Persona has been making combo videos for over ten years, starting with King of Fighters 2000 and Capcom vs SNK 2. He prefers to focus on finding new combos, usually sticking to minimal editing or enlisting help from other editors so that he can concentrate on game engine research.
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.
Man, “Focusing on combo ideas, not the execution,” Is the reason why combo videos exist! I hate that a lot of people can’t see that far into it. Awesome stuff, Persona! :)
Most people do get it, i think. Or if they don’t, it’s because they’re new to fighting games which means they’re only one or two conversations away from getting it. Not too bad.
And then there’s some people who will never get it, but that’s only because whatever it is they’re after can’t be found in combo videos. But even those people usually come around to enjoying combovids, once they figure out what they want and learn to chill out.
Great interview. Always been a fan. Looking forward to more of your work in the future.
Persona <3