Daigo Umehara
Encyclopedia
Daigo Umehara is a renowned Japanese arcade fighting video game player. He specializes in 2D arcade
fighting game
s, mainly those released by Capcom
. Known as "Daigo" or "The Beast" in the west and "Umehara" or "Ume" in Japan, Umehara is one of the world's most famous Street Fighter
players and is often considered its greatest, as well. He currently holds a world record of "the most successful player in major tournaments of Street Fighter" in Guinness World Records
.
Before properly being called a progamer from signing a sponsorship deal with MadCatz, Japanese media usually referred to Umehara as "God of 2D fighting games" (2D格闘ゲームの神 "2D Kakutou Game no Kami").
and Garou Densetsu (Fatal Fury) hit the game center. Because the SF2 cabinet had a very long line and also had older kids playing, his first fighting game is actually Garou Densetsu. Because there was usually a long line in his free time and he could not stay too late, Umehara first started challenging other players in Street Fighter II Dash (Champion Edition) even though he felt shy and had to ask for permission to challenge first, but that was also when he started to like playing with other players.
Around the time when he was a 13-year-old middle school student, Umehara shifted his main game to Vampire Hunter because he thought he did better than SF2 and first developed some reputation by setting a 286-win streak record before he was forced to leave due to closing time at Akihabara
Sega (now Club Sega) game center. He first joined a tournament when he entered GAMEST Cup's national Vampire Hunter tournament in 1995, though he lost in the block's finals. His second tournament and also his first tournament winning is GAMEST Cup's national Vampire Savior tournament in 1997 where he defeated Ōnuki (now Nuki) in the finals.
In 1998, Umehara participated Capcom's official Street Fighter Zero 3
national tournament and advanced to the finals which took place on a stage in Tokyo Game Show 1998: Autumn on October 11. After winning the tournament by defeating Ōnuki 3-1, as the champion, Umehara went on to face Alex Valle, who was the winner of the U.S. national Street Fighter Alpha 3 tournament. The international "Grand Championship" was held in San José, California
on November 8. This is Umehara's first trip to U.S. and first overseas tournament. The match was played as best out of three games, with each game as best out of five rounds. Umehara came from behind to win 2-1;These two events received a 50-minute TV coverage in Japan.
In September 2001, Umehara gained enough fans to have a book about him published. The title is VERSUS, also known as "Umebon" (ウメ本) or "Ume Book." It contains both his background and stories behind his competitions and opponents.
In 2002, Umehara appeared in U.S. versus Japan theme exhibition matches in Japan. American players competed in four games (Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike
and Marvel vs. Capcom 2
) for the right to battle Japan's best players in those respective games. Umehara only entered the 3rd Strike exhibition, but defeated all of his opponents, ending each round with Ken
's fierce Shoryuken. These events were filmed for the documentary Bang the Machine.
In 2003, Umehara won Super Street Fighter II Turbo tournament in the first Super Battle Opera (Tougeki) and won the same game in Evolution Championship Series when he joined the event for the first time in the same year, making him the first player to win both SBO and Evolution in same year on the same game. Umehara also went to Evolution 2004 and Absolution 2004 on April 18 in England and won SSF2 Turbo there.
Umehara has participated regularly in a number of tournaments, appearing at least one each year since beginning in 1997, with a brief hiatus in 2008.
in Evolution Championship Series
2004's Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike competition where he made a dramatic comeback against Justin Wong's Chun-Li
. In the final round of match 1, Umehara's Ken
was down to his last pixel of vitality. At this point, any special attack would knock Umehara's character out if connected, since special attacks deal chip damage even when blocked. In an attempt to win the round, Wong attempted to hit Umehara's Ken with Chun-Li's multihit Super Art move Houyoku-sen (鳳翼扇, "phoenix-wing fan"). However, instead of avoiding it, Umehara chose to "Parry," a technique whereby an incoming attack is blocked without the player losing any health, but by doing so requires moving toward opponent's direction in the same time a hit lands, within four of thirty frames per second of the impact animation. After the move was launched, not only were all 15 hits Parried, but Umehara also managed to get into a good position to make a powerful attacking combo that knocked Chun-Li out instead. This moment, and the ecstatic cheering of the spectators that followed, was recorded and later spread on the Internet
, gaining immense popularity.
