MEET GL’S TRANSLATOR – 7TH PLACE WINNER OF “THAIGER UPPERCUT 2019”

Games Localization powered by EQHO proudly introduces Ice – our game translator, who just recently won 7th place of  Thaiger Uppercut 2019 – the biggest fighting game competition in Thailand.

To mark the occasion, we interviewed Ice to learn more about the tournament and tips for gamers.

Q: Why did you participate in the “The King of Fighters XIV” tournament?

A: Because it is my all-time favorite fighting game series, and there was no participation fee for this game.

Q: If we compare it to other fighting games out there, what is the thing that makes KoF different from other fighting game series?

A: KoF is a 2D fighting game series that emphasizes offense more than defense. The game is fast-paced when compared to other series, except “Airdasher” style fighting games or someone would call it “Anime” fighting games (Guilty Gear or BlazBlue series for example) which are even more fast-paced.

Q: Please tell me something about the TGU2019 event.

A: TGU2019 is one of the yearly competitive gaming events in Thailand that focuses on fighting games. To this day, this event is somewhat well-known in global fighting games community that various game publishers endorse and support the event to be an official tournament for pro players to collect points and qualify for the big event that will be held at the end of the year by the publisher.

The person of high standing will be invited to participate in the said big event which has enormous prize money and the winner of this event is often considered the best player in the world of the game they win at that point.

Q: Can you describe the fighting games community in Thailand? What are they like or something like that?

A: Well, because fighting games are not accessible for everyone, the community in Thailand is quite small, and because it is small, the community generally has less problem or… drama unlike games with more player base.

Also, fighting game players are generally separated into many subgroups for each game or style such as Street Fighter, The King of Fighters, Airdasher fighting games, or Tekken which have their own community and player base but they still support each other. In each group, people like to share some basic game mechanics for beginner, technique from beginner to advanced, or how to play character, and they always help the new player that is interested in the game.

Q: Do you have any advice for the people who are interested in the fighting games?

A: First, don’t be afraid or scared to lose. Try to see your loss as a lesson and see what you do wrong. Maybe your anti-air is not on point, your reaction is too slow, you always drop your combos, your play is too aggressive or too defensive, and many other things.

For those who want to improve and play better, just keep practicing but it’s not about fancy combos or advanced technique. In the end, every fighting game is a game of space control (often called “footsie” in fighting games community.) You have to know the most effective spot of your character to keep your advantage, while trying to move in and out of your opponent’s character most effective spot to bait your opponent to make a mistake then you “punish” them for their mistake, this is the basic of footsie.

Another thing is you should know when to attack or defend. You should always know which moment is your turn to attack or keep defending and this is when the “frame data” comes into play. They are the two most basic things but also the hardest ones in fighting games.

Those fancy combos, ambiguous set-ups, or advanced techniques can come later, because all of them are something you will get used to with enough practice. The fundamentals takes an enormous amount of experience (and losses) to just get a grasp of.