Nuki Chucks Chick Characters to Challenge Daigo

*uses Shout of Earth to clear dust off keyboard*

This article is from an issue of Gamest magazine from early 1998 by way of the Daigo Fanpage. It sprang to mind after Xiaohai beat Daigo in an Evil Ryu mirror at the Canada Cup Masters Series. 

About Winning
by P. Suzuki
tl NH2

The results for the Vampire Savior Gamest Cup on November 2nd 1997 were: first place: Umehara, second place: Ohnuki. Many Vampire Savior fans will see this, say "well that was expected," and move on. You might not know, however, that one of these guys once felt like "I can't win."

Shinya Ohnuki, the Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gamest Cup champ with his female-character mania was having fun playing games. He used Morrigan in Vampire Hunter and continued using her when Savior came out before switching to Lilith. Here's where destiny started. As he was getting confident with Lilith, Ohnuki faced Daigo Umehara (who would use Jedah -> (Bulleta ->) Bishamon) at a tournament and he was soundly defeated. This is where the battle of fate began.

During a flurry of tournaments in Tokyo, Ohnuki switched back to Morrigan from Lilith. At that point Umehara was already using Bishamon. Their second meeting ended in defeat for Morrigan. Ohnuki also tried Lei-Lei with no luck.

Finally just "to defeat Umehara" Ohnuki tossed his female characters and started using Bishamon. Even with the new character he continued to struggle. He entered eight qualifiers for the Sega Cup and was eliminated from all of them. Having long disliked Q-Bee, Ohnuki was being driven mad by bugs flying around when he went to bed.

Nevertheless, Ohnuki level up a great deal by the time the Gamest Cup qualifiers were under way. He had his famous "10-0!*" outburst while fighting Anakaris and started to become well-known amongst Savior players.

Finally the day he beat Umehara arrived. By this point, he had only won an odd game here and there with Lilith and Lei-Lei. Using Bishamon he won three games in a row (and lost four.) It seems Umehara was burned by this turn of events. This incident became known as "The Legend of the 0.2 Second Credit Feeding**" and is still talked about today.

It was around this time that Bishamon's unblockable fireball was discovered (Umehara grasped it first) and players were training hard for the Gamest Cup. By some quirk of fate Ohnuki's opponent in the finals was Umehara who won 2-1. Ohnuki had been losing for six months.

He didn't quit playing Savior, however. Practice continued and he won some tournaments here and there in December. Matches with Umehara grew about even.

Saying "I can't win" and quitting the game is one way to go but please understand that going so far as to switch characters like Ohnuki is another way. He gathered information, trained hard and was able to blossom. Incidentally Umehara went through a similar trial in Vampire Hunter. It's not just having fun winning. Don't just play the game - be moved by it.


* A character ranking diagram reference - this is written out "juu-zero." Later used as a team name by Chikyu Anakaris and Nuki himself.

** "Ren-koin" literally chain coin: when you insert another 50 yen ignoring people who might be standing waiting to play behind you.


1997 Timeline of VS Events

May
---
Nuki 97 game win streak with Lilith.

One-touch Guard Cancel developed.

Nuki Lilith (X) vs. Daigo Jedah (O)
at Ikebukuro Maru-ge Ya

June
---
Nuki switches to Morrigan. Meets Yokohama Lei.

Nuki Morrigan (X) vs. Daigo Bishamon (O)
at Shinjuku Flamingo

July
---
Nuki switches to Lei-Lei under Yokohama Lei's guidance.

Nuki Lei-Lei (X) vs. Kawamura Aulbath (O)
at BET 50

August
---
Nuki Lei-Lei (X) vs. Daigo Bishamon (O)

Nuki switches to Bishamon under Shibisha's guidance per Daigo's advice.

Loses at eight Sega Cup qualifiers.

Melissophobia.

Anakaris "10-0!" incident.

September
---
Nuki develops his own Bishamon style. Qualifies for Gamest Cup.

Nuki Bishamon (~) vs. Daigo Bishamon (~)
Daigo wins 4-3. World's fastest coin feeding incident.

Unblockable EX Karame Dama discovered with ONI SUZUKI.

October
---
Nuki Bishamon (X) vs. Nagano Morrigan (O)
at Machida Athena

Vampire Savior 2 is released. Players keep playing Savior 1.

November
---
Nuki Bishamon (2nd) vs. Daigo Bishamon (1st)
at Gamest Cup

After the event players keep playing Savior.

