Virtua Fighter session in Hong Kong - Late March 2024

Havoc (from Europe, but currently staying in Taiwan) and I will be in Hong Kong at the end of March.

We are planning a VF session there and are looking forward to an awesome time!

The days we are considering are March 25th or March 26th.

I really hope to meet with VF players from around the world, especially from China (including Hong Kong)!

UPDATE:
- It looks like there will be a VF session in Beijing in early March, around the 12th-14th
- Session in Hong Kong is still planning to be around 24th-27th

 

Havoc from Poland? Nice, anyway.

 

Yes, that Havoc ☺️

 

UPDATE:
- It looks like there will be a VF session in Beijing in early March, around the 12th-14th
- Session in Hong Kong is still planning to be around 24th-27th

 

UPDATES:

- Beijing has a nice dedicated VF community, I plan to have sessions with them March 11th-14th. On the 14th, I am only available during the daytime, but that session will be exciting as some of the Beijing players will return from a Japan trip then. The players there have been kind enough to offer arcade sticks and equipment to use while I am there too ^_^

- Hong Kong we are looking at March 26th as the big day to meet up and play. i may be available for some small bouts on the 24th-25th ^_^

 

UPDATE:
BEIJING
- Session in Beijing on Monday 3/11 Morning + Lunch + More VF
- 3/12 & 3/13 Might Be VF, but Unconfirmed
- Session in Beijing on Thursday 3/14 Lunch & Afternoon

SHANGHAI
- Session at Arcades on 3/16-3/18 Afternoons

SUZHOU
- No Sessions Scheduled Yet, but I will be in Suzhou 3/20-3/22

HONG KONG
- Session on 3/25 (Reach Out To Myself or Havoc for details)
- Session on 3/26 moved to 3/25

 

March 12th, 2024

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE PHOTOS, PLEASE REFER TO THE TWEETS POSTED THROUGHOUT ^_^

I really want to thank the Beijing VF player, Li Meng, who reached out to me when he found out I would be in China and coordinated time for VF in Beijing!

On Tuesday, March 12th 2024, we had the first session!

MEETING TWO BEIJING PLAYERS ON DAY ONE
I met both Li Meng and Hide at a nice shopping center in Beijing. We had lunch at Burger King and got to know each other ^_^

Right away, I was really impressed with how fluent both players are in English. It is easy to take this for granted nowadays, but in my few days in Beijing so far it is clear that most people have very limited English and the customer service here is nice but follows a different philosophy as everything is “just a job” or “just the work” is the best way to put it. The reason I bring this up is the level of interaction is different and without the ability to either speak the local dialect or make extensive use of the AliPay App (which is amazing), you quickly realize the communication challenges—but the place and people are great and Li Meng & Hide are shockingly comfortable with English and friendly!

I will ask more about their VF history and experiences, but through conversation I was able to get some highlights!

In mainland China, there are three active VF scenes that are known and in contact with the others and they were most recently active around the launch of Ultimate Showdown: Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu.

Both players are close to my age (Hide is sam age as me and Li Meng is slightly younger). On Thursday, I will get to meet more Beijing players, including their strongest player who just returned from a trip to Japan where he did play a lot of VF over there and he constantly studies/researches the game. I am imagining that Beijing’s strongest player is crazy strong and fits a similar profile for some of the best players I’ve met from different regions outside of Japan!

I will talk about Li Meng and Hide today as well as our session and dinner!

PHOTO @ BK: https://x.com/Chanchai_VF/status/1767769540140884205?s=20

LI MENG
Li Meng was fascinated by the original Virtua Fighter when he saw it on a big arcade machine with a big screen (this was probably a Megalo cabinet). It made such an impression on him. He was most active in VF in… SCOTLAND! Li Meng, as a student, was part of the VF4 scene in Edinburgh in the early 2000s.

He says that the Edinburgh scene was not as strong as other parts of the UK, but they loved VF for sure and it’s a huge memory for him. He also visited Edinburgh last year (after like 17 years away) and played his rival from the time too!

Li Meng now works in software development and Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown has rekindled his love for Virtua Fighter! He became active with VF again in 2021 and during the hype of the launch, he participated in a “newcomers tournament” and if I understood his story correctly, he won the tournament!

Li Meng loves Ultimate Showdown the most of all the VFs but the whole series is his gaming love. He also plays Street Fighter 6, but VF sustains his interest more as sessions go deep.

Li Meng’s main character is Shun, but he also played as Lau and Goh against me too. His way of playing is very solid with very good logic and he does make certain reads quite well while using the system appropriately to answer problems. When my style of play forced him to play faster, he did very well in fighting faster! Our matches were so much fun and we had a lot of good feedback for each other! He’s very much a traditional VF player! More specifically, a very asian VF player!

HIDE
Hide originally came from Chengdu, if I understood correctly, but he is a Beijing VF player. His main characters are Shun and Vanessa, but he also played a variety of other characters like Jeffry and Goh.

Hide first fell in love with Virtua Fighter when he received a Sega Saturn as a child in the 90s! Virtua Fighter 2 left such an impression on him (as it did many of us of my age and generation). Hide explained that Sega has generally been more popular in China!

Hide is a medical equipment technician (assuming at a hospital) and while he studied in China, he has visited the United States (including Portland not too long ago!).

I will ask for more history of Hide, but he has been active in the current generation since the release of Ultimate Showdown in China. He really loves VF!

Hide also plays very logically. Li Meng will adjust his flow when he fights but keep his answers within the flow, but with good logic. For Hide, his strengths actually seems to be the direct application of yomi, and slowing down the fight to force guesses. He quickly came up with good strategies on his own on how to deal with my Lion and it was very fun to work against that!

Since Hide (and Li Meng) play good fundamental VF, his Vanessa is very much focused on Offense Stance and makes decent use of tackle and good use of conventional VF tools like strong mids and throws. Hide quickly decided to target specific lows and also specific evade attempts and got very good at throwing in these situations.

I think these two players must make really awesome sparring partners and rivals as there are a lot of good similarities but key differences and their skill level is very solid and similar.

THE SESSION
We ended up fighting in VF at a game room that could only be known by word of mouth or online promotion. It was on the 9th floor of a building of flats/apartments/condos. It was a really nice game room, however! The front living room has the traditional townhouse presence of an angled staircase at the entrance and up around the corner (if you’ve been in enough Chinese homes, you’ll know). There were snacks and drinks available, my hosts told me they were free (but I’m now wondering if they were just treating me to them). Accessible clean restroom. And a few gamerooms. The room we were in was nice with a Super Mario theme, a huge and colorful screen(that seemed to have minimal lag), a PS5 (but Li Meng brought his PS4), really comfortable couch and some chairs and a great environment.

We played about 3-3.5 hours I think. And it was a blast and we did want more but we knew to have dinner!

Cost of living here is lower, though there are definitely a visible class of really rich people in areas. But the general cost of living is lower and so prices for taxis and game rooms are very affordable for americans. The rate for the game room translates to just under $9 per hour and again, I was told, free snack and drinks (including sweetened green tea by the bottle).

If I’m being honest about the journey to the game room… it is really close to the shopping center. So imagine walking from the shopping center, to kind of a back road (that has lots of stands), and then to a dark building corridor alley into a random building that looks like it has apartments, going up to like the 9th floor, go by some random doors in the hallway until you get to the end with a door with lucky symbols and chinese writing… and then you ring the doorbell and you’re in this really nice and cheery game room’s front entrance!

It was cool and felt like a funny mix of back alley into a more posh space out of nowhere…. Actually… it reminds me of taking a date to New York City around 2006 and we went through a much more elaborate series of back alley corridors and doors to suddenly be buying handbags from a nice room in the middle of nowhere! (Yeah, you don’t have to ask questions about how those cheap designer bags were on sale in that hidden corridor…)

This session was awesome and we had so much fun playing and talking VF and we are so excited for Thursday. But there’s more!

