is a Japanese arcade fighting
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
player
Player may refer to:
Role or adjective
* Player (game), a participant in a game or sport
** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games
** Athlete, a player in sports
** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...
. He specializes in 2D
arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware
** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board
* Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games
* ...
fighting game
A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...
s, mainly those released by
Capcom
is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...
. Known as "Daigo" or "The Beast"
in the West and or "Ume" in Japan, Daigo is one of the world's most famous ''
Street Fighter
, commonly abbreviated as ''SF'' or スト (''Suto''), is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six ...
'' players and is often considered its greatest as well. His longevity is seen as an incredibly rare thing in the world of competitive video games.
[
] He currently holds a world record of "the most successful player in major tournaments of Street Fighter" in the
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
and is a six time Evo Championship Series winner.
[
][
]
Before properly being called a pro gamer
[
] from signing a sponsorship deal with
Mad Catz
Mad Catz Global Limited (formerly Mad Catz Interactive, Inc.) is an American Chinese-based company that provides interactive entertainment products marketed under Mad Catz, GameShark (gaming products) and TRITTON (audio products). Mad Catz distr ...
,
Japanese media usually referred to Daigo as .
[
][
]
Early career
Daigo began going to an arcade game center and playing fighting games as an elementary school student around 10 years of age.
[
] ''
Street Fighter II
is a fighting game developed by Capcom and originally released for arcades in 1991. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter''. It is Capcom's fourteenth game to use the CP Syst ...
'' and ''
Fatal Fury: King of Fighters'' had recently been released and were Daigo's first two fighting games.
''Street Fighter II'' often had a very long line with older players, so he began learning ''Fatal Fury'' first.
After some time and due to the limited time he could stay at the game center, Daigo started challenging other players in ''Street Fighter II
''' (''Champion Edition'') for an opportunity to play even though he felt shy and had to ask for permission. This was when he discovered that he preferred competing with other players.
Around the time when he was a 13-year-old middle school student,
Daigo shifted his main game to ''
Vampire Hunter
Vampire hunter or vampire slayer is a fictional occupation in history and fiction which specializes in finding vampires, and sometimes other supernatural creatures. A vampire hunter is usually described as having extensive knowledge of vampires a ...
'' because he thought he was more skilled in that game than in ''Street Fighter II''.
He developed a reputation in ''Vampire Hunter'' by setting a 286-win streak record
[At 256 wins the game's counter resets to zero, but it still counts.] in a single outing before he was forced to leave due to
Akihabara
is a common name for the area around Akihabara Station in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo, Japan. Administratively, the area called Akihabara mainly belongs to the and Kanda-Sakumachō districts in Chiyoda. There exists an administrative district ca ...
Sega (now Club Sega
) game center closing for the day.
Umehara enrolled in his first tournament when he entered GAMEST Cup's national ''Vampire Hunter'' tournament in 1995,
[
] losing in the block's finals.
[
] His first tournament victory came at his second tournament, GAMEST Cup's national ''Vampire Savior'' tournament in 1997, where he defeated Ōnuki (now Nuki) in the finals.
In 1998, at the age of 17 Daigo participated in Capcom's official ''
Street Fighter Zero 3
''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', released as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 2D fighting game originally released by Capcom for the arcade in 1998 in video gaming, 1998. It is the third and final installment in the ''Street Fighter# ...
'' national tournament and advanced to the finals which took place on a stage in Tokyo Game Show 1998: Autumn on October 11. After winning the tournament by defeating Ōnuki 3-1, Daigo, as the champion, went on to face
Alex Valle
Alex Valle (), also known as CaliPower and Mr. Street Fighter, is a Peruvian-American professional fighting game player. Valle is mainly a Ryu specialist and is considered one of the most influential people within the fighting game community.
Ga ...
, the winner of the U.S. national ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'' tournament. The international "Grand Championship" was held in San Francisco,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
on November 8. This was Daigo's first trip to the U.S. and his first overseas tournament appearance.
[
] The match was best of three games, with five-round games. Daigo came from behind to win 2-1.
[
][
] Both events aired as a 50-minute TV report in Japan.
In September 2001, Daigo's popularity led to the publishing of a mini-autobiography called VERSUS (known as "Umehon" (ウメ本) or "Ume Book" by fans). The book's content is separated into six chapters chronicling the games in which he competes and includes background stories, anecdotes of competitions, and analysis of his opponents.
In 2002, Daigo appeared in a U.S. versus Japan exhibition 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. Umehara only entered the ''3rd Strike'' exhibition, but defeated all of his opponents, ending each round with
Ken
Ken or KEN may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer.
* ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film.
* ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine.
* Ken Masters, a main character in ...
's fierce
Shoryuken
, commonly abbreviated as ''SF'' or スト (''Suto''), is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six ...
. These events were filmed for the documentary
Bang the Machine'.
[
][cast members have stated that the ''Bang The Machine'' documentary may never be officially released, because material was destroyed during the events of September 11, 2001.]
In 2003, Daigo won the ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'' tournament in the first
Super Battle Opera (Tougeki) and won the same game in
Evolution Championship Series
The Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as Evo, is an annual esports event that focuses exclusively on fighting games. The tournaments are completely open and use the double elimination format. As with Super Battle Opera, contestants ...
when he joined the event for the first time in the same year, making him the first player to win both the SBO and Evolution in the same year on the same game. Umehara also went to Evolution 2004 and Absolution 2004
[
] on April 18 in England and won on ''SSFII Turbo'' there.
Daigo has participated regularly in a number of tournaments, appearing in at least one each year since his start in 1997, with a brief hiatus in 2008.
[
]
Play style
Throughout his career, Daigo Umehara's main character has been
Ryu and his play style based on ''zoning'' (keeping the opponent at a specific distance) even though he is also adept in close combat. Since ''
Street Fighter V
''Street Fighter V'' is a fighting game developed by Capcom and Dimps and published by Capcom for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows, Windows in 2016. An Arcade game, arcade version exclusive to Japan was released by Taito in 2019.
Similar to th ...
s balance patch in December 2016 that nerfed Ryu to balance the game, Daigo switched to
Guile
Guile may refer to:
* Astuteness, deception.
* GNU Guile, an implementation of the Scheme programming language
* Guile (''Street Fighter''), a video game character from the ''Street Fighter'' series
* Guile (''Chrono Cross''), a video game chara ...
, a ''charge'' character. Daigo said, "I don't care if I play a top tier character. I don't need to pick a top tier character, but I want to have a character that can fight the top tiers. It's boring if you go to tournament and you know you're going to run into a really bad match up, it's like 'Oh, I can't win because of the match up'". Hesitating between
Urien
Urien (; ), often referred to as Urien Rheged or Uriens, was a late 6th-century king of Rheged, an early British kingdom of the Hen Ogledd (today's northern England and southern Scotland) of the House of Rheged. His power and his victories, ...
and Guile, he finally chose the latter, but decided to try Ryu one more time in ''Topanga League 6'' and ''Final Round 20''. His disappointing results (he finished respectively last and 33rd) made him give up on Ryu. Since then, he has continued to play with Guile in spite of a new balance patch that partially restored Ryu in 2017.
Evolution 2004
Despite having never matched off against him before, Umehara was known for having a supposed rivalry with the American
Justin Wong
Justin Wong, occasionally shortened to just Jwong, is a formerly American and now Canadian professional fighting game player.
Wong has won more EVO titles than anyone else with nine tournaments won: seven for '' Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of ...
due to their differences in gaming philosophies. The two players met each other in the loser's finals of
Evo 2004
The 2004 Evolution Championship Series (commonly referred to as Evo 2004 or EVO 2004) was a fighting game event held at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in Pomona, California from July 29 to August 1. The event featured nine fig ...
's ''Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'' tournament. Umehara, playing using the character
Ken
Ken or KEN may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer.
* ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film.
* ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine.
* Ken Masters, a main character in ...
, was down to his last pixel of
vitality
Vitality (, , ) is the capacity to live, grow, or develop. More simply it is the property of having life. The perception of vitality is regarded as a basic psychological drive and, in philosophy, a component to the will to live. As such, peopl ...
and any special attack by Wong's
Chun-Li
is a fictional character in Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' video game series. The first ever female playable character to appear in a fighting game to gain mainstream recognition, she first appeared in ''Street Fighter II: The World Warrior'' in 1 ...
, even if guarded, could knock Ken out. Wong attempted to hit his opponent with Chun-Li's "Super Art" move, forcing Umehara to parry 15 attacks in a very short period of time. Umehara did so successfully and went on to counter a final kick of Chun-Li in mid-air before launching a combo move himself and winning the match. Though Umehara lost the grand finals to Kenji Obata, the clip of him parrying Wong's multihit attack became hugely influential and has been compared to famous sports moments such as
Babe Ruth's called shot
Babe Ruth's called shot is the home run hit by Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees against the Chicago Cubs in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, held on October 1, 1932, at Wrigley Field in Chicago. During the at-bat, Ruth mad ...
and the
Miracle on Ice
The "Miracle on Ice" was an ice hockey game during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. It was played between the hosting United States and the Soviet Union on February 22, 1980, during the medal round of the men's hockey tourna ...
.
"
Evo Moment 37
"Evo Moment #37", or the "Daigo Parry", refers to a portion of a '' Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'' semifinal match held at Evolution Championship Series 2004 (Evo 2004) between Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong. During this match, Umehara made an ...
", also known as the "Daigo Parry", is frequently described as the most iconic and memorable moment in the history of
competitive video gaming
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although org ...
. It was at one point the most-watched competitive gaming moment of all time.
''Street Fighter IV'' era
In July 2008, Umehara came out of retirement
and became competitive once again. This time, his focus was on the newly released
Street Fighter IV
is a 2008 fighting game published by Capcom, who also co-developed the game with Dimps. It was the first original main entry in the series since '' Street Fighter III'' in 1997, a hiatus of eleven years.
The coin-operated arcade game version wa ...
. Because of this, Japanese arcade gaming magazine Arcadia has included a DVD featuring "Umehara Concept Matches" in its January 2009 issue (released on November 29, 2008) and "The God has returned" was stated in Umehara's player introduction part. The DVD contains exhibition matches between him and Japan's 6 top players such as Inoue, Itabashi Zangief,
Fuudo
, better known as , is a Japanese electronic sports player specializing in the ''Street Fighter'' series. Fuudo entered the fighting game scene in 2005 playing ''Virtua Fighter 4''. Fuudo has won various fighting game tournaments, including the ...
, Nemo, and Mago.
2009
On March 5, Umehara made an appearance as the "god of the fighting games world" on the TV show "Gamer's
Koshien". He and four other top Japanese players (Soushihan KSK, Itabashi Zangief, Mago, and Tokido) competed with each other and with celebrities in a Street Fighter IV
round-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...
.
On April 18, at GameStop's Street Fighter IV National Tournament 2009 in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, four players from three countries held exhibition matches following the main competition. Umehara, who came by Capcom's invitation, defeated players Iyo, Poongko and Justin Wong to win the tournament. For the win, he was awarded a free trip to Evolution 2009 in Las Vegas.
Umehara began writing a column in Arcadia called Umehara Column: Michi, starting with the August issue. ("Umehara Column: Street")
Thanks to his win at the GameStop tournament, Umehara entered the Evolution 2009 Street Fighter IV competition as a seeded player in the semi-finals on July 18, which was the second day of the event. In the third and final day, Umehara defeated Justin Wong and placed him in the Losers Bracket, then advanced to the grand finals only to meet Wong again. The two fought until the last game possible, but Umehara ultimately won the competition.[
]
The September issue of Arcadia magazine included a DVD featuring a set of "Umehara's Concept Matches." This was a follow-up to a previous DVD which released in late 2008.[
][
]
On August 7, Umehara participated in an all night tournament called "GODSGARDEN."[
][
]
Umehara participated in exhibition matches in a Street Fighter IV competition in Taiwan on October 10.[
] The matches were broadcast live on Famitsu
formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...
's web channel.[
]
Umehara returned to the United States to join a tournament called Season's Beatings, held October 16–18 in Columbus, Ohio. He won Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Street Fighter IV Singles competition.[
][
]
In a November interview with Simon Parkin, a 28 year old Daigo stated that he felt he was, currently, at his peak as a gamer. He went on to clarify his claim: "My reactions are probably comparable to when I was younger, but I no longer grow agitated when I'm cornered. Nothing can mentally break me anymore; I have mastered nervousness and tension. I can instantly tell opponents apart and categorize them into groups and types according to their personality and weaknesses. As I haven't felt my physical abilities weakening yet, I think I might be at the peak of my career as a fighting gamer."
On November 26, Umehara and five other top Japanese Street Fighter IV players joined a Nico Nico live internet show[
] to talk about the second GODSGARDEN tournament. The show also featured an exhibition match between Umehara and Mago.[
]
2010
Instead of participating in GODSGARDEN #2 (March 6), Umehara flew to France to enter Street Fighter IV tournaments in the World Game Cup gaming event, which took place March 3–7. He placed second in singles and first in 2-on-2.[
][
]
On April 4, Umehara and two teammates participated in an official Street Fighter IV National Tournament and qualified for the top 14. His team was eliminated, in the quarter finals.[
]
Umehara participated in Capcom's Super Street Fighter IV
is a 2010 fighting game produced by Capcom. It is an updated version of ''Street Fighter IV'' and has been said to mark the definitive end of the ''Street Fighter IV'' series. Having been deemed too large an update to be deployed as Downloadable ...
"Fight Club" launch party in Los Angeles, United States on April 23.[
] Umehara held exhibition matches in which he played various characters including Hakan, Guy, and Dee Jay against a dozen challengers. The event closed with a 3-out-of-5 match[
] between Umehara and Justin Wong, ending in a double-K.O. draw which left Umehara undefeated all night. It was also revealed at the event that Umehara had accepted a sponsorship deal with Mad Catz
Mad Catz Global Limited (formerly Mad Catz Interactive, Inc.) is an American Chinese-based company that provides interactive entertainment products marketed under Mad Catz, GameShark (gaming products) and TRITTON (audio products). Mad Catz distr ...
and would play under their name in future tournaments.
[
][
][
][
]
The limited edition of Super Street Fighter IV from the e-CAPCOM store included a special DVD featuring two tournaments between Japan's 8 top players: Umehara, Tokido, Iyo, Shirou, Kin Devu, Momochi, Tokidoki Nukings, and Itabashi Zangief.[
] The Super Street Fighter IV Technical Guide published by Enterbrain which was released on April 28 includes a DVD featuring exhibition matches of the new characters played by Japan's 7 top players: Umehara, Tokido, Kin Devu, Iyo, Momochi, Itabashi Zangief, and Shirou.[
][
]
On May 9, Umehara appeared on the NHK
, also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.
NHK operates two terrestr ...
Sunday night program "MAG-NET" in a feature about Street Fighter.[
]
On May 15, Nico Nico Live held a Super Street Fighter IV online competition where participating online players on Xbox Live
The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...
got a chance to fight Japan's 3 top players: Umehara, Mago, and Tokido. They also held offline matches and a brief talking segment.[
]
May 29–30, Umehara went to Australia for the first time to participate in Evolution Asia Pacific's Super Street Fighter IV tournament in Sydney. He won the tournament, losing just one game.[
] As the grand prize, he earned a paid flight to Evolution 2010 in Las Vegas where he would start off as a seeded player.[
][
][
]
On June 4, Umehara joined the 106th Xbox Live Park online event held by Microsoft Japan with Famitsu's editorial department. During the two-hour event, participating Xbox Live Gold members had the opportunity to chat and face off with Umehara in Super Street Fighter IV online matches.
