'Lately I've been participating in tournaments with the mentality that it's fine even if I do end up losing' - Dogura on competitive approach and more

MajinTenshinhan: As someone who's reached the top level in several different fighting games, which is your favorite fighting game? And why do you like that particular game the most?

CO|Dogura: I like Guilty Gear XX Accent Core the most, or perhaps I should say that it holds a particular special place in my heart.

I believe that's the game I've put the most time into in my whole life. I was deeply happy when I won at this game at Tougeki (Super Battle Opera).

MajinTenshinhan: Last year, you used M. Bison at first, and then switched over to Necalli. This year, you've been using Urien, and in particular recently, have produced very good results.

What do you look for when choosing a character?

CO|Dogura: My first basis is to look at if they're stronger than the average character or not. Looking back, Season 1's M. Bison obviously did not fulfill that standard, haha.

After that, I deeply consider whether they're fun to use or not, when you move around and use their actions. That's because if you get fed up of using your character, you won't be able to keep up your motivation.

MajinTenshinhan: You're a very strong contender in several games besides Street Fighter 5. You've won tournaments in both Guilty Gear and BlazBlue. How do you divide your practice time to be able to perform at such a high level?

CO|Dogura: To be honest, once I play several games concurrently, the time I put into them decreases. It gets divided into my main game and my sub game or games.

Right now, Street Fighter 5 is my main game, while I consider Guilty Gear and BlazBlue to be my sub games.

I don't practice much in my sub games, but instead get by on the tournament experience I've built up in them.

MajinTenshinhan: What do you think is the most important thing to become able to win consistently in fighting games?

CO|Dogura: Obviously, you need to have a certain amount of skill and technique in the game to begin with, but besides that, I think the mental part is extremely important.

If you keep thinking "But what if I lose?", you're generally not going to be producing good results, so lately I've been participating in tournaments with the mentality that it's fine even if I do end up losing.

MajinTenshinhan: Next January, Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition is coming out. What are you hoping to see in this new version?

CO|Dogura: This is just personal but, there are several parts of the UI that I really don't like, so I'd like to see them improve that.

Getting a counter hit but having to look at the COUNTER text to understand that you got it is pretty strange, I think. I'd like them to add some sort of effect to light and medium attacks when you get a counter hit.

I'd also like them to remove the entirely pointless FIRST HIT text that comes up in matches. It's easy to mistake it for COUNTER in a match...

Also, since they're calling it Arcade Edition, I'd be very happy if they actually brought it to arcades as well.

MajinTenshinhan: What do you think about your chances at Capcom Cup 2017?

CO|Dogura: What will happen will happen is really all I can say, haha.

I did rise up during the latter half of this year's tour, so I feel like it'd be nice if I can continue with that at the main event.