What was the first video you made?

Persona: My first combo video was a KoF 2000 Athena video back in the days when I still had my own website, Fighters Cafe. I was a bit nervous about the feedback it was going to get but it got good feedback so it motivated me to make more videos.

 
How do you make your videos? Are you happy with the method you use?

Persona: I make all my videos by hand. But to be honest, if I had the chance to use programmable pads, I would. I don’t make combo videos to show off my execution, but it’s more about the idea around the combo. Someone who can come up with crazy ideas will always win over someone showing off their execution skill in my book, therefore when it comes to combo videos, execution means almost nothing to me. If people want to give the wow factor then they should be doing well in matches, not in training mode.

 
Why do you continue making combovids?

Persona: I continue to make combo videos because it’s a nice little hobby (or distraction) while I sit near my PC and TV, since I can just multitask while messing with combos and using my PC.

 
Are there any games you haven’t made combos for yet, but would like to?

Persona: I would like to make combos for just about any game that isn’t a fighting game. I always wanted to make combos for the “Tales of” series, since thinking up combos from those type of games is usually different than fighting games. Also, there’s just not enough “Tales of” series combo videos on the internet haha.

 
How do you come up with new combos?

Persona: There’s many different ways but the most obvious way is building a “skeleton” combo so I can use that as a base for other combos. I usually start building the skeleton by finding the start of the combo, the middle section of the combo, and then the ender.

There are several ways to start the combo such as a normal jump in, fireball running, hit trades or a special that makes you recover fast enough to land an attack after. The middle section is much more complicated so I’ll skip that and talk about the ender.

Enders are probably the easiest to come up with, since the main difference between enders comes down to which super (or special) you want to use. If multiple supers knock out an opponent, I usually change the ender for each combo that so the video doesn’t get too repetitive.

Once I’ve completed the skeleton, I start branching out in different directions depending on what other ideas I’ve found from the skeleton. I always try to use slightly different ideas to make the combo different with its own highlight.

 
Which part of the whole video-making process do you enjoy most?

Persona: I enjoy the first step (building combos) and the last step (where it is a finished project). The part I least like even though it’s not in the question is the editing.

 
Be sure to check out Persona’s u2b channel for more of his awesome combo video projects, and don’t forget to subscribe for instant updates regarding all the latest fighting games.

 
How and why did you get into fighting games?

Snoooootch: So I’m in my Physics class, at Mountain View College, in Dallas, and I hear these dudes, Colby and Jared, talking about Street Fighter 4 and how it’s gonna be an awesome game. They’re going on about this site called “Shoryuken.” The whole time I think they’re talking about Ryu. I was always very eager to talk to them about the SF series, because I very much loved SF2 and noticed we shared common interests.

So, eventually, I worked up the courage to speak to them as if I were approaching that one hot chick one has a mean crush on in high school. Next thing you know, it’s February 17th and I’m waiting in line at gamestop while they sit in that Physics class.

Of course, I arrive to class with a huge smile on my face. I’m bit late, but I GOT IT! From then on, it was Colby, Jared, some other guys, and me, after class, in a small room with a tv at the campus’ chill pad. I don’t know how I managed to get an A’ in that class.

 
When did you first become aware of combo videos? Did they change your perspective on games?

Snoooootch: When I searched to be better at the game (sf4) I did my best to learn by myself. One day, Colby introduces me to Shoryuken.com. Not only was there tons of amazing info on match up help, and fundamental progress, but there were threads on practical combos.

I immediately became impressed with the style of combos that were portrayed in some of those videos, but none of them blew my mind as heavily as Maj’s TACVs. From then on, I focused on doing cool combos like that.

Sadly, my execution was nothing compared to now. I did not even know about plinking, so I focused on juggle combos. That’s where I learned about Pokey86’s juggle guide and decided to take Ken up for some sweet juggles. I went from playing SF4 to playing with SF4. From then on I did not play SF4 to win. I played it for the fun, and the satisfaction of landing awesome combos.

 
Are you involved in any other creative activities?

Snoooootch: Well, I do like to draw and make music with my pal, J. Ramirez. I do not draw as much as I used to, but doing these combo challenges has gotten be back into it. It’s especially fun to draw fighting game characters.

Other than drawing, I like to help other fighting game community members. The most noticeable example is probably my work with Smileymike on our Tool-Assisted combo videos, but I also have helped many other people – like MellowEC and others with their youtube layouts. I’ve helped PeacefulJay with some of his stream multimedia, as well as Panda’s stream content.

 
How do you come up with new combos?

Snoooootch: Well, I have gone as far as to letting my 4 year old cousin mash buttons in hope that he does something that makes my jaw drop (was not successful). I usually come up with ONE idea, and I try it for hours. By the end, I usually come up with something different that is usually better than the original idea.

For some of the more impossible sounding ideas, to my human hands on this PS3 pad, I send them over to Smileymike, and he tries to fulfill them. I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent on a single combo idea before I throw in the towel (other combo video makers must know the feeling). But there are times when all that patience pays off, sort of how top players play a patient game, and with it take the win.

One combo that comes to mind is the Fei Long combo I submitted to the ComboVid.com AE Combo Exhibition v.one. That combo took me longer than any other combo to finally land.

 
Which part of the whole video-making process do you enjoy most?

Snoooootch: I like reaching out to people in the fighting game community for their talents; people like NumberoneBlind, ClaytonSamus, and MikeyG, to have their music heard by the fighting game community. Using their music makes my combo video making process a lot of fun, for it makes me feel glad to help other community members get some fans.

As far as my own combo videos, I very much enjoy the ability to finally put every clip I recently recorded into one final project. I get to toy with transitions, and have fun editing the crap out of videos. I love to find little funny things to add to my videos in order to entertain the viewers.

 
What’s your motivation for putting so much time and effort into your combovids?

Snoooootch: I try to avoid uploading videos late at night. Biggest reason is because I love the feedback! I’ll stay up late just reading the reaction from the people subscribed to my channel.

Not that I consider my combo videos more incredible than other’s, but it’s just nice to see that people actually like my content, and cheer me on to supply them with more, be it a dumb 25 second clip, or an 18 minute video of me getting beat up by an awesome Gen player.

 
Be sure to check out Snoooootch’s u2b channel for more of his awesome combo video projects, and don’t forget to subscribe for instant updates from the fuuuture.

 
Maj: What are your general preferences in fighting games?

Brett: If you’re asking what fighting games I enjoy playing then the list is pretty exhaustive. I was an arcade rat from ’91 to at least ’98, and I’ve had sordid love affairs with more than one fighting game franchise. I’m pretty sure I owe child support payments to Virtua Fighter, Soul Calibur, Gulity Gear, the Versus series, and especially Street Fighter.

But if you’re talking about the features that I look for in fighting games, then I’d have to say:

A) Interesting, vibrant characters

B) Gameplay with depth, and

C) Good balance between characters’ power

What drew me to fighting games in the first place were the characters. They were the focal points of my admiration, empathy and awe, and that hasn’t changed to this day. I came for the awesome characters and stayed for the deep, challenging and rewarding gameplay.

 
Maj: What’s your favorite thing about Street Fighter?

Brett: In my opinion, no other game genre has the amount of depth, complexity and sophistication that fighting games have. Their learning curves are pretty high, but those curves are undoubtedly a direct cause of the incredible sense of accomplishment and reward that one experiences upon noticing their own improvement.

Fighting games challenge their players, and as someone who deeply values challenges and opportunities for self improvement, I was hooked on the genre as soon as I laid hands on a six button layout. Street Fighter will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the first game to ask me “You can do better than that, can’t you?”

 
Maj: How did you come up with the premise for Balrog: Behind the Glory?

Brett: My friends and I have been Street Fighter fans for a long time, so we’re pretty well versed in the game’s storyline – as published by Capcom.

The tidbit that always tickled us the most was the fact that, in official canon, Boxer claimed ownership over Shadaloo once Dictator was out of the picture, and subsequently ran it into the ground.

The mere idea of one of the game’s bosses falling so far was pretty damn funny to us. Boxer ruining his own life became an inside joke in our circle, so tons of bits and ideas were generated over a few years. Once the opportunity to make a Street Fighter themed movie came along, I knew I already had the perfect premise in my back pocket.

 
Maj: Why did you take the documentary approach?

Brett: Boxer is a ridiculous character. He’s a poorly veiled parody of Mike Tyson (SPOILER!), and it’s hard to take him seriously. Thus, the funniest possible approach one could take when dealing with Boxer would be to treat him as seriously as possible, and that’s exactly what a documentary attempts to do.

Most “Behind the ____” docs treat their subject matter with reverence and solemnity, and the thought of dealing with Boxer in that way cracks me up. He’s practically a cartoon, so it’s fun to treat him like a feeling, caring person.

 
Maj: In telling this story, what was the most important aspect to you?

Brett: Two things were very important to us during the making of this film. The first was making sure to embrace the canon that’s already been established. When it comes to fiction, it’s exceedingly difficult to make something seem or feel real when aspects of that fiction contradict one another. If I’m making up a story with my friend and I say, “Once, there was a magic castle,” and then my storytelling partner says “Actually, it wasn’t a castle. It was a rocket ship,” then the reality of that fiction is shattered for the listener.

Sure, maybe the story would end up better if it was about a rocket ship, but once a magic castle is mentioned, it’s established. And once it’s established, it’s canon in the minds of the listener. This is how we treated the already established information about Boxer.

Some of it we loved, some it we didn’t, but we made sure to embrace all of it. Rather than try to rewrite what existed, we instead attempted to write around and build off of it. In essence we made it a rule to say “Yes, and…” to the Boxer canon, no matter how ridiculous it was.

The other thing we made sure to do was to adhere to the solemn tone of the film. If something is already as ridiculous as Boxer’s character, the funniest thing you can do is treat it with deadly seriousness. We imagined Boxer’s life as a tragedy because we believed that making someone sympathize with a man with that haircut is the funniest thing we could possibly accomplish.

 
Maj: What has been the best part about getting to work on a Street Fighter movie?

Brett: The best part about working on a Street Fighter movie is getting to working on a Street Fighter movie. The characters in the Street Fighter universe mean a lot to us, and bringing them to life was a reward unto itself.

The first thing we filmed was the infamous “Poker Scene,” and walking into that terribly lit, brick laden room and seeing Claw, Dictator and Boxer in full costume was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. I took countless pictures of them just so I could remind myself later that I didn’t imagine it all. My childhood and my adult life briefly met, and I’m deeply thankful for that.

Also, working with my friends on this project was a dream come true. Making the film never felt like work. There was an atmosphere of play every step of the way.

Not only that, but I also got to meet and work with so many new, talented, kind, intelligent and passionate people. I feel incredibly lucky just to have had this opportunity.

 
Maj: What’s your overall background as a writer? How did you get into writing for film?

Brett: I’ve been writing since high school. I’ve always been into comic books, video games and movies, and high school was about the time that I realized that what I really liked about all of these things were the stories.

My ultimate dream was/is to write for a major comic book publisher, and I knew I’d need practice. So I vowed to write one comic book script a week, which I continue to do to this day. In college I wrote for and performed with various sketch comedy troupes. “B:BtG” is the first short film that I have full writing credits for, though. I currently write for Grab Games.

 
Maj: Do you have anything specific in mind for your next movie?

Brett: We’ve already got tons of ideas for future projects. The problem is that we’re pretty broke after pouring all of our savings into making “B:BtG.” We’re currently thinking of ways to raise money to continue making films. We’ve hoping that someone over at Capcom will see what we’ve put together and like it enough to sponsor the production of one more movie.

After all, there’s three more Shadaloo lords to visit and many more film styles besides documentary to play with. As far as I’m concerned, we’re just getting started.

 
Maj: If you had carte blanche to make a full-length Street Fighter movie in any way you wanted, what would be your take on it?

Brett: I think the key to doing a great feature-length Street Fighter film is to focus on character. Characters are the heart of every story and Street Fighter’s characters no different.

Unfortunately, it seems that Hollywood feels that compelling character arcs are unnecessary when it comes to video game adaptations.

If I had my way, though, I’d tell Ryu’s story. I’d chart his journey from being a mysterious orphan, to becoming a fledgling martial artist with burgeoning power of immense proportions while training at Gouken’s dojo with Ken, to traveling the world while battling in his first street fights, all the way to his final battle against the King of Muay Thai.

My rules would be to take it slow, treat it real and use the canon that’s already been established. Now that I think about it, I’d pretty much use the same methods we used in “B:BtG.”
 

Brett D. Bayonne is an aspiring author, comedian, and stream commentator (someone just needs to hand him a live mic). He is the main writer of the Chubby Boy Films crew, and often plays SSF4AE and MvC3 online under the gamertag ShaperofStories.

 
Maj: What are your general preferences in fighting games?

Greg: I’m ashamed and smug to admit that my interest in fighting games never progressed past SFII. There is something extremely elegant about the simplicity and balance in that game, which kept me from taking a risk in learning anything else.

I had a Sega Nomad, so I took SFII to school and on trips and played on full stars over and over again until I knew the rules for fighting every character. My rule for eight-star Guile was “Don’t jump.”

I played Killer Instinct for a bit because the endless juggles made me feel like a king on the arcade. Plus there was always some kid who knew how to do the finisher where Orchid flashes her boobs and her opponent just dies. Something about the time it took her to undo her buttons really captivated my thirteen year old attention.

But for the most part, it began and stopped at SFII, even as the brand progressed through all the evolutions. Viper will never feel as much like family as Ryu did all those years. My obsession with SFII can be likened to my loyalty to T-9 flip phones. I’m the fastest texter I know if we’re talking 9 buttons. If I upgrade to keypad, I’d lose years of progress. Like I said, both ashamed and smug.

 
Maj: What’s your favorite thing about Street Fighter?

Greg: I like that there’s an answer for everything and that, at a certain point, it becomes more of a puzzle game than anything. I love the elegance of establishing a pattern and breaking it.

I like the ghostly 2-bit echo of a Hadoken war that lasts three minutes. I like drawing a tie four times in a row when you’ve already tied 1-1 in a 3 round match. I like not giving Zangief a chance to get up. I like Tatsu-makying as many stinky feet in Chun-Li’s face as possible when her backflip works against her and she lands on the wrong side of me.

 
Maj: Where did Balrog: Behind the Glory come from? What’s the origin story behind it all?

Greg: Well, you gave Vahe the idea to make a Street Fighter movie for Evo and then it sort of spiraled out of control. Vahe (our director) had always wanted to make a Street Fighter sketch, and he knew our friend Brett had a great idea for one, so the super powers aligned one night at my house and we never looked back.

The idea for this story was one that Brett thought up several years ago. Brett told me that it was floating around in canon that Balrog was head of Shadaloo after M.Bison was killed and then quickly ran it into the ground. I think for Brett, imagining that scenario was all the fodder he needed to tell a priceless story.

Our agreement was that, if we were going to explore this vague and ridiculous piece of canon to maximum hilarity, we wanted to treat it realistically – as seriously and gravely as possible – in the format of a documentary. A former heavyweight boxer inherits an international crime syndicate?? Okay, what would that really mean?

 
Maj: Why Balrog?

Greg: Balrog is the funniest. I’m sure we all had different motives for pursuing him as the central character to this piece. For me, he seems the least observant and the flashiest of all the Street Fighter characters. He’s always caught up in the moment and never seems to care about the big picture. That’s just a fantastic combination.

The various levels of melancholy in imagining that person’s existence gave us a terrific avenue to explore. Especially when you consider that, despite his marginalized popularity, Balrog seems to never stop celebrating.

That’s not to say that we wouldn’t be completely thrilled to expand on a few more characters’ storylines … We have some ideas.

 
Maj: What exactly does a film producer do, anyway?

Greg: In general, producers are like the employer for the temporary business that is a film. You make creative choices about goals and strategy, you hire everyone in each department, you make sure everything gets done by the deadlines, and you make sure everyone, at every level, understands how their job fits in to the overall vision.

Communicating the “vision,” to all parties may ultimately be the most important responsibility. That, and making sure your shoot is the most fun any of your cast and crew has ever had on set.

 
Maj: What was the hardest part of making BBTG happen?

Greg: I wish I could say that, as a fan-made narrative, we encountered very unique production obstacles. But actually, our biggest hurdle is common to any production: Locations.

Hopefully, you’ll see when you watch the film. None of those places were easy for five kids with no money to get access to. I don’t know why we set out to find such ridiculous locations when we had no connections or cash. Hopefully it ends up contributing to the feel.

 
Maj: And the most enjoyable part?

Greg: Making hilarious shorts which feature deep, human elements is the most fun I can conceive of having. The most enjoyable part of that process is the fact that I’ve gotten to “make stuff” with all of my incredibly talented friends and feel like we’re not just dicking around because we’re all working to finalize a product.

Everyone who worked on Balrog is outrageously talented, and this project gave me (a man with no real specialties), an excuse to hang out with them and learn from them. We got really lucky with the caliber of kids that lent a helping hand – they’re all on another level.

 
Maj: What’s next for Chubby Boy Productions?

Greg: It all depends on what kind of response BBTG receives. We’ve set up a twitter account, facebook page, and youtube channel to make it easy for everyone to follow what we’re doing and give us feedback. If we can demonstrate a market for our work – in the form of views – we may have opportunities to expand stories of other characters.

The Chubby Boy team is in place, hungry to do more, and has only grown stronger and garnered more experience points as we’ve met more talented people in later stages of post-production.

If people dig our take on this stuff, we have a trove of ideas for other original SFII characters – I won’t say who’s next. There’s even an idea for a really cool take on the Final Fight crew.

Of course, these ideas can’t grow without support. In a perfect world, everyone at Evo will enjoy the movie and tell their friends about it. If the response is positive enough, we’re hoping Capcom supports us to continue making more Street Fighter related films.
 

Gregory Gertmenian is an aspiring actor, producer, and just about any other role there is to serve on the set of a film. You can find more information about his movie projects on the Chubby Boy Films website or by following him on twitter or facebook.

 
Maj: As a combo maker, what’s the first thing you do when learning a new character?

Magnetro: I try to get a feel for the character by playing them in training mode for a bit — you know, mess with air combos, specials and supers. This is all just trying to get an idea of how the character feels like when they’re moving.

The next step is to try to get an idea of the character’s limits. This is when I start to use programmable controllers to see how fast or how slow things can get tweaked.

For example, if I wanted to see how slow Ruby Heart can stretch her Start Button bug, I can program it and test it out frame-by-frame to see exactly how far I can take it. I try to list all the interesting aspects that I could potentially use in a clip for that character in notepad to make sure I don’t forget any.

After that, it’s just a matter of trying to piece everything together in one clip. Although there was more than one step, that’s the first thing I do when I mess around with a character.

 
Maj: How different would MvC2’s combo landscape be today if Colossus wasn’t in the game?

Magnetro: Colossus feels like a double-edged sword. He can either be the best medium sized dummy to do a lot of special small combos on top of the big idea behind the combo, or he can be the punching bag in a generic combos. He can either help your combo look good, or show that the combo you had wasn’t all that interesting.

I ended up using him in like 3 or 4 clips in Variable Atmosphere 2 ’cause he either was the only dummy I could use for that combo, or because I had an idea for a clip that could be stretched longer if I used Colossus as the dummy.

The only combo I regret using him in was Magneto 41 hit combo. The main ideas in the clip were the Hyper-grav OTG and having the S.HP hit from behind. From there, everything else was filler. I feel that I should have tried to use a different dummy to extend the possibilities after the S.HP hit.

 
Maj: What about Roll and Captain Commando?

Magnetro: Roll is in her own league in terms of usefulness for combos. Captain Commando isn’t as special. Roll is the dummy for people who want to test every possible combo with every character. She allows for a lot of unique things as her sprite is very small so it doesn’t land when she’s low to the ground. That allows a lot of characters to sweep her out of the air or whiff attacks above her head which extend the combo. I can’t really say much for Captain Commando, there are a few other characters who have a sprite like his.

 
Maj: How about Joo?

Magnetro: I definitely feel that if it weren’t for him, the real potential and beauty of MvC2 combos would have never surfaced. That’s like the most honest and concise answer that I can think of. If I were to give the reasons and the long version to that answer, they would talk about the degree to which he pushed the game and how he incorporated every possible element into a combo to fully flesh out the ideas.

I think at this point, anyone who is interested in MvC2 combos definitely knows the mark Joo left on the game. Saying anything else would just be putting it in a lot of words.

 
Maj: In your opinion, how much untapped combo potential does MvC2 have?

Magnetro: If you asked me that like 2 years ago, I’d say “just enough for one more video.” Now, after making Variable Atmosphere 2, seeing all of Joo’s combos and exploring the engine even more, I still believe that there are enough combo ideas to make one more video. However, they are just insanely time-consuming ones as they require a lot of tedious testing.

After Variable Atmosphere 2, I was noticing just how small the pool of ideas had become. A lot of the concepts in Variable Atmosphere 2 and Joo’s DVD were sharpened from when they were first found. So after those two projects were done, I felt that the only concepts that haven’t been explored as much were ones that would take a ridiculous amount of time to just PROVE that you could do something with them.

Dead body combos, combo-throws, off-screen combos, and combos during freezes, tapping forward for one frame after a special to allow the character to move one frame forward that they wouldn’t normally move, having the dummy hold a certain direction while being hit to allow the main character to combo something they normally couldn’t, blocking for one frame before super jumping or double jumping in order to ascend faster — stuff like that. Basically ideas that employ ridiculous uses of system properties to allow a combo to work — and then combining them with everything Joo and I did in our videos to make even crazier combos.

 
Maj: What are your favorite combo videos of all time?

Magnetro: 1st) Joo’s Combo Collection – I was blown away when I first saw all of the combos from his collection because I knew that I didn’t understand every single thing about them. I wasn’t able to understand what he did in some cases — I would even watch parts of the combos frame-by-frame trying to notice everything about it. I was finally able to understand them when I spoke with him about it and looked through the programmable controller input transcripts. The other part of it was how original and creative some of his ideas were. It’s a cool feeling to immediately be able to acknowledge how cool something was, but then realize that you are still not understanding everything that went behind it.

2nd) Meikyousisui 10 – This was the first time I had seen combos with the two-character bug. It was unreal to see all the stuff he was able to do with two characters being controlled at the same time. My favorite combo was the 999 Hit combo at the end of the video. There were many combos in this video that stood out for me. More so than any other Meikyousisui video.

3rd) Jadon Brown’s MvC2 Combo Exhibition #2 – This was the first combo video I saw when I started playing Marvel. Before then I wasn’t even aware people did videos like that. It really changed the way I looked at the game. I realized then that it was very complex and full of stuff you could combine (bugs/assists/engine mechanics). Although the video is very old, I still feel that it’s one of my favorite videos. It contains a lot of bugs, infinites, combos on assists, reset strings and normal combos. All of which, at the time, were crazy to me.

 
Maj: I agree, the first two or three years of MvC2’s evolution were astonishingly dynamic. It felt like the game changed every single week, right?

Magnetro: I think that feeling of awe and wonder about something you really like, followed up by wanting to explore and understand it is what got me into Marvel 2 so much. You just have to like something a lot in order to put that much time and effort into picking it apart.

There are moments when the task of making a combo video isn’t fun, but there are other moments that make it all worth it. So that’s why when I listed Joo’s Combo Collection as my favorite, I mentioned that it made me feel that sense of wonder when looking at MvC2 combos. That’s pretty much how I ranked them — those three stuck with me the most.

 
Maj: Upon releasing Variable Atmosphere 2, you announced that it would be your final project. Does that mean you’re retired from MvC2, or combo video production, or fighting games in general?

Magnetro: Well, after releasing Variable Atmosphere 2 I felt satisfied with what I made in terms of programmable controller content. At that point I had decided that I didn’t want to play/watch fighting games anymore.

However, I still released 2 more videos after that (manually executed combos and scrap videos that I liked) — but that’s because I felt like I had stuff that I wanted to get rid of still. So the last two videos were everything else I wanted to get over with; it was for completion’s sake.

But yeah, I’m definitely not going to play or keep up with any fighting game related stuff.
 

David Avila is attending college in Southern California and pursuing various non-gaming interests. You can still download his past combo videos from his personal website or watch them on his u2b channel.

 
Maj: Your MvC2 dominance was the initial reason you showed up on everyone’s radar. Later on you picked up 3S and SF4, and quickly started winning tournaments in those games too. How did your ground game become so strong without going through the traditional route of SF2 and SFA series?

JWong: Well I was always known for MVC2, but that wasn’t my first fighting game. The first fighting games I took seriously were MVC1 and Street Fighter 3: 2nd Impact.

The competition in New York back in the day was very fierce and I learned from watching them. I was always a combo Chinese kid but then I realized there was more than just having good execution.

I learned from Eddie Lee, Henry Cen, John Gordon, Norman Burges and many more about Street Fighter fundamentals. And my ground game naturally got stronger from traveling to tournaments and actually playing all different types of players and learning different type of styles.

 
Maj: How much of that is practice and how much of it is natural talent?

JWong: I practice a lot in any game when it first comes out. When I was younger, before MVC2 was announced and Eddie Lee was king of MVC1, I said, “If MVC2 ever comes out, I will be the best.” And they all laughed because I was some random Asian kid, right? But yea, it turned out that I did become the best in MVC2 haha.

But when the game came out, I went to the arcade from 10am playing against the computer ’til 8pm because I did have a curfew – I was only 14 at the time. But I had to train myself not to be a masher. I was definitely a flowchart player just mashing on Shoryukens and random supers, so it took me about 3 months to condition myself from mashing to actually normal button pressing. I would say that most of it is hard work but now it is easy for me to distinguish a fighting game.

 
Maj: Do you have any advice for players who want to develop a ground game as strong as yours?

JWong: Learning how to develop a strong ground game from me is really hard because my ground game isn’t purely 100% ground game. I have a mixture of reacting to whiff moves really well in there which makes it look like I have really strong ground game, but I probably have a great ground game not a superb one.

Usually my advice to studying the ground game would be to pick characters with really crap normals and try to win a poke/footsies war with that character. Then pick a character with tremendous normals and try to win a poke/footsies war. Then you start analyzing the range of “good” normals for specific characters and you examine their walk speed. From there I hope it clicks for you, but it’s not that easy because it does require a lot of thinking.

Like the way I play Rufus isn’t just dive kick maul go nuts. I try to use his “good” normals to the best of my ability. Like my main poke with Rufus is his sweep and it’s definitely not the fastest move in the game. But I am able to use that button like it was Balrog Sweep. So it really comes down to patience/dedication and thinking outside the box, because who would ever expect Rufus to have footsies?

 
Maj: Chun Li is your main character in 3S. C-Groove Vega/Sagat/Cammy/Blanka are your mains in CvS2. Rufus has been your main in SF4 and SSF4.

For the most part, these are very unpopular choices – either because they’re overly defensive characters who win by walking backward or because they’re Rufus. Why haven’t you picked up a popular rushdown character in all this time?

JWong: Before SF4, fighting games werent really mainstream right? And coming from an EC background, they were known as being lame and a bunch of turtles. That is the main reason for my character choices in 3S, CVS2, or any SF game.

I felt like Rufus was definitely a character that did not fit my style because I did come from a non-rush down area. But I thought to myself that SF4 will be popular so I kinda wanted to be exciting and showcase the game more than some Hadoukens and Shoryukens. Because fans of the game won’t understand the metagame between real smart play, but they do understand when a person is getting bodied.

That’s why I picked Rufus. He was a new character, with a new look and attitude and very offensive. Everyone tries to play Rufus but its really hard to win with him. Easy to do combos but hard to actually win with due to the character mechanics in general. SF4 can be pretty defensive and Rufus doesn’t really have good normals, or good meter management. All he really has is a good in-your-face pressure system, but getting that is the problem …

 
Maj: What about Fei Long? I thought you were on the right track with him in Street Fighter IV, but that phase didn’t last very long.

JWong: There is a back story to me playing Fei Long. I only played Fei Long because certain individuals in the EC (no mentioning names) said I can only win with Rufus, so I decided to prove them wrong with a character that people say has no possible fan base and no one really wanted to give him a shot. And that is why I picked Fei Long and I won my first tourney with straight Fei Long against all the top NYC players.

I only really picked him to prove a point that I wasn’t just a Rufus scrub. But I would never main Fei long just because I like Rufus’s playstyle alot. I dropped Fei long in Super because everyone started to play him and I dont really enjoy highly picked characters.

That is also why I dropped Abel and why I liked Mak in Super – because I want to encourage people not to complain about their characters. There will always be tiers in any competitive game, so all you can do is just work hard.

 
Maj: Don’t get me wrong, i’ve got nothing against your choice of Rufus, even though a lot of people hated him in SF4 so he’s clearly not as popular as Guy or Adon.

I just can’t help but think back to Evo2k2 when Tokido busted out those Urien unblockables on your Chun Li, or Evo2k4 when Daigo parried your super. Do you think all those people would’ve cheered against you if you were playing Alex or Makoto instead of the most hated character in 3rd Strike?

JWong: Well I really think it was a WC > EC thing because even back then EC cheered for me, even when I was playing those lame tier whore characters. lol. I just think that the WC at the time didn’t want a EC player taking all the credit against international just because before I came on the scene, WC were the ones that dominated every fighting game.

Plus, I hear stories of how prejudiced the WC players were from old school EC players, so I don’t think character choice at the time was anything special.

 
Maj: Right, i suppose “popularity” is always a complex puzzle, and everyone has a different perspective on it. In any case, what you accomplished with Marvel was remarkable and almost inexplicable. What allowed you to be so successful, so consistently?

JWong: Well I dedicated so much time in MVC2. I played from 10am – 8pm at the arcades in New York. I didn’t mind playing the computer because sometimes the computer can teach you some unique things about the character. I did get bored, but practicing my combos on moving targets helped alot to ensure my execution so I don’t choke as much in tournaments.

And back in the day, there was no training mode, so you HAD to expose yourself at the arcades and that is where you can learn the best. I learned practically every character in MVC2 and know each character’s limits and possiblities when it comes to tournament play.

 
Maj: Was there a specific moment when you realized that you might actually be the best?

JWong: I thought I was the best around B4 time. I was supposed to go to B4 at the time but I was still too young to do anything and I had that leash from my parents. But I helped Eddie Lee prepare for the tourney.

I actually invented Strider/Cable/Doom at the time which is what Eddie Lee repped at MWC that year and B4. So he made my team famous but now everyone thinks of Clockwork – even though Clockwork is godlike. And I heard rumors that the EC players who went to B4 were saying some fat husky Asian fob was the best in MVC2 in NYC which was ME. LOL

 
Maj: Really, B4?! Props for confidence, but come on now – you hadn’t even played the reigning West Coast MvC2 champ Duc Do until B5, the following year.

JWong: Well I didn’t know about standings or what not. I wasn’t sure if I would win yet, but the gap between me and Eddie Lee who was 2nd best in NYC was really high.

I could see myself losing early in tourney just because I could’ve gotten nervous or been uncomfortable. But I was pretty confident against Spiral because When Eddie Lee bought back Spiral to the EC, I beat it pretty bad. Granted, Duc’s Spiral was 100x better than Eddie at the time but I think anything could’ve happened at B4 because it was the first year of MVC2 and people were still playing unique teams with Iceman and Venom.

 
Maj: Are you planning on playing Marvel vs Capcom 3 with the same dedication?

JWong: I am going to play alot of MVC3. I already have so many things to try out in my head because I love games that have endless possibilities in them.

The game resembles Tatsunoko vs Capcom more than MVC2 but since MVC3 will be out for Xbox/PS3, it will help the numbers alot. And also there are really cool characters, and I feel like that this game, anything can happen.

Yes there are tiers but I think it might not matter since almost every character has fewer limits, meaning you can basically do anything you want. If you think it, most of the time, it could happen.

 
Maj: What do you think will happen to the MvC2 scene once MvC3 is out?

JWong: I hope the MVC2 scene will carry over to MVC3. But be warned that even if you’re a top MVC2 player, you’re not guaranteed to be godlike at the game. The game clearly does not play as close to MVC2 as everyone thinks it does.

And I hope that the MVC2 scene doesn’t complain about MVC3 gameplay because they have a strong input to the community, and most of the time MVC2 players complain too much about “Oh this has to be on Dreamcast, why is the tourney on PS3, and yada yada yada.”

Sometimes you have to get with the times, simple as that.

 
Maj: Who do you expect to be your toughest opponents?

JWong: I expect players who know how to play fighting games will be my toughest opponents. Just a one-game player will be less of a threat. MVC3 is made for people who can adapt in a fighting game, so I hope to see 100x more players than SSF4 has.

 
Maj: “How do you feel being bodied by James Chen in Super Turbo at B5, making James Chen 1-0 against you in ST tournaments?” – James Chen

JWong: James Chen did body me at B5 but I was like 15 at the time playing an old man’s game (lol no pun intended). But I did get alot better in ST since then.

James is one of the only old school players I have yet to beat in ST, but I beat some killers though (cough David Sirlin cough).

 
Maj: Haha seriously though, what’s your opinion of ST and what are your all-time favorite games?

JWong: I love ST alot. Even though I play a very cheap character aka Ol’ Sagat. The game is cheap. And I believe that cheap games are really fun because as the individual, you want to overcome the cheapness. I would love to play ST at every tournament which I already do, but I wouldn’t play HDR unless I wanted to beat certain individuals because they think they are nice. LOL

And my all time favorite game for fighters has to be Marvel 2 just because that’s what made me, and I put all my time and dedication to it. My favorite puzzle game would be Magical Drop 3. I’ll play anyone for money because I am the best. (Open challenge!)
 

Justin Wong currently works as a community rep for a studio developing online games. He continues to compete in both local and major national fighting game tournaments, under sponsorship from EG. You can follow him on twitter or visit his personal website.

 
Maj: How long have you been playing fighting games at tournament level?

SaBrE: While I played competitive Street Fighter since 1991 with WW, my strong SF connection was with the Alpha series. A2 and A3 brought me back to Capcom fighters after I stopped playing them back when SSF2 came out in arcades. I felt burned on SSF2 so I just kept playing MK, KI, primal rage, NBA Jam. I played Super Turbo for a short while. But SF2 just kinda died to me cuz of SSF2’s horrible speed.

When I first met Cigarbob and others through SNES XBAND, playing KI with them, I learned they still thrived on Capcom fighters. I pretty much credit Dogface and Cigarbob, 100% for bringing me back to Street Fighter. And this was when Alpha 2 was hot, so I started to love the game.

When A3 came out, I absolutely fell in love with the series even more. I know Alpha 3 has a very strong love/hate polarizing effect on the community, but I embraced the game. I was obsessed with Alpha 3. Played it non-stop, and got very good with V-Akuma. The cast of characters grew on me. I had an affinity towards the roster. And I started playing the Alpha-only style characters, especially Cody.

There’s something about the Alpha characters that just resonated with me. Much more than the SF2 characters did. And I love SF2. But Alpha was more special to me.

 
Maj: Coming from an SFA3 background, what was your initial impression of Street Fighter IV?

SaBrE: Well, when arcade SF4 came out in 2008, I was primarily a Ryu player. I’ve always loved shotos in every SF. They represented every fundamental in SF. But in the SF4 engine, it never felt right to me when it came to fireball zoning.

I was doing well with the character locally in my scene, but for myself, I didn’t feel like I was playing at full capacity. I could never seem to get the flow and rhythm that met my standards. And none of the other characters at the time, really interested me.

 
Maj: You became known for playing Sakura in SF4 and now Cody in SSF4. How did you end up with such unorthodox characters?

SaBrE: When console SF4 was announced, a good amount of the new roster was Alpha characters (Rose, Sakura, Gen). I mainly wanted to use Gen, cuz he was one of the most interesting and unique characters ever seen in SF. But when I learned that he lost his chain combos, I quickly dismissed him. I felt that was a massive diss to Gen players, and also eliminated a big part of the character’s identity.

