If there’s one name in the world of professional fighting games that people know even outside of the genre, it’s Daigo Umehara.
Evo Legends recently released their latest profile talking directly to The Beast himself where Reject|Daigo Umehara goes through his gaming origins, reaching the top, Evo Moment #37, quitting and coming back as the first pro player plus how the Fighting Game Community has evolved and his future goals.
Daigo’s historic gaming journey began at just five years old when his sister made him help convince their parents to buy a Super Nintendo, but what really grabbed his attention were the arcades.
Although he’s mostly known now as a Street Fighter player, Umehara actually started with Fatal Fury as his first fighting game before his friend told him to try Street Fighter 2.
“I was already in love from the first moment I saw [Street Fighter 2],” said Daigo. “There was a pretty large gap between the arcades and consoles at the time. If I paid money, I could play this fun game. If it were possible, I felt like I would stay all day at the arcade.”
“I was so full of confidence as a kid. After this first time playing, I had mistakenly thought I was good. When I started playing with the adults, I realized there were people a lot better than me… I started thinking I was good, even amongst adults, around the age of 12 or 13.”
And after learning his footing in Street Fighter, it would be Darkstalkers where Umehara started to make a name for himself and get recognition.
“The confidence of not losing to anyone, I gained that through Night Warriors”
“The confidence of not losing to anyone, I gained that through Night Warriors. I actually had 286 consecutive wins, but at that time, Night Warriors would only display up to 255 wins.”
He says his first tournament was at a neighborhood toy store where the young Umehara whooped everyone else and started to become bored at the lack of challenge.
That was until he met Nuki, who became his true rival at the top.
Despite being at that top level, however, there was no sense of going pro or playing games for a living back then, and Umehara tried to frame his interest in fighters as temporary until he found his calling in life — where in reality he had already discovered it.
“Regarding my parents being supportive of me and tournaments then, they knew it was something I liked, but could only vaguely tell if it was a tournament or a festival. So when I first won at a national tournament, they pretty much said ‘that’s great.'”
“My parents said that they would always support me as best as they could. Though I think to them, that wasn’t the case for video games. Because I liked video games, they didn’t stop me, but they were hoping I would find my calling quickly. So it was less support and more so them watching over me until I found my path in life.”
The came that pivotal moment in life where college-aged people are supposed to enter “normal” society, so Umehara decided to walk away — but not before taking on one last tournament that would change history and the Fighting Game Community.
“I quit going to the arcades once in 2004. So the popular video of me and Justin’s match, I was intent on quitting at that time. I knew I would quit, so I figured I’d make Evo my last tournament.”
And as usual, Umehara downplays his pivotal set against Justin Wong in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike where the legend of the Daigo Parry was born even as the man himself left the scene behind for a number of years.
“Actually, I didn’t practice [the parry] for my match with Justin. Like I said, I didn’t really like the parrying system from the start, but I originally practiced parrying Chun-Li’s Super and was able to do it. I just so happened to pull that very rare, skillful parrying technique right then and there.”
“My desire to challenge him was probably really strong. As Justin played very defensively, the match progressed as such the whole time. It felt like I kind of wanted to give him a scare or surprise him. That’s how I felt. I wasn’t afraid nor did I worry about failing.”
He didn’t realize the moment would become that popular, so it didn’t influence his decision to retire, watching his peers around him move on in life and losing his passion for fighting games — and he did quit.
“One thing I thought of when I picked up games again with SF4 was that society never praised me in life when I wasn’t playing video games”
It wasn’t until Street Fighter 4 that Daigo would pick up a fighting game again after his friend pestered him enough to try it out, and he got the itch once more.
“One thing for example I thought of when I picked up games again with SF4 was that society never praised me in life when I wasn’t playing video games. Such was the case with school, part-time jobs, and no matter what job I worked. When I started playing fighting games again after a long while with SF4, sure enough, I felt special because I won. It was then I remembered that I had something special in me.”
He credits those feelings combined with his Evo 2009 victory and his Mad Catz sponsorship for his decision to push forward with fighting games as his profession.
As for how things have evolved since coming back like 18 years ago, Daigo states that the skill level has gotten a lot higher, and people who don’t even really play the games can enjoy watching them.
“In that way, it’s like how people with no place to go would gather in arcades a long time ago”
“In that way, it’s like how people with no place to go would gather in arcades a long time ago. I think the world is considerably brighter compared to the underground times.”
Umehara also discusses his upcoming first-to-10 match with WBG|MenaRD, he he says has shifted his perspective and drive once again.
Since he’s already an Esports Awards Lifetime Achievement winner, Daigo feels he’s already accomplished most of what he wanted to in his earlier years.
Now, he wants to focus on continuing to play as long as he can and keep that passion going though The Beast would like to win another Evo championship again to reach lucky number seven.
You can check out the latest Evo Legends profile for Daigo Umehara below where you can hear more about his life from the man himself, and let us know your favorite Daigo moment from his roughly 25 years of competition in the comments.