most certainly choke.  But again, Evo to me is mainly going to be a vacation as opposed to a competition.  TST will be my competition.

Steffan: I have been working on my combos and spacing in training mode for SF4. Since Honda will be my main, I have to make sure my defense is top notch. Playing with all the guys in the community helps with that too. Shout out to BMike for  helping me out with that one lol.

Shane: Playing offline and on like everyday.

Do you expect to level up significantly while there?  To the point that you’ll dominate tst.

Tyler: Haha.  Dominating at TST is likely not happening unless my Jin execution suddenly becomes godlike or Jason suddenly becomes terrible at SC4.  I might learn a few tricks in each of the games I’m entering but it’s hard to say and it’ll depend on who I’m facing.  I don’t learn too much from getting completely slaughtered.  Out of all the games, I think I’ll probably end up learning the most from BB and SC4 because the former is still so new to me and the latter I played so little of.  I definitely will attempt to get some games in with as many of the good players as possible just to get the feeling of playing with people that refuse to let you make a single mistake and realize what I should really be doing.

Steffan: That has yet to be seen. I can say that I will probably learn quite a bit from watching and playing against some of the best competition in the world. But to say that I would level up and dominate TST? Well that is getting a bit ahead of myself. There is only one constant that will remain before and after the trip: I will still own Duong at Tekken.

James: I expect to learn a lot from Evo, but will it help me dominate TST? There really is no way in telling. Since Shane is going, it’s hard to say if I can beat a guy who’s got way more experience then I do in terms of picking things up and incorporating them into my game. Not that I haven’t gotten better, but it usually takes me a bit of time to get used to it. So I’ll say a safe “no” to me dominating TST IV.

Shane: Not really. I think I’m close to the top level in North America, so I may level up but I don’t see it as huge.
I would like to regain my ST skills though. I was going to dominate TST anyway.

I’d like everyone to join me in wishing the boys luck at evo.  Good luck boys rep us well.  PUT WINNIPEG ON THE MAP

Name: Jerome Fulgencio
Handle: AznDestiny

Which games do you play?

Jerome: I play Street Fighter IV, Super Turbo and 3rd strike. I have tried a lot of other games like Melty Blood, Arcana Heart, Guilty Gear and the Alpha series.

How did you get into fighting games?

Jerome: I grew up in the states and lived near a lot of arcades where my uncle would take me almost every weekend

What was that like?

Jerome: It was really fun, I would play a lot of different games including some fighting games. And the arcades are always busy/ have people in them.

What made you decide to get into competitive gaming?

Jerome: Well I just wanted to be able to play street fighter with more variety of people besides just my friends. I never thought of it as competitive gaming at first. I just ended up starting to learn more strategies and found myself going to tournaments and playing online more.

What is your style of play?

Jerome: The style of play depends on the opponent I am playing against. I usually try to feel out how the opponent reacts when put into certain situations then I would apply that into the way I play.

Who is your favourite fighter and why?

Jerome: My favourite character would probably be Ken because he’s the only shoto out of the 3 (Ken,Ryu,Akuma) who actually has shoes in his Alternate costume.

What is your current favourite game and what is your goal for it?

Jerome: My current favourite fighting game right now is Street Fighter IV and my goal would be to get the combos right.

What is your long term goal?

Jerome: My long term goal would be to learn most of the characters so when I go into a match i know how to play them.

How do you go about practicing?

Jerome: I play ranked matches or find people that I lose to a lot and play against them. When you play ranked matches the points system makes you want to play your best all the time and gives you motivation. I also practice combos in training mode and try to get them right.

What is your biggest accomplishment been so far?

Jerome: Beating a lot of Zangiefs online and getting over 5000 Battle points.

I meant overall along with tournaments and what not.

Jerome: My biggest accomplishment overall would be doing pretty good in tournaments and learning Street Fighter IV in more detail such as frame data.

Anything else you’d like to say to the community?

Jerome: I think that more people should come out to tournaments, play more matches online against locals or fight players more skilled than them self. They will level up their game and get better.

Interview by: nYo

With the calendar flipping to a new year means we are that much closer to getting access to Street Fighter 4 on console. I think it should be really obvious to everyone that the game will be the main focus of our scene and probably the entire scene in general. Right now there are 6 potential events that will happen that should feature a fighting game of some sort. The first one should be the SF4 launch party. Which happens Feb 21. Details are here. That will be the first tournament, it’s more of a fun event and I believe it’ll be free entry. I’m really hoping we get a good turnout for this and will have a lot of new players who will stick around.

For the smash players there’s a lot to be excited about as well, as we will be hosting a tournament when top BC smasher Blunted_Object and his brother Noobking are in town. When it will be is to be determined sometime soon. I’m hoping it can run at the same time as the SF4 tournament as it would make things a lot easier. You smashers better up your game as I have high expectations of you guys, j/k, I hope you guys will be inspired by the results. I love the smash scene here and I hope this will make it even stronger. I posted this up on the Smashboards and I doubt many of you saw it or will see it on here but I’m willing to help you guys if you are willing to setup bi-weekly events to keep interest going. If enough people express interest and would come out it wouldn’t be a big deal to run this. I mean if Saskatchewan can do it I don’t see why you guys couldn’t as well.

