Jimmy 1 (J) “Hi I’m Jimmy 1, a pro athlete of WE-R1. Thank for watching this video”
Kumakun (K) ‘”Glad to have you here.”
J “Thank you for inviting me for the first-time interview.”
K “First of all, what was the first video game you played in your life?”
J “I do not remember by myself, but I heard from my family it was Virtua Fighter.“
K “So it was fighting game since the beginning?”
J “My uncle was playing Virtua Fighter then and I was just 2 years old to beg to hold his arcade stick.
J “Somehow he told me to practice the command grab, giant swing of the character called Wolf, and I mastered it at the age of only two.”
K “What was the fighting game you played seriously for the first time?”
J “I just practiced combo for KOF and Persona, but it is from street STREET FIGHTER V that I started learning the frame advantages or thinking about the opponent’s’ mind.”
K “Why did you decide to become a professional of STREET FIGHTER V?”
J “Well… there are some reasons, but it was maybe the final match of the Topanga League of ULTRA STREET Fighter IV, between Momochi Ken VS Daigo Evil Ryu. Watching that match, I felt I also wanted to get applause standing on that stage. “
K “Applause?”
J “Yes, I felt “They are just too cool” looking at them,
K “Some days ago, I saw a clip where Daigo was defeated at an online match, and then he immediately went to training mode and searched for the countermeasure, what do you think about it?”
J “I think it is wonderful that he is still trying to do as much as he can. If you are that strong you will be loosened off, but he just keeps doing what he has to do. That’s an immense thing and that’s why he is the Creator of our way in the fighting game community.
K “But you want to beat him if you face him in a tournament ?”
J “Yeah, I have nothing to lose and I will crush him. Of course, I do have respect for him”
K “How did you practice in order to become a professional player?”
J “I didn’t spend so much time in training mode. You have to feel some pain if you want to learn something. So you should just let opponent crash you, then learn it with a bit of research on the training mode, and then get back to real matches.
K “Which do you practice mainly, online or offline?”
J “I used to do more online, but recently I try to go offline events as much as possible.”
K “How much do you practice every day?”
J “It depends on my condition or my motivation, but I practice for 10 hours at longest, sometimes it’s one and half hour if it is short. It varies somewhat because I’m a person of moods. I don’t want to feel stress by going against my motivation. “
K “Now as a pro, how do you spend a day?”
J “Honesty I feel some pressure that I should make much of each day. It doesn’t answer your question directly, but I want to practice more and to be seen at the tournaments and find my way to live. “
K “Do you have anything about STREET FIGHTER V that you want to get improved? “
J “People have been talking about the input lag for years, but it has not been changed. There is some lag even offline.”
K “Then what’s the good point about the game?”
J “It’s easy to play as a game. It tends to be hard to get used to play fighting game, but I think this game is rather easier than others. Even just hitting a button will become a combo. Though it is difficult to make the difference for its easiness, the top players do win more than others “
K “Why do you use Claw (Balrog for Japanese or Vega for English)?”
J “In the past I was playing a little bit of STREET FIGHTER IV. I was playing some characters but then I found I can win just doing Barcelona Attack with Claw. Plus, he could walk fast, his reach was long, and he was cool, more than anything “
J “At first I was not sure if I would play STREET FIGHTER V because I didn’t have Playstation4. But as I found Claw in the first character list, I decided to put my fate with him. If he were not in STREET FIGHTER V, I think I would be still Playing ULTRA STREET FIGHTER IV now.”
K “Now you are also using G. Why is it?”
J” When I first saw his trailer, I thought his moves are good. I tend to choose my characters as their moves are cool or they look cool. Plus, it is also fun to take on a challenge to learn a lot of newt things,”
K” Do you think now your Claw is stronger with you start using G?”
J” Yeah, I think so. If you only use Claw you start to forget the strength of Claw, the long range, the walk speed etc. With using G I’m now more aware of the strength of Claw. Using two characters gives you clearer idea of the strength the weakness of your character.”
K” What was the best moment in your fighting game experience?”
J” There are two things. I had been getting close to win a tournament, but it was just close, not to win one. I had been stronger than Trashbox, but he started to win more than me and people started to say he is better than me. One day at the tournament of Ore Revo, I went to the final of a single elimination tournament and faced Trash Box. On the pre-match interview I was so pumped up, but he was like…” I just do as usual”
K” You must have been pissed off. lol”
J” Yeah, but I won the tournament I was so glad.”
K” Congratulations!”
J ” The other thing was EVO Japan. It was right after an adjustment and Claw gets nerfed so much. I was thinking about quitting Claw after the tournament. I lost to Aiai(a famous Juri player) at the first match of the pool. But after crawling the loser’s bracket, it was aiai again before me at the losers’ final. At the time the member of Ore Revo cheered me a lot and gave me so much power. I was so happy to survive to the 2nd day with their cheer.”
K” What would you say if you were to give some advice to yourself of 10 years ago?”
J” I was second grade of junior high. I was doing pretty much nothing, so I would say “Do anything you want”. Once there was a time I wanted to be a comedian. If you try something, something might happen, or people may see you try hard. so just doing anything is better than doing nothing”
K” You said you were a comedian. Did you work hard then?”
J” I was a comedian, but I wasn’t famous at all. I tried solo and duo but I really didn’t thrive, it taught me something in my life, but I was not such a comedian then.
K “Do you want to be a comedian once again?”
J “I don’t have rooms for being engaged two trades now, so I’m going to focus on the pro and do my best.”
K” Then what about your goals in 10 years like having your own family.”
J ”Yeah, I want my family. I will be 34 then. It should be great if I am among the best players, but you don’t know what would happen in 10 years. I wish I will be married, work hard as a player and the WE-R1 is much bigger than now. Also of course, to make ends meet with this, that’s the most important thing”
K” Next, what is your favorite saying?”
J” I just come up with “Custom makes all things easy”. I asked a lot of things and sometimes I make some mistakes like the time I did on stream, but it’s okay. The important thing is to learn from it and then get used to it not to repeat the same error”
K” Do you have any other message you want to say?
J” Esports has been hyped these days but I want you to remember the essence. There are some people who works extremely hard to become a professional, but I think you would be worn off, both your mind and your body. If you feel tired, you can just relax, and don’t forget to have fun. You will have some chance if you keep going and don’t feel so much burden for it
K” Thank you so much! Now We’re going to end with the word”
J、K ”We are One!”