Gaming career
Infiltration first started playing fighting games seriously with the home release of Street Fighter IV, but he offered tips for players hoping to raise their skill level. The "Infiltration" name comes from the Metal Gear Solid series, of which he is a big fan. Lee uses a bat-top joystick due to the first FightStick he bought was coincidentally a bat-top joystick sold for 2,000 yen ($20 US). Lee chose Akuma in Street Fighter IV because he heard that Akuma was strong in the game at the time. Lee's main focus is physical training instead of in-game practice. [7]
Lee is the winner of the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Grand Finals for both Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition v2012 and Street Fighter X Tekken and won $25,000 for each game. The former event saw Lee win against Mad Catz's Daigo Umehara 6–0. Because he won the latter, Lee also received a one of a kind Street Fighter-based Scion FR-S Coupe. [8] Lee also won the Capcom Cup 2013 Street Fighter X Tekken tournament in which he was invited to by Capcom. [9] In March, Lee qualified for the Capcom Pro Tour Asia Finals by winning Nine States Tournament 2015. [10] In late May, Lee qualified for Capcom Cup 2015 by placing Top 3 at Stunfest 2015. Lee's opponents in Top 3, Momochi and Umehara have already qualified thus giving Lee the qualifying spot by default. [11]
Lee is known for having a defensive playstyle as determined by Justin Wong's Step Up Your Game series. [12] On January 16, 2015, Eventhubs ranked Lee at #6 on their Top 50 Ultra Street Fighter IV players list. [13] Lee is also known for creating an outstanding comeback against Eduardo "PR Balrog" Perez in the Losers Semis at EVO 2013 Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition v2012, where he counterpicked Perez's Balrog with Hakan. [14] Lee qualified for the 2014 Capcom Cup by winning CEO 2014 in an exciting battle against Evil Geniuses' Yusuke Momochi. [15] Momochi would later defeat Lee at Capcom Cup 2014 resulting in the latter to get a 4th-place finish. [16]
Because of his performances in 2012, Lee has been called "Player of the Year" by many including Capcom. However, in late 2013, Lee saw a small decline where other players managed to catch up to his level. Overall, Lee still manages to perform well in tournaments he enters, usually making Top 4. [17] [18]
A controversy regarding 2015's Capcom Pro Tour circuit came up regarding Lee, with some labeling him as a "gatekeeper" due to visiting multiple CPT events despite already qualifying for Capcom Cup (here 'gatekeeping' means to keep other players from qualifying). Lee stated in an interview that his intention was not to gatekeep, but instead to practice before the Capcom Cup begins in December. Lee also states that Street Fighter V is going in a good direction, as he thinks that making the game offense-oriented will make it faster and better. [19]
On November 15, 2015, Infiltration signed with Team Razer. [20] [21]
On June 4, 2022, Capcom Fighters announced via a tweet that Infiltration (as well as Michael "Theo Lee Ronin" Parks) "will be banned from all Capcom-owned, operated and/or licensed events globally, including Capcom Pro Tour and Street Fighter League, until further notice." [22]
Personal life
In mid-2014, Lee had to sell the one-of-a-kind Scion FR-S Coupe he won because of high maintenance issues. This was also the same car Lee actually had to earn his drivers license for, just so he could drive it. [23]
On October 22, 2017, Lee got into an argument with his then-wife. [6] The police responded to a call and documented evidence of broken household objects. [24] They left after ordering Lee to refrain from further violence. After they left, Lee purportedly resumed his assault on his wife, who had begun recording the altercation, which was later submitted as evidence, and was thrown out during court proceedings. [24] At this point, neighbors called the police again and Lee was arrested and charged with domestic violence. Paramedics took her to a hospital and documented a wrist injury and bruises. [24] A South Korean court ruled against Lee on November 30, 2017. [6] Lee and his wife divorced in December 2017. [24] Panda Global, Lee's sponsoring team, learned about the assault in September 2018 and withdrew Lee from all upcoming tournaments at the time. [25] He was fired from the team on November 22, 2018, after Panda Global obtained his court records. [6]
Akuma, known in Japan as Gouki, is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist of the Street Fighter series of fighting games created by Capcom. Akuma made his debut in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret character and boss. In the storyline of the Street Fighter video games, he is the younger brother of Gouken, Ryu's and Ken's master. In some games, he also has an alternate version named Shin Akuma or Shin Gouki in Japanese and Oni Akuma in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Since his debut, Akuma has appeared in several subsequent titles and has been praised by both fans and critics.