Alpha Gen is remembered for having two very unique traits: chain combos and stance change. And they got rid of one of his identities. I also quickly realized that he would be heavily mash move oriented with the handslaps. I pride myself on execution skills, but mashed move precision execution is one thing I am not good at. So Gen, Blanka, and Honda are out of the question for me.

I didn’t like Rose at all. She was one of the few characters in Alpha that I didn’t care for. She was too basic and boring to keep my attention. So I went with Sakura. My Sakura history is pretty basic. I could competently use Sakura in A2/3. But she wasn’t my style, and she plays literally exactly the same in A2/A3/CvS2.

As we all know, SF4 Sakura played NOTHING like her past iterations. The EX HK was also of special interest to me. I knew she would be a tricky bitch with this move. But I wanted to see if this was a one-trick pony move or if I could generate a lot of different resets/mixups with it.

It took me a good month to start winning consistently. I was having fun cuz I love zoning and rushing down. Since zoning doesn’t feel good to me in SF4, rushdown was my only choice.

Everyone thought she was trash, I wanted to prove people wrong. In the end, yeah, shes not that great, but I could always find ways to win. I wanted to inspire players, and lead, show people how it’s done – instead of being a tier whore clone with no identity.

When Cody was announced with SSF4, I and everyone in the community that knew me prior to SF4 knew I was going to rock Cody from Day one. After all, at the end of A3’s life cycle, I would like to think that I put Cody on the map and trademarked how he was supposed to play. He was my identity back then.

Cody just struck a chord with me back then. No one was using him at the time, not even Japan really. I decided to drop V-Akuma (arguably best character in the game) for Cody (probably low mid tier at best at the time). I was tired of having a really strong V-Akuma, but no real identity to separate myself from everyone else. I loved Cody’s playstyle, his swagger and attitude. He just ended up being my favorite SF character ever.

It was simply a no-brainer to main him in SSF4. Whether he sucked or not. But I was gonna make sure that I could do some damage with him and see if I could still make that character synonymous with my name, and just innovate and be creative. I don’t have the time these days to dedicate myself to be a top player anymore. I’d rather be the innovator and show people how the characters I love are supposed to be played, and just inspire others who have more time to spend on improving, to take these characters to the next level.

 
Maj: Since you mentioned V-Akuma … Top 5 Shoto players of all time. Go!

SaBrE: 1. Alex Valle, cuz I admire his rushdown and his unorthodox take on the characters.

2. John Choi cuz his textbook style of play is amazing. No one know how to perfectly throw fireballs and uppercuts like he does. He knows how to make you block 356754 fireballs in a row instead of just jumping over them or neutral jumping.

3. Daigo. What needs to be said about him?

4. Mike Watson. Dude can do it all. His mastery of intimate matchup details and his spacing game is some of the most jaw dropping things I have ever seen in SF. I think in his prime, (except maybe Tomo?) no one on the planet could match his footsie game. I still don’t think players today can match what he did over a decade ago. He is, hands down, the best shoto player to ever grace the game, IMO.

5. Aniken, possibly. Fifth spot is where it’s hard to judge, so many to consider. But Aniken comes to mind first, so it’s going to be him. I really love this guy’s Ken, he rips it up. Shenanigans and rushdown for days. He makes Ken seem broken at times in ST.

 
Maj: What was the last top tier character you mained?

SaBrE: During the end of my 3S run, I did main Ken. I used all shotos in that game tho. I also used V-Akuma in A3 for a very long time. For my brief GGXX period, I used Ky in GGXX Slash, and Jam in GGXX AC.

 
Maj: Man, those were a while ago. Don’t you ever get frustrated dealing with the limitations of bottom tier and middle tier characters?

SaBrE: I do get frustrated with limitations. No doubt. Like with Cody, I’m extremely frustrated with his complete lack of defensive options. Divekick characters and other airborne-dominant characters just give him the hardest time (Cammy, Rufus, Seth, Viper, etc.) as well as Guile’s frustratingly difficult zoning game.

But it just forces me to learn my character and matchups more intimately and also get me to think outside of the box, rather than bitching out to the counter character choice. I guess I like it when the road is long and hard. Victory will be that much sweeter.

Sometimes I do contemplate just going to a top tier to handle some of my matchup issues. But like I said earlier, I don’t play enough these days to juggle more than one character at high level. I also think my muscle memory is going to crap. If you asked me to play Sakura right now, you would probably laugh at how bad it is. I just simply don’t invest enough time to stay sharp with more than one character, these days.

Speaking of tiers – as much as I believe that they exist, I also think they are extremely flawed. It’s impossible to tell if two players are equally skilled. So to me, tier lists are fundamentally flawed and very opinionated. And I also think people live and die by the tier list way too much. Just cuz a character is top tier, will the character be top tier for you?

This philosophy is exactly why I just play who I like, not who is high on the list. And I think a lot of up-and-commers would actually perform better, following this. I know many will disagree. But it’s true, IMO. The top tiers in SSF4 (which is a vague list) don’t suit my style or compliment my strong points as a player.

Yeah I can grind out and become pretty good with Rufus, Cammy, Akuma, etc.. But will any of them be as strong as my low mid tier Cody? I think a lot of people fail at SF cuz of this. Just jumping to the top tier, and ignoring if it’s even the best choice for their style/skill. Of course some people are just naturally good and can do this. But it’s not true for most.

 
Maj: Usually with lower-ranked characters, there are way fewer tournament videos to study and way less matchup information available. How do you remedy that deficiency when you’re trying to learn the character?

SaBrE: It all comes down to not becoming the sheep, and innovating your playstyle. To me, these days, players are too used to being spoonfed strats. Dont get me wrong, youtube and match videos are amazing resources. But people rely on it too much to guide them.

You definitely learn basics to get you started with the character. But people also try to emulate too much when they don’t know what the actual player in the video is thinking about at that moment, in that situation. It’s like the tier list, people live and die by match videos.

There are just some strats that players use, that no one else can do, just because of different mindsets/strategical breakdown of the situation. Look at Alex Valle’s Ryu in SSF4. Who else in the SSF4 scene uses s.fierce punch in footsie games? I can’t think of one person, not even Daigo. Valle uses this move so much, and it works A LOT for him.

Newer players are going to see this move land a lot on youtube, watching Valle’s matches. But they don’t understand why it’s working, or why Valle is using that move. So you got a situation where these players are trying to use this move, and it’s just failing for them.

To me, I see that as a Valle-only strategy. Many top players have those unique quirks in their gameplay that cannot be emulated. Viewers see those “quirks” and try to implement them, but eventually just end up wasting their time.

The only thing you can do is ask players that may have more knowledge about the character. And just keep playing. Sometimes people read too much into finding answers, when really the ultimate answer is to just keep playing people. It eventually clicks.

I know it’s harder as a newcomer to SF or fighting games in general. I know it’s easier for me and older players to dive right into the unknown since we have deep understanding of SF fundamentals and also the mental aspect. It allows us to dissect the characters rather fast, with no prior info.

If you have SF basics, there should be no reason why you shouldn’t be able to figure out how to use a non-popular character to his strengths. Just play people, various people. Go into training mode and experiment. Find solid damage combos that seem to work very consistently and realistically, without having to put much execution effort in, AKA, bread-n-butter combos. Practice practice practice!

I guess that’s a hard question for me to answer since I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be new and being able to figure things out.

 
Maj: Having been involved in the fighting game community since the early arcade days and the infancy of online play through XBand, what’s your take on the age of SF4?

SaBrE: What can I say about this game? It brought our favorite genre back from the brink of death. Love or hate this game, but fighting game fans owe a lot to SF4, and the series in general.

I think online play has really made this game even bigger. While I wasnt a fan of Vanilla SF4 online functionality, it was still playable, but I didn’t use it that much. When Super SF4 came out, while the netcode isn’t really all that different, the experience was completely revamped and much more fun. 8 player lobbies, spectator, replays, etc. That’s what I’m talking about. While I’d still rather play in an arcade, it’s a decent replacement.

Back when I was addicted to SNES XBAND, it was all I would do when going to the arcade wasn’t an option (no money, no ride, too much homework, or arcade was closed). It was something to fill the void of not having access to the arcade during specific hours. Now that arcades are mostly gone, you definitely rely on online play to stay sharp. Especially if you live in an area that doesn’t have much competition offline.

People are now understanding the convenience of online play. While it’s not the same thing due to lag – good, competent players are starting to find ways to extract the good things that come from online, like valuable matchup experience, testing strategy theories, and facing an infinite number of styles. While at the same time, knowing what the crap, online strategies are and throwing that stuff out the window.

And I think the older players like us are finally starting to figure this out, therefore, getting a lot of mileage out of online play. I see old school top players playing online all the time that I never thought I would see playing online in a million years due to lag (Valle, Jason Nelson, Jason Wilson, Jason Cole, Graham Wolfe).

I’m just trying to imagine what will happen when Capcom and other companies finally start to put GGPO in their games while having all these options. Then the online revolution really begins. But no matter how dope Online can get, Arcade is where it’s at!!!! =)

 
Maj: I know you’re looking forward to Mortal Kombat 9, and it certainly seems like it might be a solid competitive game for once. What advice would you offer to Street Fighter players who want to give it a shot?

SaBrE: I guess my advice would be, to have an open mind to a different style of game, and not expect it to be the same game. Just because an uppercut is a good anti air move in SF games, doesn’t mean it’s a good move in other fighters.

You have to be open to a different mindset to stop strategies in a different way. I think once you can accept thinking outside of the box, rather than only trying to solve problems using “Street Fighter” methods in a non-Street Fighter game. If you have a basic fighting game fundamental skill, you should be able to figure it out.

In the end though, the most obvious answer to this is to just keep playing. If you got other people playing with you (offline or online) and enjoy the game, you will eventually figure the game out. Practice practice practice!!!

 
Maj: Most SRK members recognize you as one of the SF4 forum moderators, but your involvement dates all the way back to the early Fighting Game Discussion days before SRK had game-specific forums. How did you become a mod on SRK?

SaBrE: I was very active early on in SRK’s lifecycle on the forums. Back in 2000, no good players would ever be found posting on the forums. There was a lot of elitist attitudes back in the day. No one wanted to waste time with scrubs, especially forum scrubs.

I took advantage of the forums immediately, because at the time, I was in the military, and naturally I moved around a lot, and it was a new way to find players in a city that I was new to. Before then, all we had was usenet with alt.games.sf2, which was very underground.

I knew that the whole forum thing would eventually explode as a way to bring players together in a more unified way, since it was easier to deal with and find for internet noobs. Arcades were on their last legs and the days of finding random comp in random arcades was coming to an end. So we had to have a way to get players together to keep the scene alive.

So I became very active in the forums. I suppose it helped too that I knew MrWizard (he made me Pacific South Moderator). He knew I was always on SRK, which meant I had time to traffic all the BS that went on in the forums and help keep it under control.

Today is a different story. Since SF4 launched, SRK forums are a totally different beast. It’s damn near impossible to control all the garbage that makes it on. These days, my time is more limited, as I don’t surf the forums much anymore. Which means I cant police the threads much anymore. I’m more of a mod in the background. I’m there to help people if they need it.

 
Maj: Is it fun being a moderator?

SaBrE: Being a MOD on SRK or any other large forum site is a very tough job. You really have to have a love for the community to continuously do your job, for free! I remember many times where I would get harassed by people I gave infractions to, closed their threads, deleted their post, or flat out banned. You can’t ever really get rid of these people, it’s an endless job.

You get people criticizing your MOD decisions, putting you on blast. Like I said, you gotta have a strong love for your community to be able to deal with all this. It’s really tough. People just want to ruin other’s good times on the internet. To movie quote The Dark Knight, “Some people just want to watch the world burn.”
 

Scott Bender regularly attends major fighting game tournaments in Arizona, as well as neighboring states California and Nevada. You can subscribe to his u2b channel for the latest pre-release SSF4 Cody combo videos.

XSPR’s personal introduction precedes the interview, followed by the original Japanese transcript.

The name “TZW” holds a very special place in the Street Fighter community, particularly in the memories of many of the oldest members. We all have stories about certain individuals that impressed us with their amazing skill and what it was like the first time we witnessed it, or their great performances in tournaments. We can remember other people that made a name for themselves by the persistent use of some low-tier character better than anyone else could manage to work out. These are the kinds of people that got us to see the game in a new light. And then there was TZW.

