During a live stream, BST|Daigo Umehara was asked about the separation of high level and top level players in fighting games. As usual, Daigo ended up having a rather detailed answer regarding this sort of question.
Daigo noted that there are generally two types of a players: the imitator and theoretical types. Though Daigo noted that he believed himself to be a theoretical type player, he would go on to state that it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing to be an imitator.
“This might sound mean, but you’re the type who’s good at memorization and imitation,” responded Daigo. “I don’t mean that in a bad way at all, but you’re no match for better versions of that same type.”
“Then there’s the other type, who are not memorizers or imitators,” continued Daigo. “If I were to give them a label, it’d be the ‘theoretical’ type. I’m that type.”
Essentially, imitators or memorizers are good at learning at what’s good in fighting games when they get discovered. As for the theoretical type player, they’re good at actually pioneering what’s good and learning about why they’re good in the first place.
However, it would seem that top competitors will have to understand things as a theoretical type player to make it beyond a certain point. There are certainly inherent advantages to understanding things at a level that others aren’t able to at first.
“In the gaming world, you’re bound to win if you do things no one else has done, because no one’s seen them before,” stated Daigo. “In other words, originality is linked to your chances of winning.”