Gaming
esports
Gachikun is your Capcom Cup 2018 champion
This year’s Capcom Cup saw a slew of twists and turns. With strong characters and players in the mix, only one could make it to the top – this time, Tsunehiro ‘Gachikun’ Kanamori emerged the victor.
Tsunehiro ‘Gachikun’ Kanamori made waves in the fighting game community upon his stellar performance in 2017’s Red Bull Kumite, and now he’s secured the 2018 Capcom Cup against staggering competition in Las Vegas, USA.
Rising up against the likes of Evo 2017 champion Hajime ‘Tokido’ Taniguchi and Hiromiki ‘Itabashi Zangief’ Kumada, Gachikun had his work cut out for him – but he proved that he was able to overcome the challenge with his confident use of Rashid and a supportive fighting game community at his back. Join us as we relive the Capcom Cup 2018 finals and speak to the winner himself.
Japan’s thriving fighting game community
Gachikun made the move to Tokyo just after 2017’s Red Bull Kumite, prompting a significant increase in his experience and skill within the game. During his life in Hiroshima, he’d been reliant on online play to boost his strength – however, after settling down in Tokyo, he found a wealth of local competition against which he could hone his skills.
“When I lived in Hiroshima, I would still have to train hard, but I would train online,” he explains. “Here, I have pro players like Tokido, Daigo, Bonchan and Mago to help me improve my strategy – not only in offline training, but whenever I get stuck and can’t think of other strategies, I’ll contact these players and talk it out.”
Additionally, Gachikun’s presence in the Grand Finals alongside Itabashi Zangief marked the first all-Japanese Grand Finals in Street Fighter V’s history for the Capcom Cup. Preceded by America’s Du ‘NuckleDu’ Dang and Saul ‘MenaRD’ Mena during 2016 and 2017, respectively, Gachikun projects that his own victory will mark the start of yet another trend of Japan dominating the Street Fighter scene.
“Before a big tournament like this one, we will all get together and try to improve together, as a group,” he continues. “Last year it was the same, but I really couldn’t see the effect yet. This year I was fairly confident, I was doing great with my character… Of course, Benjamin ‘Problem X’ Simon won Evo and Victor ‘Punk’ Woodley is a threat as well, but Japanese guys come together to be better as a group.”
I’m summoning a storm!
Gachikun ended up securing the Capcom Cup against intense competition, facing his own team-mate, Masato ‘Bonchan’ Takahashi, in the Top 8. While Bonchan chose Nash, a relatively low-tier character, against Gachikun’s Rashid, Gachikun knew that ‘the last Nash’ was nothing to sniff at – and even admitted that the match-up, which you can see below, ultimately rested in Nash’s favour.
“I think that, as a Rashid player, Nash is a very hard character to play against,” he stated. “Because he’s a hard character to play against, I prepared for it, so in that match with Bonchan, it showed that I had trained to get better.”
That was far from the only challenge that Gachikun stood up against; the player went on to face Itabashi Zangief in the Grand Final, throwing down with his Abigail in a tense series of matches that had the crowd going wild. While Itabashi managed to reset the bracket in a confident 3-0 run, Gachikun ended up taking the Cup with an equally strong showing, which he attributed to tightening up his gameplay as he went along.
“Before the reset, it looked dominant from Itazan’s side,” Gachikun recalled. “For me, every match was really close, and I lost every match with little mistakes that he caught to his advantage. I knew that I had everything I needed to win. I just needed to refine these mistakes. I knew that I could have would any of those matches I had lost before the reset. It helped bring out my confidence again.”
Top-8 slugfests and the intense LCQ
While the night ended once Gachikun defeated Itazan 3-1 following the bracket reset, the Top-8 bracket featured a slew of slugfests, with crowd favourites Justin Wong and Yusuke Momochi putting up a major fight in the face of their competition. Justin threw down with Fujimura Atsushi in the Winner’s Semi-Finals only to be shot down during a nail-biting set, after which he went on to face Itabashi in yet another close game, who took the set 3-2.
This wasn’t the only development to squash America’s dreams of taking the Cup; Socal favourite Bryan ‘Dankadillas’ Teran faced off with Chia-Chen ‘ZJZ’ Tseng in the Grand Finals for the last-chance qualifier, prompting a battle of chants and cheers between Southern California locals and Punk (who had sponsored ZJZ after watching his performance at Tokyo Game Show) just in front of the stage. In a heart-wrenching turn of events, Dankadilla’s character choices (switching between Dhalsim and Blanka, respectively) didn’t hold up in the face of ZJZ’s Menat, who carefully managed his meter to end nearly each round with a V-Trigger activation into Critical Art – which you can see above.
Facing the future of SFV
The evening’s action concluded with the not-so-surprise reveal of new character Kage (see below), who embodies the Satsui no Hado’s raw, unhinged power. Just as the future is ripe for this newcomer, Capcom Cup champion Gachikun has similarly bright prospects, hoping to use his success to become a role model for upcoming generations of fighting game players – particularly those from his own area.
“As a competitor, I want to improve my gameplay,” Gachikun stated. “But more so, because I come from Hiroshima and the surrounding areas, even if people are struggling because the environment isn’t so good for players, if you have a passion, then you can aspire to be a better player and win big tournaments like me, and aspire to be better.”
With Season Four already underway, players across the globe are taking stock of both Kage and the game’s major balance changes. With more to come in the future, there’s no telling what fans can expect – but the competition from Capcom Cup weekend will live on in infamy, marking the first win for Japan in the final tournament within the Capcom Pro Tour.