NHK's TV program, MAG-NET, has called this moment "Kiseki no Gyakuten Geki" (奇跡の逆転劇) or "The miraculous reversal play".
. Because of this, Japanese arcade gaming magazine Arcadia has included a DVD featuring "Umehara Concept Matches" in its January 2009 issue (released on November 29, 2008) and "The God has returned" was stated in Umehara's player introduction part. The DVD contains exhibition matches between him and Japan's 6 top players such as Inoue, Itabashi Zangief, Fuudo, Nemo, and Mago.
". He and the fellow Japan's 4 top players (Soushihan KSK, Itabashi Zangief, Mago, and Tokido) had to compete with each other and with celebrities in a Street Fighter IV round-robin tournament
where the top players had to win the amateurs overwhelmingly in order to get a good point as a handicap.
On April 18, at GameStop's Street Fighter IV National Tournament 2009, Francisco, California, there was exhibition matches between 4 players from 3 countries after the actual competition ended. It featured Iyo who had recently won the Japanese National SF4 tournament, Poongko who won the Korean SF4 National Tournament, Justin Wong who won the American National SF4 tournament, and Daigo Umehara who came by Capcom's invitation. Umehara defeated Iyo, Poongko and Justin Wong to win the tournament. He was awarded a free trip to Evolution 2009 in Las Vegas.
Umehara began writing a column in Arcadia starting from the August issue, called Umehara Column: Michi. ("Umehara Column: Street")
For his win at the GameStop tournament, Umehara started his Street Fighter IV competition as a seeded player in the semi-finals on July 18, which is the second day of Evolution 2009. In the third and the last day, Umehara defeated Justin Wong and put him into the Losers Bracket, then advanced to the grand finals just to meet Wong again. The two fought until the last game possible, but Umehara won the competition.
The September issue of Arcadia magazine included a DVD featuring the second of "Umehara's Concept Matches" which is the sequel to the DVD from late 2008. This time Umehara had to fight Japan's 5 top players: Mago, Iyo, Nuki, Nemo, and Shirou.
On August 7, Umehara participated in an all night tournament called "GODSGARDEN."
Umehara participated in exhibition matches in a Street Fighter IV competition in Taiwan on October 10.The matches were broadcasted live on Famitsu
's web channel.
Umehara went to America again to join a tournament called Season's Beatings on October 16–18 in Columbus, Ohio. He won Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Street Fighter IV Singles competition.
On November 26, Umehara and 5 other top Japanese Street Fighter IV players joined a Nico Nico internet live show to talk about the second GODSGARDEN tournament. The show also held an exhibition match between himself and Mago.
Umehara and two teammates participated official Street Fighter IV National Tournament and qualified to the top 14 on April 4. His team was eliminated in the quarter finals. The competition was broadcasted live on Nico Nico.
Umehara went to America to join Capcom's Super Street Fighter IV
"Fight Club" launch party in Los Angeles on April 23. The party held exhibition matches in which he played various characters including Hakan, Guy and Dee Jay against a dozen of challengers. The event ended with a 3-out-of-5 match, between him and Justin Wong. Their draw result from double K.O. at the end left Umehara undefeated in that night.
It is also revealed in the event that Umehara accepted a sponsorship deal from Mad Catz
and will play under their name in the future tournaments.
The limited edition of Super Street Fighter IV game from e-CAPCOM store comes with a special DVD featuring two tournaments between Japan's 8 top players: Umehara, Tokido, Iyo, Shirou, Kin Devu, Momochi, Tokidoki Nukings, and Itabashi Zangief. The first one is a "new character only" tournament where Umehara played as Adon. The second one is for old characters. The Super Street Fighter IV Technical Guide published by Enterbrain which was released on April 28 includes a DVD featuring exhibition matches of the new characters played by Japan's 7 top players: Umehara, Tokido, Kin Devu, Iyo, Momochi, Itabashi Zangief, and Shirou.