He got us to see things so differently that word about him traveled around the planet, either by the evidence, if you were lucky (usually in the format of some barely viewable 16th generation copy video cassette tape), or simply by way of the mysterious rumors about such evidence. He didn’t just simply show us the game in a new light, it was like discovering hidden secrets. He caused us to re-question our previous assumptions and think again about what we thought was even possible in the game itself. There are few things in life that can turn a cocky brash teenager into a true, genuine student of how something works, and have him risk giving the mere appearance of a much younger child, full of wonder and curiosity to discover what else there may be, but that’s the kind of effect he had. Before the Three Men and a Baby, the men were left to feel like babies next to the persona of some guy in Japan named “TZW.”

Minus World

Part of what goes into the making of an OG are these types of memories from a younger age, that stick with the OG and bond directly with his DNA that keep him playing well into adulthood. One of the earliest of these types of fond memories I can remember is playing Super Mario Bros. on the original Nintendo (NES / Famicom) and discovering “Minus World.” Minus World was the world, within the world, and like, nobody knew about it.

I had played older video games before Super Mario Brothers, but didn’t have as positive an experience. I remember the first time I played Pacman, or maybe it was Ms. Pacman. It was probably Pacman, because there was no way any self-respecting 5 or 6 year old boy would be caught dead playing a girl in a video game. Anyway, I remember wondering why I died when trying to eat the ghosts. My brother said “Nooooo, first you have to eat the power pellets, THEN you can eat the ghosts.” So I ate the power pellet first, but that didn’t work either, because by the time I caught up to any ghost, he’d already reverted back to his normal color. (One of which was BLUE, I might add!) Super Mario Brothers was a lot more sophisticated, with huge levels to explore. It let you enjoy a powerful sense of adventure, from finding beanstalks to clouds that paralleled the normal path of a stage, or stumbling under hidden mushrooms that were special because they were green, and that meant they gave you a free guy. It was basically the Huckleberry Finn of the 80’s, and if you weren’t playing it, you missed out on a lot of fun.

After you had completed the game a number of times, there wasn’t much to see in terms of finding uncharted territory. But if you went to the end of a particular underground level, jumped so that the back of Mario’s head would slide through from the side of a certain brick next to this one tunnel, you could somehow manage to scroll the screen to that warp pipe area in such a way that allowed you to find new territory: Minus World. It was a way to get through the looking glass of the game itself. That was so rad!

Super Mario Brothers really stimulated you to think about these kinds of possibilities and encouraged that sense of exploration. I remember when I found out about all the ridiculous amount of free guys you could get by jumping up and down just right on the turtle at the end of World 3-1. I wondered why the numbers of lives left starting including letters. I was like, “Did I break the game cartridge with my awesomeness just now? Will other text display properly after this?” I don’t know if it was hexadecimal or what, but it felt cool to push the boundaries of the game just to see what would happen.

Best Tape, Worst Quality

Many years later, after some games with Zass, we went back to his dorm and he had this video tape of B3, I think it was. It was during the Alpha 2 days. He also told me about this other video tape he had, of all these crazy combos. His description was completely accurate, the combos were indeed unbelievable and had to be seen to be believed. He also warned me about the poor quality of the tape itself, which was also an accurate description. Tapes start to degrade after a few copy-of-copy generations. If you keep making copies of copies, they become barely viewable, and that’s exactly the state this thing was in. After a few minutes, it was almost like trying to view an adult cable channel without paying; you could get the audio fine, but the best image you’d ever see was very scrambled and distorted. It wasn’t quite that bad, but often parts of it would start to look like that. I think most of the footage featured Hyper Fighting, with possibly earlier editions, if I remember correctly. I just know there was some combo that had Guile doing two roundhouses from the ground in the same combo.

By this time, the Internet had started to become popular and it was a big help in arranging tournaments in the US. This allowed us to organize and answer the question, so who is the best player? and even better, otherwise known as “XSPR’s Question”: As a competitor, how do I stack up? But it was still way before YouTube. Internet speeds didn’t really allow for the practical transmission of video footage until a little later. ISDN was feasible, but cable modem wasn’t available in most districts and even in universities, the bandwidth wasn’t really there to host and download video files. So there were no video files to download.

There was a belief among some people that this TZW guy must be the best. After all, he did combos nobody could even conceive. We could readily understand that the combos featured in TZW tapes were very impractical for winning real games with, but that didn’t necessarily mean he couldn’t deliver in more practical terms. The practical benefits may not exactly result directly in tournament wins, but some things do occasionally get discovered from such tinkering, and definitely inspired us, despite the required suspense of disbelief. Japan did have the better players, which some of us knew, others contested, and some simply denied outright. But nobody really knew for sure, as few top players would travel across the planet to another country and find out or show off in some video game. This was before anyone heard about Daigo. A few individuals such as myself only made it across the country from one coast to another from time to time, and that was basically it.

Inspiration by Dissection of a Game Engine

So we’d have our tournaments, but we’d still wonder, how much better are the Japanese? Before TZW’s tapes became more and more known, did any of us make a tape like that? I remember a little later, after B2 maybe, Omar made a tape of A2 Rose with like 20 or 30+ hits, with a few other high hit combos. But TZW’s tape was the first time we’d seen something like that. Not a tournament recording, not a practical, here’s how to win at the game video, but something that stretched the limits of the game and tried to answer the question, what’s possible? One thing was clear. If there was anyone that could answer that question of what’s possible, it was this mysterious TZW guy. He did this kind of thing before James Chen told us about the detailed innards of how fighting games functioned, and way before Maj had a website. When Maj dies, he’ll probably be worshiped like Tupac in his own right. And then someone will ask, “So who inspired Maj? Who did Maj respect?” and the answer will be TZW. Guile got his handcuffs when TZW broke the game engine’s laws of physics.

Zass would eventually go on to meet him some years later, and introduce him to some other US players when they visited Japan. Some years after that, I met him too. It was awesome to finally meet the person who made the combos in those grainy old tapes.

Some OGs get to a point and consider just how much they value all the tournament memories and the community members that started running them. The competitive spirit is only the beginning, and an OG realizes that at some point, it’s the very service to the community that can offer some of the most satisfaction. Giving back in this way becomes its own reward. So with all of these interviews going around lately, I thought it would be a good idea to interview TZW, and give the community a chance to acknowledge his valuable contribution and fond memories that inspired so many of us.

 
TZW, can you tell us a little about yourself?

Name: TZW-ART?

Playing SF2 since: SF2WW (Of course, I started from SF1.)

Other games: I like arcade shooting, puzzle, and action games.

SF series main character: GUILE (color BLUE)

Controllers: BOARD MASTER (ASTRO panel and Semitsu parts)
Semitsu joystick. The buttons are Sanwa which I like.

SSF2T vs: I like not just combos but also to compete. I’m not such a strong player.
I like these match-ups:
Guile vs. Dhalsim
Guile vs. boxer
Guile vs. Guile
Guile vs. Sagat

I don’t particularly like these match-ups:
Guile vs. T.Hawk
Guile vs. Cammy
Guile vs. claw

If I ever get the chance, I’d like to attend an Evo someday.

 
1. With so many people still playing ST after all these years, do you think it’s becoming more and more common that players will begin to land some of the higher-hit combos from your videos, which most players feel are too impractical to even attempt in a real match?

We are already seeing tactics used when a super is done after a barrage of weak attacks. Ken, Guile, and Cammy pose significant threats to their opponent if they can do the bigger combos. You don’t really see those huge combos all the time, but there are always a few players that have that constant obsession to meet the challenge. I’m one of them, but I fail and lose.

2. Which Street Fighter game have you spent the most time and effort dissecting? Any other kinds of games?

I’d say that I’ve devoted the most time of all to Super Turbo, in the end. There are still new things to discover. The longest session of research took around one day and eighteen hours of play. Other games that I have also investigated intently include Gradius 2, Pipe Dream, and Mobile Light Force (1, 2 and 3; The Japanese title of Mobile Light Force is “Shikigami no Shiro”).

[TZW-ART? holds the national record for the high score in Pipe Dream (all stages), Radigy, Karous, and Illvelo.]

3. T.Akiba helped us gain a lot of insight into the way ST functions and works. Have you talked with him much or ever worked together on something?

Sure, T.Akiba’s a good buddy of mine. We have run tournaments and collaborated on other stuff too. We even worked together on INH’s DVD productions (the X-MANIA DVDs). His name also appears in the explanation book.

4. If you could request some features or something from Capcom or a game company, what would it be?

I want to see something like the NESiCAxLive system (a network to download content to arcade machines) support Capcom’s 2D fighting games. Super Turbo for example could have a card that lets you customize the color of your character.

5. Are you familiar with “machinima”? What do you think about using games in this way?

Is that some way of combining animation or another kind of visual with game visuals? I think that it’s better to make the original game production itself look better. If it makes the game look worse, I don’t like it.

6. These days, YouTube and NicoNico Douga allow users to put up many kinds of personal video footage very easily. It makes it easy for a person to become a national hero/national security breacher. Personally, it bothers me that high school fights (or attacks) are not taken down, while other content is removed. They allow copyright infringement with music and movies. Do you want to comment on anything regarding copyright?

With regard to both combo and real game match videos, you really shouldn’t forget about the copyright/trademark of the maker/ originator. It’s not like the company, as owner of the intellectual property, really wants to take their fans to court for violating the law in this regard (as it usually promotes their product), so they usually tolerate it.

This applies both to my own work as well as to the game companies/publishers that own the intellectual properties. I think it’s not good when a person besides the producer just uploads footage without permission. (I made a mistake about that in the past and I regretted it.)

7. With emulation, it is now easy to stress-test a game and try new things, down to the accuracy of a frame or two, with free tools from community members like an Input Scripter. Do you make your own? Have you used others?

I’ve made no use of things like an Input Scripter or so-called “macros.” I am determined/obsessed with the challenge of one’s “Abilities Restricted to the Human Hand.”

However, I am interested about the use of other ways. I respect Maj’s thorough investigation of the utmost limits. I was deeply moved by his videos, too.

Guile’s “Thrust” -> super (close range standing mid kick into super) is possible to do by hand, but it is not possible to suddenly FAB from the standing state without a macro.

8. Recently, we may see hitboxes displayed for many games, including Super Turbo. I was really happy to see this. You can even play a “blank screen” mode, where you see ONLY hitboxes! I love it. What do you think? Would you join a tournament for “blank screen” mode hitbox in ST?

It’s fun to research isn’t it? New discoveries are possible, too. Yeah, it seems like it would be interesting to have a tournament in this mode. I want to participate.

9. Please tell us about the equipment and tools you use, and have not used, in your productions.

I have used absolutely no input scripter or so-called “macro” at all. Nothing was used except a Control Box controller for the arcade version, and turbo device (synchronized to fire 30 times per second).

The actual conditions of my performance, using only these two items, are shown briefly during the end credits roll of the combo DVD “MAXION.” You are able to see my hands.

10. Evo is the largest fighting game tournament each year in the US. It has become common for combo videos to be presented- often for the first public viewing- during these events. Are you familiar with Maj, or other people overseas that like to take apart the game or make combo videos?

Of course I know about Evo. I’ve corresponded with them sometimes. I got permission to use a technique from his video to make my video. (vs. Claw, a technique called “Tabidougu Tobikosu” which means, to “Jump over the firearm,” a.k.a., “Maj Jump.”)

In addition, Maj made the Tribute video. I am in his gratitude.

11. Execution will always play a role in public performance. What do you think about it? How important would you say is execution?

I don’t compete much these days, so I don’t see combos. Since I’ve done combos so many times, it’s good just to hit-confirm it once. Nobody wants to see you fail so many times.

On the other hand, I think that competitive play is suitable for crowd performances. Daigo gets out magnificent results in front of lots of people.

12. When you compete as a player in X, what are some combos that you typically go for?

With Guile, start with his ambiguous cross-up jumping light kick, crouching light kick x2 (or crouching light punch x3), super. If in the corner, hit opponent with Sonic Boom, crouching light punch x2, super.

