Lupe Fiasco versus Daigo Umehara was a Street Fighter V exhibition match between rapper Lupe Fiasco and professional Street Fighter veteran Daigo Umehara. The game, held shortly before the public release of Street Fighter V on February 15, 2016, resulted in a three-to-two win for Fiasco. The match has frequently been criticized for possibly being staged, and the celebrity's later association with professional Street Fighter play has resulted in mixed opinions among the fighting game community.
While on tour, Lupe Fiasco released some Twitter messages regarding the Street Fighter franchise. Responding to a question on whether he ever watches the Evolution Championship Series, Fiasco said "Only to study Daigo..." When he was invited to play a match against Daigo Umehara by Mark Julio, community and sponsorship manager for Mad Catz, Fiasco responded with "It would be an honor to lose to Daigo-San." Although the match had not been officially arranged yet, Fiasco stated shortly after with which character he was planning to play and that he was training for the match. [1] [2] [3]
The match was subsequently planned to take place at the Folsom Street Foundry in San Francisco during the Street Fighter V Launch Event on February 15. It was the main exhibition match and part of several pre-launch festivities, and was exclusive to the first 50 people waiting in line. The match was livestreamed on Capcom's official Twitch channel. [3] [4] [5] [6] At the event, Fiasco was gifted a Tournament Edition 2 arcade stick by Mad Catz. [7]
Fiasco versus Umehara featured Fiasco playing as Ken and Umehara playing as Ryu. Fiasco won the first and fourth game, while Umehara beat Fiasco in the second and third. [8] The match ended highly climactically, as both players had won two of the best-of-five games and were tied as they went into the final round. [9]
After Fiasco landed his final KO on Umehara, neither player seemed sure of what happened; Fiasco seemed confused as to what round the game was on until he was notified that the game was over. [8] In an interview shortly after the match, Fiasco stated that he "almost cried on stage," noting that winning against Umehara was a bucket list thing. When asked whether he wanted to compete in future fighting game tournaments, Fiasco stated "I'm retiring... I'll take the win and run, I know when to get out." [9]
When asked about the match by Kotaku , Umehara gave the following response:
I would like to congratulate [Fiasco] on his victory last night, but let's say that you can eagerly await a rematch. The crowd warmly welcomed us and was so excited. I thought it was a great run. Lupe gifted me his own Metal Gear jacket (which I wore at the autograph session latter). I believe it was because he thought we had good matches too! [10]
Many journalists and fans believe that the match may have been staged due to the highly climactic final and Fiasco's disregard of the idea of joining future tournaments. [9] The match has been heavily criticized by fans as a poorly veiled marketing ploy to create more buzz for Street Fighter V. [7] Owen S. Good of Polygon suggested that the game may have been similar to an exhibition match in tennis, players of which being "notorious for tanking sets to make sure the show goes the distance and the fans get their money's worth, before playing the last set on the square." [8] When asked by Kotaku if the match was staged, Alex Verrey of Umehara's sponsor Mad Catz responded with "No sir, it was not! Daigo would never allow such a thing." [10]
Other theories for why Umehara lost exist as well, such as that he may have been suffering from the effect of a jetlag or was not able to adapt to the mechanics of Street Fighter V during the match. [3] [10]
In the months after the match, Fiasco started forming a connection with several prominent players throughout the fighting game community, developing relationships with players who have a deep interest in the game. In May, Fiasco attended the Street Fighter V tournament Combo Breaker, apparently in order to eventually qualify for the 2016 Capcom Cup. The celebrity's continued interest in the game has produced mixed opinions among the fighting game community. [7] [11] However, some members of the community have suggested that the most important aspect of the Fiasco versus Umehara match was that it may help grow the community more. [10]
Fiasco later made a track titled "Killers", which was used in the hype video that took place before EVO 2016's Street Fighter V finals. [12] The kickoff event of the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour was simultaneously the launch party of Fiasco's album, Drogas Light . [13] [14]
Ken Masters is a character in Capcom's Street Fighter fighting game series. The character was first introduced in Ken's goal in the 1987 Street Fighter as a young alternate fight in contrast to the original, his best friend Ryu. While Ken and Ryu are devoted to test their power against many different fighters, Ken instead spends most of his starting a family. An alternate version brainwashed of Ken has also appeared as a boss character in few of his appearances. The character has been featured in several sequels to Street Fighter as well as adaptations based on the games. He has also made cross-over appearances in Namco × Capcom, Project X Zone and Super Smash Bros..
Street Fighter is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six other main series games, various spin-offs and crossovers, and numerous appearances in other media. Its best-selling 1991 release Street Fighter II established many of the conventions of the one-on-one fighting genre.
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. 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.
Justin Wong, occasionally shortened to Jwong, is an American professional fighting game player residing in Canada.
