April 9, 2023

Momochi with some thoughts on EVO Japan

I posted a twitter thread today about Momochi's review of EVO Japan, and thought it would make sense to capture that here on my blog for archival purposes. Here's the tweet:

read more (2379 words)

April 5, 2023

2023 Q2 Fighting Game Events in Tokyo

[ 2023 Q1 Fighting Game Events in Tokyo | 2023 Q3 Fighting Game Events in Tokyo. ]

It has been a while since I've tracked offline fighting game events in Tokyo. With the pandemic starting in 2020, most offline gatherings shut down. At the end of 2022 things were starting to come back. Generally, you can find a Wednesday night fighting game event at eXeField Akiba, the NTT e-Sports facility in the UDX Building. Red Bull Gaming Sphere also hosts events, like Tatakai Tuesdays (GGST, Tekken) that Jiyuna organizes. There is often a Thursday night night SFV event at Red Bull Gaming Sphere as well. Shot Bar Lucy (twitter) often has different events every night of the week, and special events on the weekend.

If you are comfortable with Japanese, Kakuge-checker.com has a comprehensive list of offline, online, and other events going around all over Japan. I don't know how he/they/she does it.

This isn't a comprehensive list, but feel free to contact me if you want me to add anything.

Very generally:

  • eXeFIELD Akiba (Map) is a venue in the UDX Building in Akihabara. Wednesday nights are generally fighting game nights, and Thursday they do Soul Calibur now. Friday evenings you get a beer ticket with entry and can get beer with that.
  • On alternate Tuesdays there is a DBFZ, Tekken7, and Soul Calibur event run by Jiyuna and MajinObama at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map.
  • On Thursdays there is usually a SFV event at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map or sometimes BeasTV's Jikoken TV with Fuudo.
  • Studio Sky (Map) announced on 2018-09-14 that they will be an open esports space, but haven't been doing anything during Corona, and I haven't seen anything about Studio Sky since 2021 basically. Hopefully they start doing stuff again sometime.
  • Shot Bar Lucy has different events on different days, and usually on Friday night is an all-night event featuring various games (Map), Calendar.
  • The Plaza Capcom at Kichijoji (Map) has the Capcom eSPORTS Club which has free SFV setups, and often runs events.
  • Game Bar Cross-up in Umeda, Osaka (Map) usually does SFV on Tuesday, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue on Wednesday, and KOF14 on Thursday. Or they did; I don't know if that is still accurate.
  • Game Bar Bridge, in Tachikawa, usually runs some fighting game stuff. Their schedule is pinned to the gbbtachikawa profile.
  • Syogepi-events has a Google Calendar of his events. He often runs platinum and under begginer friendly events. They have an English based guide to participating in their events.

The arcade scene is vibrant, and you are likely to find competition at any arcade, but some are more well known than others. You might want to check out

  • Mikado Arcade, Map Takadanobaba
  • Taito Station Shinjuku East Exit, Map
  • Various arcades in Akihabara, Club Sega, Hey!
  • Various shops in Akihabara like the retro game store Super Potato, Map
  • Play Spot Big One 2nd, Map. Out in Chiba, but good place for 3rd Strike or Melty Blood. (Thanks Arlieth!)
  • Game Newton, Map. Lots of ST setups.
read more (4502 words)

April 4, 2023

Thoughts on EVO Japan 2023 from a Volunteer

This year, I once again volunteered for EVO Japan. I volunteered for it once previously, in 2018, and was happy to do so again this year. A few months back there was a call for volunteers, and I applied. Back before Corona I used to go to weekly locals, and really enjoyed meeting people, helping new people out (usually visitors who don't know Japanese), and helping with whatever tasks pop up.

EVO Japan is a chance for people to come visit the country, see what the local scene is like, and play against Japanese players they might not otherwise get a chance to see. I know I'm not going to do anything big as a player, but as someone behind the scenes helping out, I can help make this massive tournament happen, and maybe I can help out some people here and there. I know this can be exhausting, and I always want to make sure I can fully commit myself, so I took time off from work for Thursday (the first day for volunteers) and Friday, and blocked out the weekend.

I'll collect some pictures and thoughts about 2023 EVO Japan from the perspective of a volunteer in this blog post.

