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Daigo Umehara (梅原 大吾 Umehara Daigo, born May 19, 1981 in Aomori, Japan), is a renowned professional video game player. He specializes in 2D arcade fighting games, mainly those released by Capcom. Known as "The Beast" in the west and "Umehara" or "Ume" in Japan, Daigo is most famous for the miracle comeback video clip on YouTube from his Street Fighter III match in Evolution 2004 against Justin Wong.[1] [edit] Early careerDaigo began playing at around 11 years of age. In 1994, around the time he entered middle school, Daigo first began to shine while playing Super Street Fighter II X (Super Street Fighter II Turbo). After setting various records, like a 286-win streak in Vampire Hunter (Dark Stalkers)[2], he developed a reputation in the Tokyo gaming community. In 1995, he entered the GAMEST Cup, but failed to qualify. In 1997, Daigo entered the GAMEST Cup national competition in Vampire Savior (the sequel to Vampire Hunter) where he was able to defeat long-time rival Shin'ya Ōnuki in the finals. After winning, he became a celebrity throughout Japan. [edit] Japan vs. USADaigo skyrocketed to fame in 1998 after winning the official Capcom Street Fighter Zero 3 national tournament in Japan. As the tournament champion, he then went on to face Alex Valle, who was the winner of the U.S. national Street Fighter Alpha 3 tournament. The international "Grand Championship" was held in San Francisco, California on November 8, 1998. The match was played as best out of three games, with each game as best out of five rounds. Daigo won 2-1.[3][4][5] He was later seen again in an exhibition "rematch" in Japan. American players competed in four games (Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike and Marvel vs. Capcom 2) for the right to battle Japan's best players in those respective games. Daigo only entered the 3rd Strike exhibition, but defeated all of his opponents, ending each round with Ken's fierce Shoryuken. These events were filmed for the documentary Bang the Machine.[6][7] [edit] Evolution 2004Daigo is most famous for a clip from the Evolution Championship Series 2004 3rd Strike losers bracket final where he made a dramatic comeback against Justin Wong (who was using Chun-Li). In the final round of the match 1, Daigo's Ken was down to his last pixels of vitality.[8] Trying to take advantage of this, Wong attempted to chip[9] Daigo for the win with the hou-yoku-sen[10], since it still deals about 9% damage when blocked. Daigo stopped Justin dead in his tracks by parrying all fifteen hits of Chun-Li's super, including a jumping parry on the last hit, then comboed into his own super (the shippuu-jin-rai-kyaku)[11] to deal just enough damage to steal the game. The cameraman (Seth Killian) turned away to record the audience erupt into a tremendous uproar.[12][13][14] Daigo has since gone on to become one of the most recognizable names in fighting games. [edit] Daigo in 2005Return to Japan On May 3-5, 2005 Daigo competed in the third Tougeki (Super Battle Opera) video game tournament, playing Street Fighter III 3rd Strike. Once again he would meet Ōnuki—playing as his partner in the team that would go on to win (the team’s name was "UmeNuki"). His promised third appearance at Evolution was cancelled. Despite being relatively unknown outside of Japan, news about the cancellation had been posted in gaming websites around the world. Film production In 2005, Daigo also participated in X-MANIA[15][16] Gaiden, a Street Fighter II X tournament, but this time behind the scenes as a producer. [edit] Daigo in 2008In July 2008, Daigo came out of retirement[17] to compete professionally once again. This time, his focus was on the newly-released Street Fighter IV. On November 29, 2008, Arcadia Magazine released its January 2009 issue with an accompanying DVD of a recorded exhibition. It documented Daigo dominating six of his fellow top Japanese professional gamers.[18] [edit] Daigo in 2009GameStop's Street Fighter IV US National Tournament 2009 The special exhibition matches of Street Fighter IV took place in San Francisco, California, on April 18 after the actual competition ended. It featured Iyo who had recently won the Japanese National SFIV tournament, Poongko who won the Korean SFIV National Tournament, Justin Wong who won the American National SFIV tournament, and Daigo Umehara who came by Capcom's invitation.