best players

I was just wondering...what was the most amazing display of vf technique/flash/ability you ever saw? Was there anyone who stuck in your mind as particularly talented, or showed some virtuoso skill?

US, Japan, Fiji, wherever.

ham.

 

no question. paichan. the level of dexterity and yomi is staggering.

clopin can vouch for paichan, too, i think.

 

2 years ago:

Chibita (Lion)

...showing me what a crazy character Lion is.

Recently:

Musle-Sarah (Sarah), Hijitetsu (Jacky)

...dazzling speed and accuracy of command inputs, as well as showing real efficient way of killing opponents.

 

I second Muscles Sarah. He was the only player I sparred with in Japan that I felt I had little chance of beating when I was up there during Christmas break.

ice-9

 

Interesting. I guess Japan is the source of all this.

For those of you who've been there, are these players way above the general populous? Obviously, we aren't exposed to this quality of opponent on a regular basis, so Chibita et al are likely to impress us. But how do the locals fare against these players?

ham.

 

Define "locals". I think the best players in N.A. can "hang" with the best Japan has to offer--but I will also maintain that there is a definitive tier of players in Japan that are on the whole more "dominating".

ice-9

 

Apologies for the ambiguity...I meant the general Japanese vf population. I think you've answered the question, anyway.
But now *I'm* confused. If NA players are comparable to the best Japanese players, does this then mean that the US players are equally dominating when they visit Japan?

Or did you mean another tier above this?

ham.

 

This sounds obvious, but there are differing levels of skills for all places. Japan has bad VF players and it has good VF players. The same goes for the U.S., Canada, U.K., et. al.

That said, I do feel that good U.S. players can compete with good Japanese players. However, I also feel that there exists a very small tier in Japan that even the best U.S. players will generally have trouble with.

In Kani Spo, this tier is clearly marked. It's actually very amusing. For those of you that haven't been to Kani Spo, VF3tb machines are located on the 3rd floor (or is that 4th? I forget). About six Versus City machines are lined up in the center of the end half of the floor. The top tier players that I refer to usually play on the very first Versus City machine closest to the stairs and elevator. It almost seems as though the further you move away from this machine, the less "competitive" the players get.

It is difficult for a newcomer to have a chance to play on this "top tier" machine on a busy night; usually, groups of players who know each other well dominate the machine. When a newcomer does get a chance to play, these players are usually very, very mean to the newcomer and would play in a way designed to exasperate, discourage, and/or humiliate the newcomer.

Chibita, Se-Girl, Muscles Sarah, and all the other famous players that frequent/visit Kani Spo play on this machine. When Kurita came to visit, it was on this machine that he built his streaks.


ice-9

 

Re: my experience in kani spo

your detail and vivid description brought me back the memories when i was there 1 year ago ... what i saw was crowd of top tier players hanging around the 1st machine and i stood there for 1 hour without a chance to join ... however, chibita kept losing to an akira player who played solidly in contrast to the fancy play of the former ... and it was exactly the first time i saw chibita in real play, back turned, forward dashed and escaped that akira's DE 2 times in a row ...

regarding your saying that the best playing skill vfer will dominate the first machine and then down the row, i saw that fat taka player (his photo is on the vf3 mook with an akira face and orange cover) playing at the machine next to last ... just wonder he was not competitive to play on the first machine or not with chibita's group ... anyway,

2 years ago in shinjuku, spot21 is the vf arena that kick ass, now all movied to kani spo ... together with sega tech at akihabara, are the 3 arcades i would visit each time ... any suggestion in ikebukuro??

by the way, i will be in tokyo 24-26 june ... will anybody be there during that period and we can meet at kani sportsland??