After getting 2nd place in Nagoya Street Battle 15 (July 4), Umehara joined Evolution 2010 on July 9–11 and faced a tougher challenge than before with over 1,700 players[
] from around the world participating in the Super Street Fighter IV tournament. Nevertheless, Umehara secured a win without ever dropping into the Losers bracket. The live stream of the event set a new record with an approximate 48,000 viewers at its peak across its two channels ( Stickam 18,000 and Ustream
IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream and IBM Cloud Video) is an American virtual events platform company which is a division of IBM. Prior to IBM acquisition, it had more than 180 employees across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Budapest offices. ...
30,000).[
][
][
][
]
After winning the qualifier on May 22, Umehara's team participated in the Super Battle Opera 2010 Street Fighter IV finals on September 19 and won second place. The event took place as a part of Tokyo Game Show 2010 at Makuhari Messe
is a Japanese convention center outside Tokyo, located in the Mihama-ku ward of Chiba City, in the northwest corner of Chiba Prefecture. Designed by Fumihiko Maki, it is accessible by Tokyo's commuter rail system. ''Makuhari'' is the name of ...
International Convention Complex.
Umehara participated in the Season's Beatings tournament in Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
for the second time October 15–17,[
] the Southern California Regionals tournament in Los Angeles November 6–7,[
][
][
] the Canada Cup in Canada November 13–14, and the Northern California Regionals tournament November 20–21.[
] He also attended an exhibition event in Kuwait on November 26.[
]
2012
Umehara published his first book on April 2, 2012. The book reached the #1 best-selling spot on Amazon Japan's Kindle store.
2013
On April 13, 2013, Daigo attended the New York University Game Center's fourth annual Spring Fighter event as a special guest alongside Seth Killian
Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. ...
. At the event, Umehara and Killian held a talk, in which Umehara discussed his life in and out of the Street Fighter scene.
On June 6, 2013, Daigo spoke at the first in a series of seminars hosted by Tohmatsu Innovation Co, Ltd. targeting business executives.
On August 30, 2013, Daigo had a match against the 2013 EVO Champion Xian. The rule was the first to win 10 matches will be declared the winner. Daigo won the match 10-0 against the world Champion Xian.
A couple of months later, in a similar match, Daigo beat Infiltration 10-2.
On November 24, 2013, Daigo held a panel at the DODA career fair where he spoke about his experiences as a professional gamer.
2015
During the Stunfest 2015 final, Daigo managed to pull off an impressive 25-hit combo with Evil Ryu against Ken
Ken or KEN may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer.
* ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film.
* ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine.
* Ken Masters, a main character in ...
controlled by Momochi who was the best Ultra Street Fighter IV
is a 2008 fighting game published by Capcom, who also co-developed the game with Dimps. It was the first original main entry in the series since '' Street Fighter III'' in 1997, a hiatus of eleven years.
The coin-operated arcade game version ...
player of the season according to the Capcom Pro Tour 2015 ranking. The combo thrilled the crowd and was acclaimed by the live french and english commentators. It was selected by Capcom
is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...
as one of the «Most Hype Moments» of 2015 in a retrospective video. « You could hear the crowd go wild and if you were watching the stream you could see the stream chat go crazy » wrote Capcom
is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...
in an article, while a french spectator who was in the crowd said that « Daigo's incredible 25-hit combo with Evil Ryu stunned the crowd and the opponent ». Daigo finally won the tournament beating Momochi 3-1, 3-1.
