Daigo talks Guile practice, the current top 3 characters, and recent weird symptoms【Daigo Umehara】
I’ve had a lot of
physical ailments lately. More than ever before in my life. Since yesterday or the day before, I’ve had this shooting pain
around my abdomen. I keep getting it. What is it? “Talking about whether you’d use Ryu or Guile etc.”
Oh, right, I was thinking about that. But I ended up sticking with Akuma. Well, I did start practicing combos with Guile. But anyway… Yeah. I started practicing combos. The reason to use Guile would be… Well, I don’t really know. I haven’t played
Guile in this game at all, so I could be wrong, But for one thing, I get the sense he
wouldn’t take that long for me to learn. I don’t mean to master as my main. As long as I can play matches against my
teammates’ characters, that’s good enough. As a sort of reverse character strat?
Maybe not “reverse.” Not reverse, it’s just
a normal strat. Yeah, so it’s not
that big a burden. “Guile’s a tough pick this
season, apparently.” Why? Has he changed
that much? In what way? Oh, the side switch? Yeah, that
does seem like a major change. How’s your
Akuma right now? Well, here’s what I’ve noticed. When I’m playing an opponent I know,
someone I get to play a lot of matches with— —for example, people who go
to the REJECT sessions— Those are people I get
to play a lot, y’know? We can do FT5s, that kind of thing. I think I’m pretty solid
against such opponents. My win rate isn’t too bad in those cases. In fact, it’s quite decent, I think. But against players for whom I have
no info, my win rate is pretty low. But I think you could say the
same for guys like Tokido. When Tokido gets to focus on one—
well, now that Ken’s been nerfed I’m not sure— —but when he gets to focus on one opponent
for a long stretch, his win rate is good. I think it comes down to how often we’re able
to stop a DR, anti-air, counter-DI… If your consistency in those areas is poor,
you’re gonna struggle against random players. That’s my self-analysis, I guess. Meanwhile, when I’ve built up a sense for
when a guy’s gonna DR, or DI, or jump in, that’s where I tend to shine, but without that, when I’m
still figuring out a player— —I dunno if this is an innate
trait or a product of aging— but in those cases, my
win rate is really bad. This is all just a theory I have, mind you. But it’s a weakness I’d like to overcome. That’s my recent mental…I dunno, trend? “Craze”? That’s a weird way to
put it, but yeah. A recent trend. As far as I’ve seen with Akuma,
I think he’s probably top 3. At REJECT, the characters people talk about being
the strongest are JP, Akuma, and I guess Mai. That’s the vibe. The thing is—well, I think Mai is pretty accessible, but with Akuma and JP, it takes a long time to
get to a point where they feel that strong. They don’t feel very easy to pick up. So, while Akuma and JP may be strong,
it’s hard to switch over to them. Ed and Zangief? Oh, I think Ed’s
definitely a strong character, too. Ed’s definitely strong, and Zangief’s good too, no? That’s my feeling. So the gap is really miniscule. I think it’s really minor. But they don’t have many weaknesses, y’know? Akuma in particular. Nothing stands
out as a distinct impossibility for him. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to conclude that he
has an advantage over every character. As for JP, while he’s got a huge advantage in some
matchups, he also has some bad ones, like Cammy. Some players also say JP struggles against Akuma. So Akuma seems like the jack of all trades. Btw, I don’t know if it’s because
I’ve been playing too much, but I’ve had a lot of
physical ailments lately. More than ever before in my life. Recently, at CEO, my ear started hurting. The spot behind my ear, my lymph node.
I mentioned that, right? And my left hand is super chapped. That hasn’t healed. Since yesterday or the day before, I’ve had
this shooting pain around my abdomen. It hasn’t gone away. What is it? What is it? Yeah, around my abdomen. Like from my back to my belly. I don’t know what it is. “Stress manifests on your skin.”
Yeah, right? Back in my first year as a
pro gamer, it got really bad. It was the first time in my life
my face ever broke out like that. Yeah, it’s like a pins and needles feeling. Bad posture is a likely culprit. Y’know, the monitors at REJECT are— —well, I’m not sure. A posture
problem does seem likely. “Like if your desk is too low.” Yeah, the desk height is different than here at home. I guess I could visit [a chiropractor] next
time I go out for medication for my hand. What character do I need to lab against? Well, the characters I’m
not that familiar with are… …Blanka, Kimberly… …Elena. Well, Elena’s pretty crazy to begin with. Then Lily. Then maybe Jamie. Those guys, I guess. Marisa is pretty tough, too. Actually, Marisa is probably an unpleasant
matchup for Akuma in the first place. Tokido? Well, I don’t know how much I
should say about him, so I’ll refrain. It’s not like something happened. I just don’t know what info
he’s been putting out there. He’s alive, guys. I’ll just say that. Ryusei has been teaching
him? Oh, no kidding. Yeah, they’ve been chumming around. “How’s your training with Leshar going?”
As usual, he wields a variety of characters, and he’s very knowledgeable, so he has a
lot of tips. “Use this to counter such-and-such.” But even Leshar seems to think his
characters aren’t cutting it this season, so he seems to be at a loss
for what character to use. Akuma, JP, Chun-Li, and Guile. Those characters seem to
be giving him trouble. “At a loss”? He just had two big wins. Well, I think those were before this dilemma. “How is Bonchan’s Akuma different from others?” Well, I don’t know if it’s “different,” per se, but… His Akuma is probably the most balanced. My play style really changes
from one day to the next. One day I’m playing offense, the next defense,
today I’m this, tomorrow I’m that… It fluctuates, so I don’t have
a very defined style. Overall, Kawano is probably
the most defensive Akuma. He’s the most focused on defense. Meanwhile, Shuto is super offense-heavy. In the middle is Bonchan.
That’ s my impression. I guess he still trends defensive, though. He trends defensive, but not quite
as much as Kawano. He goes in a bit more. That’s the sense I get. Which style is best depends on
how they update the characters, as well as changes to the game mechanics, not to mention what character
or player you’re facing. So it’s hard to pin down what play style is best. If a certain play style leads to a tournament
win, does that make it the best? Well, it could’ve just worked out that way
by chance or because of the matchups. So it’s not an exact science, but if you look at overall trends,
that’s how I’d probably categorize them.
English subs available! (Click the CC button.)
0:00 Guile combo practice
3:14 What characters are getting hyped at REJECT
4:34 Weird physical symptoms
7:27 Differences between different Akuma players
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