One of the great things about the normal 1v1 aspect of fighting games is that it can set up rivalries between players that can span multiple events or even years though it feels like we don’t see as much of that these days.
There is one eternal rivalry that will never likely be extinguished at least between DFM|Itabashi Zangief and GLOE|Nemo.
EvoFGC recently managed to somehow get these Street Fighter legends in the same room together to discuss their rivalry and react to probably their most iconic match to date.
Although they’ve both been playing for much longer, it was during the Street Fighter 5 era where things between Itazan and Nemo really seemed to get heated up, which they seem to look back on with some nostalgia now.
Before diving into the match, they’re asked how they see each other as players where Nemo doesn’t have much to say besides his rival likes to pick strong characters though Itazan certainly had a retort.
“He’s got a terrible personality, you know,” responded Itabashi Zangief. “And that makes him really good at finding people’s weaknesses. That’s the one good thing I can say about this guy.”
And of course there’s Nemo’s unending hatred for Zangief as a whole.
The rivals are sat down to watch their Capcom Cup 2017 match that led to Nemo’s iconic disrespectful handshake offer after the set though they did shake normally before that, which neither remembered happening.
Itazan jokingly laments that he rarely runs into Nemo in Street Fighter 6 nowadays and jabs a bit that Nemo has struggled to get consistent results in the newer game while the Zangief player has once again qualified for Capcom Cup 12.
It seems they still don’t want to shake each others’ hand or sit closer to each other, but the duo are also probably playing things up a bit for the camera too.
You should check out the full video below for more laughs and analysis on the match that’s still burned into the minds of the FGC after more than eight years, which is a little weird to think about.