Umehara penned a foreword for the September issue of Japan's Harvard Business Review, with the title "得意なことより好きなことを追求する" ("''Tokui na koto yori suki na koto wo tsuikyuu suru''", "Pursue that which you like rather than that at which you excel").
In December 2015, Umehara announced his intentions to donate the entirety of his winnings from the Capcom Pro Tour
The Capcom Pro Tour is a series of international fighting game esports, tournaments sponsored by video game developer Capcom. The Pro Tour culminates in the annual Capcom Cup, a single-day tournament held in the San Francisco Bay Area.
2014
Capc ...
2015 Finals, a sum of $60,000, to the Evo Scholarship, a New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
scholarship program which offers financial assistance to students wishing to study game design at the NYU Game Center at the Tisch School of the Arts. The NYU Game Center confirmed the $60,000 donation on January 6, 2016.
''Street Fighter V'' era
2016
The January issue of the Japanese Harvard Business Review featured a twelve-page interview with Umehara entitled, "感情を制するものはゲームを制す" ("Kanjou wo seisuru mono wa game wo seisu", "He who controls his emotions controls the game.")
In February 2016, Daigo was narrowly defeated by American rapper and music producer Lupe Fiasco
Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( ), is an American rapper, singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, ''Lupe Fiasco's ...
in a ''Street Fighter V'' exhibition match. The event, organized by former Mad Catz
Mad Catz Global Limited (formerly Mad Catz Interactive, Inc.) is an American Chinese-based company that provides interactive entertainment products marketed under Mad Catz, GameShark (gaming products) and TRITTON (audio products). Mad Catz distr ...
executive Mark Julio, was live streamed to over 75,000 viewers. Several observers noted that Daigo's timing appeared to be off, and that he did not capitalize on key strategic openings during the match.
On April 26, 2016, Daigo held a talk in conjunction with Mizuho bank and medical professor Yoshiki Ishikawa in Osaka, Japan.
In May, 2016, Daigo appeared in the Street Fighter documentary, "格闘ゲームに生きる" ''(Kakuto geemu ni ikiru , Living the Game),'' broadcast on WOWOW. Later that month, the documentary was screened at the Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto, Canada under the name "Living the Game."
On June 1, 2016, Japanese publisher Shogakukan released the book
悩みどころと逃げどころ
''(Nayamidokoro to Nigedokoro),'' a written discussion between Umehara and the popular Japanese blogger Chikirin.
In July 2016, an official English translation of Umehara's first book, ''The Will to Keep Winning,'' was sold to Evo attendees as an event exclusive. The book continued to be sold exclusively at fighting game events across the globe throughout the remainder of 2016.
On September 14, 2016, Umehara announced that he had achieved two new World Records recognized by Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
: "Most views for a competitive fighting game match" (for his famous match against Justin Wong from Evo 2004) and "Highest all-time rank in Ultra Street Fighter IV." Umehara received official recognition for the records via a ceremony held at Tokyo Game Show
, commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. The ...
.
On November 30, 2016, Umehara announced that he had entered a new sponsorship deal with gaming headset maker HyperX
HP Inc. is an American multinational information technology company
A technology company (or tech company) is an electronics-based technological company, including, for example, business relating to digital electronics, software, and inte ...
.
On December 1, 2016, Red Bull and director Nick McDonald released an eleven-minute documentary on Daigo Umehara entitled, "Mind of a Beast." In the piece, Umehara addressed the pressures of life as a professional gamer, and asserted a distinction between the mythical public figure "Umehara" and the flawed human being, Daigo Umehara.
2017
On January 19, 2017, Daigo gave a two-hour lecture entitled "1日ひとつだけ、強くなる" ("Ichinichi hitotsu dake, tsuyoku naru", "Getting Stronger Everyday") at the Keio University Marunouchi City Campus. In the lecture, Daigo discussed the ups and downs of carving out a niche as a professional gamer. He spoke to a sold-out audience.