13. Do you have any problem with muscle memory? You know, like you trained your hands so much for one combo, but get confused when either playing as a different character? One problem I still have is doing Ryu’s super when I wanted a DP, or vice versa.

I don’t confuse the commands. However, I have a trick. During an ambiguous cross-up attempt, I force myself to input a straight down directional charge on the stick (i.e. straight down, not diagonal back), so I avoid the tendency to involuntarily charge for a Sonic Boom.

I’ll move the stick to the straight down direction (for a charge), which is sufficient for Guile’s super in Super Turbo. When I am going for a combo, this is effective to avoid an accidental discharge of a Sonic Boom.

14. If you are not the Bruce Lee of Street Fighter, you are the Akira Kurosawa. What is your favorite movie? TV show? Top 5 or 10 favorite games? Worst games, hardest games?

My favorite games are Gradius 2, Pipe Dream, Illvelo (Milestone Shmup/a shooting game by Milestone), OutRun 2SP, Exed Eyes (NES shooting game), Ghosts N’ Goblins, Gaia Crusaders (I made a video of this one), Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire (the fighting game with him in it; I made a vid of this one too), the Mobile Light Force series (a.k.a. Shikigami no Shiro), Street Fighter series, etc.

15. Would you have anything to say about the best way to grip a joystick? Newer players often wonder about this.

“Side grip,” “wine glass grip,” and “knob pinch” are some of the ways to grip a joystick. It depends on the game. But I use a side grip most of the time when I play.

16. Some times I feel like there is an “opportunity cost” of holding the stick one way compared with another way. For example, when I block an unexpected cross-up attempt, I find that I’ll grip the stick slightly differently, and kind of lose my internal calibration for where the “dead zone” is. That can be important if I want to start a combo or just a DP on the next frame or two.

With charge characters, you can fall behind from the start if you miscalculate. It’s hopeless, you can’t really do anything about it. But with command characters, you can pull off moves from any kind of state, so practice helps.

17. Many top players that have heard of you might like to meet you one day. If you could meet any American or international person (famous actor, president, etc.) who would it be?

I’d try to meet Van Damme (for his role of Guile) or Steven Seagal, or Jackie Chan. The Evo Staff and Maj, definitely.

18. I play Dhalsim, and sometimes need a teleport but it’s very hard to do as a reversal. Any advice for me? Many people have trouble doing Guile’s super. Any advice?

That involves simultaneously pressing three buttons at once, so it’s difficult as a reversal. I think I can get it out a little more nimbly when I press the buttons twice, like “ba-BAM.” Releasing the buttons will count as input too.

Guile’s super is ok with the charge down. The last part of it is diagonal towards or diagonal back. One should find the way that’s easiest for him to get it out.

19. I was happy to see that you enjoy the Guile vs. Dhalsim matchup. If my opponent is Guile, I often select Ryu because I feel like that match-up is 9-1, or even 10-0! What do you think?

Guile has various options, too. If you can see through the opponent’s play style, it’s a reasonable fight. I don’t think there are any 10-0 match-ups. Isn’t it 8-2? In the end, it all depends on the skill of the player.

[In a recent session with TZW-ART?, he got at least 3 out of about 10 or so on me for this match-up, clearly demonstrating what he says above. He knows this match-up very well!]

20. My friend Mr. Wah asks about the difference between Guile and old Guile. Is old Guile just as viable as new Guile? Do you think old Guile has the same chances to win a tournament as Guile?

For anti-air, old Guile can use standing heavy kick (roundhouse). You can stand and get out light kick(s) (short kick/”Muay Thai Kick”) without losing your charge. However, you give up his ambiguous cross-up (jumping light kick), tech’ing out of throws and his super combo so in a tournament, I think it’s difficult to win and advance to the next round.

21. Can you tell us why you chose “TZW-ART?” for your ringname? How did you get this name?

That’s private. Please try a few guesses.

22. Have you played much Marvel Vs. games? MvC2 was extremely popular in the US. What do you think? Is that game similar to a shooting game, do you think?

I’m aware of its popularity. I know the American players research is beyond the level where Japanese players hardly ever win against them. A fighting game that has a lot of aerial combos gets called a “combo game” (i.e. “combofest”). I enjoy playing it by myself, but competitive play is not my strong point.

23. In a real game, what is the biggest or fanciest combo or feat you accomplished?

Using Guile, jumping heavy kick (roundhouse), standing light punch, Sonic Boom, standing mid punch, Sonic Boom, jumping heavy kick (roundhouse) (6 hits). I chose this for a Zangief player who was dizzy; after I did this 6 hit combo, he was re-dizzied.

Another time with Guile, I did jumping heavy kick (roundhouse), standing light punch, Sonic Boom, crouching light kick, super (5 hits connected, for total of 9 hits).

24. Thank you very much for the interview. Any message or word that you’d like to express to international players?

Studying combos thoroughly is an ART. In relation to video, the production/direction and presentation (as I’ve shown) is important, as well as the contents/fancy combos. In my combo videos, I adjusted the opponents’ life gauges to cause KO at the end of each combo.

Please try studying combos sometimes when you get tired from competing.

Thank you very much for your interview, TZW-ART?!
A big special thank you to Ksedaka who offered help with the translation!

 
TZWさん、あなたのことについて少し教えてください。

▼name: TZW-ART?

▼Since : SF2WW～　※もちろん「SF1」からプレイしています

▼other games:アーケードのシューティングやパズルゲーム、アクションゲームも好きです。

　・パイプドリーム(全コース)　全国一位　 PIPE DREAM(puzzle) HI-SCORE record holder
　・ラジルギ、カラス、イルベロ　全国一位　 (arcade shooting game) HI-SCORE record holder
　・「ラジルギ」「式神の城」 DVD PLAYER　
　　etc…

▼SF series main character: GUILE (color BLUE)

▼controllers:ボードマスター　BOARD MASTER (参考　http://www.tops-game.jp/part/usually/05controlbox_01.htm　アストロパネル+セイミツレバー)
　　　　　　　　　レバーはセイミツ。ボタンはサンワが好きです

▼SSF2T vs:　コンボだけでなく対戦も好きです。強くないですが・・・。
　　　　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　　好き　Guile vs 　ダルシム　バイソン(boxer)　ガイル　サガット
　あまり好きじゃない　Guile vs　ホーク　キャミィ　バルログ
▼その他:　機会があればevoに参加したいです。

—————————————————

<　▼・・・TZW様回答 >

1.多くの人々がいまだにストリートファイターをプレイしていますが、あなたのビデオで紹介されている、実際の試合で試すには実用的ではないと思われているいくつかのヒット数の高いコンボを、プレイヤーたちが実践するようになってきていると感じていますか。

▼弱攻撃連打からのスーパーコンボについてはすでに戦術に組みこまれています。
ケン、ガイル、キャミィではできると相手にとって脅威になります。
複雑なコンボについてはあまり見かけませんが、こだわりを持って常に挑戦しているプレイヤーも僅かながらいます。
私もよく狙いますが、失敗して負けます。

2.どのストリートファイターシリーズに一番時間と研究の労力を費やしましたか。他にも同じような努力を注いだゲームはありますか。

▼最後のXがやはり一番時間を費やしました。いまだに新発見があります。
最も研究していた頃は1日18時間もプレイしていたこともあります。
　他にやりこんだゲームは「GRADIUS2」「PIPE DREAM」「式神の城(1～3)」です。
※スコアや記録については以前の回答を参照

3.T.Akibaさんはストリートファイターがどう機能し動いているのかに関して、たくさんの洞察を与えてくれました。彼と話したり、何か一緒にやったことはありますか。

▼親友です。大会運営などもやったことがあります。
INHのDVD(http://www.inhgroup.com/item/st2/)でもT.Akibaさんと一緒に協力しました。解説本にも名前が載っています。

4.カプコンなどのゲーム会社に新しいフィーチャーなどをリクエストするとすれば、何がありますか。

▼・「NESiCAxLive（ネシカ クロス ライブ）」(http://biz.taito.co.jp/release/nesicaxlive.pdf)のようなシステムにカプコンの2D格闘ゲームも対応して欲しい。

・エックス(SSF2T)でもカードを使ってプレイヤー名表示やカラーカスタマイズがしたいです。

5.”machinima”をご存じですか。こうやってゲームを利用することをどう思われますか。http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B7%E3%83%8B%E3%83%9E

▼アニメや他の映像にゲーム映像を融合させることでしょうか?
元のゲーム作品をよりよく見せる為なら良いとおもいます。ゲームのイメージが悪くなる利用方法は好きではありません。

6.最近では簡単に、YouTubeやニコニコ動画にさまざまな種類の個人的な動画を上げることができます。このことによって人々は簡単に、国際的なヒーローになったり、安全を脅かす存在として知られるようになりました。個人的には、他に動画が削除されているにも関わらず、学生たちのケンカの動画などがいつまでも消されない状況を、快く思っていません。彼らは音楽や動画の著作権をおびやかす存在です。著作権に関してご意見などありますか。

▼コンボ動画や対戦動画に関しては、まずはゲーム会社に著作権がある事を忘れてはいけません。ファン活動の一環としてメーカーに黙認(許可は出来ないが、訴えることもしない状態)されているのが現状かと思います。
　また、ゲーム動画の製作者にも気を使うべきです。
製作者に無断で他の人がアップするのも良くないとおもいます。
(若気の至りで無茶苦茶やってた頃の動画を他人にアップされて、私も恥ずかしい思いをしています)

7.現在はエミュレータを使うことで、ゲームに限界まで負担をかけたり、有志によって製作されたInput Scripter（入力スクリプト）のようなフリーツールを用いることで、１、２フレームの正確さで、簡単に新しいことに挑戦することが可能となりました。ご自身で何か製作されたことはありますか。何かを使用されたことはありますか。

▼Input Scripter（入力スクリプト）いわゆる「マクロ」は使ったことはありません。
自分は「人間の手で出来る限界」にこだわりをもって挑戦しています。

ただし、他の方の使用については興味があります。
極限まで突き詰めたMajさんは尊敬します。動画も感動しました。

※スラストWサマー(近距離立ち中K→Wサマー)は人の手で出せますが、
立ち状態からいきなりFABはマクロでないと出来ません。

8.昨今、ストリートファイターを含む数多くのゲームで、当たり判定が箱型に表示されたものを確認できる場合があります。（dammitのブログや動画をご参照ください）。個人的にはこれを見ることができて大変嬉しいです。さらに加えて、箱だけが表示された”空画面”モードで遊ぶこともできて、かなりのお気に入りです。このようなモードについてどのようにお考えですか。もし、”空画面”モードで当たり判定の箱のみが表示されるストリートファイターの大会があったとしたら、参加しますか。

▼研究するのが楽になりますね。新発見もありそうです。
このモードで大会をやるのも面白そうです。参加してみたいです。

9.あなたの制作物の中で使用した（使用しなかった）装置やツールについて教えてください。

▼Input Scripter（入力スクリプト）いわゆる「マクロ」は一切使っていません。
アーケード用のコントロールBOXと連射装置(シンクロ30連)のみです。

　※プレイ環境はコンボDVD”MAXION”のSTAFFロールで少しだけ公開しています。
　実際の手さばきも見れます。

10.Evoはアメリカで毎年開催されている最大の格闘ゲームの大会です。大会中に（アメリカ人プレイヤーの）コンボ動画が（初めて公的な場で）紹介されるのが、通例となりつつあります。よく大会やコンボ動画の製作に参加している、Majをご存知ですか。http://sonichurricane.com

▼もちろん知っています。何度かやりとりをしたことがあります。
彼の動画で使っていたテクニックの使用許可をもらって、コンボ動画も作りました。
　(vsバルログの飛び道具飛び越し・・・通称「Maj JUMP」)

また、Majさんがトリビュート動画も作ってくれました。感謝しています。

11.人前での演技では、その出来栄えが大きな役割を果たします。このことについてどのようにお考えですか。出来栄えはどれくらい大切なのでしょうか。

▼1発勝負なので、コンボには向きません。コンボは何度も挑戦して、1度でもつながることが確認できれば良いので。失敗を何度も見せると観客は飽きてしまうと思います。
一方、対戦プレイは人前での演技に向いていると思います。Daigoは人前でのプレイで素晴らしい結果を出しています。

