The thing about being a world class Street Fighter player with insane moments recorded on grand stages? Your biggest losses can haunt you like spirits for the rest of your days, something that Justin Wong was reminded of this Christmas.
While streaming some holiday Third Strike, the legendary player found himself in an oh-too familiar position as Chun-Li, with a super stocked and his opponent’s health low enough to chip out. Despite conditions being perfect for another rendition of Evo Moment 37, the most famous competitive sequence in all of fighting games, Justin decided to rifle off Chun’s super, and instantly regretted doing so.
Moment 37 is so famous in the fighting game community that it was included as one of the trials when Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online Edition was released back in 2011. For those who aren’t familiar or need a quick refresher, Evo Moment 37 took place back at Evo 2004 during the semi-finals of Third Strike.
With only a pixel of health left, BST|Daigo Umehara successfully parried Justin Wong’s instant super (meaning Umehara had to guess the moment Wong would start his attack) which required 15 consecutive parries, all of which had to be done with pristine timing.
Daigo showed further mastery and preemptive practice for this particular situation by showcasing a perfect punish sequence that required him to jump and parry the super’s final hit in midair. Daigo pulled this all off while in the midst of an in person, end stage tournament setting, thus solidifying his legacy as “The Beast” thereafter.
People have pulled off the Moment 37 many times over the last 20 years, and it seems that Justin is a fan of giving people chances to do it against him whenever the situation naturally presents itself. Back in 2020, we actually covered an instance where a player named Kokujinsbrother almost performed it against Wong and gave him a near heart attack.
Here in 2024, Wong faced off against Kokujinsbrother in yet another Third Strike set. The situation did indeed present itself, and Wong did indeed go for it. A panicking Justin repeatedly shouts “it’s Christmas, IT’S CHRISTMAS” as more and more of Chun-Li’s 15 kicks are parried.
See how it all played out in the full clip below:
Christmas don’t love me pic.twitter.com/JrttYo1blt
— Justin Wong (@JWonggg) December 26, 2024