“Normally, you have a chance to catch up with some hard work. See, luckily most talented people are lazy. Usually.

But when they’re naturally talented…and hard working? Then that’s when it becomes so, so, so hard.”

Jeff, one of the 5 Gods of Bluehouse

Hi everyone! The interview that Spider Muttons Productions © 2010 have been prepping for all this time is finally completed.

See, almost a year ago, Igor and I decided to start an interview series. And obviously, we had to interview the best player in Melbourne; Toxy.

But we decided that being neophyte interviewers, and Toxy being generally a reserved kind of guy, that we should slowly work our way up to him, and do some “easier” interviews like Heavy Weapons or Somniac to polish our skills and our format before we tackled the biggest gun in Melbourne.

So you could say every single DBAS podcast has been all leading up to this.

So I’m very pleased to introduce our guest for this episode: TTC ToXY!

ToXY is Melbourne’s best fighting game player, and became known internationally in the fighting game scene as an X-Men vs. Street Fighter legend, even travelling to EVO for the game. He is a pioneer of many versus games innovations and combo videos, and his deadly Akuma has also been dominating the Melbourne fighting game scene for years. We sit down with him and ask him about all things fighting game related, and how the versus games king of Australia is feeling Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Toxy is not one to crave the limelight, so thank you very much Toxy for agreeing to this interview. Thanks to Bosslogic for another great banner, and our intro for the interview also features Melbourne Chun player Spoony! (My good buddy and frame data/technical info bible.)

Don’t be a Scrub Podcast Episode 11: TTC ToXY

DBAS Podcast Ep. 11 96 kb/s version

(Right click and “save as” to download)

DBAS Ep. 11 Intro featuring Spoony

Spidercarnage: Hello everyone, this is episode 11 of the Don’t be a Scrub Podcast. My name is Spidercarnage aka Verbosemute on Xbox Live. My interviewing partner is Mutton, [muttonhead]01 on PSN and Xbox.

Mutton: Yeah! Heh.

Sp: And today to intro the Toxy interview, we have a special guest for the interview, it’s Spoony. Hello Spoony.

S: Hey! Spoonygosling.

M: Spoonygosling on Xbox.

S: Ah whatever. It’s something. Spoony’s so much easier. What the hell does the last bit mean anyway?

Sp: It doesn’t mean anything. That’s the point.

M: What does Spoony mean? Is it a sexual position?

S: Spooning?

Sp: It’s just a swear word from Final Fantasy. It’s a fake swear word.

M: Oh! Oh. I did not know that. That’s pretty cool.

S: Alright so. The Toxy interview. I think when we were doing this interview, I think all three of us were quite nervous because we actually haven’t done an interview with anyone since Shadowloo Showdown.

Toxy was the first interview that we did basically post-Shadowloo Showdown. We almost had what, two months?

M: Two months, two months.

Sp: Two months of editing?

S: Yeah.

M: And I will say that I was never that good an interviewer to begin with anyway.

S: Nah it was alright. I think it was interesting because I think we covered a lot of good topics. A lot of history stuff with Toxy, which was good. I think it’s really good because we do want to get some of the historical stuff of how the scene was in Australia.

And he had been around for quite a while.

M: Yeah he has.

S: Good to get those things.

M: So, we had Galactic Circus [AE Ranbat] just two days ago? On Thursday.

And we had a good turnout of…45 people?

S: Which was quite surprising, because the previous one was only what, about 20, 20 something?

Sp: 28.

M: Yeah it was an awesome turnout, and hopefully we can continue to support [the ranbat] so that GC doesn’t shut down the tournament!

S: No I don’t think they will. If we keep getting around 40-50 people we should be quite good.

M: And Toxy won that. I think second place was Sol with Sakura. And third place was Somniac. Somniac.

S: Ooh. Somniac again?

M: Yeah Somniac again. Somniac beat Heavy in…

S: Wow, Somniac’s really stepped up his game this year.

M: And Phero got top 8 again! The Guy player. So he’s making splashes in the community.

And we probably all need to go into the lab and learn how to beat that…that frickin’ elbow drop!

S: Up kicks.

Sp: (Laughs.)

S: You can just DP it!

M: Spoony, how does Chun Li deal with Guy’s elbow drop.

Sp: Don’t stand anywhere near where it works! You can’t do anything.

M: But what if he knocks you down? So you can’t do anything?

Sp: Uh, you can’t really. Because…anything that you would anti-air it [with], he can whiff it in front of you and punish.

M: But can’t you just backdash? Like you [always do].

Sp: Yeah. I mean, your main defence is to backdash or forward dash so that you’re not in that position where he can do that.

S: Does he stuff Spinning Birdie Kick?

Sp: No he just does the elbow drop earlier…and punishes.

S: Ah.

M: Ahh.

Sp: So you just have to space [it].

M: So are you saying that if he does it meaty, your [EX] bird will beat it out?

Sp: Yes. Yeah, yeah.

M: Ah okay.

Sp: If he just does the elbow drop on you, you can do stuff.

But because he can just whiff it and bait you very easily.

M: (To Spidercarnage) And you can just Up-kicks.

S: Yeah, but I have to delay it. Because of Guy’s floaty jump. It has to be delayed by about a quarter of a second more of the usual timing.

That’s the thing with most Guys. Because he’s so floaty, similar to Bison. You just have to delay it just that extra second because he’s in the air that bit longer.

M: I see. I see.

Well it was a good top 8. Cactus was also in top 8. And I saw a few things that I didn’t know before.

Like Sakura can punish [Bison’s] EX Psycho crusher with DP.

So that made me so envious. (Laughs.)

S: Sakura’s gotten a lot better in AE.

They finally fixed a lot of her issues. So is Guy, actually.

He got a lot better as well.

M: And Sol did like a ghetto option select. Which he jumped in on Somniac or something, and he did option select jump back roundhouse or something. And it beat the Devil’s Reverse, and that was…that was awesome.

It made me envious. Again. (Laughs.)

S: New technology.

M: New technology.

S: New Sakura technology.

M: Ghetto jump back roundhouse.

Sp: That’s getting fairly popular. The jump back versus Bison.

And it makes it easier to punish the Psycho Crusher.

M: Yeah, you get a bigger punish. Rather than just a tatsu. 120 damage, right?

S: Actually, is Sakura’s tatsu 120 damage?

M: No I’m saying my option select tatsu is 120 damage.

S: For Ryu.

M: Yeah, for Ryu.

But if you jump back, you can easily get what, 200 plus [damage]? Right?

S: Mm mm.

We also had Final Round 14 last weekend in America. Which had upsets all around.

PR Balrog dominated Super.

Well I wouldn’t say dominated but he won it.

M: So what did you think of Tokido’s performance at Final Round? Heheh.

S: Oh man. First day, he was ripping people apart in the team tournament in Super. And in Marvel he was actually doing quite well as well.

But…

M: So did he fimble?

S: I don’t know. Can’t really say.

M: What do you think Spoony? Was he guard broken?

Sp: I didn’t see much of Tokido’s performance…maybe he just got downloaded.

Like everybody!

M: But it has been quite a while. I mean like, the last major that a Balrog won was what, back in the…the first Final Round of Vanilla SF4 right? Where Gootecks won…

S: Really?

M: Was it Devastation or Final Round?

S: Think it was Devastation. (M’s note: It was Sinsation Fight Club.)

M: Oh alright. But there hasn’t been a major since then that  Balrog has won…a SF4 major right?

S: Really?

M: Yeah.

S: Oh wow.

M: Yeah because… Justin Wong lives in America. (Laughs.)

S: Yeah but Ricky Ortiz was there and so was Filipino Champ.

I think they played each other earlier, I think. Actually I think Filipino Champ was complaining in one of the interviews.

Sp: It was in top 16, it was out of pools. So he was just complaining needlessly…once you’re out of pools you don’t get to complain anymore.

S: Yeah, exactly.

M: So that’s your philosophy. Out of pools, you don’t to get to complain anymore.

Sp: Well I mean, here that means like top 8!

M: Okay, okay.

S: Also, shoutouts to Spooky for working 73 hours on the stream.

M: Holy shit, Spooky.

Sp: That was crazy.

S: It’s insane

M: I reckon Spooky has like a twin brother? And they just like, they just swap around?

Sp: (Laughs.)

S: Yeah, it’s Zerokill.

M: Yeah! Zerokill!

It doesn’t make sense that one person can…you know. Be that hardworking and not die of…malnutrition.

S: Exhaustion.

M: Exhaustion, yeah.

S: Well they also did the Super Turbo stream which was really awesome. Unfortunately the stick died.

M: Unfortunately I did not get to see Darksydephil versus Tokido. (Laughs.)

DSP calls out Tokido in ST

S: That was in HDR. Not in ST.

M: Oh! So who won?

S: Well Tokido won ST, and Tokido won HDR. But they didn’t meet in ST, they met in HDR. And DSP doesn’t really play HDR. And they changed  a few things with Vega in HDR. They didn’t play classic mode, they actually played HDR HDR with all the changes.

It’s probably gonna be in the videos. On the DVD. So.

M: Awesome, awesome.

S: It should be good.

M: So what did you think of the Marvel finals, Spoony.

Sp: Mmm.

M: Mmm. The juicy, juicy Marvel finals.

Sp: (Laughs.) I thought it was awesome.

M: Yes!

S: It was quite good.

M: In retrospect after like…it’s been like a week after it? I was thinking back to the big splashes back at the start of Vanilla SF4 that kinda catapulted the scene and streams, that sort of thing?

For example, Combofiend’s comeback at the SBO qualifiers. Remember?

S: Ah! Yes, yes.

M: Yeah. So I was thinking that this could be a similar jump-starting point for Marvel. You know. Something, a big iconic moment for Marvel. And maybe Marvel will continue to get bigger.

S: I think it will. In America it’s huge. They had like 18,000 people on the stream?

M: It’s not really catching on in Melbourne…

S: No it’s not.

But Australia…I think we mention it in the Toxy interview that we’re basically a one-trick pony. We basically play Street Fighter, and that’s usually it.

M: What do you think [Spoony?]

Sp: We’re still getting numbers. We’re still getting thirty people. I mean, some of the recent Street Fighter tournaments have only gotten thirty people.

M: That’s true, yeah.

Sp: I’m not sure what’s gonna happen. I’m not sure where it’s going to solidify. It might just be low because it’s the start of the year. I mean, we’ve seen the Galactic Circus tournament turnout get much higher. It could that be that the other turnouts also get higher. That could include Marvel. I think it’s too early to tell.

And it’s certainly…there’s top players who are taking Marvel seriously. So it’s going to be a serious game whether or  not… that many of the masses take it up either way.

M: So Spoony, as a player do you feel happy or sad that two of the best players in the U.S. are playing She-Hulk, your character?

Sp: …Probably sad.

I’m not…learning much from watching them.

M: Ohhh! Why are you not learning much from watching them.

Sp: I’m not sure. They’re just…

S: Because he’s mastered everything.

M: Yeah, he’s mastered everything.

S: He is the next Justin Wong.

M: Is it because like…sometimes when I watch what Justin Wong does, I think “I don’t think I can do that.” I can’t make reads like that. And no way I can do that Combofiend combo! (S, jM, jH, jS, land run stance OTG torpedo cancel into run stance cancel into launcher, continue)

S: Yeah. There’s a reason why they call him Combofiend.

M: Yeah, yeah!

Sp: Ah yeah, that’s crazy.

S: Some of the run cancel stuff that he does…ah forget it.

Sp: I can do it like 1 in 5 times in training mode…

M: But don’t you think it’s sad that…you know like I was listening to the SRK Wakeup Podcast and Keits was saying that you can get way more damage off the Bionic Arm, you can X-factor and dash up and combo whatever.

But that means you won’t get to see epic double Bionic Arms that give the commentators the chance to yell:

BIONNIICCCC ARRRMMMMMMMM!

Sp: But the relaunch combo ends in Bionic Arm!

M: Yeah, but it won’t be as epic as you know…another straight Bionic Arm.

Sp: (Laughs.)

You know what I mean? It’s kind of sad. But I’m sure that Combofiend will do the more damaging combo in the future.

Sp: I’m sure there’ll still be lots of chances for people to yell Bionic Arm.

S: Oh yeah. I think it will just happen just he does it the first time. There’s just gonna be Bionic Arm all round.

M: Yeah. It got me thinking as well…when did Justin Wong stop doing Raise the Rufus?

S: I can’t really remember. He stopped doing it a little while ago.

Sp: He didn’t do it much after…

S: I don’t think he ever really did it that much anyway.

Sp: He only did it a couple of times, and people went; oh I’ve seen it too many times now.

M: But I think such gestures from the players, or from the crowd, lends itself more to Marvel than to Street Fighter.

S: Oh definitely. I mean the crowd was going absolutely nuts.

During Street Fighter, it’s like watching a golf clap tournament.

M: Yeah, yeah.

(Claps.)

You’re godlike, Tokido. What a option select.

S: Yes. Good work.

M: Good work. (Laughs).

S: In Marvel they’re like freaking savages man!

Actually it really reminds me watching a cricket match and then watching European soccer match. When they’re rioting and going absolutely nuts. Like in Brazil or something.

M: Argentina, Boca Juniors.

S: Argentina, yeah. Where they start throwing chairs.

M: Yeah. You miss a penalty…our sniper is aiming at you right now…

Sp: (Laughs.)

S: Soccer…

M: So yeah, what about the tournament scene in Melbourne. Now we’ re having an arcade tournament like every week! And we got a console meetup every week.

So we have two events every week.

So, what do you guys think? Is it too much of a good thing, or?

S: Nah, I actually think it’s really good.

I think it’s good and I think it also gives Ali’s X Report something to talk about. Which is really good because I actually really enjoy that show.

And I think once they’ve worked out a few kinks, it’s going to be a lot better as well.

And I’m hoping he takes it national as well. So he can have reports from Sydney, WA, whenever they have any tournaments on and stuff.

It’s easy to splice video, and they have to do is take an interview from the event, and send it down. And incorporate it.