@YaNi_HiKa as Kakuge-chan at the Mutekijikan booth at EVO Japan 2023read more (5498 words)

February 19, 2023

Momochi analyzes his path to victory before Capcom Cup Top 16

In this video Momochi posted to the Shinobism channel the day before Capcom Cup Finals Momochi analyzes his path to victory. Here are some notes from the video. I (still!) haven't watched the last day of Capcom Cup pools (Day 3 - I just have two pools left) so I might not have all the context, but I think I know mostly what is going on.

His first opponent is Phenom, after that either NL or EndingWalker. Either one of those is possible. Momochi is basically prepared well for any character that showed up in the JP SFL (which does not include Ed - unless he prepped for Nemo's Ed?), though he didn't expect a Dictator, who appeared when Zhen won the LCQ. For example, he's prepared for Akuma whom Takamura plays because of the chance that Tokido might play him. NL plays Luke, and he's thoroughly prepared for Luke.

If he makes it past round two, he faces the loser of either Valmaster or Mr. Crimson and who that winner faced in the loser of MenaRD or Takamura. So one of those four, but Momochi thinks Valmaster might be who he faces. When Momochi won Capcom Cup and EVO, both times he faced and beat Valmaster, so Valmaster is his cupid. In fact, you could say that he went to Losers to chase after Valmaster if you are into conspiracy theories. He just hopes he doesn't face Mr. Crimson. That's who he least wants to face in the Top 16. He's prepared for Dhalsim, but hasn't prepared for it as much as other possibilities. He's also not looking forward to facing 4Philz. He's also not too excited about Phenom. Also, iDom. If iDom goes to loser's he won't run into him for a while.

He thinks the loser's route isn't too bad. He's generally pretty positive though (he says of himself.) He tries to take everything in a positive light, and thinks loser's might be a good match for him. Of course Winners is better, but sometimes based on the results you aren't too unhappy when you're in losers depending on who you would match up with. Of course nobody would choose to go to losers if they had the choice, but sometimes if you lose and up there you might think it's good. Of course, it's easier for him to lose though.

Everyone other than the winner in Grand Finals loses once and goes to the loser's bracket. So it's a question of what timing to do you fall into the Loser's bracket. Of course, the sooner you fall in, the more matches you have to play by a factor of 2, so winner's is better from that sense. There's a mental difference between people coming from the bottom versus those that fell from the top. The people fighting from the bottom have to be stronger than those from the top. It's all first to three from here on out. From that point of view if you have a higher win rate you can advance, so there isn't as much of a difference from Winner's and Loser's.

What's most concerned about is beating Dhalsim in a FT3. But he's got Valmaster to support him, so it's ok. (This is a dry kind of humor, I hope it comes across.) A commentor says "Getting out of pools was really tight!" Momochi says that from Top 16 it's really about your own power to win.

He laughs a bit, if EndingWalker falls down to him and he loses, he would have lost to people in their teens twice. Actually, in Top 16 there are only 4 people over 30. Two people are in their teens, Zhen and EndingWalker. There's about 10 people in their 20s. The rest are over 30. M. Lizard is 43. Then Momochi is like "Wait, hold up?" (ChocoBlanka laughs off screen.) "Am I the next oldest after M. Lizard?" He says that NL is one year younger than him, so he thanks M. Lizard. If it wasn't for him, he'd be the oldest. (ChocoBlanka off screen: The OLDEST!) M. Lizard, sako, and GamerBee are all the same age. ChocoBlanka says that it's a changing of the guard. (A generational change.) Momochi says that Gachi-kun and Pugera aren't young, and aren't old, they're in the middle ranks. (Note: he didn't say "middle aged"!) They aren't young, and they aren't veterans (in terms of age.) They are old for gamers, but for fighting game players don't they still feel young? Ryusei and Mizuha still feel young (they are in their mid 20s) - for fighting games. Yamaguchi and Higuchi aren't even young, they are still in Kindergarden for fighting game plaeyrs. Maybe the second year of middle school since they are 21. Punk and iDom are like 24, 25.

