Darkstalkers Combination Cup 1 PlaybackYou can download some sample movies from DCC1 here. Click the green buttons. What's neat here is that they solicited comments about the matches from the players themselves.
Vol. 4: VS - Kaji vs. Nasu
Vol. 3: VH - Kashiwagi vs. Haramori
Vol. 2: VS - Dara vs. T2ya
Vol. 1: VH - Donboru vs. Himii
Here are some highlights (very rough tl/paraphrase) from the Savior players' comments. Also I reposted the videos on YouTube in case you want to watch them right away.
Video: Dara vs. T2ya
Dara (Demitri)
Wanted to go against Sakai (also Zabel) and have Oboro (Victor) deal with T2ya but got unlucky.
Match is maybe 7-3 Zabel's favor but Demitri is hard to pin down with numbers so it's more like 6-4. In theory if Zabel were played perfectly Demitri could never win but since nobody can tap into 100% of his potential you can focus on human imperfections in the Zabel game.
Even though it was a long match my impatience to turn things around cost me. After the opening okiseme miss I needed to switch to drawn out battle mode but instead I recklessly tried to push the initial attack. Knowing that Sakai was on deck was probably a big factor.
T2ya (Zabel)
I've known these guys since before SBO. Running Zabel x2 against a Demitri-Victor team there's a lot of pressure not to lose.
Zabel continues to have the advantage vs. Demitri. I don't know how the Demitri game might evolve, but as it stands as long as you react perfectly and don't mess up Zabel won't lose. Also this match is one of my fortes -- Savior's a game that rewards rushdown so it's fun.
As with any fighting game it's important in Savior to have a good read on your opponent as the match starts. I figured there would be Demon Cradles coming so I kept the limbs in check. Scoring the guard cancel vs. okiseme was a key point. After that it felt like things were looking good.
Once I had the health lead I felt like I just needed to avoid his Midnight Pleasure so I jumped away a lot. Failing to tag the ES Demon Cradle whiff was embarrassing.
Video: Kaji vs. Nasu
Nasu (Sasquatch)
I thought that Kaji (Lilith), Kosho (Bulleta) and Sakai (Zabel) would be dangerous for our team. There are a lot of people that are tough for me, but CAA had my back. I can't believe we drew Kaji's team in the first round...
This match is approximately Sasquatch:7 Lilith:3. Score one Big Brunch (command grab) and you've won. For my personal diagram, however, it's Nasu:9 Kaji:1! I'm that strong! Give it up everybody! Actually if I fight him 10 times I'll lose 7. (laughs)
If I had punished the whiffed Shining Blades and converted on the Big Brunch combo Lilith would have been KO'ed, right? I'm sorry, CAA. No excuses...
When you run a strong team like that [Sasquath Zabel = top tier] nobody cheers for you! (laughs) I wish I had nerves of steel.
Kaji (Lilith)
There was a good vibe at this event plus the crowd was on my side so I was in blitz mode. Hitting a team like that first round was fine by me so I fought him with a smile.
I don't think I have all the details sorted out so I couldn't say who has the advantage. Lilith can really duke it out against Sasquatch; a race to butcher your opponent like that is really fun.
Both sides missed a lot of things. I'd like to step it up so that I can bring my A game to big events like the DCC.
Darkstalkers Combination Cup 3 Update
There's a poster on the official site -- click 'regulations' and then '大会ポスター' (green button.)
Amongst the tentative entrants is ARK, a very devoted Morrigan fan artist.
The preliminary contests for the Vampire Savior tourney at DCC3 are 2on2 but the winners play each other and only one person gets the seed. Here's the full list:
5/18 Chubu: Space Shuttle Shiogama
19 teams
1st: Kosho (Bulleta) & Nasu (Sasquatch)
2nd: DD (Sasquatch) & Nakanishi (Bishamon)
DCC Seed Winner: Kosho (Bulleta)
Teammate: Nasu (Sasquatch)
Info on videos here. (I guess I got the date wrong.)
Additional videos from this event here.
7/20 Kansai: A-cho
16 teams
1st: Kaji (Lilith) & sako (Bulleta)
2nd: DD (Sasquatch) & Nakanishi (Bishamon)
DCC Seed Winner: Kaji (Lilith)
Teammate: Shimatsuya (Jedah)
8/17 Kanto: Mikado
8/23 Kyushu: Monkey House
thank you!
ReplyDeleteExcellent Post. Looking very forward to the upcoming DCC.
ReplyDeleteOn that very same page there is an interview w/ Daigo talking about Savior. (vol.29).
I've also noticed Nuki is entering with Morrigan, which is very surprising. I have yet to see his Morrigan, wonder if it's any different from the rest of the Morrigan players I've seen.
I personaly think Morrigan is the 3rd worst character in the game right above Victor and Anakaris, so it should be very interesting.
Thanks for translation!
B-Izm - So Nuki always uses female characters. The exceptions to that pattern were when he was gunning for Daigo at national tourneys. Especially VS -- heading towards the Gamest cup it became clear that Ohnuki was the only person with the mojo to challenge Daigo, so he chucked Morrigan and eventually settled on the mirror match. A3 again Chun-Li was chucked for Akuma mirror. (and again he couldn't quite close in the national finals)
ReplyDeleteCheck out the third Gamest scan here.
Great piece of fighting game history. Shades of King of Kong.
I guess the Anakaris complaining about "10-0" was Chikyu.
There were a couple Nuki@Morrigan videos at Mikado last year.
I don't know Darkstalkers/Vampire for the life of me, but it's realllly cool getting to hear what's going through top players' minds during their matches.
ReplyDelete