Comics, Daigo Interview, etc.

I added more X-Mania VII matches to the Win-Loss numbers in the player report. Also some percentages.

Here is a fragment of a 2005 interview with Daigo from the Yoga Book Hyper. The Bickys arcade gets a mention in the final installment of the Yoga 48 so this is somewhat germane.
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[SF2 classic/SF2CE - elementary school 4th/5th grade Umehara mostly plays against the computer. Early on can't win at all against other players.]

Q (INH Guy Sakamoto): After that, how did young Umehara go about becoming stronger?

A (Daigo): You know, I was getting frustrated so I thought "I want to get stronger," and I started fighting in arcades earnestly. Around the time I started middle school I would check tournament announcements in Gamest Magazine and then I'd hop on the train and I started entering tournaments at central Tokyo arcades like Maruge-ya and Bickys frequently.

Q: Wow! You don't see many people going that far for the simple reason, "I want to get stronger."

A: As a middle schooler, no less. (laugh) Then when ST came out I started commuting to Bickys all the time. I was still just a kid so I wasn't able to stick around if there were a lot of people and a tournament ran long. (laugh) In those days there were a ton of strong players at Bickys and amidst the tussle I came to understand key concepts like "tachimawari*" and "how to win."

[* - lit "moving about". Poking, spacing, footsie, jump-ins, etc. Tachimawari is, like, what you're doing in a fighting game when you aren't doing some kind of set-play like a combo or okiseme]

Q: Oh! At this point the 2D Fighting God finally awakens!

A: As I was beginning to win at ST more and more Vampire Hunter came out [1995]. I took the sense I had cultivated on ST and put it to use on VH and suddenly nobody could beat me on that game!

Q: Oh! And that's when you got your famous 286 game win streak?!
[@ akihabara high tech sega arcade using Pyron]

A: Yeah. That time I played for 7 hours on only 100 yen. (laughs) But I was just playing around on VH. In the end, fighting on ST was my main thing. After all, the SF2 series is something special, I played being conscious of that fact.