Ryu's True Master: Daigo Umehara's Fury Knows No Bounds

No group of high-level fighting game players would be complete without Daigo Umehara, the first “pro” Street Fighter player and among the most revered gaming personalities of all time. A man with major tournament victories across three decades, Daigo’s influence on fighting games has been felt by virtually everyone - and his playstyle is still emulated to this day. Outside of fighting games, Daigo is a published author, with 5 books under his mantle, and even has an ongoing manga series about his life. He is also my personal inspiration to play fighting games and my Ryu mentor.

While Daigo made a name for himself overseas in his home country of Japan, winning tournaments for years, his first international exposure was was at the Street Fighter Zero (Alpha in the U.S.) 3 World Championships:

The finals came down to Daigo and SoCal champion Alex Valle. The thrilling set concluded with Daigo victorious. These two would go onto become sort of the Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair of the FGC, becoming two of the greatest players of all time and battling each other throughout the decades - even as recently as March 2018 at ELEAGUE.

Arguably Daigo’s most well-known fighting game contribution is the legendary “Evo Moment #37,” which took place at the Evolution 2004’s Street Fighter III: Third Strike tournament. Top American player Justin Wong, his opponent, had the life lead and was fishing to kill Daigo rather than let time run out. Justin threw out a super to try to “chip” Daigo - killing him with residual damage caused by blocking the super. Knowing he couldn’t block the attack, Daigo instead miraculously parried the entire super and came back to take the round.

Daigo also had a presence in the other great Capcom fighter of the era, Capcom vs. SNK 2. CVS2 is probably my favorite fighting game of all time, so being able to watch my favorite player wreck havoc in the game was a joy to see. Watch him blow up BAS, one of the top CVS2 players in the world here:

When Street Fighter IV was released, Daigo wasted no time cementing himself as the top player in the world, winning the first two Evolution championships in 2009 and 2010. Using his trademark character, Ryu, Daigo defeated then-Evil Genius representatives Justin Wong and Ricky (now spelled Ricki) Ortiz in back-to-back finals.

Daigo hasn’t won an Evo since 2010, but he’s still collected an impressive number of tournament victories as his legend continues to grow. He’s still the most recognizable Street Fighter player and always attracts his opponent’s A-game when they sit down to play him.

For me, Daigo is a bit more than just a player I enjoy watching. I knew about him since the days of Third Strike, but only knew him as a Ken player. When I learned that Daigo was primarily a Ryu player, it piqued my interest. Here was this world champion using my character. It made me feel like even I could be that great one day. So, I studied his playstyle. I emulated him in games like Third Strike, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and Capcom vs. SNK 2. I strived to be just as good as him. Then, when Street Fighter IV came out, and YouTube and streaming video became more mainstream, I was able to watch him play Ryu and immediately start practicing. I was able to greatly improve as a player during this time, and I owe a lot of credit to Daigo for helping me develop a winning mindset along with a growth in skills and knowledge of fighting games. 

Want to see more of the infamous Beast in action? Check out the video power play of Daigo picking Ryu back up for a couple rounds in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition!