Yes, that is Daigo Umehara's autograph.
It happened in the middle of the day as Daigo was walking the floor, posing for photos and signing sticks and other items. I had thrown around the idea of having one of the guests autographing any one of the awful games that I had, and I decided that it was worth the chance. And so when the opportunity presented itself, I offered Daigo the cart and a borrowed marker.
As he begun to inspect the label with a confused expression, I simply stated
"Kuso-ge."
He let out a short laugh and happily signed it.
With a "domo arigato" I walked off, satisfied that I just had the world champion of fighting games autograph a copy of one of the single worst titles in the genre. Amazingly, the universe did not implode.
I'm afraid I left my camera at home today, so no deluge of photos. But most of the day was dedicated to the final matches in HD Remix, BlazBlue, Marvel, and SFIV being showcased online and on the big screens at MoMo's.
The last few matches in SFIV did provide perhaps the most excitement of the entire weekend. Towards the end Daigo once again faced off against Justin Wong. Knowing that the arcade-native Daigo wasn't familiar with all the nuances of the console-exclusive characters, he chose Fei-Long. A decision that ignited the audience.
Justin quickly showed what Fei-Long can do in the hands of a skilled player. With rushdown tactics, he showed that he wasn't going to allow another shut-out like last night. Wong soon took the upper hand, and at one point stunning everyone by achieving a perfect round. And soon enough, the King of Chinatown had knocked The Beast to the loser's bracket.
The house exploded.
No one was perhaps louder then Wong's own crew, jumping and cheering before everyone. However, the tournament was not yet over, and Daigo had a chance for redemption.
And he took it. The now stone-faced Beast crushed all opposition to once again face off against his rival. Daigo showed everyone why he was the champion by quickly adapting to Fei-Long and Justin's game. With quick reflexes and quick learning, Daigo turned an unfamiliar situation completely around and took first place.
The perfect end to a fantastic weekend.
Regardless, I hope they put the finals up on youtube. Good fights.
Good tourney though.
We're hyperactive bunch aren't we?