Since Ken apparently isn’t in the top 5, it seems BST|Daigo “The Beast” Umehara is searching for another character to supplement his competitive Street Fighter 6 journey, and has landed on the Russian Cyclone, Zangief.
I kid. Regardless of Daigo’s thoughts on his main character we know he’s committed to playing him at least until Akuma drops, and his recent ventures with Zangief (widely agreed upon by the community as one of the lower tier characters) likely serve to expand his general understanding of the game. That said, The Beast’s recent online Gief grind had him particularly flustered, which is as entertaining as it is unusual.
Those who have watched Daigo over the last few decades know he’s one of the most stoic of players on the planet, rarely allowing emotion to broadcast out regardless of its particular direction.
The video starts with The Beast doing fairly well, landing command grabs and sniffing out his opponents’ movements for some oh-so satisfying punishes. He flippantly yells out “SQUASH” in Japanese each time he lands one of Gief’s powerful grabs, revealing that he’s in a rare mood indeed.
Things start to take a turn, however, and Daigo begins feeling the pain of using a character with less effective tools than, say, Ken.
“With normals this weak, no wonder I get jumped [in on]!” he yells as Chun-Li’s level three super animation carries the current match to its conclusion. “With how little damage I score off normals, it’s no wonder.”
It’s not that bold a leap to claim that we’ve all spat sour words at loss screens with indignation and frustration at the choices developers have made, but seeing Daigo do so and be just like the rest of us does the soul good.
The Beast has more salt to share in the full video below. Give it a watch and let us know in the comments if you’ve shared in the Zangief struggle.