Alex Valle, also known as CaliPower and Mr. Street Fighter, is a Peruvian-American fighting game tournament organizer and a retired professional fighting game player. Valle is mainly a Ryu specialist and is considered one of the most influential people within the fighting game community.
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.
Olivier Hay, also known as Luffy or Louffy, is a French professional fighting games player of Teochew descent who specializes in Street Fighter and King of Fighters.
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 one. Japanese players Fuudo and Yusuke Momochi faced off in the final round, with Momochi winning the tournament.
Capcom Cup 2016 was a Street Fighter V video game tournament that was held in December 2016. 32 players qualified for the tournament by winning one of the eleven Capcom Pro Tour Global Premier Events, Evo 2016, one of the four regional events, and/or by scoring high on the game's leaderboards. Street Fighter V was released shortly before the start of the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour, replacing Ultra Street Fighter IV from the previous season.
"Evo Moment #37", or the "Daigo Parry", is a portion of a Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike semifinal match held at Evolution Championship Series 2004 between Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong. During this match, Umehara made an unexpected comeback by parrying 15 consecutive hits of Wong's "Super Art" move while having only one pixel of vitality. Umehara subsequently won the match, though he went on to lose the Grand Final against Kenji "KO" Obata. Evo Moment #37 has been described as the most iconic moment in competitive video gaming, having influenced the fighting game community strongly.
Community Effort Orlando is an annual fighting game event held in Daytona Beach, Florida. Prior to 2018, CEO was held in Orlando, Florida. Introduced in 2010 and organized by Alex Jebailey, the event is known for its strong ties to the fighting game community. Fighting game players compete in a wrestling ring during the event's tournaments, and CEO has been a mainstay of the Capcom Pro Tour since its establishment in 2014. An annual side-event titled CEOtaku was initiated in 2015.
The Japan Cup was a Street Fighter V tournament held at the 2016 Tokyo Game Show On September 17, 2016. As a Premier Event of the Capcom Pro Tour, the winner of the event automatically qualified for the 2016 Capcom Cup. The tournament was won by GamerBee, who defeated Poongko in the finale.
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 28 Evolution top 8 finishes, having EVO medals in 12 different games across more than 20 years.
The regional finals of the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour were a series of closed Street Fighter V tournaments held throughout the world. The champions of the four different regions – North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia – automatically qualified to compete at the 2016 Capcom Cup. People qualified to compete in their regional finals by scoring highly on their regional leaderboard or winning ranking events during the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour. The four tournaments all took place between October 15 and November 19, 2016.
The Canada Cup is an annual Canadian fighting game event founded and organized by Lap Chi Duong. The event was launched as the Calgary Cup in 2009 and was initially held in Calgary, Alberta, but the tournament moved to Toronto, Ontario shortly after, returning to Calgary every few years. The Canada Cup is a major Street Fighter tournament, generally being the final event in the annual Capcom Pro Tour.
The 2017 Capcom Pro Tour was the fourth edition of the Capcom Pro Tour, an annual season of Street Fighter V tournaments that are officially sponsored by Capcom. The 2017 Capcom Pro Tour followed several months after the "Season 2" update of Street Fighter V and started off with Final Round 20 on March 10. Much like the 2016 season, this season featured fifteen Premier Events, a few dozen smaller tournaments, several online tournaments, and the Evolution Championship. In these tournaments, competitors gained points needed to qualify for the 2017 Capcom Cup, which was held in December.
NorCal Regionals 2017 was a Street Fighter V tournament that took place in Sacramento, California on April 14-16. Being one of the eleven Premier Events of the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour, the winner of the tournament automatically qualified for the Capcom Cup in December 2017. This was the 15th NorCal Regionals event and the second to feature a "death pool" for competitors who failed to register ahead of time. The tournament was won by Victor "Punk" Woodley, who spent much of the final match taunting his opponent NuckleDu.
The 2004 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in Pomona, California from July 29 to August 1. The event featured nine fighting games on the main lineup, including Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. While in previous Evolution events all competitions were held on arcade machines, most tournaments at Evo 2004 were played on video game consoles.
Capcom Cup 2017 was a Street Fighter V video game tournament that was held in December 2017. 32 players qualified for the tournament by scoring high on the game's leaderboards during the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour. The tournament spanned three days during the PlayStation Experience weekend, and took place in the Anaheim Hilton Hotel and Anaheim Convention Center. The first day of the tournament featured a Last Chance qualifier, which was won by newcomer Naoki "Nemo" Nemoto. The finals were won by Dominican newcomer Saul Leonardo Mena "MenaRD" Segundo, who defeated Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi in the final match.
The 2009 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Rio Las Vegas on July 17–19. The event featured major tournaments for various fighting games, including Super Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The release of Super Street Fighter IV drew many new players to the tournament scene, and Evo 2009 is remembered as one of the biggest years of Evolution's growth.
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