« Ryan "Prodigal Son" Hart Post- SVB 2010 Interview Part 2 »

Hart: "Well I can’t please everyone and I should just accept that. Winning against Daigo has not changed anything about me. I went into the match knowing I could win and I could lose. When I won I was happy, I had the support of everyone and that really helped me. Now the match is over, I’m still me and Daigo is still Daigo. Nothing has changed, Daigo is still the beast."Ryan "Prodigal Son" Hart has posted a part two to his post-Super Vs Battle 2010 interview.  Ryan took 2nd place and defeated Daigo "The Beast" Umehara, who placed 3rd. This second interview is interesting in that it elaborates more on his loss to Luffy086 (which I personally am glad that he did, as the first was vague on details), about people percieving him as "arrogant", and more. Check out the full interview below:

Well, it's been a little while since the first post SVB interview, so now it's time to go over some new issues which have come up over the recent days. Players worldwide have expressed their thoughts and feelings regarding the match with Daigo and also the post interview, even Japan and America have made observations:

1. So, it is now a fact that you defeated Daigo at SVB 20-X, how does this make you feel?

I am of course pleased with the win. And it’s been really nice to have people congratulate me but in my opinion Daigo was not on his best game. Just watch the match, he appeared different somehow, I don’t know what was going through his mind.


2. People say Daigo was not serious in the match, what do you think?

I would say Daigo wasn’t on his A game but I wouldn’t say that he wasn’t serious, I think that is going too far. He is now a signed and sponsored player by Madcatz and they paid for him to fly to/attend/win SVB 2010 from their own funds. Dropping the match under those circumstances would be impolite towards his sponsor. I’ve known Daigo for some years now and he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would do something like that."

"3. People say that Daigo's Ryu is superior to yours, what do you say?

Yes, I understand a lot of them, seeing their favourite player lose must be like seeing their favourite band booed in the middle of a set or something. You support them and have their back win, lose or draw. So I guess it's normal that people are unhappy that a less experienced Ryu player won the match. However in my opinion tournaments are like this, especially when it's only first two games.

Sorry, I know I haven’t really answered the question here. Well, err…if we are talking matchups I think Daigo’s Ryu vs my Ryu is 7-3. Daigo 7, me 3. If we measure it like that I’d say that how it is.


4. But you beat Daigo in tournament, you don't have to be nice just for the interview. Aren’t you being a little too modest?

No, not at all, the tournament was first to 2 games. It’s over so quickly, plus one of the matches he used Cammy so win or lose, that match kinda doesn’t count. I did win with Ryu but it was really close both rounds and could have gone either way.

I even think he had the 2nd round guaranteed with that lvl 3 focus combo that he missed, I still don’t know why he didn’t just do shoryu, fadc ultra, from the looks of my energy I was dead if he did that. I’ve lost a first to 2 in a tournament before, it doesn’t mean the guy is better than me but it happens and that’s how games are.

But yes to answer your question (Sorry, I’m not usually this good at skirting ), I feel Daigo’s Ryu is much better than mine because his execution is tighter (I often miss links), his Ryu experience far outweighs mine. I have trouble in matchups that I see him win with ease, and lastly he has more knowledge of the character and the game than me. I think this is key to character mastery on Street Fighter.


5. To put it bluntly, some players say you suck, how do you feel about this?

Hahahaha, I definitely don’t suck and anyone who says that must be bad at the game themselves. In my opinion to suck means you don’t even know the moves and can’t do any combos or something like that. I don’t have any of those problems so I know I don’t suck. Not beating top Japanese players, or not winning a tournament does not equal a player who sucks.

Otherwise every top player in the world would suck and the phrase would be pointless. Saying I suck is totally unrealistic and rude to players I’ve won against in the past, but yes I do respect that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that is a good thing.


6. What do you think about PR Balrog facing Daigo in the very first round of the top 8?

Well, I wouldn’t be too happy if I was PR but this is very common in tournaments. At least it was as far as top 8 and not pools. EVO has got to be the biggest tournament there is but yet in 2006 I was in the very same pool as Qudans. Me all the way from Europe and Qudans all the way from Korea; we were then both eliminated in pools, which was totally unrealistic of our skill level on the game at that time.

Then in 2008 me, Pedram, Zak and Harmonaz went to evo for third strike but I and Harmonaz were both in the same pool even though we were two of the only 4 people from the UK. Then to make matters worse the winner of me and Harmonaz would have to play Zak (also UK) in the next match. Surely just four people could have been spaced out better than that in such a large tournament?

It wouldn’t be so bad if things had improved since then but at this year’s EVO 2010 in Tekken 6, Cristina was in my pool even though there were only 3 of us from the UK, I mean that is just ridiculous. So you see it just gets worse, lol.

Once again I wouldn’t be happy if I was PR Balrog especially if I felt I could have beaten everyone else but that is the flaw of tournament organizers I think. Whether the brackets are random or not, consideration for players from the same area, state, country should be considered.


7. The US players have had a lot of input regarding your first interview which I’m sure you know. What do you honestly think of the US players?