There are a few more events that are pretty much expected now. After the launch tournament next one is Baselan most likely. This should be a big event as there are a lot of changes coming to the Baselan events. Should be very exciting and I hope you guys will come out and support this event as you normally do. This should be the first Street Fighter 4 tournament where people have had a few months to practice. Should be interesting to see who will come out on top. Of course other games will be featured at all the events we do, depending on when they come out and who’s interested.

Our yearly tradition of TST should happen again sometime around the sametime as last year. This being our local major and you guys should know the drill on it now. It should be bigger and better than last year. After this depending on how things work is comic con. This event will most likely feature SF4 as well but will be a bit different as to the other games that will happen. We haven’t discussed this one much but it should be the most interesting one event of the year. Baselan should follow sometime in early November and you know the drill on that. The events are always. The final one is the most important one of the year. Fight for the future will pretty much be a smaller version of TST with proceeds going to a charity.

Those are the events we’ve got planned so that’s a lot of events going on. We are planning to run Ranbats again this year for SF4, so look forward to that. As most of you know I’m getting married in 2010, so I may have a social. It’ll be a somewhat different social as if it does happen I’m running a tournament, cause I’m a nerd like that . I have no idea on when that will happen or if it will happen. There may be other things in there but those are the events that should happen. We are also doing some stuff with NoLAG and may do some other stuff with them. Should be interesting to see how that turns out.

Anyways off to my plans and resolutions for the year. I am planning on going to WCC2 and Evo this year. Depending on time and funds I may try hitting up T10 as well. So I’ve got a lot of tournaments and what not to prepare for. I’m hoping people are willing to gather more often this year. If more people are interested in coming out to the weekly gatherings at my place by all means come by. If too many come out and we need more space we will relocate to another location.

My new years resolutions are as follows:

1.) My yearly resolution that never works but I plan to get to 130lbs this year. I am currently at 115lbs. I need to get my ass out to the gym and eat properly.

2.) I plan on playing more games this year as I have not played much in the past few years due to my addiction of sitting on the computer desk doing pretty much nothing. Which leads to….

3.) Spending less time on the PC. I spend too much time on the computer being unproductive for the most part. I have a lot of games and other things I can be doing so I’ll be doing them…..hopefully.

That should be it for now. Again I hope we keep getting everyone’s support to keep the scene alive. We wouldn’t be doing this without you guys. So keep coming out and help us spread the word. As I’ve stated several times before, “THE MORE THE BETTER”. Thats it for now. Peace out.

-nYo-

Guess I’ll talk about the scene locally and overal.  Even though there has been a lot happening for fighters this year, I say its part 1 and things will be even more epic in 2009.  This year saw the release of Super Street Fighter 2: HDRemix(ST:HD for short), Blazblue, Tatsunoko vs Capcom to name a few.  Of course the year also contained the arcade release of Street Fighter 4.  I considered the game to be the holy grail and hopefully it will lead to a lot more players coming into the scene locally and overall.

The local tournament scene had its ups and downs.  With Korea leaving his post temporarily things got off to a slow start in February.  Kang and I did what we could to host a tournament mid February.  It had a good turnout for smash but due to circumstances out of my control that was all that we could run.  I always enjoy seeing you guys so keep coming out and supporting your scene and I’ll do everything I can do hold tournaments for you guys.  The day was miserable out so I’m glad a lot of you guys came out.  To the surprise of few Wilson won the event.  Him along with Russel and Janos, I consider to be the top players in the city.  Sorry Adam your so close to cracking in but you can never put it all together to finally win an event.

Anyways that was to be the last tournament where Melee was gonna be the main event for the smash scene as Brawls release was looming and the hype around the game was massive.  Its very unfortunate the game did not take off here as the two tournaments I ran for the game did fairly badly.  I’m aware of the reason why its not really well liked, however as a game for casuals I think its a lot of fun.  As a tournament game its terrible.  Too slow.  Even worse than CvS2 tournaments can be.  As the second half of the year came around Melee came back and is again one of the main games we run.  Seems theres even more interest in the game and folks watch out in 2009 as there should be good hype for you guys as were gonna do what we can to get your names out there.  Theres more to talk about for melee but that’ll come in the next few paragraphs.

The next event showed that the year really is a transition time for our scene and seemed like it may slowly die till the new games came out.  Baselan did not have very many players for 3s.  The event marked the first time we ran a brawl tournament as well.  Even though there was a conflicting event in PGL that weekend I was expecting more players to come out and rep.  Only 12 people showed up for it and there was pretty much no hype for the game.  I was honestly expecting a lot more players in the 40-50 player range.  Oh well live and learn.  3s ran without a hitch with a surprise appearance from Jerry.  He went on to I believe knock Shane out of the tournament.  Its too bad he doesn’t come out anymore as he’s a good player.  Honestly though it was a nice change of pace for me since I started helping out with running events.  Normally I’d be doing a lot of stuff leaving me little time to do other things.  Especially at baselans where Melee will have around 40 entries.  So it was nice and I had a lot of fun just playing games with friends.  I think was the point where I also started to believe I could win an ST tournament.