December
---
Nuki Bishamon wins tourneys at Kasukabe, Shinjuku Sportsland and Sugamo Carrot
(Daigo didn't enter)

Nuki Bishamon (~) vs. Daigo Bishamon (~)
Roughly even.

To-do List, Special Thanks, Best Posts

I'm going to wrap up Super Turbo coverage on this blog pretty soon. There are some things I'd like to post before then - in particular:

• Contest!
• Player Report Update
• Videos from Japan Trip
• Hajiki Screw with VIPER
• Blanka Diagram
• Miscellaneous Graphs
• Secret Project JBH-1KG-FIG

Please look for those posts over the next few months. This blog may stay open after that with a bit of Morrigan fan art, some translated comics and possibly some Persona Ultimate news. We'll see.

Acknowledgements

Better late than never!?

NKI
I got back into ST after nearly 10 years away because of Nick. The way he played Chun-Li blew my mind. Also his enthusiasm and level-headedness online really inspired me.

Quick personal confession: I have a serious problem taking "yes" for an answer. If I agree with someone, but they're using a faulty premise or mixing up correlation with causation, I'm never satisfied. NKI always makes an effort to argue in good faith and I really appreciate it.

Tianyuan2k4
This guy encouraged me to start this blog in the first place. Also he uploaded most of the videos to the Superturbor account. Thank you, brother.

Harahi
People think I got started with Blanka by watching Komoda videos, but it was Harahi's web page that *cough* got the ball rolling: studying what he wrote, chatting about it with TY! and trying stuff out against NY players like FlashG, Doyle Bros and Shag.

Best Hits

Here are some of my favorite posts:

Muteki Interview
Even though it was just a stock Tougeki Spirits questionnaire, Mute Guile put a lot of thought into his answers. One of the best ST player interviews.

Emiko Iwasaki Interview
Fascinating look at the state of fighting games (before SF4 at least) — take a look at this even if you aren't interested in Battle Fantasia.

Haitani Interview
Short but insightful Q&A with one of the toughest multi-game players. Again highly recommended even if you don't follow the games Haitani plays.

Lilith and Jedah

By Takase.

Ooop Awww!

Today I… played more ST. Check out Jinbe's joint for Vampire results!

Here's a picture of the pre-DCC 5on winners:


Oboro, Kaji, Dara, Chikyu, Shimatsuya

Haitani Interview

This is from the 2010 DCC booklet. Thanks to Brian for picking it up. Haitani won Vampire Savior at SBO. Lately he has one of the best Makotos in both Third Strike and SSF4AE. See also: Index of Multi-game Champs

What got you started playing fighting games regularly?

When I was about six my mom bought me my first game console (SNES) and I got Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting with it. Since then I've played mostly fighting games, so you could say that got me started playing them regularly.

My local friends played RPGs and sports games but at my house it was just fighting games like SF2, Samurai Shodown, Fatal Fury and TMNT plus Mega Man.

What kind of game is Vampire Savior to you?

Since it was the first game I started playing seriously I have the strongest affection for Savior.

Lately I play different games but my fundamentals definitely came from VS. The game meshes well with my own personality and strengths so I was able to get stronger than I imagined I could. *

You have a lot of freedom. Savior is a game where you can readily make use of your own strengths.

Compared to other games Savior has hardly any moves that "you must not use," plus various individual plays are extremely strong so you can find your own way.

For example if we compare an all-rounder well versed in poking, anti-airs and combos with someone who is incredibly good at finding and converting on combo chances, in Savior the latter player will probably have a big advantage.

With this type of game where it's important to break through in one key area each individual can elevate their own play style to fighting strength and challenge people. That's a great thing about this game.

What is your practice routine for fighting games?

Normally I practice special moves and combos. Even after playing for many years input misses and dropped combos never cease. Both can have a huge effect on your win percentage. If you practice Dragon Punches regularly, when you go the arcade and they don't come out you'll definitely know why.

Say you're missing straight down or your motion has unnecessary directions you should be aware of that. I've seen players who regularly screw up bubble trap chances with Aulbath. They should run drills and get in the habit of knowing what kind of joystick they're using.

In addition, when I'm done fighting I try to inspect problem areas and counters when I get home.

When you play a long set with someone what are you looking out for?

For starters I gauge my opponent:

- Spacing, desired spacing.

- Distinct weak points (heavy attacks, moves they can't counter.)

- Go-to plays when they get cornered.

- Are they thinking risk > return or risk < return?

- If a certain play creates risk for them, given the same circumstances will they repeat the play? If so, how many times?