Honestly? What does that mean? Like I wasn’t honest before or something, anyway… From what I’ve seen, they work really hard to be good at Street Fighter, just look at all the content on SRK. I know it’s not all USA players writing that stuff but predominantly it is. When I was at this EVO I felt like everyone was good around me, it was such a thrill looking to the left and looking to the right and seeing all the players around me.

I’d look at a random player in my mind I’d be like “I wonder who he uses”? “I wonder how strong he is”? These questions in my mind made it fun to be there because on the game everyone seemed so good.

You could just go to anyone and ask for a money match and you knew you’d have to play your best in the challenge. Also in comparison to Europe I found the US players to be fearless. People just money match each other when they don't even know each other. They weren't interested in seeing how good the other player is before accepting or anything.

They just put their money on the line right there and then. I thought “rah, these guys are just too sick, I wish people were like that in Europe”! It just felt like everyone and anyone was so good there. It was so refreshing to see.

I mean these guys have pride and aren’t afraid to defend it. In UK/Europe if you go up to random players at a tournament and ask for a money match 8 times out of 10 they won’t accept until they’ve seen you play or until they know who you are. I mean that attitude is not that of a champion or a fearless warrior looking for the strongest opponents. I think EU players would benefit to get more backbone in their game.

It doesn’t mean you have to have money matches or you are nothing, no. However generally fearing the next man for whatever reason is stupid and pointless in this kind of sport.

The US definitely has more strong players than Europe.


8. You say that losing to Luffy was because of his alien character but could you elaborate please?

Well, now I think about it if you look at just that, it just comes across as a bland excuse so let me explain further.

I could have a million reasons why Luffy won but the fact is he won fair and square and I think that is what I should have based the focus on when answering the first time. I think that I have issues with Rose but that is my own fault for not working on my weaknesses and it isn’t fair if I completely try to strip Luffy of his win based on that. After all, it’s not like I’m the only player he beat to win the tournament.

So I just want to say well done Luffy for winning SVB 20-X, I wish him all the best in future
tournaments and I’ll try harder next time.


9. Do you look forward to your next tournament meeting with Daigo?

No, not really to be honest, I know he’s better than me. I feel like he’s going to be all serious now and just try to embarrass me or something to prove a point because I won this time and that doesn’t feel good.


10. Have you been reading forum responses to your interview?

Yes I have been sent various comment links from friends and I wanted to get more involved so people could see I’m just a normal guy and not an arrogant brat who thinks he is better than the next man. I thought that directly getting involved with their community might help to be understood. But it seemed to do the opposite so maybe that was a mistake on my part.

People close to me told me I should not waste time with such people but I do care, that's why I tried to put time in on forums, but I see it doesn't work. So either my forum personality is not welcome or I just don't know how to convey myself properly. Either way it seems forums aren't for me.


11. Some players have now began to say that you are an arrogant player, what is your response to this?

Well I can’t please everyone and I should just accept that. Winning against Daigo has not changed anything about me. I went into the match knowing I could win and I could lose. When I won I was happy, I had the support of everyone and that really helped me. Now the match is over, I’m still me and Daigo is still Daigo. Nothing has changed, Daigo is still the beast.

One loss means nothing to a guy like him surely. As for me I have much training to do before I can shout about. I am far from the level I need to reach and I don’t think I am superior or better than everyone else. I am confident that if I train I can be a strong player but this is not to undermine other strong players.

I have limits as a human and the only reason I can do anything on games is because God gave me the ability to. There are many players better than me in the world. I am just simply playing to be the best I can be, and that’s it.


12. In your opinion, what would you say you are missing why you lose at EVO?

This question kind of reminds me of the losing to Luffy one. I mean I could list 101 reasons but at the end of the day it’s all excuses once it goes public so I won’t bother answering this one.


13. Surely there is something you can tell us, you appear to win many money matches and challenges but what happens in tournament?

For me, it comes down to match knowledge. I always have a hole in my matchup
knowledge when I go to EVO; this is usually because in UK/Europe we don’t have a strong player with that particular character. So at EVO if I come up against a character I’m less familiar with, it’s really hard for me. Either that or I lose a matchup that is generally hard for me even though I know the character.

Both EVO’s I lost the Sim vs Sagat matchup, the first year was because I didn’t know the matchup and this year was because I was outplayed. This kind of thing is why I don’t place higher. Overall it simply means I’m not good enough and need to train on my bad areas, nuff said.

14. In your opinion who are the top 5 players in the world?

To be honest, I haven’t been watching any Japanese match videos so I have no idea who is doing what on SSF4 at the moment at all but I believe the Japanese players must be on top at the moment.


15. Do you have a message to give the general public

Err, see you at the next tournament?


16. Anything else Ryan?

Well, I do wonder what ideas people might have for how a person like me can help the community. I mean I have a lot of gaming knowledge and experience but how can I share it productively?

This is something I have been looking into and I’m really interested to hear from people about it. Anyone at all, whether they play games or not. I mean nowadays there are tons of combo vids, option select vids, matchup comments, match vids, blogs and stuff like that online.

You can even go online and get lessons from top players for a small fee which is something we didn’t have before either and does have offer a direct benefit for players.
I also want a way that I can offer my opinions and support.

I have a few ideas but I just wondered what the public could suggest."