On May 9, Umehara made his appearance as the "Super Player" on an NHK
's Sunday night program "MAG-NET" which had a scoop on Street Fighter. The show told the story about his fame (including his 2004 dramatic comeback), his life, his competitions and his opponents. There was also Umehara's tutorial session where he demonstrated his arcade stick
gripping method called "Umehara Mochi" (ウメハラ持ち) or "Umehara Grip" and his signature Ryu's combo technique—Shouryuken > Focus Attack Dash Cancel > Metsu Hadouken.
On May 15, Nico Nico Live held a Super Street Fighter IV online competition where participating online players on Xbox Live
got a chance to fight Japan's 3 top players: Umehara, Mago, and Tokido. They also have offline matches and a short talk corner.
Umehara went to Australia for the first time when he participated Evolution Asia Pacific's Super Street Fighter IV tournament in Sydney on May 29–30. He won the tournament losing just one game and, as the grand prize, earned a paid flight to Evolution 2010 in Las Vegas where he will start off as a seeded player.
On June 4, Umehara joined the 106th Xbox Live Park online event held by Microsoft Japan with Famitsu's editorial department. Participating Xbox Live Gold members got a chance to have a Super Street Fighter IV online match and chat with Umehara in the 2-hour period.
After the invitation to play in Electronic Sports World Cup (July 3–4) was cancelled and after getting the 2nd place in Nagoya Street Battle 15 (July 4), Umehara joined Evolution 2010 between July 9–11 and faced a tougher challenge than before with over 1,700 players from around the world participating in the Super Street Fighter IV tournament. However, without going down to Losers bracket, Umehara won the tournament in front of ten thousands of audiences both in the hall and in front of computer screens. The live stream of the event set a new record with approximate 48,000 viewers at peak 2 channels combined (Stickam
18,000 and Ustream
30,000) during the SSF4 grand finals before it went down due to technical problems.Umehara also received Evo exclusive golden arcade stick with serial number 1 as a prize.
After winning the qualifier on May 22, Umehara's team participated in the Super Battle Opera 2010's Street Fighter IV finals on September 19 and won the second place. The event took place as a part of Tokyo Game Show 2010 at Makuhari Messe
International Convention Complex. A pay-per-view
live stream was distributed by Nico Nico.
Umehara participated in Season's Beatings tournament in Ohio
for the second time between October 15–17, Southern California Regionals tournament in Los Angeles between November 6–7, Canada Cup in Canada between November 13-14, and Northern California Regionals tournament between November 20-21. He then went to Kuwait for an exhibition event on November 26.
Most of data from 2007 and older is provided by beastdaigo.jp. Complete list and more data on smaller-scaled tournaments can be found on the Japanese fan site. All data is verified by sources as of May, 31, 2010. Reports from official sites are included if available. Only first, second, and third place are displayed here.
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
fighting game
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
s, mainly those released by Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
. Known as "Daigo" or "The Beast" in the west and "Umehara" or "Ume" in Japan, Umehara is one of the world's most famous Street Fighter
Street Fighter
, commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...
players and is often considered its greatest, as well. He currently holds a world record of "the most successful player in major tournaments of Street Fighter" in Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
.
Before properly being called a progamer from signing a sponsorship deal with MadCatz, Japanese media usually referred to Umehara as "God of 2D fighting games" (2D格闘ゲームの神 "2D Kakutou Game no Kami").
Early career
Umehara began going to an arcade game center and playing fighting games at around 10 years of age when he was an elementary school student, the same time when Street Fighter IIStreet Fighter II
is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in . It is the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in and was Capcom's fourteenth title that ran on the CP System arcade hardware...
and Garou Densetsu (Fatal Fury) hit the game center. Because the SF2 cabinet had a very long line and also had older kids playing, his first fighting game is actually Garou Densetsu. Because there was usually a long line in his free time and he could not stay too late, Umehara first started challenging other players in Street Fighter II Dash (Champion Edition) even though he felt shy and had to ask for permission to challenge first, but that was also when he started to like playing with other players.
Around the time when he was a 13-year-old middle school student, Umehara shifted his main game to Vampire Hunter because he thought he did better than SF2 and first developed some reputation by setting a 286-win streak record before he was forced to leave due to closing time at Akihabara
Akihabara
, also known as , is an area of Tokyo, Japan. It is located less than five minutes by rail from Tokyo Station. Its name is frequently shortened to in Japan...
Sega (now Club Sega) game center. He first joined a tournament when he entered GAMEST Cup's national Vampire Hunter tournament in 1995, though he lost in the block's finals. His second tournament and also his first tournament winning is GAMEST Cup's national Vampire Savior tournament in 1997 where he defeated Ōnuki (now Nuki) in the finals.
In 1998, Umehara participated Capcom's official Street Fighter Zero 3
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Street Fighter Alpha 3, known as in Japan and Asia, is a fighting game by Capcom originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware. It is the third game in the Street Fighter Alpha series, following Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams and Street Fighter Alpha 2...
national tournament and advanced to the finals which took place on a stage in Tokyo Game Show 1998: Autumn on October 11. After winning the tournament by defeating Ōnuki 3-1, as the champion, Umehara went on to face Alex Valle, who was the winner of the U.S. national Street Fighter Alpha 3 tournament. The international "Grand Championship" was held in San José, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
on November 8. This is Umehara's first trip to U.S. and first overseas tournament. The match was played as best out of three games, with each game as best out of five rounds. Umehara came from behind to win 2-1;These two events received a 50-minute TV coverage in Japan.
In September 2001, Umehara gained enough fans to have a book about him published. The title is VERSUS, also known as "Umebon" (ウメ本) or "Ume Book." It contains both his background and stories behind his competitions and opponents.
In 2002, Umehara appeared in U.S. versus Japan theme exhibition matches in Japan. American players competed in four games (Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike
Street Fighter III
is a fighting game in Capcom's Street Fighter series, originally released as coin-operated arcade game in . Street Fighter III was produced for the CD-ROM-based CP System III hardware, which allowed for more elaborate 2D graphics than the CPS II-based Street Fighter Alpha games , while revamping...
and Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
is a fighting game, developed and published by Capcom. It is the fourth game in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. With the fourth installment of this series, Capcom simplified the controls to make the gameplay more accessible for casual players. The button configuration was trimmed down to 4 main...
) for the right to battle Japan's best players in those respective games. Umehara only entered the 3rd Strike exhibition, but defeated all of his opponents, ending each round with Ken
Ken Masters
, originally spelled in Japanese as , is a video game character created by Capcom. As a main character, he has appeared in all of the Street Fighter games along with his best friend and rival, Ryu...
's fierce Shoryuken. These events were filmed for the documentary Bang the Machine.
In 2003, Umehara won Super Street Fighter II Turbo tournament in the first Super Battle Opera (Tougeki) and won the same game in Evolution Championship Series when he joined the event for the first time in the same year, making him the first player to win both SBO and Evolution in same year on the same game. Umehara also went to Evolution 2004 and Absolution 2004 on April 18 in England and won SSF2 Turbo there.
Umehara has participated regularly in a number of tournaments, appearing at least one each year since beginning in 1997, with a brief hiatus in 2008.
The dramatic comeback at Evolution 2004
Umehara started becoming famous internationally from the YouTube video clips of his match in the Losers bracket finalDouble-elimination tournament
A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost two games or matches...
in Evolution Championship Series
Evolution Championship Series
The Evolution Championship Series is an annual video game tournament that focuses exclusively on fighting games. In fighting game communities it is commonly referred to as "Evo", and is currently the premier video game tournament for fighting games in the United States...
2004's Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike competition where he made a dramatic comeback against Justin Wong's Chun-Li
Chun-Li
is a video game character produced by Capcom. First introduced in Street Fighter II, she has since appeared as a player character in nearly all subsequent games....
. In the final round of match 1, Umehara's Ken
Ken Masters
, originally spelled in Japanese as , is a video game character created by Capcom. As a main character, he has appeared in all of the Street Fighter games along with his best friend and rival, Ryu...
was down to his last pixel of vitality. At this point, any special attack would knock Umehara's character out if connected, since special attacks deal chip damage even when blocked. In an attempt to win the round, Wong attempted to hit Umehara's Ken with Chun-Li's multihit Super Art move Houyoku-sen (鳳翼扇, "phoenix-wing fan"). However, instead of avoiding it, Umehara chose to "Parry," a technique whereby an incoming attack is blocked without the player losing any health, but by doing so requires moving toward opponent's direction in the same time a hit lands, within four of thirty frames per second of the impact animation. After the move was launched, not only were all 15 hits Parried, but Umehara also managed to get into a good position to make a powerful attacking combo that knocked Chun-Li out instead. This moment, and the ecstatic cheering of the spectators that followed, was recorded and later spread on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, gaining immense popularity.
NHK's TV program, MAG-NET, has called this moment "Kiseki no Gyakuten Geki" (奇跡の逆転劇) or "The miraculous reversal play".
Street Fighter IV era
In July 2008, Umehara came out of retirement and aims for competition once again. This time, his focus was on the newly-released Street Fighter IVStreet Fighter IV
is a fighting game produced by Capcom. It is the first numbered Street Fighter game released by Capcom since . The coin-operated arcade game was released in Japan on July 18, 2008, with North American arcades importing the machines by August...
. Because of this, Japanese arcade gaming magazine Arcadia has included a DVD featuring "Umehara Concept Matches" in its January 2009 issue (released on November 29, 2008) and "The God has returned" was stated in Umehara's player introduction part. The DVD contains exhibition matches between him and Japan's 6 top players such as Inoue, Itabashi Zangief, Fuudo, Nemo, and Mago.
2009
On March 5, Umehara made an appearance as the "God of fighting games world" in a TV show "Gamer's KoshienKoshien Stadium
is a baseball park located near Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The stadium was built to host the national high school baseball tournaments, and opened on April 1, 1924. It was the largest stadium in Asia at the time it was completed, with a capacity of 55,000.The name Kōshien comes...
". He and the fellow Japan's 4 top players (Soushihan KSK, Itabashi Zangief, Mago, and Tokido) had to compete with each other and with celebrities in a Street Fighter IV round-robin tournament
Round-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament is a competition "in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn".-Terminology:...
where the top players had to win the amateurs overwhelmingly in order to get a good point as a handicap.
On April 18, at GameStop's Street Fighter IV National Tournament 2009, Francisco, California, there was exhibition matches between 4 players from 3 countries after the actual competition ended. It featured Iyo who had recently won the Japanese National SF4 tournament, Poongko who won the Korean SF4 National Tournament, Justin Wong who won the American National SF4 tournament, and Daigo Umehara who came by Capcom's invitation. Umehara defeated Iyo, Poongko and Justin Wong to win the tournament. He was awarded a free trip to Evolution 2009 in Las Vegas.
Umehara began writing a column in Arcadia starting from the August issue, called Umehara Column: Michi. ("Umehara Column: Street")
For his win at the GameStop tournament, Umehara started his Street Fighter IV competition as a seeded player in the semi-finals on July 18, which is the second day of Evolution 2009. In the third and the last day, Umehara defeated Justin Wong and put him into the Losers Bracket, then advanced to the grand finals just to meet Wong again. The two fought until the last game possible, but Umehara won the competition.
The September issue of Arcadia magazine included a DVD featuring the second of "Umehara's Concept Matches" which is the sequel to the DVD from late 2008. This time Umehara had to fight Japan's 5 top players: Mago, Iyo, Nuki, Nemo, and Shirou.
On August 7, Umehara participated in an all night tournament called "GODSGARDEN."
Umehara participated in exhibition matches in a Street Fighter IV competition in Taiwan on October 10.The matches were broadcasted live on Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
's web channel.
Umehara went to America again to join a tournament called Season's Beatings on October 16–18 in Columbus, Ohio. He won Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Street Fighter IV Singles competition.
On November 26, Umehara and 5 other top Japanese Street Fighter IV players joined a Nico Nico internet live show to talk about the second GODSGARDEN tournament. The show also held an exhibition match between himself and Mago.
2010
Instead of participating GODSGARDEN #2 (March 6), Umehara flew to France to enter Street Fighter IV tournaments in World Game Cup gaming event that took place between March 3–7. He finished the second place in singles and first in 2 on 2.Umehara and two teammates participated official Street Fighter IV National Tournament and qualified to the top 14 on April 4. His team was eliminated in the quarter finals. The competition was broadcasted live on Nico Nico.
Umehara went to America to join Capcom's Super Street Fighter IV
Super Street Fighter IV
is a 2010 fighting game produced by Capcom. It is an updated version of Street Fighter IV and has been said to mark the definitive end of the Street Fighter IV series. Having been deemed as too large an update to be deployed as DLC, the game was made into a standalone title, but given a lower price...
"Fight Club" launch party in Los Angeles on April 23. The party held exhibition matches in which he played various characters including Hakan, Guy and Dee Jay against a dozen of challengers. The event ended with a 3-out-of-5 match, between him and Justin Wong. Their draw result from double K.O. at the end left Umehara undefeated in that night.
It is also revealed in the event that Umehara accepted a sponsorship deal from Mad Catz
Mad Catz
Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. is a peripherals manufacturer for various video game consoles headquartered in San Diego, California. It produces a wide range of accessories including control pads, memory cards, connection cables, headphones and other human interface devices.- History :The company was...
and will play under their name in the future tournaments.
The limited edition of Super Street Fighter IV game from e-CAPCOM store comes with a special DVD featuring two tournaments between Japan's 8 top players: Umehara, Tokido, Iyo, Shirou, Kin Devu, Momochi, Tokidoki Nukings, and Itabashi Zangief. The first one is a "new character only" tournament where Umehara played as Adon. The second one is for old characters. The Super Street Fighter IV Technical Guide published by Enterbrain which was released on April 28 includes a DVD featuring exhibition matches of the new characters played by Japan's 7 top players: Umehara, Tokido, Kin Devu, Iyo, Momochi, Itabashi Zangief, and Shirou.
On May 9, Umehara made his appearance as the "Super Player" on an NHK
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
's Sunday night program "MAG-NET" which had a scoop on Street Fighter. The show told the story about his fame (including his 2004 dramatic comeback), his life, his competitions and his opponents. There was also Umehara's tutorial session where he demonstrated his arcade stick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
gripping method called "Umehara Mochi" (ウメハラ持ち) or "Umehara Grip" and his signature Ryu's combo technique—Shouryuken > Focus Attack Dash Cancel > Metsu Hadouken.
On May 15, Nico Nico Live held a Super Street Fighter IV online competition where participating online players on Xbox Live
Xbox Live
Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...
got a chance to fight Japan's 3 top players: Umehara, Mago, and Tokido. They also have offline matches and a short talk corner.
Umehara went to Australia for the first time when he participated Evolution Asia Pacific's Super Street Fighter IV tournament in Sydney on May 29–30. He won the tournament losing just one game and, as the grand prize, earned a paid flight to Evolution 2010 in Las Vegas where he will start off as a seeded player.
On June 4, Umehara joined the 106th Xbox Live Park online event held by Microsoft Japan with Famitsu's editorial department. Participating Xbox Live Gold members got a chance to have a Super Street Fighter IV online match and chat with Umehara in the 2-hour period.
After the invitation to play in Electronic Sports World Cup (July 3–4) was cancelled and after getting the 2nd place in Nagoya Street Battle 15 (July 4), Umehara joined Evolution 2010 between July 9–11 and faced a tougher challenge than before with over 1,700 players from around the world participating in the Super Street Fighter IV tournament. However, without going down to Losers bracket, Umehara won the tournament in front of ten thousands of audiences both in the hall and in front of computer screens. The live stream of the event set a new record with approximate 48,000 viewers at peak 2 channels combined (Stickam
Stickam
Stickam is a website devoted to live-streaming video, featuring both professional and user-generated content. The site launched in 2005. Stickam features user-submitted pictures, audio, video, and most prominently, live streaming video chat...
18,000 and Ustream
Ustream
Ustream is a website which consists of a network of diverse channels providing a platform for lifecasting and live video streaming of events online. Established in March 2007, the site has over 2,000,000 registered users who generate 1,500,000+ hours of live streamed content per month with over ten...
30,000) during the SSF4 grand finals before it went down due to technical problems.Umehara also received Evo exclusive golden arcade stick with serial number 1 as a prize.
After winning the qualifier on May 22, Umehara's team participated in the Super Battle Opera 2010's Street Fighter IV finals on September 19 and won the second place. The event took place as a part of Tokyo Game Show 2010 at Makuhari Messe
Makuhari Messe
is a Japanese convention center outside Tokyo, located in the Mihama-ku ward of Chiba city, in the northwest corner of Chiba prefecture. Designed by Fumihiko Maki, it is easily accessible by Tokyo's commuter rail system. Makuhari is the name of the area, and Messe is a German word meaning "trade...
International Convention Complex. A pay-per-view
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
live stream was distributed by Nico Nico.
Umehara participated in Season's Beatings tournament in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
for the second time between October 15–17, Southern California Regionals tournament in Los Angeles between November 6–7, Canada Cup in Canada between November 13-14, and Northern California Regionals tournament between November 20-21. He then went to Kuwait for an exhibition event on November 26.
Achievements
| Year | |Tournament | Game | Place |  Japan Nagoya Street Battle X MadCatz
| Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (3 on 3) | 1st | Teammate: Tokido, Mago |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Japan Nagoya Street Battle 30 |
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (3 on 3) | 1st | Teammate: Tokido, Mago |
| 2011 | Japan Super Battle Opera 2011 |
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (2 on 2) | 3rd | Teammate: Iyo |
| 2011 |  United States Evolution 2011 |
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition | 4th | |
| 2011 | United States NorCal Regionals 9 |
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition | 1st | |
| 2011 | United States ReveLAtions |
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition | 1st | |
| 2011 | Japan Topanga Charity Cup |
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (5 on 5) | 1st | Teammate: Tokido, Mago, Nyanshi, Bonchan |
| 2010 | United States NorCal Regionals 8 |
Super Street Fighter IV (3 on 3) | 1st | Teammate: Ricky Ortiz, fLoE |
| 2010 | United States NorCal Regionals 8 |
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | 1st | - |
| 2010 |  Canada The Canada Cup |
Super Street Fighter IV | 1st | - |
| 2010 | Canada The Canada Cup |
Super Street Fighter IV (3 on 3) | 3rd | Teammate: Air, Mago |
| 2010 | Canada The Canada Cup |
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | 1st | - |
| 2010 | United States SoCal Regionals 2010 |
Super Street Fighter IV | 2nd | - |
| 2010 | United States SoCal Regionals 2010 |
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | 1st | - |
| 2010 | United States Season's Beatings V |
Super Street Fighter II Turbo | 1st | - |
| 2010 | Japan Nagoya Street Battle 17 |
Super Street Fighter IV (3 on 3) | 1st | Teammate: MACHI, Momochi |
| 2010 | Japan Super Battle Opera 2010 |
Street Fighter IV (3 on 3) | 2nd | Teammate: TKD, Bon-chan |
| 2010 | Japan Ayano Cup |
Street Fighter IV (5 on 5) | 1st | Teammate: Nyanshi, Misse, Nemo, Iyo |
| 2010 |  Kingdom of England Super VS Battle 20-X |
Super Street Fighter IV | 3rd | - |
| 2010 | United States Evolution 2010 |
Super Street Fighter IV | 1st | - |
| 2010 | Japan Nagoya Street Battle 15 |