- Do they act on anticipation or rely on experience?

- How quickly do they act (in terms of how quickly the match unfolds?) When the pace exceeds their limit how do they act?

There is a lot more, but that's enough for now.

My own style is to pressure my opponent. Set a quick tempo and prevent them from playing like they normally do.

This is all standard stuff but I focus on it heavily in a long set.

How do you hone your power of concentration for a tournament?

I set my expectations: I go in to the tournament committed to live and die by my own intuition.

Of course one-and-out style is scary and losing is scary, so you're liable to do something out of the ordinary.

For example, if Sasquatch is right next to you with an okiseme chance, based on past experience you'd block low in anticipation of a low chain combo. In a tournament, however, one-and-out style makes you want to avoid a mortal wound from a Big Brunch [command throw] or overhead so you hold up and wind up getting hit by the low chain combo after all.

Do away with that kind of soft-headedness. Whether attacking or defending, believe in your own intuition.

If you wind up getting caught by the Big Brunch, chalk it up to your own abilities that day. Do this to get rid of idle thoughts and get the most satisfaction win or lose.

What do you think about being called one of the 5 Gods [of Fighting Games]?

Well that's just an internet meme so I don't take it seriously but from my perspective there are tons of people who are more skillful than me. When people say that I feel uncomfortable. If people would say "he's pretty strong for his area" that would be fine.

It's not self deprecation or anything like that that's just objectively how I see myself.

* There was a miscommunication with the second question but Haitani's answers were interesting so they printed them both.

Basic Nico Searches

Let me share with you guys my primary method of digging up ST videos these days. It's very simple.

Nico has an English website now. I was able to login there with my nicovideo.jp info I assume it works the other way around. Also: Spanish, German

Once you have an account you're going to search for ST videos by upload date.

http://nicovideo.jp/search/スパIIX

That's a search for the most common ST nickname.



On the sorting pull-down menu you want the ninth item down. That's it. Some good action from Versus this past Tuesday right at the top. Inomata Ototo (the younger Inomata brother) entered a couple things last week w/ his green Hawk. Lots of Double Typhoons.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/search/ヴァンパイアセイヴァー

Vampire Savior. Some footage from last weekend's contest at Mikado up top.

Pre-DCC 5on5 - All Out War 4

DD posted this wonderful graphic to go with the Savior 5on announcement. The tourney is September 23rd at Club Sega Shinjuku West.

Nagoya Monogatari 2011

Nagoya Stories in Chubu is the second biggest Savior tournament of the year behind the Darkstalkers Combination Cup. Last year's contest was one of the most entertaining fighting game events of 2010 with some great stuff from Sakai, Haitani and Nakanishi.

Warm-up Tourney at Urban Square Osu
Singles
July 16th at 8pm

Nagoya Monogatari 8
3on3
July 17th at 2pm

Live broadcast:
(TBD, but probably one of these:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sakamotosan
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nsbtv
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nsb2
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nsb3)

Here are the posters for 2010 and 2011:



There is plenty of recent footage on Ukio987's, NeoJinbe's and Orecomchan's YouTube accounts. Here's some Sakai beasting for starters.

ST Live Broadcast Calendar Test

Let's see if this works. If you are planning on running a live broadcast post a comment or email me nohoho at gmail. Vampire Savior

EDIT: I had color coded things to indicate likelihood of streaming (between 'officially announced' (e.g. Ko-hatsu) and 'here and there when the staff feels like it' (e.g. Versus Danisen)) but it's not displaying. I'll work something else out later.

Savior and Super Turbo Tourney News

Here are a couple VS results via DD.

A-cho Olympics 021211
40 entrants
1st Sakamoto (QB)
2nd Giga Q (QB)
3rd Dara (Demitri)
Videos maybe here.

Orekon Birthday Cup at VIP 021311
17 teams
1st Kosho (Bulleta) & Oboro (Victor)
2nd Azwan (Demitri) & Hosokawa (Sasquatch)
3rd Takahashi (Gallon) & Nekohashi (Felicia)
3rd Orekon (Felicia) & Nakanishi (Bishamon)
Videos maybe here.

And a few ST items.

Versus Team Battle Vid 021511
Good matches this week. Part one, Part two

Versus Random 3on Live
February 19th at 8pm (Japan)
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/versus-live2
(By the way, DCC Hunter champ Akita has a tough 3S Ken. Some footage in the archive there.)