M: What do you think of the X Report [Spoony?]

Sp: Yeah, it’s good. I think it’s promising.

S: It’s good stuff. Spoony for co-host.

You’re at all the events anyway. Most of the time.

Sp: No I haven’t been going to the Thursday ones…

And actually that’s why they’re good. It’s good to have multiple events a week so that people with weird schedules can make it at least once a week. And we have the people to do it. We’re getting thirty-forty people, even when we’re having two events a week.

M: Do you think that Toxy should pre-record like a winning speech? Like everytime he wins, he just plays that same 30 seconds?

S and Sp: (Laughs.)

M: I won Super! It was good… I won Marvel! My performance…he just plays it back…

S: He’s still undefeated in Marvel!

M: He is?

S: He’s like 48 and 0 or something?

M: I played him this week on Xbox Live and it was a slaughter.

S: Yeah, yeah what I mean is in tournament.

M: Yeah, yeah. Well, I think he’s going to be undefeated for quite a while.

Unless you become godlike at Marvel, Igor.

S: No.

M: Why can’t you become godlike at Marvel?

S: Because I play too much ST.

M: That’s true.

Sp: You’re the one that made top 3.

S: Yes! And top 5!

M: When?

S: The last one. The last CCH I think.

M: No, I just made top 8 at the CCH before that.

But the following tournament, I got like thirty-something or twenty-something. So yeah.

That’s my true potential.

S: Mmm. Well, thirty-something’s not bad.

M: I came back down to earth…and I got raped by Tak and…

S: Yeah your Sentinel got zoned really hard.

M: It was hilarious I lost though. My first game, I played Shade. I didn’t know that Akuma’s Demon goes through projectiles?

So like, he did the Demon and I did Sentinel Super [in reaction]…

S: Twice!

M: Twice. I’m a slow learner…

S: Ah well, nothing wrong with that.

Okay, I think that’s gonna wrap it up for the intro.

Enjoy the interview!

DBAS EP. 11: TTC ToXY

Spidercarnage: Hello everyone we’re here at Deakin University. One of the first Deakin unis for 2011. And we have a very special guest here with us today. One of Melbourne’s best players. And yes, we actually finally got to grab him. It’s Toxy, so hello.

Toxy: Hello.

Muttonhead: Hi Toxy. How’s your weekend Toxy?

Toxy: It’s been good.

M: Have you been enjoying Marvel?

T: Yep, a lot, a lot.

M: Awesome. So,

1- Why don’t you  tell us a little bit about your competitive gaming history.

T: I’ve been playing Street Fighter for a long time. Played a bit of Warcraft III.

M: Oh, you played Warcraft III?

T: Yeah. And that’s about it. Just Street Fighter and a bit of Warcraft.

S: Who was your race in Warcraft III?

T: (Without hesitation) Undead.

S: Ah! Best race ever.

M: Who was your favourite player in Warcraft III?

T: Uh, I don’t know. I didn’t have one.

M: Oh you didn’t follow the…

T: No, heh.

S: See, I didn’t follow the competitive scene either. I just played with my friends, mostly. Good fun.

M: So what was your first Street Fighter game then. That you played competitively.

T: That I played competitively? Probably when I became competitive..the time X-Men came out and Alpha 2 and that? That’s when I started to really get into the games a lot.

S: ‘96?

T: Yeah, ‘96. But from what I remember in the arcades in Australia, X-Men vs. Street Fighter didn’t come in until maybe ‘97 or something? So about that time is when I started to actually play properly and stuff like that.

M: So you’ve been playing for more than ten years, basically.

T: Yeah.

M: Wow. So back then, when you played X-men, which arcade did you play at?

T: I used to play at Highpoint. Playtime.

M: Oh, you used to play at Highpoint! So..are you sad that the sticks became so fimble?

T: Actually, Highpoint- Playtime at Highpoint was actually one of the best arcades. Then once the technician left…he maybe five, six years ago. Something like that. Then after that the arcade just went downhill. And none of the machines were maintained or anything.

And since then I’ve pretty much stopped going there.

S: Did they have the MAS… the fat MAS sticks at [Highpoint]?

T: Basically when I was in high school, they used to have the MCA sticks. And now these days you go to Playtime it’s just like any random stick they’ve got left, they put that on.

So it’s just…they’d put anything there now.

S: See, that’s interesting because the Geelong arcade back in those days, the Timezone one which is still there which I used to go to. They actually had a mixture between the Japanese arcade [machines]. Like X-men had the Japanese buttons and the sticks. But when Marvel Superheros vs. Street Fighter came out they actually had the MAS, the big baseball ones. So, it was quite a big difference.

Also, all the old Neo Geo boards actually had the Japanese buttons and sticks as well, which is really interesting.

2- M: But tell us a little bit about how you get into X-men. Like, when did you discover that you were the best at X-Men. Who was your main competition at the time. Things like that.

T: I dunno. As soon as I saw X-Men, I walked into the arcade and I saw that game and I was just in shock. I couldn’t believe there was Marvel…and Street Fighter in the same game!

Toxy vs Megaman DS Evo2k8 XVSF Tourney

So as soon as I saw the gameplay was totally different from regular Street Fighter, because I’m young, all these air combos and Supers and that really attracted me.

Because I was about 13 years old when I first played it. So I really…I really loved it. I was hooked on it.

S: Are you a big Marvel fan in general?

T: Not really a big Marvel fan. But I watched the cartoons and that but I don’t read the comic books or anything. I like it, but not really into it?

S: I mean, look, the X-men nineties cartoon was the thing that  got me into playing X-men vs. Street Fighter.

M: Heheh.

S: I actually got all the DVDS recently and rewatched it! Great show.

3- M: So what was your first tournament? An X-men tournament at Highpoint?

T: Uhh, first X-men tournament…That was probably years later. When I was like young, there wasn’t any type of tournaments or anything. I pretty much stopped playing games for about three or four years and then when I came back again, that was when I started playing tournaments, so yeah.

The first one was probably at Highpoint or something like that.

S: I remember that as well. Because back in those days, I remember there was one Street Fighter competition in ’95? The thing that Blockbuster ran? Just before they actually ran the- I don’t know if you guys remember, but there was a NBA Live ’96? At TE? Big national tournament that they ran? And before that they actually ran Super Street Fighter II.

T: I don’t remember it, yeah.

S: Because I actually entered that and I won the Geelong regional.

M: Ohh!

T: Nice!

S: Yeah, that was my one flame of glory.

But then see, back in those days, that wasn’t actually any sort of scene that I remember. It was just random arcades that people would go to. And you would just know the guys.

Oh it’s that guy. It’s that guy. He’s really good. He’s really good. But nothing too competitive.

M: Speaking of that, did you go to arcades by yourself, or with your friends? Did you have a circle of X-men playing guys?

T: When I was a kid I used to… my cousin, she used to live right next to Highpoint. So when I was there, I used to go there and we used to go to Playtime. I used to go a lot with my cousin.

That’s when I was young. So I was actually going to Playtime since I was really young, like since I was a kid playing Street Fighter II and all that. But yeah, after that I met players and  then I’d meet up with them and stuff like that. So.