I should note that these two Beijing players play VF with a lot of focus and consideration. Their approach is very logical. I did talk to them and told them that I try to play VF with many different gears—I can play with less focus on the thinking (but applied more to the application of skills like muscle memory and default answers) and reserve the conscious focus for big challenges when they come up. This is actually why I like to start battles pretty reckless or pretty sharp with lots of boxing—both of these approaches are trained enough to execute them without too much mental fatigue and mental stack overload. I will then try to determine if I need to play more reactive and more crafty with the opponent and manage my focus this way. I hope this approach will eventually make more sense for them and maybe become something they are willing to try a bit, but they are very good VF players—this point is brought up more because they do mention they love VF so much but this game mentally fatigues them very hard. So I wanted to share how I manage that mental fatigue. That said, whether you are on the front foot or whether you are on the back foot will also determine the limits of this approach each session.

PHOTOS: https://x.com/Chanchai_VF/status/1767452643499401574?s=20

DINNER
After the session, we went to a place that Hide enjoys, a Gingseng Chicken (Korean) restaurant and I loved it! It was very good and filling and savory with the rice cooked inside of the chicken. This is a very popular dish in asia, but I’ve never had it in the West.

We also had a really good seafood pancake, but I regret not finishing it as I got full quicker than I expected.

We talked a lot about VF and the Beijing scene and other scenes (you all know I talked about many things hahaha). It was an amazing time and I can tell that Li Meng and Hide had as much fun as I did and really enjoyed the VF battles we produced!

I am incredibly flattered that Li Meng took two days off of work for these sessions—that is no small gesture and I am humbled and grateful.

PHOTOS: https://x.com/Chanchai_VF/status/1767771329733038449?s=20

WECHAT
A lot of social media is not available in China. Most Chinese communicate through WeChat. I created a WeChat group to communicate with VF players I’ve met, from anywhere, who happen to be on WeChat. For anyone interested in joining that WeChat, let me know! That said, you need to get a WeChat account and usually you need someone to verify you in person or by scanning QR codes from one another.

I really would love to help do my part to help keep more of the VF world connected as we have a wonderful and amazing global community with a shared love of the game!

EXCITED FOR THURSDAY!!!

 

It's a great time for all of us! Also you have very good memory, to remember so much details without taking any notes

 

I intend to write a report about the session on Thursday in Beijing! But with so many kids and families on this trip I am on with my duaghter’s class, I was really exhausted just going through the journey of taking the bullet train to Shanghai

Here are quick updates:

- Still very excited for VF5FS in Hong Kong on March 25th!

- I had an amazing time at two sessions with the Beijing VF community! Thanks to Li Meng for organizing these sessions and being an amazing friend! Thanks also for an amazing time and wonderful dinner to Hide! And it was also a great honor and a blast to meet and fight with Seta! Seta is incredibly strong with great knowledge, passion, and skill for the game! Such a great time! I will keep in touch with you guys and am excited to return to Beijing!

- I am now in Shanghai and I have already made plans to meet with and play here with other players—IN THE ARCADE! I am so excited that Shanghai has VF5FS in the arcades! And I am excited to meet this community!

Updates coming soon!

 

March 14th, 2024

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE PHOTOS, PLEASE REFER TO THE TWEETS POSTED THROUGHOUT ^_^

On Thursday, things got to a slow start because I was managing some real allergies that delayed my morning by an hour. I really appreciate Li Meng’s patience with this!

I met Li Meng at Starbucks near the venue and we had good chats.

We went back to the same venue as the 12th and got our drinks and got to playing VF!

Hide had intended to join us, but he ended up taking care of a family member (they are doing well now, I’m so glad) so unfortunately Hide could not join us for the second session.

FIGHTING LI MENG
I got to see how good Li Meng’s memory is as he remembered his reads of me from the prior session and he won the first game cleanly—I was really impressed with his execution of reads and how he carried out his plan!