Ko-hatsu Ratio Tournament Live
February 20th at 4pm
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kouhatsu

Upcoming Tourneys, Kinu's Blog, SSF4AE Stats

UPDATE Feb. 8th — added an event and another chart for SF4.

The A-Cho Capcom Olympics are next weekend. Singles tourneys for CVS2, MVC2, SSF2X, 3S, SSF4AE, SFZ3 and VS. Top placers get points which are used to determine an overall winner for the event. I'd like to see some good stuff from Cantona (SFA3/SF4 Zangief) and Inbe (SFA3/SF4 Guy).

Also on Sunday there will be a Vampire Savior 2on2: the Orekon Birthday Cup. Check out the poster by Fugo and Dara at Orekon's site. Felicia is holding an Amagami PSP game that I guess is a prize for the winners.

On February 13th at 1pm there's an SSF4AE 3on3 at Plaza Capcom Intermagical in Shizuoka. It's the first of a series of qualifiers for a Capcom official Kanto event. They're planning to run a live broadcast; I'll add I link when I have it.
Streaming: here and here.

Kinu's Blog

Kinu Nishimura recently started a blog. This winter she did the character design for a fantasy figure as well as this great piece for an MVC3 special edition that Capcom is selling online.

http://www.side1.info/kinu/

Super Street Fighter 4 AE Bar Graphs

This graph shows how many times each character in SSF4AE is represented in the top 50, 100 and 150 battle point scorers as of February 6th. Info from 333 on the BBS.



Over here there's a list of how many people earned a certain amount of BPs with each character. This chart ranks them with one value like so: plus four for each person with more than 40,000 battle points, plus three for 35,000 points, etc. Again from February 6th. That's a 3 for Dan and 2 for Hakan.

Savior 3on Videos 121810 Plus Misc. Art

There was a three-way tie in the finals so they ran it again. EDIT: Jinbe is posting this stuff on YouTube as well as the other Vampire events from that day.

A Block

B Block

C Block

Finals Block

I don't have the full team list but the last vid features:
Kaji (Lilith), Nakanishi (Bishamon), Shimatsuya (Jedah)
Sasunii (Sasquatch), Teitoku (Jedah), Sasazuka (Lei-Lei)
Sakamoto (Q-Bee), DD (Sasquatch), Ego (Lei-Lei)

Miscellaneous Art

Click for larger versions.


Poster for Mikado's New Year's tourney.


Cover for a new art book by Side 1, a group of Akiman's friends and fans. Clean version. By Nam.


Cover for a different art book by some of the same people. This one by Kinu Nishimura.

Year-end Vampire Results 121810

Results from various contests at Club Sega via DD.
Art by ta2nb

Vampire
10 entrants
1st Sakamoto (Sasquatch)
2nd DD (Demitri)

Vampire Savior 2
24 entrants
1st Shimatsuya (Jedah)
2nd Panpina (Felicia)

Vampire Hunter
20 entrants
1st Ushipi (Morrigan) & Sasunii (Sasquatch)
2nd Yoshiyuki (Pyron) & Marusa (Felicia)

Vampire Savior
35 entrants
1st Sakamoto (QB), DD (Sasquatch), Ego (Lei^2)
2nd Kaji (Lilith), Nakanishi (Bishamon), Shimatsuya (Jedah)

Savior Tourney News

Ibaraki VIP Singles Vids 110610

YouTube playlist

Gigatch (Sasquatch), Takahashi (Brown Gallon), Senkaku Shoto (Zabel), Dara (Demitri), Orekon (Blonde Felicia), bow (Aulbath), Super Mochimochi (Bulleta), Teruchika (Felicia), Mano (Lilith), Yajima (Morrigan), Kengo (Grey Sasquatch), Basuken (Gallon)

Baba Mikado Random 2on Vids 112710

Jinbe is on top of it.

EDIT:

Pre-DCC Videos 100910

DD linked to a slew of All Out War videos over here. Sakai's team, サカイ様を崇める会, started in A block. Chikyu's team, 白眉, C block. Great title cards.

Darkstalkers Carnival 2010

On December 18th there are going to be tournaments for various Vampire games at Club Sega Shinjuku.

Vampire and Vampire Savior 2 (!) singles
Vampire Hunter 2on2
Vampire Savior 3on3

Events from that arcade are usually not streamed (or even captured) but we'll see.

Art by Michiro Ueyama.

