A user asked on the Capcom Boards if Daigo Umehara gets insider information from the developers and if that's why he's so good.Daigo has been dominating the Street Fighter scene since Street Fighter 2.
We all know that Capcom employees are not allowed to enter tournaments... BUT what if he was related to or a close friend of the programmers/testers?
Seth: He isn't, but what if he was? Would a few tips from the testers somehow allow Daigo to beat people for years? I don't think so.
I certainly have that kind of access, and there are plenty of players that can beat me. If anything, I'd say playing a lot of pre-release Street Fighter 4 and Super Street Fighter 4 has *hurt* my overall game. After Street Fighter 4 was released, I found myself with a ton of bad habits from earlier, unreleased versions of the game (combos that don't work in the release version, etc.). It's pretty ironic, actually.
He is ALWAYS at the top and always real fast! You THINK he puts in a lot of hours but if you look at the videos of him playing he elicits no emotion at all, as if he knows whats gonna happen and why already.
Seth: Daigo is certainly one of the strongest players in Street Fighter history, but he isn't "ALWAYS" at the top, and when he is, you've already answered your own question as to why — he has many great personal attributes that help him, but above all else, he puts in the time needed to achieve mastery. Daigo has probably played more Street Fighter 4 than anybody that works at Capcom.