Super Street Fighter IV (3 on 3) | 2nd | Teammate: Mago, Tokido |
| 2010 |  Australia Evolution Asia-Pacific |
Super Street Fighter IV | 1st | - |
| 2010 |  Early Modern France World Game Cup 2010 |
Street Fighter IV (2 on 2) | 1st | Teammate: Eita |
| 2010 | Early Modern France World Game Cup 2010 |
Street Fighter IV | 2nd | - |
| 2009 | United States Seasons Beatings IV |
Street Fighter IV | 1st | - |
| 2009 | United States Seasons Beatings IV |
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | 1st | - |
| 2009 | United States Seasons Beatings IV |
Street Fighter IV (3 on 3) | 3rd | Team: Daigo Company |
| 2009 | Japan Shiozawa Cup |
Street Fighter IV (5 on 5) | 1st | Teammate: Nyanshi, Misse, Iyo, Bon-chan |
| 2009 | Japan GODSGARDEN #1 |
Street Fighter IV | 3rd | - |
| 2009 | United States Evolution 2009 |
Street Fighter IV | 1st | - |
| 2007 | Japan 2nd Darkstalker Combination Cup |
Vampire Hunter | 1st | - |
| 2007 | Japan Hyper-Mania 4 |
Hyper Street Fighter II (Team) | 2nd | - |
| 2007 | Japan X-Mania 7 |
Super Street Fighter II Turbo (Team) | 2nd | - |
| 2006 | United States Evolution 2006 |
Guilty Gear XX Slash | 2nd | - |
| 2005 | Japan Super Battle Opera 2005 |
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (2 on 2) | 1st | Teammate: Nuki, Team: UmeNuki |
| 2005 | Japan Super Battle Opera 2005 |
Capcom Fighting Jam Capcom Fighting Jam , released in North America as Capcom Fighting Evolution, is a head-to-head fighting game from Capcom. It was originally released as a coin-operated arcade game for the Namco System 246 hardware and ported to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox... (Team) |
2nd | - |
| 2004 | Japan 4th Cooperation Cup |
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike | 1st | - |
| 2004 | Kingdom of England Absolution 2004 |
Super Street Fighter II Turbo | 1st | - |
| 2004 | Kingdom of England Absolution 2004 |
Guilty Gear XX #Reload | 1st | - |
| 2004 | Kingdom of England Absolution 2004 |
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike | 1st | - |
| 2004 | Kingdom of England Absolution 2004 |
Street Fighter Zero 3 | 3rd | - |
| 2004 | United States Evolution 2004 |
Super Street Fighter II Turbo | 1st | - |
| 2004 | United States Evolution 2004 |
Guilty Gear XX | 1st | - |
| 2004 | United States Evolution 2004 |
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike | 2nd | - |
| 2004 | Japan Kakutou Ishin |
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike | 2nd | - |
| 2004 | Japan Kakutou Ishin |
Street Fighter Zero 3 | 2nd | - |
| 2003 | United States Evolution 2003 |
Super Street Fighter II Turbo | 1st | - |
| 2003 | United States Evolution 2003 |
Guilty Gear XX | 1st | - |
| 2003 | United States Evolution 2003 |
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike | 2nd | - |
| 2003 | United States Evolution 2003 |
Capcom vs. SNK 2 | 2nd | - |
| 2003 | Japan Super Battle Opera (#1) |
Super Street Fighter II Turbo (Team) | 1st | Teammate: Kurahashi, Otochun |
| 2003 | Japan Super Battle Opera (#1) |
Capcom vs. SNK 2 | 2nd | - |
| 2000 | Japan Official National Tournament |
Capcom vs. SNK | 1st | - |
| 2000 | Japan 3rd Official National Tournament |
Street Fighter Zero 3 | 1st | - |
| 2000 | Japan X-Mania 2000 |
Super Street Fighter II Turbo (3 on 3) | 3rd | - |
| 1999 | Japan Official National Tournament |
Street Fighter Zero 3 (Team) | 2nd | - |
| 1998 | Japan Official National Tournament |
Street Fighter Zero 3 | 1st | United States International Champion |
| 1997 | Japan GAMEST Cup |
Vampire Savior | 1st | - |
Most of data from 2007 and older is provided by beastdaigo.jp. Complete list and more data on smaller-scaled tournaments can be found on the Japanese fan site. All data is verified by sources as of May, 31, 2010. Reports from official sites are included if available. Only first, second, and third place are displayed here.