Index of Multi-game Champs

In this post I've got notes about some of the toughest multi-game champions. Most of this information comes from the fighting game player wiki.
Also: Daigo Fanpage, SRK wiki, Savior player wiki, Arcade World

EDIT 4/9/12
Haitani, Sako, Nuki, Daigo, Tokido at the Topanga Charity Cup photo by Akiki.

Daigo Umehara

VS Nationals: 1st (Bishamon)
1st SFA3 Nationals: 1st (V Akuma)
2nd SFA3 National Team Tourney: 2nd
3rd SFA3 Nationals: 1st
Beat Live Cup Third Strike 3on3: 2nd
CVS1 Nationals: 1st (Guile, Ryu)
X-Mania 2000 ST: 3rd (w/ Kurahashi, Tamashima)
X-Mania 2006 ST: 2nd (w/ Aniken, yaya)
SBO 03 CVS2: 2nd
SBO 03 GGXX: Top 4 (w/ ?)
SBO 03 ST: 1st (Ryu) (w/ Kurahashi, Otochun)
Evo 03 GGXX: 1st (Sol)
Evo 03 3S: 2nd (Ken)
Evo 03 CVS2: 2nd (C Guile, Cammy, Sagat)
Evo 03 ST: 1st
Evo 04 GGXX: 1st
Evo 04 3S: 2nd
Evo 04 ST: 1st
SBO 04 CVS2: out 2nd round (w/ Dan, Shiro)
SBO 05 3S: 1st (w/ Nuki)
SBO 05 Capcom Fighting Jam: 2nd (w/ Dan)
Evo 06 GGXX Slash: 2nd (w/ RF, Kindevu)
Evo 09 SF4: 1st (Ryu)
SBO 09 SF4: Top 8 (w/ Nuki)
Evo 10 SSF4: 1st (Ryu)
SBO 10 SF4: 2nd (w/ Bonchan, TKD)
SBO 11 SSF4AE: Top 4 (Yun) (w/ Iyo)
4th Cooperation Cup 3S Teams: 1st (w/ ?)
Vampire Hunter DCC2: 1st (Pyron)

Local Links
ST career profile
Interview re: early days
DCC 2 results

Catchphrases
Makeru youso wa nai. - "There's no way I'll lose."
Daigo said this before fighting Alex Valle at the SFA3 international championship.

Arigataya!
After Daigo hit Arturo with a crucial psychic DP during an Evo hotel match, Eita shouted this out. Then it became sort of the 2010 version of "umeshoryu." Kokujin first used the line some years earlier after a similarly clutch play. Video (6:18)

Koashi mite kara Shoryu yoyuu deshita. - "Saw the short kick and DP'ed it no problem."
Popular one-liner kidding around about Daigo's quick reactions.

Nuki

VS Nationals: 2nd (Bishamon)
SFA2 Nationals: 1st (Chun)
1st SFA3 Nationals: 2nd (V Akuma)
CVS1 Nationals: 3rd (Nakoruru, Dhalsim, King)
CVS2 Nationals: 1st (N Ryu, Blanka, Sagat)
Evo 02 CVS2: 2nd
Evo 03 ST: 2nd (Chun)
SBO 04 3S: Top 4 (Chun) (w/ Boss, KO)
SBO 04 CVS2: Top 4 (w/ Inoue, Tokido)
SBO 05 3S: 1st (w/ Daigo)
Evo 05 ST: 2nd
Evo 05 3S: 1st
SBO 06 3S: Top 4 (w/ KO, Kokujin)
SBO 06 VF4FT: 2nd (Aoi) (w/ Chibita, Osu Akira)
Evo 06 3S: 1st
SBO 07 HSF2: 1st (Chun) (w/ Kurahashi)
Evo 07 3S: 1st
Evo 07 VF5: 2nd
Evo 08 ST: 2nd
Evo 08 3S: 1st
SBO 08 ST: Top 8 (w/ Tokido)
SBO 09 SF4: Top 8 (w/ Daigo)
SBO 10 3S: 2nd (w/ Kokujin, Haitani)
1st Cooperation Cup 3S Teams: 1st (w/ Joe, Tokido, Shao, Match)
5th Cooperation Cup 3S Teams: 2nd

Local Links
SBO '07 notes

Catchphrases
"Since the other 5 gods Sako, Haitani, Tokido and Umehara aren't here I guess there's no way I'll lose to anyone else."
Nuki said this before the 3S semis at SBO 2006. Video