With interest dieing in 3s we didn’t have any ranbats and the summer was really slow until Korea decided to join up again and we ran TST 3.  I’m glad he decided to join again as with the help of Jayser joining the staff and setting up the new site, the event ran really well.  We had a new entry for a tournament strangely in CvS 2.  A sudden influx of players came out for it.  Shanes old buddies came out and put on a good show.  Ed Lee was a new arrival to our scene.  He was a former retired player in TO, then decided to get back into the game when he found us.  I’m glad he came out as he’s a cool guy to chill with.  Along with some of the regulars and the new guys and Norman from Nowhere land.  The tournament ended up with around 12 entries.  A good turnout for the game.  James thought the first day was kind of disappointing but I was happy with it.  A good turnout for most games.  Melee was a little disappointing but the top players came out and repped themselves.  I was upset with my performance in ST as I lost to Norman and no offense to him but I should have done better.  Anyways minor things aside first day went well.  The second day was a pleasant surprise to me as 3s singles with the help of ggpo had  areally nice turnout.  Biggest 3s tournament we’ve ever done.  Beating out the team tournament we ran in 2006 by one entry.  There was a lot of hype surrounding the finals.  That was great to watch.  Congrats goes out to Shane.  He showed why he’s the best Street Fighter player this city has produced.  Winning 3s teams and singles and his usual dominance in ST.  TST ranks as number 3 for me as most memorable things to happen in 2008.  Number 2 I’ll mention later and number one, as some of you guys know I have proposed to my long time girlfriend Debbie.  She accepted and we are getting married on April 24, 2010.

With the high of TST thing slowed down as the hype started building for the new slew of games coming out.  Before I forget Soul Calibur 4 also came out and has made an appearance at all tournaments since coming out.  I enjoy the game just not something I can wrap my head around, and I don’t want to put in the time to learn it.  Before the new games came out we had two more events.  The second baselan and fight for the future.  Baselan again for me was a good time however with it being so close to FFTF2 I decided to only run SC4 at the event.  Kang again dominated the tournament as he had done at TST and I believe he won a mouse or something out of it.  Fight for the future was a big success.  THe event had a smaller turnout that TST but melee rebounded with a strong showing.  For the first time there was hype surrounding the finals for all the games.  I enjoyed watching the players and had a great time.  I won my first tournament ever by defeating Shane in ST.  It was a great moment for me.  I know Shane wasn’t at his best though especially after watching the videos, btw that was moment number 2 for me   We raised somewhere around $220 or so for the childrens hospital.

That wraps up the events from this year.  I had a ton of fun doing my part in the tournaments and as always love seeing everyone that comes out to the events.  We always appreciate the support of you guys coming out.  Keep practicing people and get hype for the upcoming year as theres gonna be a lot to look forward to.  That’ll wrap up this portion.  The next entry I put up I’ll cover the games of the year.  Till then if you guys want to leave comments just post them on the forum.

nYo

Name: Russel Racca
Alias: Lickuid
Age 18

nYo:
What games do you play?

Lickuid:
I play Smash Brothers Melee, halo 3, and I enjoy playing rpgs

nYo:
So you compete in ssbm and halo then?

Lickuid:
I play SSBM competitively and i play halo for fun. Not really serious with halo.

nYo:
How did you get into Smash?

Lickuid:
I got into SSBM back in 04 when I saw world record times on break the targets on youtube

nYo:
Nice. How did that inspire you to start playing competitively?

Lickuid:
It didn’t actually , but the advanced terms I had been reading about on forums. I was wondering what they were but never really looked into them until I saw a pro match on youtube. I decided to learn the advanced techniques and started using them in my game play

nYo:
How did you learn to do the techniques?

Lickuid:
I learned most by watching an advanced how to play on youtube. Some I read explanations of the forums

nYo:
Develop anything techniques on your own?

Lickuid:
Not really my own techniques, but I’ve been able to incorporate the falcon moonwalk into my game play, which not very many players do.

nYo:
Who are your main characters?

Lickuid:
My mains are Captain Falcon and Falco.

nYo:
Why do you main them?

Lickuid:
Their combo ability on most of the characters.

nYo:
I’ve seen you use other characters to win before like young link. Did you give up on them?

Lickuid:
Pretty much , the use of higher tiers in tournaments and the meta game make my young link pretty useless. I’ll use Young Link if it’s situational though or if it’s against a scrub

nYo:
What do you think of the current tiers for melee? Does it affect how you select your character?

Lickuid:
I agree with the current tier list. It somewhat affects how I select my character, The only matchup I’m scared of is Falcon vs Sheik.

nYo:
How did you train to get to your current level?

Lickuid:
Playing with my crew mostly. tournies also helped a lot because of the experience with different players. i also improved a lot playing with the central cali players, watching videos and reading matchups also helped

nYo:
How did you do against the central cali guys?

Lickuid:
I was able to keep up with them, our skill level was pretty much the same. I went to a smashfest and we had a little 10 person tournament. i placed 3rd

nYo:
Awesome, did you get to play anyone notable there?

Lickuid:
Nope, they’re probably only known on smashboards , but nothing big. They’ve had experience with the high level players , though

nYo:
Do you think the other top players in the city can compete against other cities?

Lickuid:
Definitely, honestly we are underrated just cause our name isn’t out there. Wilson plays a beastly fox and I think I play a pretty high level Falcon. That’s my personal opinion, Most definitely I think we can take on the other cities for sure. We’ll find out soon when BC top player blunted object comes to town, He placed 4th at the “At Melee’s end” tournament(Big Canadian tournament).

nYo:
Who do you consider the top 4 players in the city? What do you think makes them so good?

