I will not bite words: Daigo Umehara is the best fighting game player of all time. His legacy added a new footnote over the weekend when he mastered a stack Street Fighter V tournament. And it’s strange that people have still been surprised by the results.
Umehara faced several incredible Street Fighter V players, including partners Street Fighter God Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi and Korean powerhouse Hyung-suk “Verloren” Gong on their way to the Capcom Cup qualifying match. He did not suffer a single loss during the online event, except when his latest opponent, Keita “Fuudo” Ai, managed to force a second set in the grand finale. The title fight was a perfect example of Umehara’s patience, even in the face of impending defeat.
Social media practically exploded with very strange shots after the event, many focused on Umehara being 39 years old. Electronic sports people were absolutely stunned that an old man like Daigo Umehara could win a Street Fighter tournament in 2020. The level of shock and awe, in turn, surprised me. Weren’t they aware of Umehara’s legacy? How have you been successful for over 20 years? I guess many were playing their reactions to getting Twitter likes from uninformed followers, but it felt almost disrespectful.
Sure, reaction times may decrease with age, but there’s more to the competition than just pure reactions. There are a multitude of intangible fighting game skills that can’t be taught, only honed over years and years of gameplay, and Umehara has defeated almost everyone else in that regard.
The first known Umehara tournament victory occurred in 1997 Vampire Savior event organized by the Japanese video game magazine Gamest. From there, Umehara’s trophy case would grow with victories in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Guilty Gear XX, Street Fighter IV, and now Street Fighter V. It is the second after Justin Wong in the Evolution Championship Series titles and he even managed to secure two victories in the now defunct Super Battle Opera, which at the time was the world’s most prestigious fighting game competition. And while Umehara might not be winning a tournament every weekend, especially when the world is still in the midst of a pandemic, his Street Fighter V His career has been consistent enough to earn him entry to every Capcom Cup since the game’s launch in 2016.
Fixing the eSports industry on youth, and generally the best way to exploit it, creates difficult crossings with the fighting game community. The scene has a fundamental passion that cannot be found in other competitive games. This makes players stay much longer, even without large cash packs as motivation. Umehara is only the most visible example of this phenomenon. I can’t help but shake my head at anyone expressing their shock because it’s still a mainstay in high-level competition.
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This is all to say that, yes, Umehara’s victory over the weekend was great, but by no means unusual for a player of his caliber. In other words: Respect Daigo’s name.
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