Toxy vs Justin Wong Evo2k8 Winners Finals XVSF Tourney

M: So kind of walk us through like- your first tournament in X-men, leading up to you going to EVO for X-men vs. Street Fighter. Like, how did you get from your first tournament to that point. How many years did you spend in the tournament scene before you went to EVO.

T: There wasn’t really a tournament scene here in Australia. I pretty much just played the game all the time and made combo videos and I just happened to get good. Just because I was…I was just playing so much and I was always trying to discover new combos and new setups and I was really addicted to the game, so.

I really didn’t have that much people to play against. It mostly just that I…dedicated a lot of time to it.

M: It’s interesting that you could get so good just…you know, just playing by yourself!

T: Oh, I had people to play with, but I mean, the community is very small.

But I guess that’s  like for everywhere in the world for X-men, there’s not really that big [a] scene anywhere. So.

S: See the first time I actually heard about you when I was listening to Gooteck’s Podcast and they had Dogface on. And they were talking about the history of X-men. And he mentioned this combo master Toxy came down from Australia. So I did a bit more research…and hmm. Is that the same guy?

So how did you actually make the videos? Did you just play emulators and then?

T: Just emulators. And I’d send the file to…like a video editor. Depends who was editing the video. And they’d capture it and everything like that. And that’s it. I’d pretty much just do the combos…and everything else…[just came together.]

I mean the first one or two videos were really dodgy ones. I did it by myself, I had no video editing skills or anything!

But then after that I met a few people and uh…I met Lezard. He’s a very good combo video maker. He made SNH2, which is one of my favourite combo videos.

Shidousha No Hyouden 2!!!

He’s a very good editor as well.  He edited my videos, and Hypersonic, another guy edited another one of my videos. So that was pretty good.

Breaking The Universe by Lezard and Toxy

4- So you were originally playing Sagat in Vanilla SF4. Tell us the story of how you came to use Akuma.

T: I just thought that Sagat was really boring to use. I didn’t have fun with him.

And for the first while that I was playing the game, I was using Sagat all the time. But by the end of it, I was only using Sagat when I went to tournaments. But in casuals I was too bored to even use Sagat. So I thought there’s no point to play a character that I’m really bored to use. And if I keep only using him in tournament, his level is gonna go down.

So instead, I was mucking with Akuma at the time, and I found him real fun.

And it happened to be I played him in casual games so much he ended up just becoming my main!

It became fun, and I just pretty much switched over.

S: I can actually see that. ‘Cos Akuma has ridiculous setups, especially in Vanilla.

T: Once I found about Tokido’s shiki and that, from then on I was hooked!

Toxy Vs Tokido SFIV

5- M: So you once told me that you innovated a lot of the stuff that you did in X-Men vs. Street Fighter. So how did you do that in X-Men? Just sat and thought about it or?

T: How did I do it? I just used to think about the game all the time!

Since I didn’t have like [too many people to play in X-Men], in SF4 there’s always people to play. Anytime I feel like playing, I can just go and play someone. Whereas in X-Men vs. Street Fighter  there’s hardly…not many people to play, I can also play maybe once in a blue moon with somebody.

So most of the time that I’m playing, I’m just playing in training mode or something like that. So most of time, instead of playing the game because I can’t find that many people to play, I’ll just try to discover things.

So that’s how I really got into combo videos. I was just playing, and [finding out things.]

S: Not to mention this was probably the dark days of Kaillera in Australia.

T: Yeah, that was really really bad then. We’d play on Kaillera, like me, and Carnage and Naruga and that.

But the lag was really bad and that, so it wasn’t really that enjoyable.

S: I remember back in 2002, I fired up Kaillera. And I used my old name, Carnage. And I came on, and everyone was like, “Oh Carnage! You’re back!” And I’m like, hm. Probably not the same guy!

T: Yeah (laughs.)

S: That was dial-up and we played Alpha 3 and it was absolutely awful.

T: It was horrible.

M: So I mean, you knew H (Carnage) and Naruga since back in the days of X-Men?

T: Uh, I met them probably around 2004 or something. When I was playing Kaillera. But I was playing X-Men long before that in the arcade. Pretty much when I got back into games again that’s when I found out about Shoryuken and all these types of things and online play and that.

So. I used to play online for a bit.

S: The dark days before GGPO.

T: Yeah, pretty much.

6-      S: Why do you dislike Third Strike?

T: I don’t like it for myself. I think it’s a good game for someone who likes it, but personally I don’t enjoy it.

When I first saw the game I didn’t see any really familiar characters, and the characters that I did know, they looked so different?

And then there was parrying, and I didn’t like the fact that I could only choose one Super. Pretty much nothing really appealed to me about the game. So I kind of never bothered to get into it.

But later on down the track I played here and there a bit of Third Strike. But I never followed [the scene], I never studied the game or anything. I just played it once in a blue moon. But that’s about it.

S: See to me, it seemed  like…all the Third Strike people are probably going to castrate me, but it seems like such a step back. Like you played ST. Then I played Alpha. And then from Alpha to go back to Third Strike to one super, there was no custom combos or anything. Except for Yun, obviously.

It just seemed like such a strange game. Like you said, all the old characters were not there. There was only like Chun, Ken, Ryu who were really the familiar ones.

And I think the other problem with Third Strike was…not just Third Strike but the whole Street Fighter III series as it came out- because it came on CPS3 hardware. And we had CPS2 hardware, Alpha 1, Alpha 2, Alpha 3, the game just didn’t look as good?

I prefer a lot more the Alpha series sprites.

T: I prefer the Alpha sprites and the Street Fighter II sprites. It’s just how I’m used to looking at Street Fighter. Like the graphics probably are good, but to me, that’s not how I’m used to seeing the characters.

S: Exactly.

7- M: Well, speaking of that, what was your first reaction when you first saw Street Fighter IV?

T: When I first saw Street Fighter IV, when I saw it online and all the videos and that I didn’t really care that much about it. But then when I actually played it, I loved it.

M: You loved it. Because it was like ST?

T: Because it’s just like…when Third Strike was very popular, I wasn’t into Third Strike. I’d only play ST and Alpha 2 and all the old games. So when SFIV came out, and then for once I could get into a game that was actually really big and I actually like the game.

So I didn’t have to play like some game that only a few people played. I was very happy because it was like the old games I played. And a lot of people played it. And that’s how I got really into it.

S: Exactly the same boat for me. When I first picked up SFIV, I was like, “Wow, this is really ST-like.” And there seems to be a whole ton of people [wanting to play it]. And the thing is, I didn’t actually really start playing…I didn’t really play Vanilla, I predominantly played Super.

So to me, it was like yeah. Very big, very popular. None of this parrying rubbish. Please don’t kill me!

8- M: So what do you think of the effect that SFIV has had on the Melbourne community?

T: Ah, it’s been excellent. I mean, it’s just brought Street Fighter really back to life.

I didn’t imagine it. When SFIV was coming out, I thought, “Oh, people are just gonna still play Third Strike. They’re gonna…not even bother about SFIV.”

But I was totally wrong. And I was really happy about that!