Lickuid:
Top 4 would have to be Wilson Tieu, Janos Saluta, William Giang and myself. Ii would place Adam Hayes there but he’s too inconsistent with his play, No offence to him or anything. I think he’s still a very talented player. Wilson is an insane player. He can pretty much play every character and dominate with all the top and high tiers. Janos is a smart player and he’s been one of the few to take Wilson out in tournaments. William plays a good Marth, he’s really good at hitting the tippers.

nYo:
You’ve done very well in the tournaments here. Which ones of your performances stand out

Lickuid:
I would have to say the most recent tourney(TST III). I got knocked to losers pretty early and had to work my way back up to play Wilson in the grand finals. I lost only 1 round in the first set , and taking all then went undefeated in the second set. My Falcon was pretty boss that day. I’ve been patiently waiting to watch those matches and see how well I did. I was in my own zone that day and didn’t realize how bad I beat Wilson.

nYo:
How’d you hear about the competitive scene?

Lickuid:
Jeremy had an account on smashboards and Rex invited him to Baselan. Most of us couldn’t make it but Aris and my brother Nico went.

nYo:
How do you prepare yourself for tournaments?

Lickuid:
Before every tourney I play till like 4 am with whoever is at my house. Normally Janos is the one I practice with. We have like little to no sleep for every tourney

nYo:
I dunno how you two manage to place so well with so little sleep. What is your mindset when you’re playing in a tournament match? Do you play differently from casuals?

Lickuid:
Play to win. Play like a bitch if you have to, Just don’t think about losing, don’t mess up most definitely. During casuals I like to play around, it’s nothing serious but you get a feel from that persons play style and how to prepare yourself for an actual tourney match

nYo:
What are your thoughts on brawl?

Lickuid:
It sucks, It’s wack , there’s like no skill involved to win. Metaknight is the most broken character ever. The gap between casuals and competitive players skill isn’t very large. The only redeeming factor for brawl right now are the hacks that have been made. So far there is no tripping. L cancelling , melee air dodge (wavedash included) have been added, I still have yet to try it out. Either way, melee will still be the better game

nYo:
Would you play brawl with the hacks that are coming out?

Lickuid:
Once it’s polished, possibly.

nYo:
Thats probably gonna be a tough thing for us to pull off. Who would you consider your rival in the scene?

Lickuid:
Wilson for sure

nYo:
With new games coming out next year, anything else you plan to pick up competitively?

Lickuid:
I’ve actually put some thought into street fighter 4. The game looks promising, and a lot of my friends will be getting the game as well. I could maybe start up a crew and play competitively. We’ll see though. Tekken 6 too, If I ever get a PS3.

nYo:
FYI both games are coming to 360. What are your plans concerning melee over the next year? Planning to travel out?

Lickuid:
Ohh well that’s news to me. I thought it was a ps3 exclusive. I’ll probably go to California again. This coming summer and play with the same guys. If I have enough money I’d go to Alberta where the “top players” are located.

nYo:
Theres a group of us planning on heading to WCC2 in March care to join us and show them what Winnipeg smashers are about.

Lickuid:
What is WCC2 exactly? Is there a smash tourney being hosted there?

nYo:
Its Western Canadian Championships in Edmonton. I’d assume theres a smash tournament if not you can at least play some of the players there.

Lickuid:
Ohh I would go then, we’ll have to see though , march is still a ways away

nYo:
Agreed, lets conclude this with you talking some shit to other cities, just kiddin, anything you’d like to say to the locals and others around the country?

Lickuid:
To the locals – let’s get our name out there and good job keeping the smash scene alive.To other cities – we’re good players, Don’t judge us just because you haven’t seen us. A lot of your top players are overrated in my opinion , but we’ll see when we actually play each other.

Name: Shane Fleury
Alias: ShinAkuma (ShinAkuma204 on srk)
Age 32

nYo:
How did you get into fighting games?

ShinAkuma:
I was at my local arcade – Enzo’s – when I first saw SF2. Suffice to say I put my quarter in, picked Dhalsim (lol), and never looked back.

nYo:
For those of us who never knew about the arcade days.  Care to describe how the scene used to be.  Like how things were at the beginning, how the game was played and such.

ShinAkuma:
It was amazing back in the day. Arcades were packed and the line up for SF2:CE was huge. You basically put your quarter up and asked who was last in line, and you knew you were after that person. Sometimes you waited 15-20 minutes for your turn, and that is on SF2, where matches would generally not last longer than a minute.Our first two tournies had over 100 players, for a single game!The character diversity was also amazing. Every character had a person who played that character exclusively. You basically had the opportunity to learn every match up inside and out.There was also the danger of the “cheap” haters – people who would resort to violence or threats of violence if you threw them, didn’t give them second round or hit them when dizzy. It literally took me three years as the cities best player to remove those “rules” from casual play, by basically beating people and pointing out that I don’t believe in those rules. Many scraps almost happened because of that. LOLThe scene back then is very comparable to the current Jap scene – big arcades with tons of players. Everything was so new and fresh. New combos and techniques were being discovered all the time. SF4 will bring a similar newness with it, but back then everybody was green, because this game was never done before. SF4 while new, is not so far removed from previous fighters in the genre to have that newness last for long. Pro level players will have a grasp on it fairly early in it’s life.The only game in my recent memory that had such a newness to it like SF2 IMO would be Smash, as there wasn’t anything remotely like Smash previously.  It’s funny, because recently KLB did an article on arcades and online gaming. He basically said online will never replace the arcade, and while that is true to some extent, current online fighters like GGPO and 2DF are the closet thing to old school arcades. You have a wide variety of different players with different styles gathering in one place. Hang out in the GGPO chat room and you can see it is as much a social gathering (like arcades were) as it is a competitive one.  For us in most of Canada, online is going to be the new arcade.

nYo:
How long did it take for you to become a top player.

