Amalgame TV's guest tomorrow morning will be Tekken prodigy Ao, who won Final Roundbats for Tekken 6 and represented Japan at Final Round 15! He placed 1st in the TTT2 tournament and 2nd in T6 after a heated Grand Finals with Anakin.

Ao will be playing Street Fighter X Tekken with Frieda, and we'll get to see a 3D fighting gamer's approach to a new 2D game.

We also have a monster announcement coming up on this one, which will be posted here on iPlayWinner in English after the show! Tune in at 6AM PST / 9AM EST to see it happen live.

Hit the jump to see an English summary of Kusoru's Interview from last week!

Questions from Frieda:

Frieda: When is the next time you'll be going to the US? Is Evo a possibility?

Kusoru: I can't really go as I'm just a student and don't have a lot of money. However, if I was sponsored . . . I supposed I'd go if it was first class! *laughs*

Frieda: Will you be participating in KVO?

Kusoru: I will be, and my team has been decided. I will be teaming with Kubo and Spinking for the 3v3. (Translator's note: this is 3 out of the 5 Gods of Kuso games!)

Frieda: Wow, that's a strong team isn't it?

Kusoru: Well, I entered an Aquapazza 3v3 tournament with the same team, and we lost in the first round. *laughs*

Questions from Stream Monsters:

"Why do you love soy sauce so much?"

Kusoru: I LOVE soy sauce. I use it so much that I suppose you could say people think of soy sauce when they think of "Kusoru". That's why I brought a bottle of Kikkoman Soy Sauce to Final Round.

"Who is the best UMVC3 Player in Japan?"

Kusoru: Probably Kamen Koshi. When UMVC3 came out, there were two online tournaments - one for the PS3 version and one for the Xbox 360 version. I won the 360 tournament, but Kamen won the PS3 one. Also, when we played a set, Kamen won more games than I did. While I've never played sets with them, by watching videos I also feel that Cho, Condor and Tokido are all stronger than me.

Twitter/iPlayWinner Questions:

@gogogoldberg: How did you decide your team? Do you have any attachment to your characters?

Kusoru: I decided on my team before UMVC3 came out. I chose them because I liked the characters; I wasn't thinking about how strong or weak they would be whatsoever. I thought to myself that if I used my team for a while and couldn't win, I would switch characters, but I was winning. I especially though that I wouldn't be able to win consistently with Rocket Raccoon on my team - but I could (after a long time!).

@setatakahashi: I noticed you were using a Qanba stick when you paused by accident against Filipino Champ. Are you used to playing on 360 or PS3?

Kusoru: It was a Hori V3SA, not a Qanba. The start button is on the face next to the main buttons on the Hori, so it's much easier to hit on that joystick. I had already landed the super and mashing buttons, and I did a pose for the crowd so that's how I hit it by accident.

@dragonzord42: Why don't you want to come back to the USA?

Kusoru: I didn't dislike America, (of course it was scary), but that's not the main reason I didn't want to come back. I simply don't have the money/resources to travel without sponsorship since I'm just a student.

@animelover1808: I know you might not be able to come back but will you continue to support the Marvel 3 scene in japan?

Kusoru: Most definitely! I will keep playing and I am still streaming and making videos. I'm also participating in Kvo.

Fersis and @dragonzord42: Is UMVC3 considered kusoge?

Kusoru: Well, there's different kinds of kusoge. There are fun kusoge and boring kusoge. UMVC3 is . . . well, it's a good game! A fun, good game.

Kusoru's Opinions on the differences between US and Japanese UMVC3 play

I feel like Japanese players are better at playing characters how they're supposed to be played and combo consistency, and American players are better at general footsies and zoning. However, there are a few Americans that have great combo execution as well - especially the Zeros! I was also amazed by American Spencers and Dantes.

I also felt that American players weren't as good at converting random hits into combos. It seems the players only had a set number of situations that they could convert into combos, and didn't know what to do from unexpected hits. Players also weren't activating X-Factor optimally in the middle of combos, I thought this especially when I played against Yipes. The impression I got is that Americans don't grind Training Mode hard enough.

Which American players did you feel were very strong?

Justin Wong and Filipino Champ. Filipino Champ simply has amazing footsies, zoning and defense. I also played Justin in a first to 10 and I thought he was very strong. My team has a HUGE advantage over Justin's but he was still able to win. Justin is extremely good at landing ground and air throws, and he's all-around the most consistent player I've ever faced. There is nobody in Japan at his overall level.

~

Amalgame TV is a weekly broadcast by Frieda (Tokyo, Japan) and fubarduck (Austin, Texas) aimed at explaining and discussing the International Fighting Game scene in Japanese. Broadcasts are held every Tuesday at 6:00AM Pacific/10:00PM Japanese Standard Time.

Frieda's Twitch TV Channel & Archive: http://www.twitch.tv/frieda0914/

Last recorded episode: March 13th, 2012