Pretty much it killed off Third Strike the instant it came out!

S & M: (Laughs.)

S: R.I.P. Third Strike. We’re so dead.

M: Yeah, we’re so dead.

9- So you recently got signed by TTC, the Traveling Circus? So tell us about the day you found about it.

T: The day I found out about it? I think I was at Galactic Circus at the time. And Pyro rang me up and he told me about it. That it could be something happening. He said, “Don’t say anything. Keep it quiet, for a few days, and then we’ll confirm [it].”

And when it was confirmed, yeah, I was really happy about it. I didn’t expect it!

M: Yeah! How cool is it that the people that you just saw at Shadowloo Showdown turned out to be your team-mates.

T: Exactly! Yeah. You couldn’t ask for better teammates than those guys!

S: Yeah, definitely.

M: So do you correspond with them? Do you share Akuma strategies with Tokido online?

T: I posted on his blog a few times. I shared with him on Facebook chat. Yeah, not too often. But I do keep in contact.

S: Now that you’re a sponsored player, do you actually feel more pressure to perform at tournaments or?

T: Maybe a little bit more, but I just do my thing as usual. Yeah. I don’t let it affect me in any way.

M: But how do you play in tournament and not let things affect you? How do you keep the mental strength to keep calm? What’s your approach?

T: I don’t know. I just play. I’ve been playing in tournaments for quite a while now. And when also I first started tournaments I was nervous as well. But I think it’s just after you’ve played tournaments for a while, you’ll become accustomed to it? So yeah, I don’t really do anything special. It’s just I think after a while you’ll get used to it.

M: Okay, okay. So…

10- M: In a team of you, Tokido and Gamerbee, who’s the anchor?

T: Definitely not me! (Laughs.)

M: And what if there’s character lock?

T: I don’t know! Tokido’s Akuma is better than mine so I’ll have to…I’ll choose someone else.

M: So who would you choose?

T: Who would I choose?

S: Because you play a fair few characters.

T: I don’t really have a secondary character. My secondary character is pretty much…so many different characters! Like I don’t really have a standout second character.

S: (Whispers) Dee Jay!

T: So probably whoever I feel like on the day, I guess.

M: Cool, cool.

11- S: You were one of the world’s best X-Men vs. Street Fighter players. So will you look to do the same thing with Marvel vs. Capcom 3?

M: Or is it just too different a game?

T: I’m really going to try hard to get really good at it. But the thing is, I don’t see that many people in Australia and especially Melbourne playing it?

So I mean, I’ll try my best to get really good, but to get to a really high level to compete with the Americans and that here is going to be very, very, very hard.

So. But I mean I’ll my best, but I’ll see what I can do.

S: Because, this is just insane how quickly the game has already been discovered. They already found unblockables, and all these sort of crazy crap in America. I guess in a way when you were sponsored I was kind of hoping you’d get to go overseas a lot more? And bring back the American “secrets”, in a way.

And I’m really happy that you do actually go overseas because it’s not the whole Australian representation, it’s not that. It’s…when people learn new stuff, at least what I’ve found in the Melbourne community people tend to share a lot more. And I think that’s really a good thing.

That’s actually one thing I really like about this community in general. People share a lot of stuff.

M: Did you play MvC2 a lot? Or not really.

T: I hardly played MvC2. There was no scene in Melbourne for it. But I played Marvel vs. Capcom 1. I really like that game.

S: Actually from what I’ve seen, a lot of the MvC1 players are coming back and playing MvC3.

T: Oh I see.

S: Yeah, just a lot of the American guys who are not that well-known, like a lot of the Connecticut players who used to play quite a lot of Marvel 1 are actually coming back and trying MvC3. Yeah it’s looking real interesting. And I think it’s good, because I think we need another versus game.

MvC2 was so far advanced, if anybody tried to pick it up, you just couldn’t really get into it. With this in a way, I guess we’re following SF4, we’re sort of resetting the whole deal…so it should be good.

12- M: So at this point do you like SF4 more, or Marvel more.

T: Right now I like Marvel more.

I don’t really know if it’s just a more fun game in general, but it could be also that this game is brand new, and I’ve been playing SF4 for so long and just having the chance to play a different game feels so fun?

But yeah right now, Marvel feels way more fun.

M: Way more fun. Awesome.

13- S: How do you approach a behemoth game like Marvel. Where do you start?

M: How do you learn a game like MvC3.

T: When I first played the game, I was just playing it with like…I was just pretty much first of all just trying to get used to the button layout. After I got used to the button layout, I was trying just my…I guess old-type strategies from older games and that.

And then when the game came out, I read the Hyper Guide that was on Shoryuken. It’s very informative.

S: Yes, it’s really good.

T: And I watched a whole lot of videos and I spent a lot of time in training mode, practicising combos, seeing how damage scaling works, trying to get the most out of my combos without scaling too much and figuring out these types of things.

After I figured out some combos that I was satisfied in using in match, then I’d think of ways; how can I land them?

So then I’d think of setups I could use and that. And I tried a few different characters.

Like, first I started out with Zero on my team. But I felt that he dies so quick.

And his combos really don’t do that much damage. So I was looking through the cast to find a character. And I saw Wesker and I really liked him. And he’s got high health as well. So when I stuck him on my team…

S: Wesker looks really, really good. The gun teleport options, you can do crazy crossups with him. If you partner him up with the right assist he can be really dangerous.

T: Oh yeah.

M: What do you think what Marvel will end up like? What do you think will be the dominant strategy in this game?

S: Because at the moment, everybody’s just picking Sentinel and just waiting for X-factor level 3.

T: The game is so new at the moment, so I can’t really tell. But it seems that right now all I can tell is Sentinel is really, really good. And I feel that X-factor is overpowered.

I don’t really like how it stacked. I don’t like how it’s so powerful.

M: What about the damage about the game. Do you think it’s too high?

T: Yeah the damage is too high. And X-factor makes it even more high.

But I think if X-factor got toned down a bit in damage, and damage in general got a bit less, I’d like it more. But I still love the game. But that’s my only problem with it.

S: See, Yipes and some of the guys…basically said for tournaments they’re thinking of setting the damage  to low rather than medium.

T: I see.

S: So do you think that would help out?

Because they’re saying with low, it’s similar to more health like in MvC2. So you don’t die in one combo, it takes like two or three longer combos.

T: Maybe if they made a DLC of the game or something and toned down the damage and made that like the default I’d be happy with it. But I don’t really like messing with settings, the way the game is meant to be played. I don’t really… I’d feel like I’m playing the game the wrong way. So if the damage is set to that, I’m only gonna play with that. So.

S: I like that.

14- M: So what new things do you like about Marvel 3?

T: Um…Marvel 3…what do I like…

S: What do you think about the button layout?

T: At first I didn’t like the button layout, I’m used to the old button layout and all that.

But after the first week or so, I was pressing the wrong button quite a few times because I’m used to pressing other things. But after a while, since I don’t play any of those older versus games anymore, once I get used to that button layout, which I almost have now, then it just becomes the new standard. And then it doesn’t really affect me that much anymore.

But the first week I was playing, I was fimbling quite a bit with the buttons!