ShinAkuma:
Maybe a little less than a year? I got lucky as one of the cities already top players from SF2 decided to take me under his wing and teach me about SF2:CE.  This apprenticeship greatly increased my growth at the game. I was learning the higher level strategy in no time. We also practiced execution together at an arcade in which he knew the owner. We got to play privately so that we could practice.However even with this tutelage I still did not reach elite level. I’m not sure what sparked my ascension to elite status, but I do remember the experience vividly. One day I went down to Crystal  Palace, a local arcade and pool hall on Donald, to get in my daily dose of SF. While I was playing it’s almost like I had an epiphany – suddenly everything changed. I could finally “see” the game for the first time. I knew all the possibilities, I could feel what other players wanted to do. And that was the night I invented in our scene at least, Ken’s TOD combo.It was basically like I went in to that arcade a different person than the one who walked out. My understanding of the game changed that dramatically.However…..It wasn’t until after the first tourney that I became the top player. Going in I was the favorite to win, however there would be some stiff competition. A friend of mine, Ho, used Bison and was a real good player.  Suffice to say we met in the finals and I was defeated. I was actually pretty crushed. Luckily however we recorded those finals and I used that recording to study why I lost, and it became evident – execution and instinct was not good enough. So basically I developed my instinct and honed my execution. (I can elaborate on why instinct and execution are perhaps the two most important factors in becoming a top player in any fighting game if you like)  At our next tourney I dominated the field and even dominated Ho in the finals winning in straight sets.After that I didn’t fail to get first place in any tourney for 8 years.  Unfortunately one of the worst things I ever did in those 8 years was play the VS series….

nYo:
How did you go about improving when you were near/at the top?

ShinAkuma:
Practice and playing against other top players keeps you honed.Playing against mid levels players or low level players will generate bad habits, and sometimes those habits are tough to break. I’m not saying don’t play those guys, as they need to level up as well. Just be careful on what you do and what you continue to do when you aren’t playing them.You also need to “know” you can win against any opponent at any time. Believing that you can win if often half the battle, as going into a tourney expecting to lose against some other player will often net you the result you expect.Another thing is to control your emotion. When I was at the top of my game I was a machine – emotionless and seemingly infallible. While I was basically emotionless at the time, I was not infallible. But since I had control of my emotions you couldn’t really tell if I made a mistake or not, so being emotionless can give the impression that you never make a mistake.  Trust me, the prospect of fighting a player who you believe won’t ever fuck up can be very intimidating.At high level play the winner can often be determined by Execution and Instincts.Why execution? Well generally opening for big damage are few and far between. Good players will often be able to defend themselves from your big push. So when the point in the match finally comes to get your damage in, you need that execution to make it a certainty.Why instinct? Again at high level play there is a certain set of variables for every match, but even those variables can be broken down into the most *likely* set of attacks or responses. One must develop the instinct for what will most likely occur, and in most cases when the pressure’s on, the opponent will defer to a certain response or attack. With the correct instinct you can have a counter ready or know how to exploit what the opponent wants to do.At the top level of play it can become a series of mindgames between trying to anticipate your opponents instinct and do something to throw them off.

nYo:
Pretty awesome stuff there.  If you can elaborate that would be great.

ShinAkuma:
For example – I played against the best Sim player in Alberta. We did a best of seven in ST (it was all best of seven back then) and this was game six. I’m up 3-2. It’s third round and I really don’t want to go to a seventh game against Sim with O.Sagat. With the round coming down to the wire – I have about 5% life and my opponent about 30% – I force myself closer with a small tiger knee. I know my opponent is looking for a psychic tiger uppercut, so I hold off. I am within sweep distance and start walking forward, keeping in mind he is waiting for the TU. I know he doesn’t want to poke or throw, and time is running out. So I keep walking into him as if to throw, but a throw won’t win the match for me, I need that TU. At this point I am in his face simply walking into his block. This is when he becomes confused at what I am doing and his instinct takes over – he goes for a throw – and I finally do that psychic TU he was waiting for and win the round, match, set.What I did, was anticipate what he wanted to do, confuse him and force his instinct to take over and punished that instinct.  Now keep in mind that entire exchange took place in a matter of seconds, maybe 3 seconds.

nYo:
When did the arcade scene die around here and what did you do in that time till now?

