Evo Moment 37 is iconic for a variety of reasons, and for those uninitiated, this legendary play is easily the most recognized and popular ever to exist in the fighting game community.
The incredible Daigo parry against Justin Wong in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike at Evo 2004 has been recreated and immortalized in so many ways over the last 20 years, and today we have another tribute to it that deserves to be admired. Artist FunnisMonkis put together a spectacular piece depicting the clash between Chun-Li and Ken that is so good it even caught the attention of one of the two players involved in making the Evo moment happen.
To quickly refresh your memory, Evo Moment 37 featured the two fighting game legends squaring off on the big stage as Daigo’s Ken sat with just a pixel of life left and Justin Wong’s Chun-Li was itching to attempt a chip damage KO with one of her supers.
JWong ultimately decided to fire off the super thinking that Daigo wouldn’t be able to successfully perform a full parry of it, but unfortunately for the Chun-Li player, Daigo was ready. The Ken player parried every hit of Chun’s super, jumped up for one final parry of the last hit, then came down with a full combo into a super of his own to win the round.
FunnisMonkis’ art piece catches that first moment where Chun-Li’s foot makes contact with Ken’s parrying hand. As if time stood still at this very second, this artwork showcases a dynamic look at one of the most important plays in all of competitive fighting game history.
What makes this illustration really come to life is the angle at which we get to see the action. The point of view is tilted slightly giving the whole thing a bit of a 3D effect, and that is further bolstered by the positioning of the health bars and super meters.
This work is fantastically done, and after sharing it on Twitter the GOAT himself, Justin Wong, took notice of it. He quote tweeted it with a simple caption reading, “WOW,” continuing his streak of embracing his role in this historic moment.
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WOW https://t.co/NuLK1uEBeq
— Justin Wong (@JWonggg) August 20, 2024