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Casuals: Gootecks, the Street Fighter Entrepreneur
Gootecks talks new media content creation and teaching people how to compete in Street Fighter.
Ryan 'Gootecks' Gutierrez competing in SF4
© Cross Counter/ Chris Bahn
Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez has made quite a name for himself in the Street Fighter community over the years. He played Street Fighter III: Third Strike at a high level. He’s been to numerous events over the years as player, host, and commentator. He started Cross Counter to teach people how to compete in Street Fighter when there weren’t many options for learn on an individual basis.
Gootecks has forged a career in new media, continuing to modernize his business and products with the advent of new technology. But it wasn’t easy and it took years to get to the where Street Fighter is in eSports and popularity. With Street Fighter V on the way, Gootecks is entering a new era as a player and professional, and it can’t come soon enough.
Tough Arcade Upbringing
90s kids remember all too well going to local corner stores or arcades to huddle around a Street Fighter cabinet. Quarters lined the bottom edge of the screen to mark someone’s spot in line. Gootecks was the 10-year-old kid trying to get good at Street Fighter. Those old arcade days were all about sink or swim. You earned respect by winning, and winning didn’t come easy if you weren’t afforded the opportunity to learn the game. Today, anyone can hop on YouTube, load up a tutorial, and go straight into Ultra Street Fighter IV’s Training Room, commonly referred to as the “lab”.
“I wanted to get better so I could beat the guys at the arcade,” Gootecks said. “It wasn’t necessarily a friendly place. Guys who were winning wouldn’t be nice to you. There’s a certain level of wanting to earn that respect from people to prove you didn’t suck.”
Suffice to say, Gootecks put in his work at local arcades and in college in Southern California. One of the first tournaments he went to was held at Cal Poly Pomona in 2003, where he attended school at the time, and it blew him away. Evo tends to have that effect on people.
“There was hundreds and hundreds of people there playing Street Fighter. I knew there was a tournament scene because it was covered now and then in magazines. I didn’t know anything like this existed,” Gootecks said.
Hitting the Peak
He went two and out, playing as Urien in Street Fighter III: Third Strike. But spending eight to ten hours a day in arcades and constant grinding paid off when Gootecks hit what he described as his peak in Street Fighter. He competed once or twice a week and cracked top 8 at events regularly and in 2008, he got the chance of a lifetime for an American Street Fighter player. He took a shot at competing in Japan at Super Battle Opera (SBO), one of the most prestigious Japanese fighting game tournaments at the time. His team’s goal was to not add another year to the U.S. streak of getting knocked out in the first game of the single elimination tournament.
“You could literally fly across the ocean to play one game of Third Strike and your trip was done,” Gootecks said. “We definitely made it our goal to not let that happen to us. Beating two guys at SBO was the peak for me.”
Excellent Aventures hosts, Gootecks and Mike Ross
© Eric Au
New Adventures in Street Fighter
Outside of Street Fighter, Gootecks got in on the ground floor of new media, creating content for the fighting game community that had never really been done before. He translated his experience in sound production and recording bands into doing Street Fighter podcasts and editing videos. It wasn’t until he and Mike Ross auditioned for a reality video game show called WCG Ultimate Gamer that they caught their lucky break. While Gootecks waited for his turn to audition, he was recognized by a representative from Machinima, a gaming and streaming network that shared the same office space as the reality show.
“I get recognized a lot now,” Gootecks said. “At that time, that never happened.”
Machinima offered to let Gootecks and Ross play Super Street Fighter IV before its release. Needless to say, a Street Fighter player isn’t going to turn down that kind of offer. Machinima recorded footage and posted videos that did well enough for them to offer the duo an opportunity to produce a show on their network. Thus, Cross Counter was born.
In it, Gootecks and Ross analyzed Street Fighter IV videos and offered suggestions on how players could improve their game. That led to other projects like Excellent Adventures, which Gootecks said was an afterthought at the time. It remains the only project to have survived that period. Cross Counter eventually evolved into a training service Gootecks provided for paying customers wanting specific one-on-one help with improving in Street Fighter.
Sharing the Knowledge
In 2010, Gootecks and Mike Ross brought in Justin Wong, who coincidentally auditioned and landed a role on WCG Ultimate Gamer, to help with the training. It didn’t quite pan out like Gootecks had hoped it would. The technology wasn’t where it needed to be and the administration of it all was too much work. Roughly four years later, Gootecks revived the concept thanks to better booking systems and a bigger roster of trainers. It took the insistence of someone wanting to get better at Third Strike before Gootecks realized he was more than qualified to teach Street Fighter.
“I realized I was more than qualified to train most of these players,” Gootecks said. “Almost everyone that comes to me aren’t high level players. They’re players who struggle by themselves and are experiencing sub-par results.”
Training players had an extra benefit. It helped Gootecks with his own game but only to a certain extent because Gootecks hit what can best be described as an existential crisis with Street Fighter IV.
“I think I was struggling in the game as a player because I had let myself stagnate and didn’t continue to grow as player,” he said. “I didn’t know how to grow. I didn’t know what that meant.”
Reality Sucks
Gootecks also pointed out his ego was far more fragile when he was younger.
“I would take it to heart when people would say something mean about me. I was not in a good enough position in my mind to not let any of that bother me.”
If that wasn’t enough, expectations that he should be winning put even more pressure on him.
“If I’m not winning, I suck. Everything is terrible because I lost,” he said. “That’s where I was as a person and that reflected in my game. Feeling self-conscious about my performance as well as stagnating as a player let me to just not be excited about the game anymore.”
The final straw that nearly drove Gootecks away from the scene altogether was a cease and desist letter from Capcom in 2013, preventing him from selling his training video content. His business had been crippled, and as a result he was ready to walk away from it all. Eventually the situation was resolved, but it took time to rebuild as the people and culture changed at Capcom.
Gootecks and Mike Ross in the Christmas spirit
© Cross Counter
Mental Fortitude
Now Gootecks is back doing what he does best, which is content creation and playing Street Fighter. Part of why he's been doing so well lately is learning to be in control of his mindset. After a humbling loss to Haitani at Evo 2015, Gootecks relfected on his thoughts, and found a better perspective..
“I was bummed and I shouldn’t have been,” Gootecks said. “In recent months, I’ve tried to change my mindset with what I expect and what I’m going through when I play. I should’ve been preparing for Evo but when I started playing Street Fighter V, I didn’t care about Street Fighter IV. Why would I have expected to have done any better?”
Getting a little older, learning more about himself as a person, and some meditation contributes to how Gootecks approaches life and Street Fighter. Becoming mentally stronger pushes away negative thoughts and feelings and he’s able to resolve anger faster, which is a huge part of the mental game in Street Fighter. How quickly you can move on and learn from a mistake in any situation makes someone mentally and emotionally stronger.
“To compete at the highest level, you need to get your mind right. Outside the game, I was lazy or didn’t think it was important to learn all the characters. I got that down so it’s important to work on my mental game,” he said.
Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez is ready to move on from Street Fighter IV. He’s spending hours upon hours at events and tradeshows getting in as much time on Street Fighter V as he can. He’s creating content and writing books to help other players make the transition as well. Gootecks wasn’t concerned with losing at a recent Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament because he’s finally ready to close out that chapter of his competitive life, and he’s putting players on notice.
“Street Fighter V is coming fast and furious, and everyone I lost to that day, come see me in Street Fighter V.”
Check back next Thursday for another installment of Casuals and follow @RedBullESPORTS on Twitter for more Street Fighter coverage.
