Original: Famitsu, publicized on June 14, 2010
From translator: I separate the original interview into 17 parts, and this is the first part.
The First Fighting Game Experience Was "Fatal Fury"!
（Excerpt from Famitsu）
Bun-Bun-Maru(*): Ok then, tell me your first fighting game experience, at first.
* A very famous Virtua Fighter player. Now he works for the famous gaming magazine called Famitsu. For more information about this magazine, read this Wikipedia page.
Daigo: It was SNK's "Fatal Fury."
Toyoizumi3kyodai(**): Not Capcom's lol.
** A gaming writer for the same magazine.
Daigo: Actually, Street Fighter II was the one I wanted to play. But, I went to a Dagashiya(***) to play games at that time, and there was such a long line for SFII that the display of the game couldn't be seen by those who were lining up. So I could hardly play it. I saw it, thinking "I wanna play that game."
I went to elementary school when SFII was released, so it was a little uncomfortable for me to join a line with a lot of junior high schoolers and high schoolers. And I, looking to play another game, found a similar fighting game.
*** A shop carrying only cheap snacks targeting kids. For more information, read this Wikipedia page.
Bun-Bun-Maru: Yeah, yeah.
Daigo: That was Fatal Fury lol. Like, "meh, these characters fight as well, so fine with this."
Toyoizumi3kyodai: Was that Fatal Fury vanilla?
Daigo: Yes. It was SFII vanilla days(****).
**** SFII vanilla was presumably released in March 1991, and Fatal Fury vanilla was released in November of the same year.
Bun-Bun-Maru: Probably, Fatal Fury vanilla doesn't allow you to fight another player?
Daigo: Right. You can't.
Toyoizumi3kyodai: Does it have a team-up mode, doesn't it?
Daigo: Oh, yeah. It has that lol.
Bun-Bun-Maru: How old were you then?
Daigo: Around 10, I think. I started regularly going to game arcades just when SFII and Fatal Fury were released.
Kitaguchi-Toho-2hun(*****): By the way, how old are you now?
***** A gaming writer for the same magazine.
Daigo: I turned 29 in May 2010.
Toyoizumi3kyodai: Oh, we're a year apart in age. I'm turning 30 in this Octorber.
Daigo: Oh, really. Our generations have maybe played fighting games most.
Bun-Bun-Maru: So, you started fighting against other players in SFII: Champion Edition?
Daigo: Yes. I didn't play against other players in SFII vanilla much. That was a terribly long line. It's the pain in the butt standing in such a line, isn't it. Besides, I couldn't stay late there as I was a kid.
So, only when seeing a player whom I thought I'd win, I played against him sitting beside each other after I asked "can I joing the fight?" and he said yes.
I fought against other players that way. But, it was still hesitating for me to interrupt a player to fight against him.
Bun-Bun-Maru: At that time, you didn't do it to play against other players, did you.
Daigo: No. Just to play earlier haha.
Although I just sometimes won and sometimes lost then, I still liked playing against another player already. So I wanted to play against other players, but I could scarcely execute special moves and was willing to do single-player.
After SFII: CE was released, modern versus-style cabinets became common in game arcades and I quit single-player contents and start focusing on playing against other players.
Bun-Bun-Maru: Do you remember your gaming history after SFII: CE?
Daigo: I played various games when I was a kids.
Although I don't remember the order, I played Fatal Fury at first, and the next was SFII vanilla... I practiced all of SFII series very hard. Aside from SFII series, which my focus was on, I played World Heroes(†), the King of Fighters and Fighter's History(††) as well. In addition to them, I played Fatal Fury series pretty much until Fatal Fury Special.
Hmm? Is there Fatal Fury 3?
† A fighting game created by a company called ADK for Neo Geo. This is famous for its funny characters, especially Rasputin. For more information, read this Wikipedia page.
†† A fighting game created by a company Data East. Likewise, this is famous for its funny characters. For more information, read this Wikipedia page.
Toyoizumi3kyodai: Yes, there is. I think it was the next one of Fatal Fury Special.
Daigo: So, I played Fatal Fury 3 a little as well. Regarding Samurai Shodown, I played the vanilla and II. And I played Power Instinct(†††) as well, really a little bit though lol.
††† A fighting game created by Atlus. This series is famous for its antic characters. There were, and perhaps are, a few aficionados of this game. For more information, read this Wikipedia page.
All: Lol.
Daigo: I just wanna add Art of Fighting(††††) lol.
†††† A fighting game created by SNK. Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia are originated from this game. For more information, read this Wikipedia page.
Toyoizumi3kyodai: It was like that back then. Like, everybody played any new fighting games anyway.
* A very famous Virtua Fighter player. Now he works for the famous gaming magazine called Famitsu. For more information about this magazine, read this Wikipedia page.
Daigo: It was SNK's "Fatal Fury."
Toyoizumi3kyodai(**): Not Capcom's lol.
** A gaming writer for the same magazine.
Daigo: Actually, Street Fighter II was the one I wanted to play. But, I went to a Dagashiya(***) to play games at that time, and there was such a long line for SFII that the display of the game couldn't be seen by those who were lining up. So I could hardly play it. I saw it, thinking "I wanna play that game."
I went to elementary school when SFII was released, so it was a little uncomfortable for me to join a line with a lot of junior high schoolers and high schoolers. And I, looking to play another game, found a similar fighting game.
*** A shop carrying only cheap snacks targeting kids. For more information, read this Wikipedia page.
Bun-Bun-Maru: Yeah, yeah.
Daigo: That was Fatal Fury lol. Like, "meh, these characters fight as well, so fine with this."
Toyoizumi3kyodai: Was that Fatal Fury vanilla?
Daigo: Yes. It was SFII vanilla days(****).
**** SFII vanilla was presumably released in March 1991, and Fatal Fury vanilla was released in November of the same year.
Bun-Bun-Maru: Probably, Fatal Fury vanilla doesn't allow you to fight another player?
Daigo: Right. You can't.
Toyoizumi3kyodai: Does it have a team-up mode, doesn't it?
Daigo: Oh, yeah. It has that lol.
Bun-Bun-Maru: How old were you then?
Daigo: Around 10, I think. I started regularly going to game arcades just when SFII and Fatal Fury were released.
Kitaguchi-Toho-2hun(*****): By the way, how old are you now?
***** A gaming writer for the same magazine.
Daigo: I turned 29 in May 2010.
Toyoizumi3kyodai: Oh, we're a year apart in age. I'm turning 30 in this Octorber.
Daigo: Oh, really. Our generations have maybe played fighting games most.
Bun-Bun-Maru: So, you started fighting against other players in SFII: Champion Edition?
Daigo: Yes. I didn't play against other players in SFII vanilla much. That was a terribly long line. It's the pain in the butt standing in such a line, isn't it. Besides, I couldn't stay late there as I was a kid.
So, only when seeing a player whom I thought I'd win, I played against him sitting beside each other after I asked "can I joing the fight?" and he said yes.
I fought against other players that way. But, it was still hesitating for me to interrupt a player to fight against him.
Bun-Bun-Maru: At that time, you didn't do it to play against other players, did you.
Daigo: No. Just to play earlier haha.
Although I just sometimes won and sometimes lost then, I still liked playing against another player already. So I wanted to play against other players, but I could scarcely execute special moves and was willing to do single-player.
After SFII: CE was released, modern versus-style cabinets became common in game arcades and I quit single-player contents and start focusing on playing against other players.
Bun-Bun-Maru: Do you remember your gaming history after SFII: CE?
Daigo: I played various games when I was a kids.
Although I don't remember the order, I played Fatal Fury at first, and the next was SFII vanilla... I practiced all of SFII series very hard. Aside from SFII series, which my focus was on, I played World Heroes(†), the King of Fighters and Fighter's History(††) as well. In addition to them, I played Fatal Fury series pretty much until Fatal Fury Special.
Hmm? Is there Fatal Fury 3?
† A fighting game created by a company called ADK for Neo Geo. This is famous for its funny characters, especially Rasputin. For more information, read this Wikipedia page.
†† A fighting game created by a company Data East. Likewise, this is famous for its funny characters. For more information, read this Wikipedia page.
†† A fighting game created by a company Data East. Likewise, this is famous for its funny characters. For more information, read this Wikipedia page.
Toyoizumi3kyodai: Yes, there is. I think it was the next one of Fatal Fury Special.
Daigo: So, I played Fatal Fury 3 a little as well. Regarding Samurai Shodown, I played the vanilla and II. And I played Power Instinct(†††) as well, really a little bit though lol.
††† A fighting game created by Atlus. This series is famous for its antic characters. There were, and perhaps are, a few aficionados of this game. For more information, read this Wikipedia page.
All: Lol.
Daigo: I just wanna add Art of Fighting(††††) lol.
†††† A fighting game created by SNK. Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia are originated from this game. For more information, read this Wikipedia page.
Toyoizumi3kyodai: It was like that back then. Like, everybody played any new fighting games anyway.
No comments