Momochi's review of Capcom Cup Group Pools "Looking back from a man who died twice and miraculously came back to life"

This blog entry are notes from Momochi's stream after Day 3 of Capcom Cup where he looks back on the pools. I am only currently through Day 2 myself, so this will contain spoilers, but I'm really interested in seeing what Momochi talks about. So I'll take a few notes here about what he says.

read more (1330 words)

December 30, 2022

2022-12-29 Street Fighter League Pro-JP 2022 Playoffs

I wasn't planning about blogging about the playoffs; I was just going to watch them. To watch them, you need a ticket on Zaiko.io, about 5000 JPY for both the playoffs and Grand Finals (on 2023-01-21) or 3000 JPY separately (each).

I started watching and at some point started a thread on FGC.Network which I also mirrored on twitter. So for posterity purposes I'll make a blog entry - and while I'm at it I'll go through the archives to catch up on stuff that I missed live.

This is low effort - I'm not going to put a huge amount of time into this.

read more (3427 words)

December 19, 2022

Shinobism Live Viewing event for the final SFL:Pro-JP regular season game

On Tuesday night, Shinobism held a live viewing event for the Shinobism vs. DetonatioN Gaming match (and the following Gyogun vs. Nagoya OJA Body Stars match). In order to attend there was a lottery, since space was limited. I tweeted about it when you could apply on Dec. 2nd, and applied myself. I luckily was selected (I don't know how many people applied, so maybe odds were high, maybe odds were low, I don't know).

The venue was a smallish event space / bar in Akihabara, with about 30 or so people comfortably seated around the room with a big screen in front and a bar in back. The Shinobism staff was there with some goods for sale - I have a nice Shinobism Polo shirt that works really well as a work shirt, I highly recommend it. The staff was all very friendly - and I was happy to say hi to Chocoblanka, she's always great and running things behind the scenes to support Shinobism. I sat down at my (randomly assigned seating table) and started with beer and edamame, a great combination to spectate the matches.

The players were not playing from the venue, but other Shinobism members were there. Haitani and Eita came out a bit before the Warmup segment, and started talking about how they thought the matches would go. Haitani was surprisingly (to me) funny, chastising Eita who pretty clear hadn't watched the JP SFL matches. Eita assures us that he watched "all of the Shinobism matches" (mostly), and Haitani kept poking fun at him throughout the night. They were a very entertaining pair, and occasionally talked a bit about training at Shinobism and a bit of behind the scenes stuff. I didn't record anything or write anything down at the time, so I don't have any details. They also continued commentary through the matches.

You could take pictures, but anything posted up couldn't include other people's faces for privacy reasons, so I didn't take many pictures at all. The table seating was randomly assigned, and I thought that was a good opportunity to chat to people who also have an interest in SFL:JP, so I had a few conversations with people. If you've spent much time in Japan though, you know that it can be hard to strike up conversations with strangers. By luck, I happened to know one of the people at my table, so we had some fun conversation through the night.

Watching the matches with other people invested in the outcome of the match was a lot of fun. Usually I watch SFL matches as VODs, on my own. They are fun, but there is a very different vibe when you are watching live with other people, and those people also have a vested interest in the outcome. Everyone there was supporting Shinobism, so we wanted to see them win. Myself, I'm a big fan of Itazan and by extension, DNG, but I also really got into supporting Shinobism. It's so easy when you get caught up in the crowd.

When Yamaguchi lost to Nauman, people were disappointed. When Fujimura lost to Itazan, people were nervous. The crowd was really, really behind Momochi and cheering for him. When he got the win the place went wild. The followup FT1 win by Yamaguchi seemed to come too fast (it's a FT1!) but everyone was relieved. I'm a real believer in trying to make a home / away concept for SFL, and this event really shows how a home game in some venue would be lots of fun for spectators and I'm sure the players would be inspired by the cheering as well. I'm hopeful that we can see more of that with the next season. SFL JP already has strong associations for each team with a locality. Capcom reinforced that with the "Fan Caravan" events where each team hosted a fan event in their home region, usually at a large Aeon owned mall, and I'd be surprised if Capcom didn't expand on that next year.

After the first match, Momochi apparently came to the venue to talk with people, but I'm an old man and it was already getting late, so I left before he got there. It would have been nice watching the full thing, but with the ending around 11pm or later, an hour for me to get home, and getting up a bit before 6am the next day I wasn't going to stick around.

