SRK Interview of Daigo Umerhara

There’s not much to say about someone that you have heard about – Daigo, otherwise known as “The Beast” – is widely recognized as the greatest Street Fighter player to ever play the game. Over the past 15 years, he’s been the most consistently dominant force in fighting game history, and with Super Street Fighter IV reviving the community to unprecedented heights, he is looking to train and fight to retain his status at the top.

Daigo Umehara Interview by Shoryuken.com - Part 2 from Kineda on Vimeo.

I’m not usually the type of person to get star-struck at the sight of a Street Fighter player, but once I realized I got a chance to sit down with Daigo for an extended interview after NorCal Regionals 8, I knew this was an opportunity I could absolutely not pass up.

I somewhat segmented this interview into two sections – one, about Street Fighter, and two, things about him personally. I asked him about his recent tournament struggles, what it’s like to be traveling so much these days all over the world, the status of the U.S. fighting game scene vs. Japan, what his favorite foods and cities are in the U.S., if he’s single or not, and the most annoying thing U.S. players do when they see him.



Shoutouts to Shino for helping us not be completely lost in translation. Also, please forgive me, as you probably already know, I have a lot of volume when I speak (read: I’m loud), and I talk fast. Daigo, however, does not. At all. This was all filmed impromptu as well. Enjoy!



(Daigo "The Beast" is sponsored by MadCatz)

Daigo Wins Seasons Beatings 4

In what was a much awaited rematch, Daigo "the Beast" Umehara was able to overcome Justin Wong's devastating Fei Long and win Seasons Beatings 4.

Daigo had previously been sent to the losers bracket by Justin, who's choice of Fei Long worked against the former's lack of experience with console characters. In an impressive show of skill, tactics and Yomi, Daigo was able to quickly adapt to the unfamiliar opponent and force the finals to reset before impressively taking the last set with 4 wins to 1.

SBO 2009 Results

Sorry if this is a bit late, but cable problems somewhere in the Pacific have screwed my access to the site. Anyway, here are the Tougeki - Super Battle Opera results for both SFIV and SFII 3rd Strike.

Street Fighter IV results

SFIII 3rd Strike results

Unfortunately, Daigo and teammate Nuki only made it to the second round of the SFIV tournament. Also, Daigo did not play 3rd Strike this year. Meanwhile, American teams were eliminated during the first round of the SFIV tournament - a testament to how advanced the Japanese players are.

Umahara promotional match VS Shiro

One of the matches from the second batch of Umehara videos from Arcadia magazine. Daigo vs Shiro, one of the top Abel players in Japan.

Thanks to Capcom's Seth Killian for the heads up.

Umehara Kumite part 2

Good news for those who remember the Umehara Kumite series of matches that Arcadia released last year. The magazine is releasing a second batch of Umehara Kumite videos in their September 2009 issue.

This time, the Beast went up against Mago, Nuki, Nemo, Iyo and Shiro. The matches were apparently recorded sometime in June - way before Evo took place. However they're still pretty awesome matches.

The results were (according to Shoryuken.com).

Daigo vs Mago: 2 - 0 (draw)

Daigo vs Iyo: 2 - 1

Daigo vs Nuki: 2 - 1

Daigo vs Nemo: 2 - 1

Daigo vs Shiro: 1 - 2

For those interested, you can order the issue from Play-Asia.com.

Thanks to Shoryuken.com and Versus City for the heads up on the news from Arcadia.