On March 1, 2017, Umehara announced that he had entered another sponsorship with Japanese game developer Cygames, alongside fellow pro fighting gamers Darryl "Snake Eyez" Lewis and Eduardo "PR Balrog" Perez. Together, the three athletes donned the moniker "Cygames Beast," sporting T-shirts with a matching new logo.
From March to May 2017, Umehara participated in the ELEAGUE Street Fighter Invitational, during which he played solely as Guile. Beginning in Group B alongside Snake Eyez and PR Balrog, Umehara pushed his way into the Playoffs, ultimately finishing 8th overall.
On May 27–28, Umehara participated in Red Bull Kumite in Paris, France. He placed 4th overall.
On June 27, Umehara appeared in the Red Bull France-produced documentary, "The Art of Street Fighting" alongside fellow pro gamers Xiao Hai, Gamerbee, Tokido, and Luffy.
On July 14–16, Umehara participated in EVO 2017. After a no-loss sweep in Round 1, he was bumped into the Losers bracket by Haitani during Round 2, and ultimately eliminated during the Semi-Finals by longtime rival Justin Wong
Justin Wong, occasionally shortened to just Jwong, is a formerly American and now Canadian professional fighting game player.
Wong has won more EVO titles than anyone else with nine tournaments won: seven for '' Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of ...
.
On July 14, Daigo launched the "Beast" apparel brand in conjunction with apparel makers Nsurgo. The brand is represented by Daigo as well as fellow Cygames-sponsored gamers Snake Eyez and PR Balrog.
2018
On March 10, Daigo was challenged by the EVO champion, Tokido, to a first to 10 Match. Tokido felt very strongly about proving that he was able to beat Daigo. Daigo won 10-5, leaving Tokido frustrated.
On July 22, he won the VSFighting Premier Event in Birmingham (United Kingdom).
2019
On June 30, Daigo placed 5th/6th in the CPT Premier tournament at Community Efforts Orlando 2019, where he was eliminated by Fujimura.
On October 27, Daigo placed 7th/8th in the CPT Premier tournament at First Attack 2019, where he was eliminated by JB.
Despite not winning any major tournaments, Daigo's consistent appearance at international CPT events throughout the year was enough to earn him a qualification spot at the 2019 Capcom Cup finals.
At the Capcom Cup 2019 finals, Daigo was eliminated by Tokido with a score of 3-2 in the second round of the tournament, leaving him with a tied 17th-24th place finish to end the 2019 competitive Street Fighter V season.
Books
Manga
"Umehara FIGHTING GAMERS!" is a dramatized manga depiction of Umehara's life as a young participant in the Street Fighter arcade scene, and features several noted players from the Japanese fighting game community. The series is considered a flagship title for its publisher, Kadokawa Shoten, who are actively marketing the series and have confirmed plans to serialize it in their seinen
is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word ''seinen'' literally means "youth", but the term "''seinen'' manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like ''Weekly Ma ...
comic magazine Young Ace UP.
The series is illustrated by Kengoro Nishide and written by Saitaru Orika and Maki Tomoi, with Daigo acting as an editorial supervisor.
On July 14, 2017, the English translation of Daigo's manga series, titled ''Daigo the Beast: Umehara Fighting Gamers,'' debuted with the release of Volume 1 (which compiles the first and second volumes of the Japanese series). The volume, published and translated by Udon Entertainment
Udon Entertainment Corp. is a Canadian art studio and publisher. The company publishes original and translated comic books, graphic novels, manga and art books related to anime and video games. It was founded in 2000 and is named after udon, a ...
, was released as an early exclusive for EVO attendees, and is planned for a wider release in December 2017.
Achievements
References
External links
Daigo Umehara's official homepage
Daigo Umehara's Japanese fan site
Daigo Umehara related articles on Japanese gaming magazines
{{DEFAULTSORT:Umehara, Daigo
1981 births
Fighting game players
Living people
People from Tokyo
Japanese esports players
Street Fighter players