My Dinner with Mopreme

Today's entry is my interview with 3s player Mopreme, we (more like he) talk about the thrill of battle and the competitive spirit. It's like Hajime no Ippo without the entertainment or boxing.


6:21 PM me: hey
6:22 PM shinmopreme: Hello.
me: Are you THE Mopreme? as in the guy who did all the link exibitions?
or did I add the wrong person?
6:23 PM shinmopreme: I think THE Mopreme is a hip hop artist, but I did make a link video.
6:24 PM me: I wanted to do an interview with you
about 3s and stuff
shinmopreme: 3s is fun.
6:25 PM me: well I guess I should fill you in, my name is Tokaro, I run a radio show and write a small FG blog
I interview players and the like and post the conversations
6:26 PM I was wondering if we could talk about some stuff, if you have the time.
shinmopreme: sure I guess.
Steal my secrets?!?
me: ok, great great.
shinmopreme: haha
me: Trying to! haha
6:27 PM so, you've released a series of videos and have competed in Texas Showdown tourneys before. To what do you owe this to? practice?
6:28 PM shinmopreme: oh are you doing the interview now?
me: uh, I guess
shinmopreme: oh
me: hahaha
shinmopreme: I was just doing some stuff online before I go watch Iron Man
me: sorry to shock you
shinmopreme: How much time do you need?
me: I saw it yesterday man, sick movie
not much
shinmopreme: hmm ok
me: maybe 10 minutes
shinmopreme: ok
6:29 PM me: just jot down some random crap about working at 3s
it'll pass for insight
lol
shinmopreme: I'm not sure what you mean with your question. I like 3rd strike and I like competition, so I enter tournaments.
me: like, how did you become good at the game?
shinmopreme: I only did the videos when I thought I had something to show.
me: I phrased that very oddly
sorry
6:30 PM shinmopreme: Not much new stuff to show, so I haven't made a video in a long time.
I play it a lot!
But to get good at a game, you have to play it seriously.
And you can't have an ego.
me: yeah yeah
that'll get in your way
I think respect is key
shinmopreme: There are two types of people who play games: Those who lose, and those who get beat.
me: to enjoy the experience
shinmopreme: People who lose always have a reason why they lost.
6:31 PM It was never because they were outplayed or whatever.
People who get beat on the other hand, want to know why they lost.
They can acknowledge that they were the weaker player.
And try to figure out what they other dude did that was better.
So don't worry if you lose
6:32 PM Always try to analyze what happened.
There is always a reason.
me: kind of a stepping stone
yeah analyze your loss so you can figure out what you can improve on
shinmopreme: I find SF fun for very similar reasons that chess is fun.
It's just fun on a faster more intense level.
6:33 PM And the nature of anything competitive is that there is always a winner and a loser.
Sometimes, you are going to be the loser.
So when you lose, try to make the best of it.
And personally, I find it more fun to lose.
Then you have a reason to keep playing and improve.
Beasting on scrubs it not very fun.
6:34 PM I had the most fun playing 3s in Japan.
I lose like 85% of the time.
6:35 PM me: haha well that's Japanese playing for you
shinmopreme: Anyways, playing games should be fun.
me: my cousin played in Japan a bit and got beasted by a bunch of players but the experience was amazing
shinmopreme: If you lose and you get all mad, you are taking it the wrong way.
me: I guess that's what it comes down to
6:36 PM shinmopreme: Losing should be more motivation to keep playing.
me: right
shooting for a goal
I mean, a game like 3s allows for such fun competition
6:37 PM a match on it's own tends to be fun
it's the enjoyment
shinmopreme: For me, competition is fun.
me: TheHy told me that
shinmopreme: 3s is an outlet for my competitive nature.
6:38 PM Only one person can be number 1.
Trying to be that one person is what's fun.
And since I am not close to being that person, 3s is fun.
6:39 PM me: yeah I can understand that
shinmopreme: And what's even more fun is trying to do it with a weak character.
me: I just want to play against different people
beasting with Q haha
or Sean
shinmopreme: Ibuki, Ryu or Akuma for me.
me: that's always fun
I main Ken
shinmopreme: I used to use Ken.
6:40 PM I used him in SBO last year.
And a few Evos ago.
me: I grew up playing him and I wanted to reach for the top
my dream was to become the best Ken in Canada
and that didn't go well
6:41 PM shinmopreme: I dream about not working and having millions of dollars.
me: but I still try and try and try because I love 3s and I love the feeling of playing against people
hahaha everyone has that dream
play 3s all day
6:42 PM shinmopreme: Need to do things in moderation, even 3s.
6:43 PM me: hahaha
yeah I know
I played 3s like a fiend back in the day and it got me nowhere
but now I branch out between games and other stuff
shinmopreme: Have to play people who are good and lose to them to get better.
me: and I think that's shaped me as a better player
6:44 PM yeah
shinmopreme: You don't learn anything by beating bad players.
You need to be forced to play better to improve.
6:45 PM me: except that you can stick with the same shit and beat scrubs :P
yeah you gotta step up yor game
6:46 PM to rise up to ones level you have to gain that experience
6:47 PM from loses and research
I thought I could become a good 3s player on research alone
shinmopreme: You can lose and lose and lose and watch all sorts of videos and still not get better.
me: but the thing is the game focuses on the human aspect
what a player can do not the character
6:48 PM shinmopreme: You have to take a step back and figure out why you are losing, and why what you are going isn't working.
What you are doing in the game is important, not what you saw in some video.
me: right right
6:50 PM shinmopreme: People tend to pick up tactics from videos
But they don't see the overall strategy.
6:51 PM me: hmm, like you mean what the other player saw and why they reacted like that
they just see the command
right?
6:52 PM they look at it from a movelist based POV
6:54 PM shinmopreme: For example, someone watches Yun and sees them do Genei Jin stuff.
They are impressed by the big damage combos,
but they ignore the times they block and just do minimal damage off of a command throw.
Maybe they picked up some big damage combos and some neat ways to land them, but they missed Yun's entire strategy.
6:55 PM Yun's strategy is restart genei jin as soon as possible.
That is his only goal
He is never trying to "land" a genei jin combo.
Just do enough at the end to get max bar back and end with a knock down.
Most people miss what it is yun is really doing when they watch Japanese videos.
The actual Yun strategy is boring.
6:56 PM No big combos, no tricks, just try to start genei jin 3 times in one round.
me: .....
this is why I don't play Yun
6:58 PM but I guess that's the goal
6:59 PM like Iron Man in MvC2 has one goal
and so on
Yun has to get his Genei Jin
7:00 PM So anything else you wanna say to the readers?
about strategy or competition?
shinmopreme: I don't know.
7:01 PM The Japanese aren't unbeatable.
Games are fun.
7:02 PM Ryu > Chun Li
Ibuki > Yun
7:03 PM me: well thank you for your insight Mopreme, sorry for keeping you
Ryu is strong
shinmopreme: Oh no problem.
me: It was fun talking to you
shinmopreme: Sorry if I did not answer your questions in any organized way.
me: nono that's fine, it's better that way
7:04 PM seems far more human
thank you for your time
enjoy Iron Man
I won't spoil anything
shinmopreme: OK.
me: but stay until the end of the credits
7:05 PM shinmopreme: OK.
me: that's all I'm saying
catch you later
shinmopreme: Later.