Tokido

Evo 02 CVS2: 1st
SBO 03 CVS2: 1st (A Sakura, Dictator, Blanka)
SBO 04 CVS2: Top 4 (w/ Nuki, Inoue)
SBO 05 CFJ: 1st (Jedah, Urien) (w/ Mago)
Evo 06 HSF2: 3rd (CE Dictator)
SBO 06 Samurai Shodown 6: Top 4 (Mina) (w/ Reoth)
Evo 07 ST: 1st (Claw)
Evo 07 3S: 3rd (Chun)
SBO 09 3S: 2nd (w/ KO, Ochibi)
SBO 10 3S: Top 4 (w/ KO, Ochibi)
SBO 10 SF4: Top 4 (w/ Nemo, Mago)
1st Cooperation Cup 3S Teams: 1st (Urien) (w/ Nuki, Joe, Shao, Match)
6th Cooperation Cup 3S Teams: 2nd
2nd SF4 Nationals: 3rd (Akuma) (w/ Mago, Akimo)

Catchphrases
Piza demo kuttekoi! - "Just go eat some Pizza!"
Tokido taunting Kokujin at a GVision 3S ranbat. Video. Reference to some old 2ch joke maybe.

Shiro

SBO 03 CVS2: out 2nd round
SBO 04 CVS2: out 2nd round (w/ Dan, Daigo)
SBO 05 CFJ: Top 4 (Jedah, Yun) (w/ Iyo)
SBO 06 HnK: out 2nd round (Toki)
SBO 08 HnK: Top 4 (Raoh)
SBO 09 SF4: 2nd (Abel) (w/ Iyo)
SBO 10 SF4: Top 8 (w/ Ojisan Boy, Mizoteru)
Dream Fighter's Festival 2007 HnK: 1st (Raoh)

Notes
The ST Ryu player is a different guy.

Joe

SBO 03 CVS2: out 2nd round
SBO 04 CVS2: Top 4 (w/ Togawa, Nitto)
SBO 07 3S: Top 8 (w/ Tokido, Nitto)
SBO 08 VF5R: 1st (Jacky) (w/ Itabashi Zangief, Fudo)
1st Cooperation Cup 3S Teams: 1st (w/ Tokido, Shao, Match, Nuki)

Nemo

SBO 03 KOF2k2: Top 8
SBO 04 GGXX#R: 2nd (w/ Kaqn, Imo)
SBO 05 KOF Neo Wave: Top 8
SBO 05 GGXX#R: 2nd (Faust) (w/ Arisaka Shinya, Imo)
SBO 09 SF4: Top 4 (Chun) (w/ Mago)
SBO 10 SF4: Top 4 (w/ Tokido, Mago)
SBO 11 SSF4AE: 2nd (Yang) (w/ Kyabetsu)

R ("A-ru")

CVS1 Nationals: 2nd

Notes
Old friend of Daigo's. Former SBO MC. CVS color edit pioneer (nude Cammy.) YouTube Playlist.
This guy uses Viper and Guy in SF4; the Boxer player with the same nickname is someone else.

Itabashi Zangief ("Itazan")

Evo 04 VF4: 1st
SBO 05 VF4: Top 8 (Shun)
Evo 07 VF5: 1st
SBO 08 VF5R: 1st (w/ Fudo, Joe)
SBO 09 SF4: out 1st round (Zangief) (w/ Fudo)

Inoue ("Ino")

Evo 02 CVS2: 3rd (K Sagat, Blanka, Cammy)
Evo 03 CVS2: 1st
SBO 03 CVS2: Top 4
SBO 04 CVS2: Top 4 (w/ Nuki, Tokido)
Evo 07 VF5: 5th (Kage)
SBO 08 3S: 1st (Makoto) (w/ Kuroda, MOV)

RF

SBO 03 KOF2k2: Top 4
Evo 04 GGXX: 3rd (Faust)
Evo 04 CVS2: Top 8 (A Sakura, Dictator, Blanka)
SBO 05 GGXX#R: Top 4 (Faust) (w/ Kindevu, Kubo)
Evo 05 GGXX#R: 1st
Evo 06 GGXXS: 2nd (w/ Daigo, Kindevu)
SBO 07 GGXXAC: Top 4 (w/ N-Otoko, P.C)
SBO 08 GGXXAC: Top 8 (w/ J.T, Shoji)
SBO 09 SF4: out 2nd round (w/ ShiroItachi)
SBO 10 GGXXAC: 1st (w/ Ogawa, Shonen)
SBO 10 SF4: 1st (w/ Momochi, Kindevu)
1st SF4 Nationals: 2nd (Sagat)
2nd SF4 Nationals: 1st (w/ Kindevu, Momochi)

