A good place to start the home stretch is many players' favorite character. Well, a character that basically everybody can play, at least. Ken is awesome in this game, which is something most anybody that's heard of 3rd Strike knows well, even if it's only from the Daigo Parry. It's hard to really know why, though, which was maybe the biggest point I tried to make with this episode. The other is what happens at the top: Ken represents competition -- in fighting games, in video games, in series lore-- and there's credit owed to him that I think both lay gamers and FGC mainstays often overlook. A little high concept, but that's also one of the reasons I make these things.
This episode was tough to make from a writing perspective. I hadn't written a script in a long time, and this one was curiously difficult to pound out while I got back into the swing of things. Flaws in early drafts meant that I just kept adding things (and adding, and adding, and then adding some more), and while I knew this episode was going to be long, I didn't think it would end up this long. Still, I don't think its egregious (at least, I hope it isn't), but I probably could have used an editor here. The Hugo script is mostly written at this point, and it already feels tighter. Maybe I just needed Ken to help me shake off the cobwebs.
Things that should have been in this video: I mention Eliza as having a famously re-drawn sprite for her early appearances in the various SFII endings, but I just couldn't squeeze them in here without really mucking up the timing for everything else. You should look them up, though. It's some nutty shit.
Something that you might find funny about the match footage in the first part of these videos is how one player is always getting beat on by the others. I don't mind telling you at this point that this is me. I play with a handful of really talented players, and one in particular is just about great with the entire cast. When we get together and play (largely online these days), it's a real bloodbath for me. Most of the time, you can probably figure out when I'm playing now that I've said that. Just thought you might find it funny.
Things purposely left out: The Daigo Parry. Yes, it's famous and even alluded to in the voiceover, but if you're watching this video series you have already seen it, and probably dozens of times. It's also not entirely illustrative of Ken's abilities more so than Daigo's for pulling it off under that kind of pressure. At the point it happens in the match, Justin Wong's Chun had so little life left that nearly every character could have come down on him with a round-ending combo. This isn't to take anything away from Daigo and his skill, but he could have done it with Dudley or Yun or whoever.
BUT, if you want to learn high-level Ken play, you could certainly do worse than watching old Daigo match footage, which is all over YouTube. For my money, though (and, surprisingly, Daigo's, too), Deshiken is the best Ken player on Earth. Your Ken homework should start with this video from the best American Ken player, FrankieBFG. I know I link to his stuff a lot in these appendices, but the guy breaks down expert play to the point of mutating them into master classes. All of these are worth a watch.
With that, I think I owe you an apology. I went into this video series expecting to be finished a year ago, and this has dragged on way, way too long. I start basically every one of these appendixes moaning about how it took so long to make x episode, and that's something that needs to stop. It turns out, the pandemic really hit a lot harder than I thought it would. Between trading parenting duties with my wife and teaching our 5yo kindergarten while also working our full-time jobs, the thought of doing anything after the day is over besides having a drink and falling asleep felt like more work than I wanted it to. That ground things to a halt. I don't make money off of these and I enjoy doing them, but once they feel like work it can be hard to get back on the bike, as it were. The end is in site, though. As I said, the Hugo script is pretty much done, and the footage has been captured, so I should be able to knock that one out quickly. I just want this stupid year to be over. I bet you do, too.
I hope you're safe. Happy Holidays, and thanks for sticking with me.