Finally, I'm surprised that more teams haven't tried to do interesting experiments like this. I think it's great that Shinobism put this on - it was lots of fun, and I hope they came out positive with merchandise sales. It was free to attend if you were selected to go, and I know renting out a place like that isn't cheap.

The only other really out there thing I remember is that Team iXA sold t-shirts (which I still need to track down, not that I don't have more t-shirts than I need) with characters for each of their players based on their input.

So, many thanks to Shinobism for running a great event, and trying new things. I had a great time, and I hope that I get more chances to do similar things in the future.

December 17, 2022

2023 Q1 Fighting Game Events in Tokyo

2023 Q2 Fighting Game Events in Tokyo.

It has been a while since I've tracked offline fighting game events in Tokyo. With the pandemic starting in 2020, most offline gatherings shut down. At the end of 2022 things were starting to come back. Generally, you can find a Wednesday night fighting game event at eXeField Akiba, the NTT e-Sports facility in the UDX Building. Red Bull Gaming Sphere also hosts events, like Tatakai Tuesdays (GGST, Tekken) that Jiyuna organizes. There is often a Thursday night night SFV event at Red Bull Gaming Sphere as well. Shot Bar Lucy (twitter) often has different events every night of the week, and special events on the weekend.

If you are comfortable with Japanese, Kakuge-checker.com has a comprehensive list of offline, online, and other events going around all over Japan. I don't know how he/they/she does it.

This isn't a comprehensive list, but feel free to contact me if you want me to add anything.

Very generally:

  • eXeFIELD Akiba (Map) is a venue in the UDX Building in Akihabara. Wednesday nights are generally fighting game nights, and Thursday they do Soul Calibur now. Friday evenings you get a beer ticket with entry and can get beer with that.
  • On alternate Tuesdays there is a DBFZ, Tekken7, and Soul Calibur event run by Jiyuna and MajinObama at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map.
  • On Thursdays there is usually a SFV event at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map or sometimes BeasTV's Jikoken TV with Fuudo.
  • Studio Sky (Map) announced on 2018-09-14 that they will be an open esports space, but haven't been doing anything during Corona, and I haven't seen anything about Studio Sky since 2021 basically. Hopefully they start doing stuff again sometime.
  • Shot Bar Lucy has different events on different days, and usually on Friday night is an all-night event featuring various games (Map), Calendar.
  • The Plaza Capcom at Kichijoji (Map) has the Capcom eSPORTS Club which has free SFV setups, and often runs events.
  • Game Bar Cross-up in Umeda, Osaka (Map) usually does SFV on Tuesday, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue on Wednesday, and KOF14 on Thursday. Or they did; I don't know if that is still accurate.
  • Game Bar Bridge, in Tachikawa, usually runs some fighting game stuff. Their schedule is pinned to the gbbtachikawa profile.
  • Syogepi-events has a Google Calendar of his events. He often runs platinum and under begginer friendly events. They have an English based guide to participating in their events.

The arcade scene is vibrant, and you are likely to find competition at any arcade, but some are more well known than others. You might want to check out

  • Mikado Arcade, Map Takadanobaba
  • Taito Station Shinjuku East Exit, Map
  • Various arcades in Akihabara, Club Sega, Hey!
  • Various shops in Akihabara like the retro game store Super Potato, Map
  • Play Spot Big One 2nd, Map. Out in Chiba, but good place for 3rd Strike or Melty Blood. (Thanks Arlieth!)
  • Game Newton, Map. Lots of ST setups.
read more (2645 words)

September 19, 2022

2022-09-17 Tokyo Game Show and Street Fighter 6 demo play

A month or so ago, I bought tickets for the Tokyo Game Show. I was super interested to go because there would be a playable demo for Street Fighter 6, which I really wanted to try out. I bought tickets for Saturday since work was super busy that week, and I don't have any connections to get business day tickets anyway. Definitely go on business days if you can; I was able to do that once or twice and it is much better.

read more (1063 words)

September 6, 2022

2022 Summer / Fall SFL: Pro-JP

Table of Contents

2022 Summer / Fall Street Fighter League: Pro-JP

I'll keep some notes about the JP SFL as I watch it here. I don't intend to take in-depth notes, but focus mostly on the human interactions.

