Image credit goes to Markel_Lee.
Street Fighter V officially releases tomorrow, and most fighting game players would agree that Capcom has gone to great efforts to promote this latest installment in their long-running fighting game series. But sometimes, the best opportunities for publicity simply present themselves out of the blue.
Such is the case with rapper and producer Wasalu Muhammad Jaco – more commonly known as Lupe Fiasco – who has inextricably intertwined himself with the world of Street Fighter, thanks to one fan comment on his Twitter. He will play Japanese legend Daigo Umehara tonight in an exhibition match for Street Fighter V, which has the Internet abuzz with anticipation.
A month ago, a fan asked Lupe if he played Street Fighter, to which Lupe replied:
It wasn’t long before fighting game community media producer Honzo Gonzo arrived to fan the flames of Lupe’s slight. The two traded Internet blows for a while, escalating into Honzo Gonzo challenging Lupe to a “money match,” with $6 million on the line.
Lupe eventually backed down. The storm seemed to have passed until Lupe indicated that maybe, just maybe, he was interested in learning Street Fighter after all, and that he had been studying the matches of Japanese fighting game legend Daigo Umehara.
At this point, Mark “MarkMan” Julio, who is the former spokesperson for gaming peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz, asked Lupe if he would like to fight Daigo (who is sponsored by Mad Catz) in an exhibition match for the upcoming Street Fighter V.
Lupe evidently agreed.
And he seems to be taking the match seriously, as well. His Twitter feed is filled with tweets on his training regimen, as well as a big thank you to Street Fighter veterans like Graham Wolfe for helping him out:
Ever the calm and collected combatant, Daigo has responded in kind:
As one of the fighting game scene’s most prominent (or at least well-known) pro players, Daigo is perhaps best known for “Evo Moment #37,” in which Daigo comes back against all odds and defeats American pro Justin Wong at Evo 2004 (Evo being the international Mecca of fighting game tournaments). And now, to a whole new generation of fighting game players, Daigo may be known as “that guy who bodied Lupe.” Or, with any luck, “that pro player Lupe took a match from.”
The match will be streamed on Twitch.tv’s main channel tonight. You can watch it here. The stream starts at 5:00 PM PST, and the match itself is slated to begin at 7:45 PM PST.
Is it likely that the Lupe-Daigo match will be anywhere near competitive? Setting aside all journalistic objectivity for a moment, this writer says:
“Probably not.”
But it’s undeniable that this match is a highly effective means for Capcom to reach out to an outsider audience who, before, may have only given Street Fighter V a passing glance.
Street Fighter V releases tomorrow for PlayStation 4 and PC.