M: But yeah, what new things do you like about Marvel.

T: What do I like. The thing that I like about it is it’s not too similar that- it’s similar than older versus games but not too similar that someone whose played the game for…

M: Ten years.

T: Ten years of Marvel 2 or something. If they play that game, and someone who hasn’t played Marvel 2, they can still be able to compete with them because it’s not exactly the same. But at the same time that player who’s played Marvel 2 or whatever is still going to have an advantage as well, but it’s not so extreme like say…a player right now getting into Marvel 2 and playing one of the top MvC2 players, they’ve got no chance.

Whereas someone who hasn’t played much Marvel 2 and they’re getting into Marvel 3 now, maybe after a while, they might be able to compete more- catch up more easier.

So it’s a good mix that it’s advantages the people who’ve played before but it doesn’t advantage them too much, so.

S: I think that was something they’ve done really, really well. I mean, I never I played seriously any of the previous versus games. Actually I’ll probably say that Marvel Superheroes versus Street Fighter was my biggest versus game that I played.

And I came down and you know, first time today I picked up Marvel, because my [copy’s] still in the mail. And you know, I tapped out a couple of things and… yeah it seems that it’s not very hard to get used to the combo system. But I can see the depth of the game, that it could have.

T: That’s what I like about it. It’s simple to get into, but at the same time, it’s got a lot of room to grow. If you want to get really good at it, there’s so much things you could learn. But at the same time, if someone just wants to jump in and have fun they can also do that.

It’s a bit like SF4 in that way.

M: Actually it is a lot like SF4.

S: See, in SF4 I feel like I’m a lot more restricted with my character. While in this game it seems to me the more imagination you have in a versus game, the better you’re gonna do.

‘Cause you’re gonna think about new strategies, new ideas, new tack-ons. But in SF4 I feel a lot more restricted, just because you can’t do all the crazy crap. In a way.

I suppose…that’s probably maybe why you even play Akuma. Because Akuma has…

M: So many options.

T: That’s what I like about Akuma. He has so many options…that that kept me having fun with him without getting bored with him for so long.

Because each week or so I’d find out new things about Akuma! And Akuma’s one of those characters that keeps…as time goes on, he’s always getting new things, always getting new setups.

Mostly from what I see from Tokido or other Japanese players or other people discovering [things]…there’s always some new things to learn.

S: Well when Tokido came down and he showed you that crossup-not crossup. It just blew my mind!

T: He had so many crazy things…

SS 2010 Top 8 SSFIV Singles LB – Tokido [AK] Vs Toxy [AK]

S: So many things that we didn’t know… or haven’t discovered yet.

And that’s another thing that I really like about fighting games. They seem to have this long-lasting value. If the gaming system is good, the game can last for almost ten years. I mean, look at ST. They’re still actually discovering new shit in ST. Okay, it’s not as often. But they still find new stuff, which…just blows my mind.

T: Yeah.

15- M: Speaking of Akuma, what do you think of him in AE?

T: In AE? Pretty much the same, but I prefer playing him in Super. Because I find in AE he’s got more bad matches now.

M: Like who?

T: I think that Yun is really hard for him…it’s a really bad match. Blanka got improved, I’m finding the Blanka match harder now.

M: In what way, how come it’s harder now.

T: Basically his hop or slide or something got buffed…

S: His slide got buffed.

T: And I think his hop is maybe slightly faster now. So I can’t really…air fireball from any distance now. I used to be able to do it from certain range or fireball. Now, I’m pretty much banned from fireballing totally. So…yeah it’s just bad. Yeah.

Pretty much just the same, just slight difference. But I think the main worse thing is just gonna be Yun. In Melbourne, there’s not really many Yuns. But I’m imagining if I played against a really good Yun, it’s going to be really, really difficult.

Because even like a average Yun, I can already feel that the match is…I’m pretty restricted in what I can do.

M: Didn’t Tokido say on his blog that he’s considering learning Fei Long for the Yun match?

T: I think he said that he’s going to pick up Fei Long for the matchup because he said the match is really, really bad for Akuma.

S: That one sided. Wow.

T: Yeah.

M: What do you think of Yun, is he more powerful than Vanilla Sagat?

T: Nope.

M: Heh, not in the least!

S: Nobody’s as powerful as…

T: Nobody’s as powerful as [Vanilla Sagat] in the SF4 series.

The difference is in this game there’s powerful characters, but at the same time there’s a group powerful characters? When in SF4 Sagat is like, pretty much the king of the top.

M: The king of the top. Okay, okay.

T: I mean there’s also Akuma and Ryu in that game who were very good. But Sagat was still…

S: That much further…

T:…quite a bit more further, whereas Yun is really good but Fei Long is near him and etcera…

So yeah.

So that’s why he won’t dominate as much.

M: So it’s like he’s really good, but he has bad matchups. But Sagat didn’t have…

T: Yeah, Sagat didn’t have any bad matchups. His worse match was 5-5 with Akuma basically. Every other match was 6-4 or better. Heh.

M: Yeah definitely.

16- S: So who’s your favourite player from overseas, from Japan. Besides Tokido.

T: Besides Tokido? There’s so many…

It’s pretty much Tokido. He’s the one I watch the most videos from. That, and I also like Daigo, Momochi and Kindevu and all that.

S: All the top ones.

T: All the top players, I like watching all of them. So.

S: What about the U.S.?

T: I like Justin Wong.

M: So why don’t you tell us a little about your EVO experience; like who really impressed you when you played against them.

T: I didn’t really get to play too many casuals because there were not many setups and there were so many people there! So pretty much you can only play people if you money match them.

But I only money matched very few-small amount of people.

So from the few games that I played, um, Alex Valle really impressed me. Probably out of all the guys I played in the U.S., Alex Valle, I was most impressed by him.

S: You also played a money match with Shizza as well?

T: Yeah.

S: And you actually beat him.

T: Yeah.

S: So why don’t you tell us a little bit about that.

T: Yeah, basically I played him but um…the matchup is in Akuma’s favour. And I play the Chun Li matchup so many times with Naruga and also Jeff. And Jeff’s Chun Li is very, very, very good.

So Chun Li is one of the matches I play most of the time. So if I versus a Chun Li, I’m quite confident in that match, so yeah.

S: Man I would love to see that match on video.

I really would.

M: I mean, how do you rate Jeff’s Chun? Like I saw him do really well against Mago’s Sagat. Which is extremely impressive.

T: I rate Jeff in the matches that he knows; really really good.

M: Yeah, like Sagat right.

T: But since he mostly only plays at Bluehouse, there’s only a certain group of characters that play there, so he’s doesn’t have that much experience versus a wide variety of characters. But in the characters that he knows, he’s by the far the best Chun Li in Australia. By far.

M: By far, cool.

So what did you think of Infiltration? The Korean Akuma.

T: I haven’t really seen much of him, but from what I saw at EVO, yeah I was really impressed with him. He had a different style of Akuma, but it works!

It was really good.

Like I guess, his and Tokido’s style is really, really different. But yeah, he did very well.