ShinAkuma:
The scene began to die in the late 90′s, say 98. It completely died when Games on the Avenue closed down in 2000/2001.  After the arcade scene died I basically deferred to console fighters. But it was more of a play for fun rather than play serious type of thing, so at this point I was pretty much retired from competitive gaming.The big game during this period was CVS2. I didn’t particularly like the game, but played it with a group of friends regularly. It was fun for the time.

nYo:
It seems you’re back now and have regained your status as the top player in the city.  What else do you do for the scene right now.  I know you’re building sticks.  Doing anything else?  Hows the stick building coming along?

ShinAkuma:
As you mentioned I build sticks at affordable prices, but I also handle the video capturing duties for the SSGA events.  I figured that since I have a good PC and the video equipment needed for the job that capturing our match’s and posting them ASAP would benefit our scene, as watching vids creates hype and interest in the local scene. So far it’s worked out pretty well. Just waiting on that DVD…..I also try to be an ambassador for the scene in Winnipeg or Canada when playing against people from other countries or cities. Generally this takes place on GGPO or the SRK forums.The stick building is coming along pretty good. I’m learning new things with each new stick and getting more comfortable in building them. However I’m still mid tier at it. LOL

nYo:
You’re name is starting to get out there.  What are your thoughts on the many new games coming out?  Plan to play any of them and compete?  Any plans to travel around in the next while?

ShinAkuma:
I’m really looking forward to SF4, especially after the travesty known as 3s. I can’t believe people have spent almost 10 years playing this garbagey game.  I would like to become the top player in SF4, and by that I hope to win an EVO in SF4. Hopefully our scene and the online community will make it possible to become a top level player in SF4 good enough to compete on the world stage.  Perhaps I may dabble in TvsC. But other than SF4 I’m not too hyped about anything else.

nYo:
What about ST:HD?

ShinAkuma:
I’m about 50/50 on ST:HD. I’ve heard good and bad about it.You should understand that I don’t see ST as needing a new version, especially one that changes the game. As far as I’m concerned ST is fine the way it is. I’m also not a graphics whore, so ST:HD doesn’t bring much to the table for me.

nYo:
What did you not like about 3s and many of the other games that came out after ST?

ShinAkuma:
Well, as far as 3s is concerned it just comes off as a very poorly designed game. It also rewards and mistakes and doesn’t reward initiative enough.It’s basically a Street Fighter that doesn’t play like Street Fighter.The list of stupid 3s mechanics are:Stupid priority tables that make no sense (supers losing to normals or throws!?) – checkOdd orientation in close (your character will actually turn away from the opponent LOL) – checkThe safest jumps in all of street fighter (keep in mind the Alpha series had air blocking!) – checkA universal defense system that has no drawback!? (even invincible DP’s had recovery frames to them)- checkThe virtual lack of zoning or spacing game (zoning and spacing is nullified but parry) – checkDamage scaling when the opponent is about to die that lets them live – checkDon’t get me wrong, 3s is not Mortal Kombat level garbage. However it did throw away many of the logical aspects of fighting games in favor of what appears to be a hodge podge of ideas that didn’t work before.As far as other fighters since then – I really don’t think any genuine thought went into most of those games with the exception of Guilty Gear. GG actually tries to improve itself and fix the flaws.

nYo:
What is your favourite fighter?

ShinAkuma:
ST without a doubt, but Hyper Fighting, KOF 98 and the first Dreamcast Soul Calibur come close.

nYo:
Why do you like ST.

ShinAkuma:
Obviously nostalgia has something to do with. Being the premiere fighting game of my generation, it’s hard not to hold it in high regard. However that isn’t the only reason.ST was a culmination of everything Capcom learned in the SF2 series. All the best aspects they put into this game. The mind games, the execution, the match ups. Everything had to be learned  in order to win. I like that part of fighting games most. The game forces you to play your best in order to be the best.Games like 3s for example allow you to get lazy, and still win. Because the punish for a mistake isn’t always possible. In fact often mistakes can be saved by the parry.In ST when you make a mistake, you feel it.I also like that every character has there own hard to deal with pressure. Many fighting games have characters who simply are impotent. In ST, while there are still tiers, every characters is dangerous.

nYo:
How do you pick the character you main?

ShinAkuma:
At this point I am a shoto type, in any game. So it’s likely my main will be a shoto.

nYo:
It seems to me you’re an Akuma fanboy.  Would you still pick him he was completly garbage in a game?

ShinAkuma:
I’m going to try Akuma out, but my prospects of mains are – Akuma, Ryu and Sagat.I will probably end up using all three.  The only reason I use Akuma exclusive in 3s is because I hate that game, and I what little enjoyment I get is from using Akuma.

nYo:
How would you describe your style of play as?

ShinAkuma:
Aggressive/counter.I basically play aggressive for the most part but will go into small periods of defense with the idea of countering my opponent.  I’m not married to that style however, as sometimes you simply need to adapt to what the opponent is doing.

nYo:
Do you think its important to be an apprentice and have someone teaching you?

ShinAkuma:
It really depends.If a game is new and you play it from the outset with a group of players, you don’t need anybody to teach. The learning process will take care of itself through playing and experience.However if you are getting into a game after it’s release, you may be behind the curve, and that makes it hard to catch up. In this scenario I think vital to have somebody who has the experience to teach you so that you may learn at a faster rate and hopefully catch up to the curve.

nYo:
How do you prepare for a tournament?  What is your mentallity during tournament matches.

