This weekend in Fighting Games Land, the "Moment 37 Reloaded" event was all the rage. 2014 marks the ten year anniversary of the most famous chunk of competitive Street Fighter play: "Evo Moment #37" from the Evolution 2004 Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike tournament. For those unfamiliar, this refers to a match where Daigo Umehara (playing Ken) parried a Houyoku Sen Super Art from Justin Wong's Chun-Li in full. The move would have killed Umehara from chip damage even if he'd chosen to block. He seamlessly switched to a jumping parry near the end, setting up a combo that won the round.
This was no small feat, as successfully parrying Chun-Li's Super Art II is difficult for many players even sitting at home in training mode. To have pulled it off in the midst of a rowdy foreign crowd in a major tournament setting was truly impressive, and it's still routinely brought up in "greatest pro gaming moments" articles. Ten years later, it's only natural that those in the competitive fighting game scene would begin feeling especially nostalgic as they look back on the "Daigo Parry" for the umpteenth time.
Enter "Moment 37 Reloaded," a tournament run by Super Arcade owner and old school Street Fighter player Mike Watson. The event was created to pay tribute to its titular piece of gaming history and celebrate (Capcom produced) fighters as a whole. In the midst of the finals for classic titles such as Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and Capcom vs. SNK 2 was a 3rd Strike exhibition between none other than Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong that aimed to re-create as much of the excitement from their famous Evo 2004 match as possible. Within an hour of it being streamed, the set was already generating buzz and being reuploaded to the Youtubes:
The title of this post already gave it away, but yes, Daigo managed to pull off the Houyoku Sen parry once again. He even turned it around into the same combo from "Moment #37." The situation is much different here given the relaxed atmosphere — as was the end result — but seeing this piece of immensely famous gameplay re-created is still a complete joy.
Given all of the buildup, it would have been a big letdown if the parry failed or never even happened at all. We all know attempting to relive past glories can easily lead to disappointing results. I'm thrilled that all of the fighting game fans that have long lauded the "Daigo Parry" don't have to feel as if something was taken from it this weekend. The wonderfully nostalgic "Moment #37 Reloaded" tournament has been a great success.
Real talk? I once parried a school bus. For more Castle Geek-Skull craziness, you can follow along on Twitter & Facebook!
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