The Capcom Street Fighter League Results page has links to all of the YouTube videos, it is a super great site.

read more (49530 words)

December 7, 2021

Reading through Capcom's "The future of e-sports viewed through Street Fighter League"

Table of Contents

Published November 15th, "CAPCOM e-Sports: The future of e-sports viewed through Street Fighter League". I picked the book up a while ago and am slowly reading through it. It has lots of interesting information that really explains what Capcom's view of e-sports is, and what they want to do with it.

I'll drop a few notes here and there as I slowly read through each chapter. This definitely is not a translation, and is really just my notes about stuff that I find interesting. If I have any commentary of my own I'll put it in


read more (30032 words)

October 18, 2021

2021-09 Japan FGC Roundup

This is a roundup of random stuff that I've been following over the past month or so. No real deep research or anything, but I like having a permanent record around, and a little more space to express my opinions that I get in twitter.

read more (1123 words)

September 26, 2021

Street Fighter League: Pro-JP 2021 Pre-Season

Table of Contents

Capcom ran a pre-seaon for the 2021 Street Fighter League: Pro-JP. It was streamed on a paid site, about $20 for a ticket for both days. I watched it, and took some notes.

read more (3213 words)

August 24, 2021

Street Fighter League: Pro-JP 2021

Street Fighter League is happening again this year. Street Fighter League: Pro-JP 2021 will start in October, with a pre-season that has games 2021-09-25 and 2021-09-26.

This year's league is structured differently from previous years: the teams are professional eSports teams or corporate sponsors. Since there are existing players on eSports teams, there was a very interesting process to choose members for all the teams. Similar to previouus years, there is a draft with multiple entry points.

read more (1577 words)

January 13, 2021

Q1 Fighting game events in or around Tokyo

Previous: 2020 Q4 Tokyo FGC Events | Next

Seems like I've gotten into the habit of tracking FGC offline events in the Tokyo area. This isn't a comprehensive list, but feel free to contact me if you want me to add anything. You also should try TopTier.gg which tracks fighting game locals around the world.

Very generally:

The arcade scene is vibrant, and you are likely to find competition at any arcade, but some are more well known than others. You might want to check out

  • Mikado Arcade, Map Takadanobaba
  • Taito Station Shinjuku East Exit, Map
  • Various arcades in Akihabara, Club Sega, Hey!
  • Various shops in Akihabara like the retro game store Super Potato, Map
  • Play Spot Big One 2nd, Map. Out in Chiba, but good place for 3rd Strike or Melty Blood. (Thanks Arlieth!)
  • Game Newton, Map. Lots of ST setups.

If you are comfortable with Japanese, Kakuge-checker.com has a comprehensive list of offline, online, and other events going around all over Japan. I don't know how he/they/she does it.

Due to concerns around COVID-19, most large recurring events have been cancelled until further notice. Be careful out there.

Kakuge-checker.com has a list of online events, if you are interested in those.

read more (2899 words)

October 17, 2020

2020 October JP FGC News Round-up

Table of Contents

This is a work-in-progress article about Japanese FGC news from October. I published it early because I want to get a landing page out for some of this information while I'm still compiling some stuff.

read more (4597 words)

October 4, 2020

2020 September JP FGC News Round-up

A lot happened in Fighting Games in September. I tweet a bunch of stuff, but I now realize that it is really hard for me to find specific events if I ever want to refer back to them. So I'm going to go through my twitter feed and comment on stuff that happened in September and the very start of October. I'm including things that I retweeted, because lord knows I don't cover anything close to everything.

  • 2020-08-29 Saturday. FAV Cup Mini. These are tournaments put on by FAV Gaming, across different games, but I note the fighting game (SFV) ones. Sako and Ryusei comment, in a style that I think is interesting. The volume on the game is down very low, pretty hard to hear, so you really feel like you are just sitting around with two friends (sako and Ryusei) talking about the game. They also don't do much commentary, but talk about the matchup more, the players a bit, have interesting side tangents, etc. Itazan Abigail beat Yanai G for the tournament win.
read more (1450 words)

October 1, 2020

2020 Q4 Fighting game events in or around Tokyo

Previous: 2020 July to October Tokyo FGC Events | 2021 Q1 FGC events in or around Tokyo

Seems like I've gotten into the habit of tracking FGC offline events in the Tokyo area. This isn't a comprehensive list, but feel free to contact me if you want me to add anything. You also should try TopTier.gg which tracks fighting game locals around the world.

Very generally:

  • eXeFIELD Akiba (Map) is a venue in the UDX Building in Akihabara. Wednesday nights are generally fighting game nights, and Thursday they do Soul Calibur now. Friday evenings you get a beer ticket with entry and can get beer with that.
  • On Tuesdays there is a DBFZ, Tekken7, and Soul Calibur event run by Jiyuna and MajinObama at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map. It is actually officially sponsored as well!
  • On Wednesdays SFV (Fighter's Crossover Akihabara – FCA is the event name) at Akihabara ESports Square (the place, Map) starting from 7pm. There are usually around 20 setups, all with sticks. The place has a bar with food too.
  • On Thursdays there is usually a SFV event at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map or sometimes BeasTV's Jikoken TV with Fuudo.
  • Also on some Thursdays there is a DBFZ event orgaqnized by Kagecchi at Akihabara eSports Square.
  • Studio Sky (Map) announced on 2018-09-14 that they will be an open esports space, and as part of that I'm not yet sure of their schedule, but I add information about their events when I see it.
  • Shot Bar Lucy has different events on different days, and usually on Friday night is an all-night event featuring various games (Map), Calendar.
  • The Plaza Capcom at Kichijoji (Map) has the Capcom eSPORTS Club which has free SFV setups, and often runs events.
  • Game Bar Cross-up in Umeda, Osaka (Map) usually does SFV on Tuesday, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue on Wednesday, and KOF14 on Thursday.
  • Game Bar Bridge, in Tachikawa, usually runs some fighting game stuff. Their schedule is pinned to the gbbtachikawa profile.
  • Check Gaijin Gaming Brothers for information about Smash related events in Japan. I add Tokyo based events to my list, but they track events all over Japan with English information.
  • Syogepi-events has a Google Calendar of his events. He often runs platinum and under begginer friendly events. They have an English based guide to participating in their events.

I don't really track free play events or tournaments at arcades - there are lots of them.

The arcade scene is vibrant, and you are likely to find competition at any arcade, but some are more well known than others. You might want to check out

  • Mikado Arcade, Map Takadanobaba
  • Taito Station Shinjuku East Exit, Map
  • Various arcades in Akihabara, Club Sega, Hey!
  • Various shops in Akihabara like the retro game store Super Potato, Map
  • Play Spot Big One 2nd, Map. Out in Chiba, but good place for 3rd Strike or Melty Blood. (Thanks Arlieth!)
  • Game Newton, Map. Lots of ST setups.
  • Your Warehouse, Map Kawasaki (For the crazy design) Oh no, this iconic arcade has shut down as of Nov. 7th.

If you are comfortable with Japanese, Kakuge-checker.com has a comprehensive list of offline, online, and other events going around all over Japan. I don't know how he/they/she does it.

Due to concerns around COVID-19, most large recurring events have been cancelled until further notice. Be careful out there.

Kakuge-checker.com has a list of online events, if you are interested in those.

read more (4574 words)

August 10, 2020

eXeField Akiba opening event

eXeField Akiba is a new e-sports facility in Akihabara, located in the Akihabara UDX building. It is part of NTT eSports, and they had an opening ceremony 2020-08-10. The video is above. I'll add some simple running commentary with just a basic overview of what is going on.

read more (893 words)

August 9, 2020

Street Fighter League: Pro-JP 2020 Pre-Season

Capcom is running a Street Fighter League Pre-Season in Japan. They have the details on their main JP SFL site. I wrote a bit about this in a news update blog post, and thought I would write a post that I can update focusing on the JP Pre-Season. Basically, there is a 3,000,000 yen prize pool (about USD $28,000) up for grabs. It isn't clear to me yet what the final tournament will look like, but it will have 12 people in it.

read more (1446 words)

Go to Page: 1 2  3  4  5