ShinAkuma:
Generally I try and become focussed. I want to get all distractions out of my mind and just get myself in a state of heightened awareness.  It’s easier said than done, but when it does happen you can “see” more of the game. I don’t have any particular mentality during a match because I am trying to think of only the match. I guess you could say my mentality is thinking “I’m going to win”, but generally I’m just trying to get in the “zone”.

nYo:
Anything you’d like to tell the community?

ShinAkuma:
Keep playing, have fun and I’ll see you at the next tourney.

nYo:
Who are you?

-Korea-:
I’m James Kim, I’m known as a couple of things, Korea and the Angry Korean. Currently 22 years of age. Obviously Korean by my nicknames and my last name.

nYo:
How are you involved with the scene in Winnipeg?

-Korea-:
I currently co-run this group known as the SSGA or Chipdmage.com. We’re known for being a competitive group that enjoys fighting games very much. We run different tournaments and events around the year.

nYo:
You’ve said around that you started the SSGA with Matt. Can you elaborate on how the group came about?

-Korea-:
Matt and I, along with Steffan Fields, were part of UMGA. I was VP at the time and was noticing that our group was dwindling. This was simply because UMGA did not have any social sense whatsoever. They would not play the games that the people wanted and they were a very closed group. With that in mind, I tried my best to expand UMGA, but to no avail, no one was coming out. So I left UMGA to persue something else, maybe focus on school and stuff. When I came upon this other group of people in the Science Lounge and I introduced them to 3S, which me, Matt, and Steffan all played. From there we noticed that there were about 10 of us who played it pretty seriously. So Matt and myself took it upon ourselves to start up a new gaming group, that had competition and a game to follow, as well as some other games (but it was mostly 3S). We got our application in, our members all signed up, our constitution written up, and became the Science Students Gamers Association (SSGA).

nYo:
What did the group do when it started up?

-Korea-:
We ran simple tournaments in Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike. Nothing too big, we wanted to test out how our advertising and stuff worked. Amazingly our first tournament held in November of 2005, brought in about 12-13 people from the Science Lounge and around campus. I suppose this was the downfall of my university career, but in the end, I think we did some good to the scene from the scene.

nYo:
Man thats some bad advice for people there. Remember people school first. When was the first big tournament?

-Korea-:
First BIG tournament? That would have to be the summer of 2006, August 11/12 I believe. We called it Summerslam. By then, our numbers had grown from about 12 people to 20 something people, we were also running 3S Ranbats that summer. We had our site up by then too, called QCFPunch.com, it was done by Keith Bailey. We all were wondering how big this tournament could be while we were meeting one time, and we realized that the games we had on the roster would only bring about 30 people into the mix. Not big, but I guess something to start us off. Then we got the idea that UMAnime always plays Smash, so if we brought Smash Bros. Melee, we might bring in about 20 more people. So we release the games list and hoped for the best. Smash brought us a lot more players, and more people to play other games with.

nYo:
What do you think of the progress of the scene so far? Skill wise and player wise?

-Korea-:
The progress of the scene, skill wise, we’ve all gotten better from the day we started. I started playing 3S back in the UMGA days, so like 2004/2005. I sucked ass cuz I kept losing to Matt’s Q and Steffan’s whatever he used back then. Through major practice sessions b/t classes and even skipping classes (remember school first!), we got from a scrub/newb level to an intermediate scrub level. We still were learning a few basics, all we had were the GVision Ranbats and old Evo vids, and FFA matches, I went to Toronto for T7. Of course this is all for 3S, we had a moment in time when we played/tried out newer games. But a majority of us just couldn’t let go of 3S. Myself included. Eventually it got to the point where we thougt we’d reached our plateau. Until Shane arrived, he pretty much made us all relearn the game so that we could defeat his Akuma, that and Duong was getting wasted by me, so he eventually got to the point where he’d start beating me. So that’s what got me my drive back to get even better, or even all of us to get better.

-Korea-:
Player wise, our scene has grown from 3 diversified guys (GO TEAM DIVERSITY) to about 50 players in all the games. Within 3 years we’ve found new people, older people, younger people. It’s definitely rewarding to know that a place that’s not known for having arcades anymore, has a semi decent/big scene in it’s perimeter.

nYo:
When did you start playing games?

-Korea-:
These games or games in general?

nYo:
In general

-Korea-:
I’d say I started with Duck Hunt on the Nintendo when I was 5 or so, I’d play by going up to the screen and shooting the Zapper at the duck. I then moved on from there to play Super Mario Bros. 2 for the NES, then 3. Then the SNES came out and I got addicted to Super Mario World. I think at that time I was starting to get into other games other than platformers. We got the SNES version of Street Fighter World Warrior when I was like, 6-7 years old. I played that so basic, my combos were j.rh into c.rh and it worked a lot of the time. To me, it was ALL ABOUT THE FIERCE moves. Then after a bit I went into my RPG phase. Which we’ll leave out

nYo:
Which fighters do you play and why do you like them?

