Get Your Tournament - Commentary
Throughout this year, you're going to hear a lot from me about a fighting game Hall of Fame. I'll talk about requirements, people, the intricacies, etc. My goal is, by the end of the year, to either see it come to life or at least see it in the works somehow. I do not want to do this alone, so I really am counting on hundreds (thousands?) of people to speak up and share their opinions and time. Email me any thoughts on how this should go at getyourtournament@yahoo.com.
Yesterday, I talked about which five players would be the first to be inducted into such a Hall of Fame. To limit the entries, I left it to North America only. And even then, there was some lengthy debate. Was five players enough? Should it be retired players? Should it be based on just performance? How much does building one or multiple communities factor in?
In what seemed like a 2-hour discussion on Twitter about this, here's what I learned:
- The first class has to be much more than five players. I think it should be 10. Then, a maximum five players get in every year after that. There's perhaps way too many players to limit the first class, although in the unofficial tally, the first five seem to be fairly definitive. I can think of nine players that are sure-fire entrants in the first class.
- There should be consideration for different forms. A couple of people mentioned separating 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional games. If that's the case, then tournament organizers, promoters and broadcasters would also have to be separated as well. The Baseball Hall of Fame does this for its players and broadcasters.
- The Super Smash Bros. series should be included. Touchy subject among other fighting games, but there's a few worthy players that get consideration for the first class. Players like Ken Hoang, Alex "DSF" Fuentes and Joseph "Mango" Marquez would be no-brainers if there was a Smash Hall of Fame.
John Choi
Tomo Ohira
Alex Valle
Mike Watson
Justin Wong
There were only a couple of people that totally agreed, while many agreed with a majority of the players I mentioned. I put it all together, and here's the tally.
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In light of the amazing 12-0 mark during the Sunday finals of the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 tournament at Apex 2012, I took a closer look at what was in my database. There's about 500 games played, so it's still tiny compared to my beefy Super Street Fighter IV database, but the initial results are kind of startling.Game 1 winners ...
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I just finished inputting the stats for the Top 8 of the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 at Apex 2012, and I went to look at how players did with Wesker.Here's the numbers:
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This is how the Evolution 2012 tournament season gets started, with a 6-0.Dieminion was the latest to post a 6-0 victory in a championship, defeating Chris G in the finals of the Super Street Fighter IV tournament at Apex 2012.
I have a ton of stats on Dieminion, but none that have him pulling off a 6-0 (what's interesting is that since November, he's had at least three 3-0s in a second finals after a long first championship).
So how does it compare to Justin Wong's victory over AndyOCR at NorCal Regionals 7, easily the greatest 6-0 in the history of the Street Fighter IV series?
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Perhaps I'll be the only one surprised at how EX meter was used during the final four of the Mortal Kombat 9 tournament at Apex 2012 this past weekend. The breaker was a frequent visitor to matches almost as often as a regular EX move.Here's the breakdown in the final four:
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I was thinking about doing some lengthy analysis of what happened during the Top 8 at the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 tournament at Apex 2012. Instead, I'll just make this note.no comments
I examined all of the Top 8 matches, but because of time, I'll post just the two finals matches between Noel Brown and Dieminion. Here's their survival rates:
Dieminion
First finals: 2/12 (16.7 percent)
Second finals: 6/12 (50.0 percent)
Total: 8/24 (33.3 percent)
Noel Brown
First finals: 4/12 (33.3 percent)
Second finals: 1/12 (8.3 percent)
Total: 5/24 (20.8 percent)
I charted every combo that was at least 10 hits and broke down, as best as possible, where the combo started and which direction it initially traveled (because some combos reversed back on a tag). I plotted a map, splitting the field of play into three main sections plus the two corners. This is kind of like seeing where NBA players take their shots on the court.
Here's how it looked in both finals matches:
In both finals combined, Noel had five minimum-10-hit combos that went to the left, six that went to the right, and four in the corner. Dieminion had 10 minimum-10-hit combos that went to the left, seven that went to the right, and three in the corner.
Noel did five of his minimum-10-hit combos on the left side of the field, seven in the middle, and six on the right side of the field. Compare that to Dieminion, who was 11/3/6.
If we were to give a point total for each space of the playing field traveled during a minimum-10-hit combo, Noel had 35 points of space, and Dieminion had 33 points.
Most of Dieminion's combos of 10 hits or more didn't travel far, but Noel had five that eventually forced Dieminion into the corner.