12.対戦でXをプレイするとき、よく使うコンボにはどのようなものがありますか。

▼ガイルで「めくりジャンプ弱K→しゃがみ弱K×2(orしゃがみ弱P×3)→Wサマー」、
画面端でピヨった相手に「ソニック→しゃがみ弱P×2→Wサマー」

13.筋肉の記憶（muscle memory）について困っていることはありませんか。例えば、１つのコンボの練習をしたとき、他のキャラクターのプレイ中に混乱することがありませんか。私がいまだに抱えている問題としては、昇龍拳を出したい時にリュウのスーパーを入力したり、またはその逆を入力してしまうことがあります。

▼コマンドの混乱はありません。
ただし、クセはあります。めくりジャンプ時にレバーを真下(↓)に入れなければいけないのにソニックのタメを勝手にしてしまうことがあります。
　※Wサマーはレバー真下でタメても出ます。コンボを狙う際にソニックの暴発を防ぐのに効果的です)

14.あなたがストリートファイターのブルース・リーでないとすれば、それは黒澤明です。好きな映画やテレビ番組は何ですか。好きなゲームのトップ５、またはトップ１０を挙げていただけませんか。最悪、もっとも難しいと感じるゲーム、などでもかまいません。

▼好きなゲームは・・・
グラディウス2、PIPE DREAM、イルベロ(マイルストーンのシューティング)、OutRun2SP、エグゼドエグゼス、魔界村、ガイアクルセイダーズ(動画公開されています)、ジャッキーチェンin FISTS OF FIRE(ジャッキーの格闘ゲーム。動画アリ)、式神の城シリーズ、ストリートファイターシリーズ　など

15.ジョイスティックのベストな握り方に意見はありますか。新しいプレイヤーはいつもそれを疑問に思っています。

▼「かぶせ」「ワイン」「つまみ」などいくつか握り方があります。ゲームによって使い分けています。ですが大半は「かぶせ」でプレイしています。

16.ときどき私は、１つのレバーの握り方を選択することは、他の握り方を選択しないという『機会費用（原価）』があると感じています。たとえば予期せぬ攻撃を防御した際に、レバーをいつもとちょっと違う持ち方をしてしまい、自分の中での基準から外れた『死角』に入ったような感覚になります。このことは直後の数フレームでコンボや昇龍拳を狙う場合、重大な事態を招きかねません。このことについてご意見はありますか。

▼タメキャラの場合、判断ミスでタメ開始が遅れるのは良くあります。
これはどうしようもないですね。
コマンドキャラ場合は、どんな状態からも技が出るのでそこは練習あるのみです。

17.あなたの話を聞いた多くのトッププレイヤーがあなたに会いたいと言うかもしれません。もしアメリカ人や国際的な著名人（有名な俳優や大統領など）に会いたいとしたら、誰ですか。

▼ヴァンダム(ガイル役)やセガール、ジャッキーチェンには会ってみたいです。
evoスタッフやMajさんにもぜひ会いたいです。

18.私はダルシムを使うのですが、リバーサルでのテレポートがとても難しいです。何かアドバイスはありますか。また、多くのプレイヤーにとってガイルのスーパーも難しいようです。アドバイスはありますか。

▼リバーサルテレポはボタンの同時押しがあり難しいです。素早く2回パパンと押すと少しは確立が上がると思います。ボタンを離したときにも入力受け付けてくれるので。
　ガイルのスーパー(ダブルサマー)は、真下タメでも大丈夫です。最後は前ナナメでも後ろナナメでも大丈夫です。自分にあった出しやすい入力方法を見つけてください。

19.ガイルとダルシムの試合をみるのは楽しいです。でも私の相手がガイルの場合、いつもリュウを選んでしまいます。というのも、この組み合わせは9-1、下手をすると10-0だと感じるからです。どう思われますか。

▼ガイル側も選択肢はいろいろあります。相手のプレイスタイルを見抜けばそこそこ戦えます。10-0は無いと思います。8-2くらいでしょうか?　後はプレイヤーの腕次第です。

[僕はダルを使ったけど、質問から誘われてボコられてみた。僕のダルは「つえーなぁ」って 。１０ぐらいの３回で！
-XSPR ]

20.私の友人 Mr.Wah がガイルとSガイルの違いを尋ねてきました。Sガイルは新ガイルと同じくらい使えるキャラクターでしょうか。ガイル同様、大会を勝ち進めるでしょうか。

▼対空技として、遠距離立ち強K(ラウンドハウスキック)が使えます。タメを維持したまま立ち弱キック(ムエタイキック)が出せます。
ですが、めくりジャンプ弱Kがなく、投げ受身もスーパーコンボも無いので、大会で勝ち進むのは難しいと思います。

21.”TZW”をリングネームに選んだ理由を教えてください。どうやって思いついたのですか。

▼内緒です。いろいろ想像してみてください。

22.Marvel Vs.シリーズはプレイしましたか。アメリカではMvC2は大変人気があります。どう思っていますか。このゲームはシューティングゲームのようだと考えていますか。

▼人気があるのは知っています。日本のプレイヤーが全く勝てないレベルまで研究しているのも知っています。

空中コンボがたくさん入る格闘ゲームは「コンボゲーム」と称されています。
一人用でのプレイは好きですが、対戦は得意ではありません。

23.実際の試合であなたが達成した、一番すごい、またはかっこいいコンボを教えてください。

▼・ジャンプ強K→立ち弱P→ソニック→立ち中P→ソニック→ジャンプ強K 6HIT
対戦でザンギエフ相手にきめました。※ピヨりから再度ピヨりになりました。

・ジャンプ強K→立ち弱P→ソニック→しゃがみ弱K→ダブルサマー(5hit) 合計9HIT

インタビューにお答えいただきありがとうございます。世界中のプレーヤーにメッセージをどうぞ。

▼コンボもとことん研究すれば芸術(ART)です。
動画に関しては演出(見せ方)も重要です。私のDVDではちょうどFinishするように体力調節もしています。

対戦に疲れたら、たまにはコンボ研究もしてみてください。
————

以上です。
ありがとうございました。
TZW-ART? 20101202

TZW-ART?様、どうもありがとう御座いました！
Ksedaka様も、どうもありがとう御座いました！お世話になりました。ーＸＳＰＲ

 
Maj: What’s your general opinion of turtle/runaway play styles?

ComboFiend: I think that turtle/runaway players are normally people who really want to win, yet may not have the strongest technical ability, game knowledge, or quick reactions. These players have taught themselves that “Risk = Bad, so why kill myself? I’ll just let the opponent come to me and die.”

I personally think that this playstyle is boring, but if you want to win, a win is a win. I do think this style takes a lot of skill to win with though, primarily when a decent turtle player beats a very good rushdown player.

 
Maj: Have you ever been tempted to kick back and change your style to a more defensive mindset? What keeps you committed to rushdown characters even when it doesn’t work out?

ComboFiend: Yes, there have been many tournaments where I’ve lost to those that have sat back while I tried to rush them, only resulting in me dying, which have led me to change my playstyle. This resolve normally only lasts a few days each time though, as I like to keep myself excited when I play and I just don’t have the patience to sit there.

On the plus side, playing that way allowed me to gain the mindset of a turtle player. As other players rushed me down, it allowed me to see what were some tactics characters can use to get in. This kind of knowledge was essential as it allowed me to apply it to my own rushdown. It also let me realize what a turtle player might be looking for and helped me gain a bit of patience on the offensive side.

I stick with an offensive style just because it’s more entertaining for me, and it’s my style. I do lose a lot and feel I do work harder to win, but at the end of the day, everything is still fun, which is what ultimately matters.

 
Maj: As a rushdown player, when you’re hovering at midrange, how do you decide when to “make your move”? Do you try to create openings with predetermined tricks/patterns, or do you focus more on reading your opponent?

ComboFiend: Basically, what gives me the green light is when I can feel the opponent is frustrated. Although I play a rushdown style, I still make sure to keep my footsie game sharp, as that is a necessity. If I’m trying to rush someone and they’re turtling, I keep the match midscreen and out-footsie them. Once I feel that they’re a bit more tense or at a loss for what to do, I use that as my cue to get in.

As for creating openings, I try to do that by reading the player. I do that by classifying their style, whether that be a rushdown guy, footsie guy, or turtle guy. Once I do that, I try to figure out the moves they would most likely use with their character due to their style, i.e., rushdown Balrogs will try to jab tick into throw, use c.MK as a meaty, use the rush punches for random damage – whereas a turtle Balrog will c.FP all jumps, use the EX punches to push you away, try to sweep everything.

Once I’ve performed this process, I work on countering what I’d expect them to use and destroy any type of gameplan they might have had.

 
Maj: Elena in SF3:3S, Iron Man in MvC2, K-Ken and A-Eagle in CvS2, Guy in SSF4 … How exactly do you go about choosing your characters?

ComboFiend: There are only a few things I look for in characters when I play a fighting game: Speed/damage/range. If the character is fast, does pretty good damage, and can play footsies, I am good to go. If a character is more powerful in 2/3 of the criteria, I try to work on what’s lacking to make the character “complete” for myself.

I also like using characters that are least used, just because I like my stuff being original and I think every character has some kind of potential, whether it be a “gimmick” or an actually underrated character. Once I choose a character whose feel I like, I work on combos just to personalize the character further.

 
Maj: Any idea whom you’re going to play in MvC3?

ComboFiend: Nope. Until the completed version comes out, I’m not paying attention.

 
Maj: Good call. It takes way too much time to keep up with these endless daily announcements, and 90% of that stuff keeps changing anyway.

Okay, Edma said i should poll more people on this, so: Top 5 Shoto players of all time. Go!

ComboFiend: In no particular order: Daigo, Choi, Watson, Valle, no idea for 5th.

 
Maj: You’re one of the few players who has been successful in multiple tournament games: MvC2, CvS2, 3S, SF4, and even GGXX. Do you really enjoy all of them equally or are there certain games that you only play for the competition? And how come you never got into ST or HDR?

ComboFiend: When a game is new, I generally play it to see whether I think it’s fun or not. If I think it’s fun, I’ll play it regardless of the competition. If the game is ok, but lots of people are playing it, I’ll play it for the competition. If the game sucks, I’ll play it, but just to try and make it unfun for everyone else. The latter only happens after a game has been out for a long time, yet people still play it *cough 3S cough.*

Generally speaking, I normally keep playing those in the fun or ok category, but I’ve noticed lately that if a game isn’t fun to me, even if it has a high competitive base, I’ll put in a lot less time playing, just because I feel like it’s more of a waste of time. A few games I’ll still play, only ’cause I like annoying my friends at them. Case in point, my friends ID and Chaotic Blue, who play GG and BB.

One of the biggest draws for me in a game is its combo system. If I see the game intelligently rewards rushdown guys (CvS2 guardbar, GGXX guard system/negative penalties), or allows you to do insane or cool combos (MvC2, CvS2, SF4, GGXX, KOFXIII), then I’ll definitely want to play it.

As for ST, I’ve actually been playing it and have done well at some of the bigger tournaments (Midwest Championships, Final Round, etc). I always end up getting something between 2nd and 5th in tournaments, always losing to Justin or some ST specialist. I’m not too fond of the game as the only character in there that matched my playstyle was Claw. Unfortunately I don’t care to play like Tokido and walldive x 1,000,000, so I end up getting served more often than not.

 
Maj: I totally agree with you on MvC2 and CvS2 combos. Even after all this time, Capcom vs SNK 2 is still my favorite Training Mode playground.

I’m a little surprised that you ended up playing Vega in Super Turbo though. Have you ever tried Bison, Fei Long, or N.Ken? All three are hardcore footsies/rushdown characters.

ComboFiend: I’ve tried playing Ken and Fei Long a bit, don’t like the look of Bison. I didn’t like their feel because they felt a bit linear and because of that, never felt fun. ST is a fast game and trying to react to everything with a really fast character is too fun to pass up.

With Vega, I get to be really annoying and out range all the characters and do whatever I like, while playing an offensive footsie game.

 
Maj: That reminds me of Valle going against conventional wisdom back in SFA2 days – declaring that Rolento should be a rushdown character instead of a runaway character, and making it work.

Before i let you go – Since your name is ComboFiend, i have to ask: What’s your favorite combo to land on people?

ComboFiend: The combos that really excite me are either infinites or really damaging combos that are practical. Whenever I see those Joo videos, I think they’re entertaining, but not practical. Anyhow, a few of my favorite combos are:

XvsSF: All infinites =)

CvS2: Rolento: jab x 3, c.MK, Trip Wire super (every link is one frame)

MvC2: Sentinel w/ IM AA assist: s.HK, call IM, upward Rocket Punch, backdash, c.FP, Rocket Punch, Plasma Storm super (90% combo, 1 meter, low number of hits)

SF3:3S: Elena on a corner opponent: j.FP, c.MP, EX spinning move (HCB+3K), spinning move with MK, EX Rhino Horn, EX uppercut (does like 70%)

SSF4: Guy: Running HK move (2 hits), c.LP, s.MP, s.FP, jab shoulder, FADC ultra (crouching wide characters only – damage sucks but looks really cool) and j.FP, s.HK, s.FP, s.MP, EX shoulder, FADC ultra (taller chars only it seems).

I’m sure there’s more, I just can’t think of them right now.
 

Peter Rosas has traveled to several majors across the country this year, and continues to stay active in the Street Fighter tournament circuit. You can follow him on twitter or check out his facebook page to see what he’s up to.

 
Maj: MvC3 has been receiving mixed reviews from the core MvC2 community, but every new build seems to take a big step in the right direction. What’s your take on Marvel vs Capcom 3 so far?

Clockw0rk: I remember when I read about the details of MvC2 on fighters.net – more specifically, the button layout. As an avid MvC1 player, I was really disappointed that it was being changed to 4 buttons and 2 assists and already hated the game. But sure enough, it turned out to be OK.

So as far as the button layout goes, I have an open mind and trust Capcom on how they think the buttons should be. I can’t say that I’ve been a fan of any of the builds that I’ve played (Evo and SCR) but I haven’t really gotten a chance to play it all that much. I really don’t like the button mapping that they’ve had (top three weak medium fierce, bottom 3 exchange a1 a2), but I’ve been told the final default will be different.

I think one of the hugest reasons why MvC2 is so awesome is that there are just way too many ways the game plays. Magneto plays WAY different than Cable plays WAY differently than Spiral plays WAY differently from Storm plays WAY differently than Strider plays WAY differently than Blackheart and so on. Sentinel plays WAY differently than any character in any fighting game really.

If MvC3 can recreate that variety of gameplay (the true indication of a good fighting game – playability, not balance) as well as the heavy team dynamic, it’ll be in good shape IMO. I have faith in Capcom putting out a quality game, and I’m looking forward to it.

 
Maj: I remember you played Capcom vs SNK 2 for a while – your K-Ryo was dangerous! How come you never got into Street Fighter IV?

Clockw0rk: I’m actually on and off with the game, currently being off (shouts to Wentinel!). I play Guy and Ibuki mostly coz they’re fun. I think I’m sorta decent at the game but definitely not top by any means. I think one of my main problems is that I’m not technical enough with the game, same problem I had with CvS2. In these two games I rely solely on reflex and instinct, and it only gets me so far. In MvC2 I’m good enough at it where I can go auto-pilot like that but not in these games heh.

I don’t care for SSF4 too much. I don’t think it’s particularly interesting but I play it because I enjoy the characters I play. I used to play CvS2 while waiting in line for MvC2 at SHGL and got decent at it. Seems like now I play SSF4 while waiting for MvC3 and I’m getting half-decent.

 
Maj: Your name always comes up whenever anyone talks about Strider/Doom. Why hasn’t anyone been able to duplicate your success with that duo?

Clockw0rk: I think there are a few reasons of course.

1) I think most Strider/Doom players don’t know how to do lock down properly. Anyone can Ouro + call Doom, but it takes an actual good Strider player to lock down the opponent in a manner in which they cannot move (or moving would prove detrimental), then seamlessly transition into the next Ouro. It takes a thorough understanding of how much block stun each move does (whether it be animals, Doom rocks, regular attacks), how the positioning of the screen as well as your ability to manipulate it affects your Ouroboros (screen shifting), and how your opponent behaves while being trapped (push blocking, mashing, doing nothing, assist masher, alpha counter happy, etc).

2) Meter management – Strider is difficult enough to play with when he has meter, so it’s paramount you keep the amount of time that Strider has no meter to a minimum. (I wonder if this same principle applies to 3S Yun?) I try to use Ouro as defensively as I can, kinda like the panic bomb button in shooters. Wait till Mags finally gets in and is about to hit you, then Ouro. You also gotta keep busy both in and out of Ouro – everything you do will build you meter, including teleports. Even the buttons you use during your attack patterns (fierces as opposed to shorts) can mean the difference between having an Ouro to get Sentinel off you or not.

3) Doom – this point is probably the biggest one. Doom is such a good character and yet I can count the number of good Dooms I’ve seen with one hand. I’m really not trying to be vain, rather commenting on how poor Doom players play their character. Scared Dooms get rushed down because they’re scared, know what I mean? Which ties into #3 …

4) Attitude/Heart – I feel a lot of Strider players don’t put enough into it to win as much as they’d like. I remember a while back, Devil_X of Tekken/Soul Calibur was getting really good with Strider. But I felt he could never win as much as he should because of his outlook on the team (how weak it is, how limited Strider is, how crappy Doom is, etc). If you don’t believe you can win, the game is already lost.

I know Strider isn’t as strong as some other characters. But I definitely believe Strider has more potential than the other 55 characters in the game, and so that’s why I’ve played him the past decade. He has the tools to get it done, it’s just mistakes are unforgiving. I also feel Doom is more than strong enough to hold his own when he comes in on point against top tier, and is better than any of the other “assist only” characters on point (Cyclops, Commando, Psylocke, Tron). That’s how I feel, so that’s how I fucking play it.

Even in situations where the match up is no good (vs Matrix) or if I’m clearly losing, if I have at least a little bit of Strider and Doom and at least one meter to work with, I feel fantastic, even though I shouldn’t. I feel characters should be afraid of Strider, even if they shouldn’t, so I that’s how I play it. Your game is a reflection of your own confidence, or lack thereof.

 
Maj: Where exactly would you place Strider/Doom in Marvel vs Capcom 2 tiers? Everyone accepts Sentinel, Storm, Magneto, and Cable as the undisputed top four, but the discussion tends to get real murky around Strider/Doom.

Clockw0rk: MvC2 is a team game, and I think it should be evaluated as such when it comes to tiers. I can’t think of any other fighting game offhand that has nearly as much team dynamic as MvC2, and this is why snapbacks are so effective. They often throw off any plans you had before the match started, and they expose major weaknesses within the team, including a lack of options of a new character coming in, or a weak link character-wise on the team.

It’s that same team dynamic that makes Magneto/Storm/Cable, a team with 3 supposed god tiers, generally weak and unplayed. They don’t go well together at all. With all that said, I think it goes something like best team overall is Matrix (Storm/Sentinel/Cyclops) followed by Thrax (Storm/Sentinel/Commando) and MSP (Magneto/Storm/Psylocke) – those are top tier.

I’d say Sentinel/Strider/Doom is somewhere near the bottom of the upper tier of teams while Combofiend’s team (Magneto/Iron Man/Sentinel), MSS (Magneto/Storm/Sentinel), and Duc’s team (Spiral/Cable/Sentinel) are near the top. Without yapping too much more, I’d say overall the top tier is those 3 teams, the upper tier has 10-15 solid teams, and mid tier has dozens, if not hundreds, of viable team configurations.

 
Maj: MvC2 had arguably the most dynamic competitive evolution of any fighting game ever created. Why is that?

Clockw0rk: The game couldn’t help go through as many evolutions as it did – both in-game and community-wise really. I think of all fighting games, MvC2 definitely has the most room for creativity … the best representation of a fighting game player’s thoughts manifested digitally on-screen. Its engine is just too open ended, and its nuances too wide; whether it was intentional or accidental is irrelevant really.

You have so many ways you can attack, so many ways to defend (run away, call assist, alpha counter, pushblock, etc) from four different quadrants of the playing field (ground level left and right, and super jump height left and right). The various “states” that characters can go into (Anakaris doll, Iceman’s freeze, Jill’s zombies) are as abundant if not moreso as RPG status ailments.

Even all the projectiles have vastly varying properties. Iceman’s beam has a bunch of hits and all hits instantly, but won’t pass through Ruby Heart’s water column move thing. Doom’s photon shots hit you off your feet but don’t knock you down, Storm’s typhoon passes through everything and hits slowly, Strider’s animals come from one side of the screen to the other but are fragile, Ryu/Chun/Guile’s fireballs all hit like they do in Street Fighter, etc etc etc.

Teams we thought were way too good early on in the game are now weak, techniques we used back then are obsolete. With 56 characters, each with 3 different assists, the ability to DHC, and such a large playfield, and just the overall open ended-ness the game, I feel MvC2 couldn’t help not only thrive, but evolve as such.

 
Maj: Do you think it’s over? Have we reached the end of the line, or will MvC2 look completely different in two years?

Clockw0rk: I don’t know, but I’m leaning towards end of the line. I think the game is just way too old not only for people to keep playing, but for new players to try and pick it up and feel successful, seeing as how the level of play is so high that novices just get crushed by seasoned players.

Seems you’ll always be able to find someone to play against online at least. We’ll know for sure MvC2’s fate once people get their hands on MvC3. Though if people keep playing Marvel, I’ll keep playing Marvel.

 
Maj: If you could magically change three things in Marvel, what would they be?

Clockw0rk: Strider more health, Ouroboros x2 duration, Strider in MvC3 (yep)

 
Maj: What did you think of Evo’s decision to host MvC2 on PS3 this year?

Clockw0rk: When it was first announced, I actually made a huge rant about it. In my post I made a prediction about the same people being on top regardless of DC or PS3. Sure enough, EVO results this year had Justin winning the tournament, with Sanford and Yipes on top.

Again, it’s the attitude. Come to Evo with a shit attitude, and its gonna show. And if you’re crap on DC, you’re crap on PS3, arcade, XBox, whatever.

 
Maj: Alright sir, one last question: What happened to Clockw0rk.com??

Clockw0rk: Clockw0rk.com had 3 purposes initially.

1) It originally was my senior project for high school, my project being “Fighting Game Community and Arcade Sub-Culture” (I got an A!).

2) There were hardly any real match videos online at the time; this was way before youtube. So we wanted to provide footage of actual matches for people to download, among other random content.

3) Stupid thing is most of those matches were matches of us winning in tournaments haha. I don’t know about ShadyK or Genghis or anyone else involved, but I can honestly say part of that website was just to get my name out there so I could be more “known.” I first started getting immersed in the scene as a teenager, and I craved the attention, recognition, and respect I saw at both the arcade and on the forums. CW.com helped me cultivate that attitude heh. Later on I think I became way more low key and stopped caring about that stuff as much. Believe it or not, I really didn’t want to play the 3000$ money match heh. I think now there are way more matches posted online of me losing than winning, so I guess I deserve that ;b

It reminds me of the SSF4 scene nowadays – you get hundreds if not thousands of people with that same attitude I had initially, make both the games and media more accessible, and you have a modest representation of the average player now: the kind that wants to get on the stream, the one that just wants to make top 8 or 16 or whatever gets showcased, the one that wants to be interviewed, etc. At least thats the impression I’ve gotten from the SF4 community as of late. Is that offensive to say haha? shrug

Can’t blame them though. Having the whole room going crazy for you never gets old =]

Anyway, one year I forgot to pay the bill and the site ended up going down. 4 or 5 years ago, my oldest brother got the domain clockw0rk.com back for my birthday, but I ended up not doing anything with it. CBF really.

Speaking of websites, check out www.projectgiantsword.com – they’re good friends of mine and make some sick custom joysticks!
 

Daniel Maniago teaches 4th grade at Chavez Elementary in Norwalk, California. He still plays MvC2 and current tournament fighting games, as time allows. Since he no longer has a website, you can check out his facebook page to see what he’s up to lately.