We played a lot of Lion and Shun and they were very good battles! I would say that for the first 45 minutes (maybe hour) Li Meng kept very good control of the range and using options with great accuracy with his Shun. This is very important for Shun as Shun is pretty much the best zoning character in VF5US. The mathes were very back and forth and it would be around the 45 minutes or an hour before I started to find the tiny nuanced ranges that would give Li Meng more trouble.
Li Meng’s Shun has a lot of the many different games that Shun plays, though I do think most of the fighting we do is in the standard position/stance. I think that does make sense from my experience with Chinese players so far (and since), because the trait I think I see Chinese players do well (and a lot of Asian players do well) is direct application of knowledge. The clear logic I may have mentioned in the last report, they study and execute well. Because of this, I wonder if Chinese players are also good at tearing down stance-play and as a result, maybe the players use it very selectively. They still use it great of course.

But things like Shun Back Turned SOU stance or Chokaro or other stance games are very selectively placed.

However, Li Meng does have some really scary sequences that integrate knockdown okizeme and a path of forced 2-choices so you see the stance play strongly in okizeme.

We played I think just two games of Lau as Seta arrived and Li Meng, with his incredibly considerate and thoughtful personality, planned for lunch and let Seta fight me shortly after Seta’s arrival!

I really appreciate the accommodations and considerations!

MEETING SETASOU
Seta just returned from a business trip in Japan and he had not yet even given his family gifts from his trip. I am so grateful he made me a priority on this day!

If I remember correctly, I played a little bit with Seta’s Lau before lunch. I think I did well in these battles, really well actually, but I was watching Seta build up the reads and stretch his VF muscles.

For lunch, we had KFC and I’ll be honest, I really like Chinese KFC!

At the end of lunch I asked Seta if he would record his story on video and he did. I will post that video on YouTube and also embed it here after I return to the US.

Li Meng and I were also very surprised at Seta’s English. The Beijing players that I’ve met really surprised me because… all of their english is really good! And that is especially something special around here!

After the video, we started fighting again! I cannot remember the order of the characters, but I’ll try to give general descriptions.

Seta is Beijing’s strongest player. He loves VF, he eats & breathes VF. When he was a student, he spent time in Japan and played there. Now, as an adult, work sometimes takes him to Japan and he still plays there when he can. He plays VF5US online a lot too and he is always working on his VF!

I think the fights between Seta and I were really fun! When I asked Li Meng how it was watching us fight, he said we fought really fast and it was challenging for him to follow—but I did ask him if he could see clearly how Seta’s evading to Lion’s back was making it harder for Lion to fight and do damage on quicker/safer decisions and he said he could see it clearly since he knew to look for it.

Seta is incredibly fast, fast like Dennis0201 (maybe faster). He uses movement a lot and will react if his movement catches a mistake. His evade checking seems really strong and he seemed to know when he had big guaranteed damage or small guaranteed damage on the fly. Seta’s knowledge is huge and you can tell because of the comments he makes during the fights and what he is looking for or watching out for. This is something you’ll see many of the best players outside of Japan process, sometimes out loud like Seta. He has processed risk accurately like our top players in the West (and top players I’ve met in the East) do.

I think I fought him really well, but I’ll be honest that while I am reacting very fast…. if you factor in accuracy, I am at least two steps behind him and so I am the one that has to try to sometimes slow down the fight or at least stop his momentum and force guesses before I can start dictating the fight and engage the speed war against him. It is always fun playing VF this way!

In addition to Lau, Seta used Brad, Taka, Sarah, and Jacky against me. (I know he used others but cannot remember). I fought best against his Jacky, but his Jacky was dealing with a handicap in that Seta did not feel comfortable doing Iaigeri on Li Meng’s arcade stick (a really good arcade stick build but the extra clicky buttons were just different for Seta—not bad, just need time to adjust to it).

These matches were a blast and time flew by too quickly.

