Tournament Commentators Think Player's Controller Malfunction is Strategy
2019 saw some incredibly surprising fighting game tournament moments, such as the fighting game player who won using a Guitar Hero controller, and it seems like 2020 is going to offer more like it. Over the weekend, Chicago, IL. played host to the Frosty Faustings XIII fighting game tournament. However, a top 16 Samurai Shodown match between players Guzman and SpaceDetectiveKH didn't go as expected.
After getting in a couple of attacks, the two players step away from each other as though they're trying to bait the other into attacking. Frosty Faustings commentator Woolie is quick to wonder if this is a smart strategy, "the cough, the staredown, the snow gently falling just like here in Chicago," said the commentator.
It does look like a delay tactic and Twitch viewers also wondered if either the Yashamuru or Ukyo player is going to unleash some major damage with the next attack. One Twitch viewer said that the Samurai Shodown fight was showing more mind games than a match of Street Fighter 5.
However, the movement isn't really a strategy by Guzman or SpaceDetectiveKH. It turns out that Guzman was having technical issues and that his controller wasn't working properly. Guzman and his Samurai Shodown opponent were just letting the clock run down to award SpaceDetectiveKH with the win for the round. SpaceDetectiveKH ended up finishing fifth in the Frosty Faustings tournament and Guzman got seventh, seemingly overcoming the controller issues.
Fighting game fans and fans of funny livestream moments all seem to be enjoying the clip. The Twitch version of the clip now has 88,035 views while Woolie's clip from the event, which was posted on Twitter, has 70,000 views. Many seem excited by the idea that a fighting game like Samurai Shodown can offer such amazing moments and mind games, but on purpose and not because of controller issues.
There are plans to release Samurai Shodown on Nintendo Switch next month. Off of the back of the Twitch clip's popularity, the Switch release could potentially be a big success. It could also just remind fighting game players to run a test on their controllers before each round, when possible.
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