M: I guess you’re more of a student of Tokido than…

T: Yeah, because I really like Tokido’s way of playing Akuma because of all his setups. I really enjoy that part about Akuma. So I like to use like a setup-style of Akuma. But at the same time I got inspired a lot by Momochi when he used to play Akuma too.

Tokido’s quite an aggressive Akuma. But Momochi, I really like his patience and that. He’ll strike at the right moment. So pretty much I as a player in SF4, I’d say that I’m more careful or defensive or something.

So I play a bit like Momochi, of course not as good as him, but I’d be very patient. But then when I get the knockdown, then I go using Tokido-style tricks.

M: Ohhh.

So I use a bit of both. Like I’d watch different Akuma videos and I’d use bits from each. And also with my own style, and put it all together.

So that’s how I use my Akuma.

M: I think the way you play is; you like to attack, but be extremely safe at the same time.

T: I like to be really safe. Basically when I get my opportunity to attack, I’m gonna to go full-on, but if I’m not in a position to do so, I’m gonna…I can wait forever.

M: Nice.

T: I’m not gonna just rush in.

S: So Tokido being one of your team-mates, do you have any tips for him for Marvel vs. Capcom 3?

M: (Laughs).

T: Haha no, I don’t have any tips for him.

S: Because he made quite a big statement, saying he wants to challenge America.

T: It wouldn’t surprise me, he’s very talented in all types of games. Even if he hasn’t really played much versus games or any before. He can pick it up really quickly.

S: Do you think you can take him?

T: No! Heheh.

S: Ahaha.

17- M: Let’s talk a bit more about the recent tournaments we had in Melbourne. We had Shadowloo Showdown recently, do you want to talk about your experience at Shadowloo Showdown?

T: Shadowloo Showdown is probably like the greatest experience of my gaming [career]. Not just the tournament itself, like we had the guests here for about one week. That was also really great getting to spend time with them, and getting to play with these players. Because we don’t really have any exposure to these… ‘cause our country is so far away from everyone else so ours is one of the countries that we never get to play these type of international guests.

So I think that experience was really good for everybody. And I think a lot of people got a lot out of it.  So.

Everyone enjoyed themselves a lot. So that was definitely one of the highlights of…

M: Of your gaming career.

T: Yeah, definitely.

M: I feel the same way as well. It was just such a personal…joy…

S: Yeah, I mean just getting to spend time with Tokido. That first day I think is probably one of the best days I’ve had in quite a long time.

Just picking him up from the airport and sitting down and shit-talking at Ali’s place was really, really fun.

And then…the illustrious video that made it online…Tokido and Mago doing [bench presses] on the machine!

Oh man.

M: So what about the tournament itself. Tell us a bit about your thoughts during the tournament.

Were you rooting for Tokido, when Tokido was fighting Mago to get back into the grand finals?

T: Ah yeah, I was going for Tokido!

SS 2010 Top 8 SSFIV Singles LF – Mago [FE] Vs Tokido [AK]

I want to see…Akuma win.

I always like to see Akumas  win, heh.

M: So what about Mago was playing Gamerbee. Who were you rooting for.

T: I didn’t really mind. I like all those players. It’s just that I prefer Tokido to win mostly he also uses my character, so. I like to see my character winning.

M: I see. To be honest when I was sitting there, I kind of thought Mago would beat Tokido…but he proved me wrong! He got back into the grand finals.

T: Yeah, in tournaments anything can really happen. Mago might have been the favourite, but Tokido’s skill level is very similar to him. So anyone out of those three players, when they play each other, anyone can win.

It just depends on who did well in that game. So anyone can win.

S: Depends on the day, basically.

T: Yeah, depends on the day.

M: And Tokido nearly came back…he won the first set and he seemed to be almost on the verge of beating Gamerbee…and then Gamerbee…took it?

T: Yeah that was a really…was a really exciting moment I guess for Gamerbee. Gamerbee fans were [happy] but the Akuma fans were like “Ohh no.” (Laughs.)

M: All the Adon fans! So, were you sitting next to Carnage?

T: I can’t remember now. I was watching the match too much. I can’t remember where I was sitting.

S: That was probably one of the first times I actually ever saw you throw your hands up. When Tokido beat Mago. It was such an interesting moment. Because you usually always seem so calm and so collected. But at that point it was just like “Bang!”

T: I think I’ve been watching these players online for so long. And seeing them in actual person playing is just like…

S: It’s completely different.

T: Yeah. It was really fun for me to see that.

S: It’s like watching NBA on TV, and watching it live is completely different.

T: Yeah, heh.

18- M: So who would you like to see at Shadowloo Showdown 2k11?

T: Who would I like to see? I definitely would like to see Mago, Tokido and Gamerbee. The same ones who came to last year. Because all of them were great.

On top of that, other players I’d like to see are Kindevu, Momochi, Daigo. I’d like to see many a few American players like Justin Wong. Things like that, Alex Valle…

S: Well we heard rumours that Gootecks and Mike Ross seem very interested in coming down as well.

T: Yeah.

S: It would be good. I think Australia needs a bit more exposure. Okay our scene’s a little bit smallish, but we are still here and we are trying hard as well.

19-   M: So what would you like to see in the Melbourne community in the future?

T: Right now, like everyone was really excited for Marvel to come out. But once it’s came out I’ve seen a lot of people already pretty much…they’re pretty much disheartened by it, or they played it a couple times and they already don’t want to play it anymore.

So I guess right now I’d really like to see Marvel get really popular here. So yeah. I hope that gets big.

M: Do you think that’s because Melbourne seems like an arcade town. And Marvel’s not on arcade, and that seems to deter a lot of the old-school players.

T: I don’t know if it’s just about the arcade. It’s just that a lot of these players who are playing SF4 right now, most of them didn’t play any versus games. Or if they did, only a very few.

So maybe getting into versus games after they’ve been playing like SF4 for so long…maybe it’s too fast for them or they think the combos’ too crazy…I don’t know.

S: Well they are two completely different games.

T: Yeah they’re two really different games. So, yeah. I just expected more people to be really excited about it.

S: Don’t worry, I’m dropping SFIV. I’m strictly sticking to Marvel. It’s gonna be ST and Marvel from now on.

M: I dunno. Do you think playing that two games can kind of harm your game…like harm your execution and things like that…

T: It can’t harm your game. It will only make you better, I believe.

M: Learning more games will make you better.

T: Yep.

M: That’s your firm opinion. Tokido thinks the same way as well.

T: Well basically before SFIV came out, I played so many different games at once. And then when SFIV came out there was no other game that I played at the same time as it, so at times it’d get boring.

But now that I’ve got two games to play, it’s much more fun. If I’m sick of one, I can play the other. It’s a bit of variety.

S: So speaking of the older games, do you always exclusively…did you always just play Capcom games, or did you play SNK games?

T: I’d play SNK here and there. I used to play King of Fighters ’98, but that was about it from SNK. I pretty much only played Capcom [games].

S: Oh okay. I started out with Capcom and I had this dark period between…

M: The dark ages.

S: It was the dark ages! Because like ’99 and 2003, 2004, I exclusively just played King of Fighters games. And SNK games. But then basically…because there wasn’t really anything coming out from Capcom. Except Fighting Jam. Hooray. We all played that game.