We took some photos, but I had to go to a planned dinner banquet with my daughter’s class so our session could not last.

These sessions in Beijing were so wonderful! I had fought good VF and quite honestly, I had made really good true friends!

This trip incorporating Virtua Fighter… this is because Li Meng left a comment on one of my videos—just by chance—and I am so grateful for him for making the whole China trip so much better and for being a new friend who has introduced me to more friends!

PHOTOS: https://twitter.com/chanchai_vf/status/1769151974380085435?s=61&t=YdTPMUN_jZ-bJ_fK-fhBbg

EPILOGUE: To Shanghai
I felt the enthusiasm and friendship from my new VF friends in Beijing. And a real appreciation for Beijing VF and even heard some hints of its past.

With the enthusiasm, Seta and I quickly added each other on WeChat and communicated. And Seta connected me with more Chinese VF players. And this would allow me to meet with and play with the players in Shanghai. And boy…. There’s quite a bit to say about Shanghai!

Just like Beijing was, Shanghai is awesome!

Next: SHANGHAI DAY 1 (March 16th, 2024)

 

It is strange to see an update specifically for Beijing VF because I never thought I would get the opportunity to hear more about it. Awhile ago, jed brought to my attention the existence of the Chinese VF scene outside of Hong Kong featuring a wealth of videos from the Evolution-FT era of VF. I wonder if you possibly saw one or two or even a few of the players featured here @Chanchai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xojAmXmbvVA A video of a mall tournament for Final Tuned in February of 2005. Seems China was able to get ahold of Final Tuned very quickly. The location is, according to Google Translate, Beijing Xidan 77th Street (77th Street is not its location, it is a fashion brand the shopping mall is named after)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL82yVAk3Dx0fyFaiemdY9uX_tx5dqSB-3 A playlist of many matches, presumably for another tournament, in late 2006. This is also Final Tuned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IhqSi3f10Q&list=PL82yVAk3Dx0edjQJo9nMFTJmseg3U6kkh&index=2 You can see very briefly at the start of this video featuring Dark Resurrection that this particular arcade was still playing 4FT in 2007. It must have been difficult for them to acquire VF5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmcg6R7yr6s&list=PL82yVAk3Dx0edjQJo9nMFTJmseg3U6kkh&index=7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRm2wfAc24g&list=PL82yVAk3Dx0edjQJo9nMFTJmseg3U6kkh&index=8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxG10pRY_Ps&list=PL82yVAk3Dx0edjQJo9nMFTJmseg3U6kkh&index=9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9ISd1ty6sI&list=PL82yVAk3Dx0edjQJo9nMFTJmseg3U6kkh&index=10

^ A few VF5 matches. It finally appears!

I am glad you are having a great time there and hope you continue to fill us in on the details of this awesome trip!

 

UPDATE:
One day away from the meetup in Hong Kong. Our location is close to Kowloon Park and we will be fighting VF late afternoon and through the evening of Monday, March 25th!

 

More reports are coming, but here’s a special treat! This is a VF Profile of SetaSou from Beijing!

He was the strongest player I fought from China who is fast as hell like @Dennis0201 and incredibly knowledgeable and smart like @Myke and a love of Virtua Fighter that matches the best of us!

Enjoy!

 

Somewhat hidden on the 7M Floor in a beautiful tower in Shanghai is the heart of China’s Arcade Culture!

Super Tien Tien Wan Arcade Game Center is a true treasure of an arcade with Fighting Game, Rhythm Games, Racing Battle Games, Pachinko Machines, and Prize Games!

This arcade has a deep history it keeps on full display, an outdoor mezzanine for smokers, and serious games for many generations as well as tripods available for gamers to use for live streaming.

An arcade culture paradise. Tien means “Day” and Wan means “Play.” I like to think of it as SUPER PLAY EVERYDAY ARCADE GAME CENTER. It is open 24/7. The locals call it TTW. And yes, this is the VF Mecca in China and it was an honor fighting many players here