Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV

[Sforza]

Keits interview with John Choi:
http://evo2k.com/?p=415

One of the most insightful interviews about fighting games in general that I've read in a long time.

Snippets:

Adam: Of all the other high-level players that you know, who else would you say plays with that mentality? Who else is a feeling-type player?

John: Definitely Alex Valle, and I’m pretty sure Daigo is very similar. He just does stuff that nobody would ever expect. He just seems to know. He’s a big mind-reader. David Sirlin actually tried to do some kind of study a while back using the Myers-Brigg test to see if there’s similar characteristics between topl players. He actually compiled a little list, and found that some players have similar types, but it was kind of inconclusive because he only asked like 8 players. He asked me to give it to some Japanese players like Daigo and Nuki, but that kind of got lost throughout the years.

Adam: Let me ask you a repeat question that I asked Alex in our interview. Do you think age is affecting your ability to play and keep up with these younger players, or do you think experience has given you the ultimate edge?

John: I think it kind of balances out. Experience definitely helps a lot, but at the same time I feel myself getting slower and slower very year. I remember when I was 20, I could see everything. I could uppercut everything on reaction, but now it’s just different. I can actually feel myself getting slower. It’s kind of funny, because Ricky Ortiz used to just hit everything. There was nothing you could get by him. It was very frustrating. Now, six or seven years later, you can even see him slowing down. It’s a natural fact of live. There’s nothing you can do about it. We do get slower as we get older, but at the same time the experience helps balance it out.

The other aspect is just around life issues. When I was younger I had lots of free time, and I could play games like 7 hours a day without any problems. Now I have a fulltime job and school and family issues. Other people have wives and kids, and it really puts a damper on your ability to be able to practice as much as you want. You look at Justin, every weekend he’s at some event. I read about him winning this event and that event. I really wish I could do that, and maybe things would be different if I was his age around this time, but there are other life obligations so I have to just focus on one game at a time.

Adam: You mentioned that too earlier, that you didn’t want to dilute yourself. Do you think that’s a problem with many players who want to be top gamers, that they play too many games?

John: Well, just like everything in life what you get out of it is related to how much you put into it. If you want to be a champion in one game, it’s probably better for you to play 10 hours of that rather than playing 10 differnent games 1 hour each. So there’s definitely an effect. I think I could maybe juggle two games at the most these days. There’s no way I could enter more than that many tournaments and try to be competitive in all the games.