Haitani

SBO 04 VS: 1st (Sasquatch)
SBO 06 3S: out 1st round (Ken) (w/ Sako, Teruchika)
SBO 10 3S: 2nd (Makoto) (w/ Kokujin, Nuki)

Local Links
Short interview
DCC Q&A

Sako

SBO 04 VS: Top 4 (Bulleta)
SBO 06 3S: out 1st round (Yun) (w/ Haitani, Teruchika)
SBO 07 HSF2: Top 4 (Chun/Ryu) (w/ Nekohashi)

Catchphrases
Yareyaredaze. - No translation necessary — just say it in a defeated tone.
Something people say about Sako's fight with T2ya at SBO. Video. Jojo's Bizzarre Adventure reference.

Mago

SBO 04 CVS2: 1st (C Honda, Sagat, Blanka) (w/ Kindevu, Sawada)
SBO 05 CFJ: 1st (Karin, Anakaris) (w/ Tokido)
Evo 05 CVS2: 2nd
SBO 06 KOFXI: Top 4 (Gato, Kula, Oswald)
SBO 09 SF4: Top 4 (Sagat) (w/ Nemo)
SBO 10 SF4: Top 4 (w/ Tokido, Nemo)
Dream Fighter's Festival 2007 HnK: Top 4 (Raoh)

Kindevu

SBO 04 CVS2: 1st (A Sakura, Dictator, Blanka) (w/ Sawada, Mago)
SBO 05 GGXX#R: Top 4 (Eddie) (w RF, kubo)
Evo 05 CVS2: 3rd
Evo 05 GGXX#R: 2nd
Evo 06 GGXX Slash: 2nd (w/ RF, Daigo)
Evo 06 CVS2: 1st
SBO 09 SF4: out 2nd round (w/ Momochi)
SBO 10 SF4: 1st (w/ Momochi, RF)
1st SF4 Nationals: 3rd (Rufus)
2nd SF4 Nationals: 1st (w/ RF, Momochi)

Iyo

SBO 05 CFJ: Top 4 (Anakaris, Chun-Li) (w/ Shiro)
SBO 09 SF4: 2nd (Dhalsim) (w/ Shiro)
SBO 11 SSF4AE: Top 4 (w/ Daigo)
1st SF4 Nationals: 1st

Hirai

Vampire Nationals: 1st (Morrigan)
SBO 07 3S: Top 4 (Ken) (w/ Momochi, Yuki-otoko)

Momochi

SBO 07 3S: Top 4 (Yun) (w/ Hirai, Yuki-otoko)
SBO 09 SF4: out 2nd round (w/ Kindevu)
SBO 09 3S: 1st (Makoto) (w/ Rikimaru, Boss)
SBO 10 SF4: 1st (Akuma) (w/ RF, Kindevu)
7th Cooperation Cup 3S Teams: 2nd (w/ KSK, Kokujin, Boss, Matsuda)
2nd SF4 Nationals: 1st (w/ RF, Kindevu)

Fudo ("Fuu")

SBO 05 VF4FT: 1st (Lion) (w/ Koedo, Inocchi)
SBO 08 VF5R: 1st (w/ Itabashi Zangief, Joe)
SBO 09 SF4: out 1st round (Ryu) (w/ Itabashi Zangief)
Evo 11 SSF4AE: 1st (Fei-Long)

Savior Diagram Version 5

DD posted a new VS character ranking chart. Consultants for this revision: Kaji, Umi no Ko, Nakanishi, Panpina, Fugo and Oraora. The numbers in green changed since version 4.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/iamddsas23/archives/1379322.html

Also, via Dara's blog, here's Haitani and Deshiken duking it out at A-cho: link. Wicked good.

EDIT: Vampire Hunter live stream from Versus Thursday the 18th at 8pm (Japan.)

Savior Players' SSF4 Tourney

Here's the stream archive for an online SSF4 tourney for VS players. Art by Yuza.

Part One
Part Two

First round cards:
Itsuki (Dhalsim) vs. DD (Adon)
Arai [Cat-K] (Claw) vs. Maki (Cammy)
Shu (Chun-Li) vs. Teruchika (Dhalsim)
Azwan (Akuma) vs. Shimatsuya (Juri)
Komemaru (Ibuki) vs. Dara (Ryu)
Kame (Guy) vs. Umi no Ko (Ryu)
Sakamoto (Dictator) vs. Oboro (T.Hawk)
Nakanishi (Ryu) vs. Chapa (Hakan)
also Sasunii (Boxer)

Elsewhere…
There were some great ST matches at Versus on Saturday. Random 3on where the teams were shuffled each round. Abebin somehow won without having to play. Commentary by Nuki.

