Evolution 2003, it was the second-time, second Evolution tournament, right? I was 18 at the time, I had just finished high school, I had spent the vast majority of my senior year, uh, preparing for Evo. Um, and I got blown up. I did not, I did not do nearly as well as I hoped I would. That was fine. Um, what was beautiful to me was, seeing, you know, hundreds of people of, you know, all ages in a sweaty packed ballroom in CalPoly Pomona, watching Daigo Umehara do a full parry of Chumlee Super, um, as played by Justin Wong, who is kind of the, the U.S., like, best hope for excellence in, uh, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike. Um, parrying that Super involves, the way Daigo did it, involves basically anticipating that Justin is going to do a very fast and typically pretty um, safe option, um, at more or less the exact animation frame. Um, pressing forward instead of back to block, pressing forward to deflect the attach, and then perfectly pressing forward another nine times, um, in such a way that he is able to take zero damage, and counterattack with a combo that is, uh, highly situational and designed to not give Justin any room to retaliate. It was the one, like basically a one-touch kill there, um, in front of hundreds of screaming people who saw what was thought unfold in front of them, and I just couldn’t believe that players were able to do that. Um, that blew my mind. Um, and it wasn’t just the moment itself, it was partaking that moment as someone who had played in that tournament, and who’s surrounded by other people who had lost to someone, who had lost to someone, who had lost to these people who were on stage now, right? Um, there was an energy in that room that I have uh, spent the rest of my life chasing, and I can safely say that if I weren’t there that particular time, I don’t know where I would’ve ended up in life.