Whether this is something to really look into for the future remains to be seen; it might be something to check out at this weekend's APEX 2012 tournament. I'll try to have a further breakdown of this in the coming days. no comments
Here's more from his site:
Ok so i want to be known in the community for something that is unique, there are the comebacks, funny and cool moments, etc. So I thought, why not be the man that does all the breaking down and come up with top ten list for fighting game majors. So I thought why not start it off with a top ten that has a very debated subject that people will type comments and say "this list sucks" or "damn you hit it right on the head" I may have a small voice in this community but it might and will shine in a big way.Here's the first five
When I mean matches I look for a lot of things when it comes to a great match. The playing was crazy good, the significant value of the match, and the hype of the crowd and the players playing the match. Now sorry for the bias of the list but it will only be Street Fighter and Marvel vs Capcom 3 matches. I did a lot of thinking and a lot of video searching, it does not help that I am still gong to school and have a job. But I will try to put this list as not a favoritism of a certain player of hometown crowd, these are matches that were on stream that all of us saw and just hyped up beyond all reason. The With out further delay, the top ten matches of the 2011 fighting game major season p.s. i included some of the world major tournaments as well because of this, it was ever harder to make the list.
10. Evolution Online Tournament (PS3) SSF4 championship - Jewelman vs. Mike Ross
9. Evolution MvC3 championship - Viscant vs. PR Balrog
8. Shadowloo Showdown SSF4 elimination match - Mike Ross. vs Mago
7. Evolution SSF4 winners bracket - Daigo Umehara vs. Alex Valle
6. 12th Northeast Championship SSF4 championship - Wolfkrone vs. Justin Wong
Check the link for the top five. no comments
I did not expect my Twitter feed to blow up on Friday night. All I did was mention that I was going to announce my pick for Marvel vs. Capcom 3 series Player of the Year in North America for 2011. Suddenly, everyone chimed in with whom they thought was the winner.
The decision wasn’t cut and dry as Wolfkrone winning the Super Street Fighter IV Player of the Year award.
There were so many contenders. It truly was an any-given-weekend mentality.
Deep down, my sentimental pick was going to be Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez. Yes, I hear your chuckles for a guy that is very outspoken and brash. However, there were so many what-the-fuck moments involving him, I wondered whether he’d ever win a major.
At Revelations, he made it all the way to the finals, where he lost to Jay Snyder in a battle of Phoenix-based teams.
During one of his home streams, he went off, talking about how new followers of the scene never praised him when he won but ripped and laughed at him after a loss. He made note of what happened at Devastation, when an opponent caught him with a Level 3 Arthur hyper to get the win.
He finally got that major championship, beating Justin Wong at Canada Cup 2011. Not only that, he backed up that win by taking first place at Northwest Majors III. Things finally turned his way, and he was on top.
But then came the Goodbye Phoenix, Hello Phoenix Shoryuken.com Invitational. He was bounced in the first round, and some of my hope of him winning Player of the Year went out with that loss. He was definitely out after getting eliminated at Southern California Regionals.
I think had it been just a fourth quarter award, Filipino Champ wins by a narrow margin. He is one of my favorites to win the title in 2012.
Mine is also a great pick for 2011 Player of the Year thanks to a late-year charge. He finished second at NorCal Regionals 9 to Justin Wong. He was a force at a lot of Northern California events he attended. He also won the Shoryuken.com Invitational and finished second to Justin Wong at Southern California Regionals.
Combofiend was great as well, dominating opponents with his unorthodox Spencer and Friends. He blasted Marn with a pixel left and then took out Justin Wong in the Final Round XIV championship. He also reached the finals of Devastation.
There were plenty of other contenders, including Eduardo Perez, Noel Brown, Mike Ross, and Daniel Maniago.
However, it came down to two players: Justin Wong and Jay Snyder. Both guys had résumés to die for. Both guys were dominant when they showed up to tournaments. Both of them actually met a few times in major tournaments with a lot at stake. One of them was hurt by not going to a lot of tournaments as the other. One of them was hurt by a penalty that sparked a furious debate among spectators who couldn’t hold a candle to him.
In any case, these guys were threats to win tournaments whenever they showed up.
When I decided on the Player of the Year, golfer Jack Nickaus came to mind. Nicklaus is widely considered one of the greatest professional golfers of all time.
He has several notable records, and the one that is immediately brought up is his 18 career major tournament victories. But even as impressive, he finished second in a major tournament 19 times and third nine times.
The Player of the Year was like that. He not only won a lot of major championships, but when he didn’t, he was in the hunt until the near end.
The North American Marvel vs. Capcom 3 series Player of the Year is …
no commentsYou already know, so let’s just mention some numbers.
During the Top 4s of the Evolution 2011 tournament season, he was 35 rounds over .500 (first), had a .631 first-hit win percentage (fourth), a .778 first-combo win percentage (third) and an .838 closeout rate. But most importantly, he had seven Top 4 appearances. He also kept Team USA alive with an amazing performance at Canada Cup, and he did it on his birthday.
The 2011 Super Street Fighter IV North American Player of the Year is …