-Korea-:
The fighter I play are pretty much 3S. It’s my main game, it was what I was pretty much introduced to in terms of competitive play. I guess I enjoy it so much since it plays like a normal 2D fighter would that’s made by Capcom. It wasn’t super fast paced like the Marvel series, or dependent on too many pokes or custom combos like A3 or CvS2, other than for Yun. It was just the right pace for me and the parry system is fun to utilize. I do play other fighting games, Arcana Heart and Guilty Gear (Both from which I’m demoralized from, well GG mostly), as well as some 3D fighters, Tekken and Soul Caliber 4 (More of the latter than the former since once again I was demoralized from it). I enjoy AH because it’s pretty unique for a doujin fighting game, and well SCIV is just good I guess.

nYo:
What demoralized you from the game?

-Korea-:
Tyler, nuff said! No I’m kidding, simply put I didn’t have the patience to play the game or to learn the matchups, I’d constantly fall for the same shit over and over again. It just got to the point where I was like, I’ll never get good at this game and the systems were so complex or so articulate that I wasn’t willing to delve into my 3S learning time to learn all this other crap.

nYo:
I know you use Dudley as my main punching bag. Why do you use him?

-Korea-:
Deadly ass combos, high vitality, good stun bar. The man is a balanced character in my eyes, he’s not invincible. He’s got some weaknesses, but he’s very big risk/reward. I chose him because I simply didn’t want to be another shoto character. Ken was already big and hyped. I used Ryu in every game I played, and Akuma took too much damage so I couldn’t use him properly. Everyone else was just not my style. I had many vids to watch as well. Watching Kokujin, Fujiwara, and talking with some of the pros on SRK really got me going. Just seeing that s.rh link into so many things was awesome, and you get that great feeling of acomplishment when you land that 12 hit combo.

-Korea-:
in the corner that is

nYo:
How do you prepare for tournaments?

-Korea-:
Oh god. I honestly really haven’t prepared for many tournaments, I’d just play weeks before hand at the gatherings we’d have at your place. Other than that, I never really did much before. Although now that 2DF and GGPO are out, I get a lot more training out of that, and I’ve also just used Training mode to keep my execution up to par, but I haven’t been doin that lately.

nYo:
What do you feel was your best performance in tournament?

-Korea-:
Like what was the best moment I ever had?

nYo:
Time you felt you played your best through an entire tournament?

-Korea-:
hmmm……my best would have to be T8, getting out of 1st round of winners was pretty good, I got 25th out of 63 players. For a guy who has no arcades and stuff, I did pretty well there, another one of my best performances has to be the first Fight for the Future, where I went up against Todd and fiddled around with him with Chudley. Then I eliminated him using Rolling Thunder after landing that sweet ass corner combo on him. I think he quit after that. That’s pretty accomplishing.

nYo:
Whats your favorite moment from playing?

-Korea-:
isn’t that what I just said though? lol

nYo:
Fine be that way

-Korea-:
hahaha shut uppppp

nYo:
What was worse between these two experiences?

nYo:
Losing to me at TST 3 or losing to Rex at baselan?

-Korea-:
Oh god, Rex hands down, I was blocking that shit. I know I was. Losing to you is nothing, I mean it happens all the time. But losing to Rex, really big eye opener there. I literally felt like….one of those cartoons where they turn to glass and shatter into a million pieces…yeah that was me after losing to Rex.

nYo:
What are your thoughts on 3s now?

-Korea-:
Well, with the announcement of Street Fighter IV, I’ve pretty much look foward to that game so much that 3S is kinda dwindling. It’s still fun, but I mean 2DF kinda got it boring, and I’m just not feeling that I’m giving it my all anymore. That’s probably why I’m going through this “interested in learning other games” phase right now.

nYo:
Which one of the new games are you looking forward to?

-Korea-:
Definitely SFIV, with no new SF games for the past 9-10 years, it’s finally good to see a proper sequel to one of the greatest fighting games of all video games. Next would have to be ST HD remix. Simply put, new balances give new tier lists pretty much, and it looks cool.

nYo:
What about games like Blazblue and KOF 12 or any of the other games either out or coming out?

-Korea-:
KoF never really interested me, other than maybe CvS2, but that’s not even full SNK. I tried KoFXI, didn’t enjoy it that much, and to me, KoFXII is just really nice looking, I don’t know if I’d like the system and such. Blazblue, prolly as complex as Guilty Gear, so it doesn’t interest me as much as well.

nYo:
What do you hope to accomplish in the next few years?

-Korea-:
Well, I honestly don’t know. I want the scene to grow and I want to at least hold a major tournament around here. Other than that I really don’t see much else

nYo:
What would you tell a person who’s interested in playing and wants to compete? What would you tell him about character selection?

-Korea-:
It depends on the game I guess. In general if a person was interested in playing in a game competitively, I’d say go for it, practice your execution and make sure you can play under pressure. I’d pretty much go hard on him/her while playing so that he/she would feel what it’s like to be in that type of situation. Another key thing to tell them would be to have patience and look for openings to attack back.

-Korea-:
As for character selection, it’s all preferance based. You have to go through each character and find one that you’re very comfortable with. Watch videos and see what your characters can do. Try out different things and you never know, you might find something brand spanking new.

nYo:
Anything else you’d like to tell the community?

-Korea-:
I don’t know, tune in next year to find out what we’re doing for SFIV and other fighting games. Sign up for the forums and make sure you post and stuff. Don’t just lurk, it isn’t cool. Other than that, I can’t think of much else.

nYo:
Alright thank you for your time

nYo:
Always remember your are now and always will be my punching bag

-Korea-:
Fuck off lol