DCC Results, VS Vid, ST Vid

Detailed Darkstalkers Combination Cup results are up on the official site.

Vampire Hunter
41 entrants
1st: Akita (Morrigan)
2nd: Haramori (Morrigan)
3rd: Kashiwagi (Bishamon)

Vampire Savior
100 entrants
1st: Orekon (Felicia)
2nd: Ego (Lei-Lei)
3rd: Panpina (Q-Bee)

Some notes
VH: Haramori over MOV Felicia in the first round. Akita took out two-time champ TKO.
Kashiwagi and Donboru Zabel beat Haramori and Kawamura Phobos to take the pre-DCC 2on.

VS: Kaji over Sakai Zabel. Nakanishi over Kaji. Ego beat Nasquatch. Ouchi Jedah beat Bow Aulbath and Kosho. T2ya Zabel lost first round to Kuma Sasquatch. Aojiru GuileZabel beat Dara and DD, lost to Orekon.
Sakai ruled at the 5on the night before. Jinbe posted details here. DD posted comments from the top 2 teams here.

Astroguy2 (a.k.a. Q-Bee player HigeQ) did the cover for the pamphlet. Zoomed out version from pixiv.

Savior at Mikado 102310

Another Kaji Kosho show. Sakamoto usually broadcasts these events live. Next one November 27th at 6pm.

A Block
B Block
C & D Block
E & Finals Block

Super Turbo at Versus 102610

30-somethings on the 1P side, 20-somethings on the 2P side. Toutanki "Atomic Boy" Zangief along with the usual suspects.

Part One
Part Two

Crazy Bulleta

Dara has been posting some great avatar icons in homage to Sako and other tough guys.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/darablog/

That site, by the way, is his new joint since he shut down the G.M.C. blog.

Darkstalkers Combination Cup Preview

Pre-DCC and Main Event Live Broadcast

Times for Japan.

Warm Up Tourney
Saturday, October 9th
Vampire Hunter 2on2 at noon
Vampire Savior 5on5 at 3pm
Vampire Savior Kanto vs. Elsewhere team battle after VS wraps up

Darkstalkers Combination Cup 5
Sunday, October 10th
Vampire Hunter Singles at noon
Vampire Savior Singles at 3pm

All of these contests are going to be broadcast live over here:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sakamotosan

EDIT: see comments for notes about delay

DCC Pamphlet

This year there's a special DCC book prepared by various players with graphic design by Dara. It has past results, winners profiles, modern VS and VH tactics plus interviews with Kosho, Haitani, Sako and Daigo. Cover on the right.

Vampire Savior Seed Info

DCC seed winners skip the first round of play. Jinbe sent this along. Thank you, brother! The finals from the July event were incredible don't miss that video.
Quoted except for date format.

#1
Location: Chubu
Arcade: Urban Square Osu
Date: 7/18/10
Format: 3on3 Tournament
Participants: 54 (18 teams)
Winner: Kosho (Bulleta) / Sakamoto (Q-bee) / Nakanishi (Bishamon)
DCC Seed: Kosho (Bulleta)
Info:
http://gamastyle.blog.shinobi.jp/Date/20100719/
Videos:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8354597
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjk1H3fz1ew (only finals)

#2
Location: Kansai
Arcade: A-Cho
Date: 8/22/10
Format: 1on1 Tournament
Participants: 17 players
Winner / DCC Seed: Azuwan (Demitri)
Info:
http://www.a-cho.com/ac/201007_12/vs20100822.html
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_Bhq0UIhFY (post tournament freeplay matches, video 1 of 8, check here)

#3
Location: Tohoku
Arcade: Playland F1-R
Date: 8/29/10
Format: 2on2 Tournament
Participants: 6 teams (12 players)
Winner: Kaji (Lilith) / Shimatsuya (Jedah)
DCC Seed: Kaji (Lilith)
Info:
http://vampire.blogzine.jp/santuario/2010/09/post_b86f.html
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E28C011C93A3B9C4

#4
Location: Kanto
Arcade: Club Sega Nishi Shinjuku
Date: 9/4/10
Format: 1on1 Tournament
Participants: 22 players
Winner / DCC Seed: Buzz (Gallon)
Info: #
Videos: #