I remember when I first met Kevin back at the Shadowloo compound, I asked him; so who’s the best player in Singapore?
He listened for a second, then pointed at Xian who was snoozing on the couch, “This guy right here!”
Little did I know that this quiet guy who I always noticed just sleeping on the couch, (probably sleeping off a all-nighter SF training session) would go on to make an incredible splash at Shadowloo Showdown, placing top 8 in a very, very stacked bracket , and being one of the only two players that weekend to beat Mago 2D God in tournament that weekend.
I didn’t make the connection at the time, but this was the very same guy who made Ryan Hart crack up in Gooteck’s old Dreamhack podcast way back in 09.
I should’ve paid more attention.
What an impressive showing for Singapore. It’s kind of funny, I was born in Singapore, and grew up in Malaysia. I came here to Melbourne back in 02, discovered the fighting game scene much later on, and fell in love with it. Meanwhile, apparently back home, they have like fifty arcade machines and a booming scene, and producing monsters like Xian!
I remember back in late 09, I was back home in Yio Chu Kang for a week. My hands were itching for some Street Fighter. So I went down to Ang Mo Kio Hub, and asked the uncle at the game shop there (which I later bought my TE at a very un-Australian price from) where I could find the nearest arcade with SFIV in it.
He directed me to this arcade just outside Ang Mo Kio Hub, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this small neighbourhood arcade already had like six SFIV machines, and I had a blast just spending the afternoon there playing away. (I got beasted by a Ryu-playing old chinese man in a wrinkled white tank top.) I even came back the next day to play as well.
It never crossed my mind that if a neighbourhood mall could have an arcade like that, what about arcades in the city centre or in the really big malls?
And later I came back during Battle Medley Singapore, where I discovered that my old childhood friend Yu Cheng had become Farpenoodle of the Singapore scene. And I learnt about Bugis and the other hotspots, and witnessed how sick their scene was, even watching Dixon beat Momochi.
All this time I never knew. It took me coming over to another country to discover the fighting game scene when all this time it was staring me in the face!
But good shit to Xian and the Singapore scene, I hope more great things happen for you guys.
(Even though I will always cheer for Malaysia in Singapore vs. Malaysia exhibitions.)
So enough of my rambling, it’s time to talk about this really excellent video done by Xian and Zhi from Singapore. It’s really interesting to see Cross Counter spread their roots- to South-East Asia of all places.
I really, really liked this video. I learned a ton about Fei and Yun from this video, and Xian and Zhi really take their time to pause at every scenario and talk about the options, the frame data, the mind games at every opportunity.
This is my favourite kind of match analysis, and even though some people might find it dry, I personally love this type of in-depth analysis and I wish more top players would put out stuff like this.
Great work guys, and I want to see more in the future!
Find out more about the Singaporean scene at:
Being a Scrub 