What everyone called the “last hurrah” for Ultra Street Fighter IV (USFIV) was the first major FGC tournament that I attended. It was held during PlayStation Experience 2015 (PSX) at San Francisco. I’ve been to weeklies (i.e. the Foundry and UGC), but finally going to a big, the biggest in term of prize pool, Street Fighter event of all time was a memorable experience.
Capcom Cup 2015’s production level paralleled League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) events. I compare it to a League competition because it has been a part of the esports scene for years. As for the FGC, it only has one foot inside the esports world. Thanks to a partnership with Sony, Capcom’s exposure in esports keeps getting better and their prize pools keep increasing.
The first matches of the tournament were already hype. Top players in the history of the game got 0-2’d: EG Justin Wong, Nemo, and RedBull Bonchan. Games in the first, second, and third rounds were all bracket breakers. Actually, all the matches before Top 8 were bracket breakers. Keoma, the qualifier from Brazil who 90% of all spectators doubted would even make it to Round 3, eventually made it to semifinals where he gave Red Bull Snake Eyez a proper runback, but ended up losing. If there was one person who guessed it all correct until the Grand Finals, that person should have gambled in Las Vegas on that weekend instead. Not only were the matches exciting, there were entertaining dramas going on throughout the day. Razer Fuudo’s green machine suffered a stick malfunction during Round 3 against the Korea’s r/Kappa Poongko. Quickly, people got reminded of what happened to EG Momochi’s Razer controller this year at EVO. Even I could not keep my composure and I yelled, “Give him a MadCatz!” Others joined in on this little BM. Markman, the Community Manager for MadCatz, stood up, tilted his head, shrugged his shoulders, and sat back down. We all knew what he implied. Staff swiftly fixed the issue while Razer crossed their fingers for people to forget the incident.
For more drama, one player from each Round 1 matches had pre-fight interview videos which contained shit talking. Momochi, Snake Eyez, Daigo, 801 Strider, Mago, they all did it. It was a sight to witness in person. And later on that night, CapcomFighters tweeted that Kazunoko had “perfected” a “legend” against Daigo with their 13-0 record match history. I don’t have to explain much about that.
My money was on Snake Eyez, literally. However, at the end of the day, [spoiler alert] the winner was Kazunoko; he’s a non-sponsored player hailing from where the game of Street Fighter originated, Japan. He went against MadCatz’s Daigo Umehara. Daigo, if you don’t know, is the equivalent of Michael Jordan in basketball and the Michael Phelps of swimming in terms of legendary status. I kept thinking to myself how fitting it would be if Daigo wins the biggest and last tournament of USFIV; however, Kazunoko crushed my fairytale hope.
My overall experience at Capcom Cup 2015 was amazing. The audience was full of enthusiasm. Well-known people in the FGC could be seen left and right. Gootecks sat three rows in front of me, Floe and Jebailey were walking around, EG PR_Balrog received fan attention, and many others were in attendance. The excitement of the matches kept everyone at the edge of their seats. Even though none of the American hometown heroes could grab the championship, the atmosphere was still exhilarating. I can’t wait to go to more major events like this.
Keith Esteban <<DialecticBrown>>
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