Tougeki 07 Chibita vs Suguru Match Rundown

The VF5 finals clash between Chibita and Suguru at Tougeki 2007(SBO) was one of the highlights of the year.


After the event, there was a Q and A with both players about their thoughts on the match, which I've decided to translate. Those interested in hearing it in original Japanese can click below.
Part 1 -
Part 2 -


The format was a team 3 on 3 match. Both teams going for their first Tougeki win.
Clarken (Yanaga Pai, Akape and Chibita) vs POPY Niigata (Makoto, Suguru and Nesu)
For the full matches, click below.
Part 1 -
Part 2 -



Build up
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For Clarken, Yanaga's dominant play during the tournament made it such that Chibita was in the finals without having played a single match. On the other side, brothers Makoto and Suguru also made dominating plays throughout the tournament.

Right before the finals, Suguru was feeling pretty confident. They'd built up some good momentum going in, and to add to that there was the general thought that Chibita was jinxed at Tougeki. In past years, Chibita had never won a single match at Tougeki.

As the game started, Makoto's Kage was on fire. He convincingly took out Yanaga's Pai 3-0 and Akape's Goh 3-1, threatening to OCV Chibita's team. Suguru was of course rooting for Makoto to take it, but at the back of his head was the thought that he wouldn't mind having the chance to play in this final set either.

As Chibita sat down, he thought to himself, if he got a win today, it would maybe erase his past 4 or 5 years of consistent losses at this tournament. With his Lion, he defeated Makoto 3-1, finally winning his first match at Tougeki. Nesu and Suguru had a quick discussion on who would go up next, and while they both wanted to go for it, Nesu was the one who voiced it first. Chibita took out Nesu's Lei 3-0, finishing the match with one of Lion's flashy high damage throws despite Lei only having a sliver of life, prompting the announcer to scream "Overkill!"

The final match was now a Lion vs Lion mirror match, with Chibita threatening a reverse OCV. Chibita, under intense pressure in the worst situation possible, pulled through with 2 straight wins. He was on top of the world, feeling like he'd finally proven his skill as the acclaimed Virtua God.


Game plans
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Chibita and Suguru both played the same style Lion - Aggressive offense. While Chibita hadn't trained Suguru, he had taught Suguru a few things in the past, so they both knew what to expect in terms of general tactics. Suguru openly admitted that his Lion play was based on copying Chibita, then adding some of his own original improvements. Chibita noted that because of this similarity in style, it was easy to formulate a game plan, but because Suguru was a strong player, you never knew what would actually happen. For Suguru, it was him up against his idol, on the stage of the biggest fighting game tournament, in the final match for the championship. There was no greater stage than this.


Match rundown
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Round 1
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Chibita and Suguru both had the same idea, wanting to take the initiative and get the momentum going in their favour. They both went for a relatively safe move, starting the round with 2P. Chibita was a fraction of a second slow and ate it as a counter hit. However, eager to get control of the round, Chibita abare'd EVERYTHING and ate counter hit after counter hit.

As Suguru got in the groove with his offence, Chibita suddenly back dashed to evade Suguru's Shoryuken and got in a good punish. Chibita thought he had made the turnaround, and aimed to catch Suguru's tech roll and steamroll to victory. Suguru smartly lay on the ground refusing to tech, killing Chibita's momentum.

As they recovered, Chibita tried to gain control again, but after trading a few hits, Suguru got the advantage, ploughing through Chibita to win the first round. Again, Chibita had abare'd EVERYTHING and ate a whole bunch of counter hits.


Round 2
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As round 2 started, Chibita realised Suguru was in the groove and went for the safest option of a backdash into evade to break his momentum. Suguru's opening move was ironically the only move that would beat that option - The long range low circular. Chibita lamented that if Suguru had done anything else at all, it would have missed, but Suguru rightly chose the only thing that would mess him up. Suguru, having taken a round, was looking to assert his dominance. Suguru was out to show his confidence and demoralise Chibita.

Chibita refused to back down though, making a successful evade and gaining advantage. However, again his momentum was killed when Suguru escaped his back throw. The throw escape created some distance, and as Suguru closed in, Chibita tried to abare again, but Suguru read it and punished him.

Yet Chibita still wouldn't back down. Again he tried to push forward, playing abare like a boss. Suguru was even surprised by this reckless play, but made sure to punish Chibita accordingly. Suguru's attacks continued to land, with Chibita losing the round, making it 0-2.

At this point Chibita realised he'd recovered from a horrible position of possibly being OCVed, only to put himself at an even worse position as his opponent was at championship point. The nerves were jittering and he found himself at a loss to what to do next.

For Suguru, he thought to himself - Just one more round.