For about two minutes.

To me it seemed to have that dark ages. I guess it really shows that Capcom is really the leader in fighting games. In general.

T: Oh, definitely.

S: Because when they introduced Street Fighter IV, I mean bang they basically rebooted the entire genre. Which is unbelievable.

I suppose they started the entire thing with SFII.

M: Well speaking of other developers, are you gonna play SF x Tekken, Mortal Kombat 9?

T: I’ll play SF x Tekken the Capcom version.

M: But you won’t play the Namco one.

T: I don’t think I’ll play the Namco one. Like, I wanted to get into Tekken. But that was only like maybe six months ago or something like that.

But at that time the Tekken scene was already dying off a bit. But now that Marvel’s out, now that I’ve got Marvel as my second game. So I’m not really that interested in learning Tekken now, so.

But I’d like to play SF x Tekken.

I’m not really too much into Mortal Kombat. I’ll give it a shot, like I’ll try it. Most likely I’ll play it for fun. But I don’t think I’ll be taking that game serious.

S: Did you ever play the CvS series?

T: I played it here and there. Just for fun. I never played it seriously.

I just played it here and there for fun. That’s it.

S: Because I don’t think Australia really had that big of a CvS scene.

T: They had a bit of a scene. Not that big.

S: Because I know it was really big in the states, and really big in Japan.

T: Oh yeah, it was.

Pretty much before SF4 it was mostly like Third Strike for SF. That was the main big game.

S: It seems to me though that Australia tends to just sort of pick the like Street Fighter as predominantly the core fighting game that everyone plays in Australia. But you don’t see…I’m assuming it’s because of our community size. But you don’t see like too many other people branching off.

Like Marvel is really big in the states. CvS is really big in the states. But we just basically stick to Street Fighter, and that’s it. I don’t know why. I wish…we really need to expand, I think.

M: Our simple minds can’t comprehend…

S: Two games at the same time! Pleasure overload.

20- M: So do you see yourself playing Street Fighter in five years time?

T: Most probably. I’ll play until I get bored. Whenever I get bored then I’ll stop.

M: So you won’t stop. You’ll just keep playing until…

T: …until I get bored. Yeah.

21- M: So who do you enjoy playing the most?

T: Who do I enjoy playing the most? Characters or player?

M: Both.

T: What character do I enjoy playing the most? In SF4, Akuma.

M: I mean against.

T: Oh! Who do I like playing against?

S: Please don’t say Dee Jay.

T: In Vanilla SF4 I really enjoyed playing Sagat. But that game, that was so fun, [doing] the Akuma loops and everything like that. It was such a high stakes match. One knockdown from Akuma could win the game, but one uppercut from Sagat could win. That was really fun.

Still in Super, that’s one of my most enjoyable matches still, but it’s not as fun as in Vanilla. And probably my worst match that I hate playing against is probably El Fuerte.

I hate that character!

M: Why do you hate that character? The guessing game?

T: It’s just annoying, it’s doesn’t feel like a real Street Fighter match. It’s just so random. I don’t enjoy versing that character at all.

S: What about Viper.

T: Viper is a quite hard match. At the same time it’s still…still fun. But Fuerte…fighting against him, I don’t have any fun at all.

S: The reason why I ask is because Tokido hates Viper so much.

T: I mean, it’s hard. It’s a hard match. But I still enjoy it. But Fuerte, I get no enjoyment playing him whatsoever.

S: To tell you the truth, I don’t think a lot of people enjoy playing against Fuerte. Because he’s so random.

The runs, the armour, the overhead splashes, it’s…a guessing game basically.

M: So which people do you like play? Who do you love to play against?

Since you like to [play against] Sagat, that means you like to play Heavy Weapons right?

T: It depends, I don’t have anyone that I really like…ah! Probably the ones that I really like to play is probably Sol and Naruga.

Because they play so many different characters. So when I play them, we just play so many different characters against each other. It’s quite interesting. It’s not just one matchup over and over.

S: And also it goes back to what you said earlier. In a way when you play those guys, you tend to discover a lot of new stuff. Similar to what you did at X-Men, I suppose.

M: So you use Naruga and Sol to learn the new matchups that you don’t get to see when [you play Akuma?]

T: Most of the time we play, we’re mostly playing for fun, and mucking around! But yeah, it’s enjoyable.

But um, for playing like a certain matchup, I really enjoy versing Jeff’s Chun Li.

I mean, the matchup is in Akuma’s favour. At  the same time, he’s really really good at that matchup. And it’s always a really fun match to play. So yeah, I enjoy playing him as well.

22- M: When you’re playing Street Fighter, where do you look on the screen?

T: Everywhere I think.

M: You’re just constantly switching between…

T: I haven’t really thought of it, but I think I look everywhere.

S: Recently what I’ve been trying to do is I’m been trying to sort of zoom out a little and just watch the actual…

T: Yeah. I pretty much see everything. That’s why when I hear people say that they didn’t realise their time ran out or something like that. I’m confused, I think that how didn’t they see that?

So I’m guessing that I must just look at the whole screen. Because I see everything, like the meters, the time…

S: I think that’s really good actually. Because if you look at the entire screen, you get the whole picture. I suppose because in a way I was just playing Marvel, I was concentrating so hard on my character I completely forgot about the time, I completely forgot about everything else.

So I think that’s why people tend to either look on like the opponent’s character or their own character. They tend to forget to look at the whole picture.

23- M: Tell us a little bit of what you do in your free time.

T: Playing games, watching movies.

M: What’s the best movie that you watched recently?

T: I don’t know, I don’t really like too many movies that came out recently. I like more of the old, classic movies.

M: So what’s your favourite old movie.

T: I really like horror movies. I would say that Halloween is one of my favourite movies. Yeah.

M: Oh awesome, awesome. Yeah recently horror movies have been…pretty shit.

T: Too many remakes now.

M: Did you watch the remake of Friday the 13^th?

T: Yeah I saw it.

S: Oh god.

M: Oh yeah…it was…

S: Vomit inducing. That’s all I can say.

M: Do you like the Japanese horror movies? Like Ju-On or something…

T: I watch the American ones and the Italian also. I think they make very good horror movies, yeah.

S: Ooh. Yes they do.

M: Well, we’ve got Evil Dead here [at Deakin] today. You wanna watch that?

T: I’ve seen it so many times!

M: Oh okay! Fair enough.

24- M: Any last thoughts or shoutouts?

T: Shoutouts to everyone in the Melbourne community, or in Australia in general. But especially Melbourne. Shoutouts to Traveling Circus obviously, for giving me this opportunity and sponsoring me.

Shoutouts to…I dunno! So many people to…yeah!

All of our Shadowloo guests and everything. And the TEC boys and you guys for interviewing [me].

So many people, Heavy Weapons, Mole, H, etcera. Yeah.

M: Heh all your buddies, cool.

S: I think that’s gonna wrap it up. Thank you Toxy.

T: Thanks!

Update- Shadowloo has put together a fantastic ToXy highlights video that works beautifully as our post-interview meal: