Tougeki - Super Battle Opera
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Tougeki - Super Battle Opera (闘劇 Tougeki?, lit. fighting play), also known as Arcadia Cup, is an annual Japanese fighting video game tounament hosted by the magazine Arcadia. The tournament takes place over three days - usually under what is known as Golden Week, to make sure that people that participate don't have jobs or school to attend to
As of 2006, four Arcadia Cups have been held. The most recent Super Battle Opera took place between May 3rd and May 5th, 2006, and featured the following games:
- Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection
- Guilty Gear XX Slash
- Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned
- Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
- Samurai Spirits Tenkaichi Kenkakuden
- Melty Blood: Act Cadenza
- The King of Fighters XI
- Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
- Hokuto No Ken
In 2007, Tougeki will be held in June[1] and will feature the following games
Singles/1 on 1:
- Arcana Heart
- Soul Calibur III: Arcade Edition
- The King of Fighters '98
Tag Team/2 on 2:
Teams 3 on 3:
- Tekken 5: Dark Ressurection
- Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike
- Guilty Gear XX Λ Core
- Virtua Fighter 5 Version B
Contents |
[edit] Format
Each tournament is played either individually or in teams of up to three players and uses a single-elimination system to determine a winner. The qualifications are done on a regional level, where players form their teams and compete at local arcade halls in a single elimination tournament for a place in the finals in Tokyo. Only the winners of the qualification tournaments get a place in the finals. Thus, every arcade hall has at best one representative team per game in the finals.
American and European players have been granted special spots in the playoffs. In Europe, the representatives are decided by the Tougeki France organisation[2].
Unlike other fighting game tournaments, such as Evolution, SBO is strictly about the tournament and leaves no room for casual play.
[edit] Champions
[edit] 2006 Champions
| Game | Team Name | Player(s) | Character(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| The King of Fighters XI | - | Kaoru(カオル) | Eiji/Kula/Gato |
| Neo Geo Battle Coliseum | - | KEE-ROC@SMK | Hotaru/Kim |
| Hokuto No Ken | - | Kurenai no Buta(紅の豚) | Toki |
| Samurai Spirits Tenkaichi Kenkakuden | Meikyousisui (明鏡止水） | Mishima(ミシマ)
Doro(ドロ) |
Iroha
Gen-An |
| Melty Blood: Act Cadenza | Tales of The ILS | ILS
Niga(にが) |
Arcueid (red version)
Sion |
| Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection | NO-Respect | Yuu(ユウ)
Shou(ショウ) Jiroo(ジロー) |
Feng-Wei
Devil Jin Steve |
| Guilty Gear XX Slash | Yukinose Desu (ゆきのせです) | Yukinose(ゆきのせ)
KA2 GNT |
Testament
Jam Millia |
| Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned | Yariotta (やりおった） | K-2
Homestay Akira Game Center Arashi(ゲームセンター嵐) |
Sarah
Akira Jacky |
| Street Fighter 3: Third Strike | MASTERS | MOV
Spellmaster J(スペルマスターJ) DD Nitto(DDにっと) |
Chun-Li
Ken Yun |
[edit] Controversy
On March 27, the large video arcade mi-ka-do wrote on its blog[3] that there would be an upgrade of Arcana Heart (known as Arcana Heart FULL) released before Tougeki was played. It was not said how much the upgrade would cost, except that it would be for a per-machine basis and that it would be "expensive for such minor upgrades", comparing it to games such as Vampire Savior, Vampire Savior 2 and Street Fighter ZERO3 which were all upgraded free-of-charge. Because of this upgrade, combined with the fact that it would be so expensive, the Tougeki arrangers choose to bend the rules for Arcana Heart players:
- The final in Tokyo will use Arcana Heart FULL
- Players are free to choose to qualify either with the original Arcana Heart, or Arcana Heart FULL
- If players qualified with the original Arcana Heart, they are free to change character in the finals.
Which, according to the blog, will demotivate players to participate in the Arcana Heart tournament because it is almost pointless to train for it unless their local arcade hall pays the upgrade price, which many smaller businesses may not afford. In fact, they warned, smaller arcade halls may go out of business if the game industry continued like that.
[edit] DVD Releases
A few months after the tournament, DVD movies containing all matches in the playoffs are released by Enterbrain, the owner of Arcadia. The movies are released in a number of volumes, containing a number of discs. Each disc containing one entire tournament.
| Volume | Games | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guilty Gear XX Slash
Melty Blood |
Jul 27, 2006[4] |
| 2 | Virtua Fighter 4:Final Tuned
Tekken 5 |
Jul 27, 2006[5] |
| 3 | King of Fighters XI
Neo Geo Battle Coliseum Samurai Spirits Tenkaichi Kenkakuden |
Aug 31, 2006[6] |
| 4 | Street Fighter 3: Third Strike
Hokuto no Ken |
Aug 31, 2006[7] |
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.tougeki.com/outline/outline.html
- ^ http://www.tougeki.org/en/news.php
- ^ http://blog.mi-ka-do.net/?eid=290055
- ^ http://www.enterbrain.com/jp/p_catalog/dvd/2006/dvd12665.html
- ^ http://www.enterbrain.com/jp/p_catalog/dvd/2006/dvd12664.html
- ^ http://www.enterbrain.com/jp/p_catalog/dvd/2006/dvd12666.html
- ^ http://www.enterbrain.com/jp/p_catalog/dvd/2006/dvd12667.html