Round 3
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As the round started, Chibita almost predictably went for the attack to turn things around, and yet again ate Suguru's 2P as a counter hit. Suguru went for the launch, but it was evaded. Chibita had already decided that remaining on the offensive would calm him down the most, rather than turtling up. After an exchange of small hits, Chibita got in his groove, evading all of Suguru's attacks and adding up damage on him to win the round, making it 1-2.

Chibita had switched his defense to evades rather than abare, describing his decision rather coyly as "Well, I'd abare'd all through the last 2, thought it was time to switch up and it worked." Suguru was still in the same mindset as the previous rounds, such that by the time he realised Chibita had switched up his tactics, he'd taken way too much damage to come back.

Chibita had gotten a breathing space, believing that at least he'd shown some of his skills. Suguru did not falter either though. He remained in control, believing he'd end things in the next round.

Round 4
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Suguru started the round on the attack as Chibita backed off. He landed a sweep but Chibita didn't tech roll. The sweep is normally fairly safe to tech roll out of, but Chibita was scared. Immediately Suguru realised that Chibita's confidence was shattered and seized the oppurtunity to press his advantage. He countered Chibita's wakeup kick attempt which further put Chibita on edge. Chibita managed to respond with a few hits of his own, but Suguru had the clear mental advantage.

Trying to push back, Chibita misread Suguru's wakeup, getting knocked into a wall and left with very little health. At this point, Chibita was just trying to survive, and you can see him backdash and clam up.

Then, a wierd thing happened. Suguru fired off a Shoryuken at a ridiculous range, whiffing completely. Suguru had gotten so intent on finishing Chibita off that he'd gotten ahead of himself. Lion's uppercut is a great move for finishing off opponents due to its decent damage, range and startup, and somehow the knowledge of this fact led Suguru to throw it out without thinking.

Chibita paused for a moment, then capitalised with a low crumple. Then came another shock as Chibita dropped the last part of the combo. In a frantic moment for both players, Suguru again tried to end it with... SHORYUKEEEENN. However, Chibita had already read this. The half-circular attack was evaded correctly, showing Chibita's attention to his opponent's stance even in such a high pressure situation. Chibita decided it was fitting to return the favour by finishing Suguru with his own Shoryuken, tying the score at 2-2.

Coming back from being down 0-2 was a very strong morale boost for Chibita, and in addition poured cold water over Suguru's morale. From being in a dominant position, suddenly it was Suguru's turn to feel at a loss.

Final Round
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Suguru started the round with the best option of 2P yet again, while Chibita once again did backdash into evade. They paused for a moment, then Chibita ran in and started swinging. While the round started off with both players taking safe options, Chibita quickly switched to offense. Suguru noted that while most players back down under high pressure, Chibita pushes forward instead.

As Chibita came in aggressively, Suguru was shocked that in such a high pressure situation Chibita would choose to up the pressure on both of them even more. "What kind of nerves does this guy have?!" he thought to himself. However, Suguru knew that he had to counterattack, or he'd just get steamrolled. They traded blows but Chibita would not let up.

Suguru knew he was on the retreat not in technical game terms, but in mindset. Knowing that he had no choice but to fight Chibita head on, he forced himself to throw out moves. Unfortunately, because these moves were thrown out instinctively for survival, they were all read and easily punished.

Chibita had Suguru on a sliver of health. Fighting purely on instinct now, his nerves in tatters, Suguru lashed out with a final Shoryuken, which was blocked. Chibita chose to end the match flashy as usual and went for his back throw, which Suguru failed to escape. Chibita had won the match and the championship, 3-2.

Chibita noted that ending with the throw was a bad habit of his. If Suguru had escaped it, he'd have put distance between them, the same as in one of the earlier rounds, and Chibita would have had to close in again, giving Suguru a breathing space. However, Chibita thinks ending the match with a flashy throw is more fun for everyone.

Suguru thought that he had entered the throw escape, but since he was in a panic, he wasn't sure whether he entered it correctly, or if he was too slow.


Afterthoughts
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Chibita said it was a great match no matter how many times you watch it. Sometimes he said it can feel like everyone is having fun and you're the only one feeling down, but Tougeki was different. He felt that it was because both players put in their best that great matches like that can be had.

Suguru said he was happy that the crowd was pleased, and everyone thought it was a great match, but of course he felt disappointed about losing. He said, he was really pleased that this match would live on in records though.

I've left out a bit of stuff at the end which was Chibita and Suguru talking about their goals for Tougeki 2008.

The finals match was probably Tougeki's moment of the year. Even players from other games were getting into it, and were very impressed. If I remember correctly Myke and some other Aussie players might have been there to see it that year.