Daigo Umehara is a Japanese esports player and author who competes competitively at fighting video games. He specializes in 2D arcade fighting games, mainly those released by Capcom. Known as "Daigo" or "The Beast" in the West and "Umehara" or "Ume" in Japan, Daigo is one of the world's most famous Street Fighter players and is often considered its greatest as well. His longevity is seen as an incredibly rare thing in the world of competitive video games. He currently holds a world record of "the most successful player in major tournaments of Street Fighter" in the Guinness World Records and is a six time Evo Championship Series winner.
The Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as Evo, is an annual esports event that focuses exclusively on fighting games. The tournaments are completely open and use the double elimination format. As with Super Battle Opera, contestants travel from all over the world to participate, most notably from Japan. The first Evolution was originally held as a Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha 2 tournament called the Battle by the Bay. It changed its name to Evo in 2002. Every successive tournament has seen an increase of attendees. It has been held at various venues across the Las Vegas Valley since 2005. As of 2021, the event is jointly owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment and the Endeavor esports venture RTS.
Street Fighter X Tekken is a crossover fighting game developed and published by Capcom and released in March 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in May for Windows and in October for the PlayStation Vita. The game features characters from both the Street Fighter franchise and Namco's Tekken series. In the game, each player selects two characters respectively and face other as duos in tag team fighting matches, with the objective to knock out one of the members from the opposing team. In addition to the game's multiplayer modes, the game also features a single-player Story mode with a plot revolving around a mysterious object called the "Pandora".
The fighting game community, often abbreviated to FGC, is a collective of video gamers who play fighting games such as Marvel vs. Capcom, Mortal Kombat, Soulcalibur, Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, The King of Fighters, Blazblue, Super Smash Bros., Tekken, Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs., Dead or Alive, Samurai Shodown, Shadow Fight 2 and many others. The fighting game community started out small in the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s referred to as the grassroots era, but it has grown to a larger scale in the 2010s, with many tournaments being held around the world. This is predominantly due to the rise of esports, online gaming, and digitized viewing habits on live streaming sites such as Twitch.
Christopher Gonzalez, also known as NYChrisG, is an American competitive gamer, specializing in fighting games. He is considered one of the top Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 players. He is also the EVO 2016 champion for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
Capcom Cup is an annual fighting game tournament specifically focused on the Street Fighter series. The event's first incarnation was in 2013 which featured Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition version 2012, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Street Fighter X Tekken version 2013 as the three main games each with 8 qualifiers. In 2014, Capcom Cup was an Ultra Street Fighter IV exclusive tournament with 16 qualifiers. The 2015 Capcom Cup was doubled to a 32-man format. The series of qualifying events for the tournament are known as the Capcom Pro Tour and include many of the largest, most prestigious pre-existing fighting game tournaments such as Evolution Championship Series and DreamHack.
Alex Valle, also known as CaliPower and Mr. Street Fighter, is a Peruvian-American professional fighting game player. Valle is mainly a Ryu specialist and is considered one of the most influential people within the fighting game community.
Yusuke Momochi, better known as Momochi, is a Japanese professional fighting game player, particularly of ones in the Street Fighter series by Capcom. Momochi won the Capcom Cup 2014 championship, as well as winning the EVO 2015 title for Ultra Street Fighter IV.
Capcom Cup 2015 was a professional Ultra Street Fighter IV video game tournament that was held at Moscone Center in San Francisco on December 6, 2015. 32 players qualified for the tournament by winning one of the 16 Capcom Pro Tour Premier Events or by acquiring points at them. Kun Xian Ho won three of the Premier Events, coming in third place at the Capcom Cup. Many high-profile players, including Justin Wong and Bonchan, lost two consecutive matches during the early rounds of the Cup and were eliminated. The Grand Final was a match between Mad Catz' Daigo Umehara playing as Evil Ryu and Kazunoko playing as Yun, the latter winning the match 3–2.
Bruce Yu-lin Hsiang is a Taiwanese esportist fighting games player who specializes in Street Fighter where he mains Adon and Elena in Ultra Street Fighter IV, and Necalli in Street Fighter V. Gamerbee is currently sponsored by ZOWIE. Gamerbee finished second at EVO 2015 after losing to Yusuke Momochi. He placed 13th at Capcom Cup 2015. Gamerbee was announced as one of the first two players for Red Bull Kumite 2016's Street Fighter V tournament.
Darryl S. Lewis, better known by his in-game name Snake Eyez, is an American professional fighting game player. He is considered one of the best Zangief players of Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter V. Lewis was the highest seeded player at Capcom Cup 2015 who wasn't automatically qualified. He was the only American player in top-8 of Capcom Cup 2015. Snake Eyez's career was the subject of a documentary called Cultivation: House of Snake Eyez.
Du Dang, more commonly known by his nickname NuckleDu, is an American fighting game player known for playing Guile and Decapre in Ultra Street Fighter IV, Guile and Zangief in Street Fighter X Tekken, and Guile and Rainbow Mika in Street Fighter V. NuckleDu was ranked as the 13th best player in Ultra Street Fighter IV by EventHubs, and was ranked at #19 in the previous year and #32 in 2013. In Street Fighter V, he was undeniably the most successful player in the latter half of Season 1.
Keita Ai, better known as Fuudo (ふ〜ど), is a Japanese electronic sports player specializing in the Street Fighter series. Fuudo entered the fighting game scene in 2005 playing Virtua Fighter 4. Fuudo has won various fighting game tournaments, including the World Cyber Games and Evolution Championship Series. Fuudo has been described by multiple journalists as the world's best R. Mika player.
The 2016 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 15–17. Being hosted on the twentieth anniversary of the Evolution Championship Series, the event offered tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Pokkén Tournament. Participation reached record-breaking numbers, with over 5,000 people registering for the Street Fighter competition alone. 2016 was the first time the Evo Grand Finals were held in an arena and were broadcast by ESPN2 in addition to Twitch.
Stunfest 2016 was a fighting game tournament that took place on May 21–22 in Rennes, France. Being a Premier Event of the Capcom Pro Tour, the winner of the event would qualify for the 2016 Capcom Cup. The Grand Finals of Stunfest 2016 were dominated by Asian players such as Tokido and Daigo Umehara, with European players like Luffy being eliminated on day 1. Japanese players Fuudo and Yusuke Momochi faced off in the final round, with Momochi winning the tournament.
The 2015 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 17–19. The event featured a major tournament for nine fighting games, including the largest Super Smash Bros. tournament up to that point and a highly popular Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament. The Street Fighter IV tournament was won by Yusuke Momochi, defeating GamerBee in the Grand Finals.
Hajime Taniguchi, better known as Tokido, is a Japanese fighting game player who plays the King of Fighters and Street Fighter franchises. He is known for playing multiple fighting games on a competitive level in addition to Street Fighter, including Tekken, Marvel vs Capcom 3, and BlazBlue. Tokido is a three-time EVO champion, having won Capcom vs. SNK 2 in 2002 as well as winning Super Street Fighter II Turbo in 2007 and Street Fighter V ten years later. Tokido has had 19+ Evolution top 8 finishes in 9 different games across 15 years, a feat surpassed only by Justin Wong.
Victor Woodley, better known under the name Punk, is an American Street Fighter player.
Ryan Joseph Hart, also known as Prodigal Son, Tsuujin, Robotnik, The Terminator and NeriahSensei, is a British professional fighting game player. He specialises in 2D and 3D fighter games released by Capcom, Bandai Namco, Sega, Midway, NetherRealm Studios and SNK. Ryan holds numerous National, European and World titles and has won the Evolution Championships twice. Hart also holds four world records within the Guinness World Record's for most international Street Fighter competition wins, most well-travelled fighting game champion, the longest winning streak on Street Fighter IV, and the most consecutive opponents on Street Fighter V. While Hart is predominantly known for his professional gaming career, he is also a commentator, tournament organiser, author, presenter, event host, model, translator and content creator.