[19] Daigo defeated Iyo, Poongko and Justin Wong to win the tournament.[19] He was awarded a free trip to Evolution 2009 in Las Vegas. Daigo gained more fame after the footage of his matches in GameStop's competition were spread on the internet. As of July 19, the video of the match against Justin Wong received almost 80,000 hits on Niconico video sharing site[20] while the match against Iyo received almost 120,000 hits.[21] Arcadia, Japanese arcade gaming magazine, called Daigo "God of 2D Fighting Games" on the cover of its July issue.[22] Daigo began writing a column in Arcadia starting from the August issue, called Umehara Column: Michi.[23] ("Umehara Column: Street") Evolution 2009 For his win at the GameStop tournament, Daigo started his Street Fighter IV competition as a seeded player in the semi-finals on July 18, which is the second day of Evo 2009. He beat 4 opponents and had to start the next day by playing against Justin Wong.[24] In the third and the last day, Daigo defeated Wong and put him into the Losers Bracket, then advanced to the grand finals just to meet Wong again. In the final showdown, Wong changed his character from Abel to Balrog (boxer, called M. Bison in Japan) to counter Daigo's signature Ryu. The two fought until the last game possible, but Daigo won the competition.[25] It was this point of the tournament that had more than 23,000 users viewing the stream broadcasting.[26] Umehara's Concept Matches Vol.2 The September issue[27] of Arcadia magazine included a DVD featuring the second of "Umehara's Concept Matches". This is the sequel to the DVD from late 2008. This time Daigo fought Japan's top 5 pro players: Mago, Iyo, Nuki, Nemo, and Shirou.[28][29] He beat everyone but Shirou, the highest ranked[30] Abel player in Japan at the moment.[31] GODSGARDEN On August 7, Daigo participated in an all night[32] tournament called "GODSGARDEN."[33] Though he managed to win against Momochi (highest ranked Akuma player in Japan at the moment[30]), he lost to Uryo, the highest ranked C.Viper player. Daigo lost again in the Losers Bracket to Mago, the highest ranked Sagat player who later won the tournament by defeating Uryo.[34] Exhibition Matches in Taiwan Daigo participated in exhibition matches in a Street Fighter IV competition in Taiwan on October 10.[35] He beat the top 3 players in the tournament, losing just one round. The matches were broadcasted live on Famitsu's web channel.[36] Seasons Beatings IV Daigo went to America again to join a tournament called Seasons Beatings on October 16-18 in Columbus, Ohio.[37][38] He participated in the Street Fighter IV 3 on 3 on the second day with two American teammates. His team, Daigo Company, finished third overall. On the same day, there was an exhibition match between him and Justin Wong which he won by ten games to two. Daigo started the third day by winning Street Fighter II HD Remix competition, despite it was his second try of the game since Evo 2009. For Street Fighter IV Singles, Daigo lost in Winners Bracket's final to Justin Wong, who this time chose to play Fei Long. He later bounced back from Losers Bracket to win the competition.[39][40] Exhibition Match on Niconico Live On November 26, Daigo and 5 other top Japanese Street Fighter IV players joined a Niconico internet live show[41] to talk about the second GODSGARDEN tournament. The show also held an exhibition match between himself and Mago, where he beat the highest ranked Sagat player 2-0.[42] [edit] Tournament placings
[edit] Capcom vs. SNK 2
[edit] Guilty Gear Series (XX, #Reload and Slash)
[edit] Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
[edit] Super Street Fighter II Turbo
[edit] Hyper Street Fighter II
[edit] Street Fighter Alpha 3
[edit] Capcom Fighting Jam
[edit] Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix
[edit] Street Fighter IV
[edit] Vampire Savior
[edit] Gameplay footageThese videos document the more recent key moments in Daigo's career.
[edit] See also[edit] Notes
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