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Today is the 10th Anniversary of one of gaming's most amazing feats

by: Sam -
More On: Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online

If you haven't heard of or seen EVO Moment 37, click the video below and prepare to witness one of gaming's greatest feats. If you have seen the video before, it is worth watching again. Some context: now legendary fighting game players Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong were duking it out in the loser's finals of EVO 2004's Street Fighter 3: Third Strike tournament. As you can see in the video, Wong had the upperhand in the battle (Umehara only had a chip of health left) and was just about to end the fight with his Chun Li's Super Art when Umehara turned the tides by parrying all of the Super Art's hits then countering with his own to win the match. You hear the crowd go wild as Wong just stares at the screen in disbelief. It truly is a magic moment.

What makes this video so amazing is that Umehara predicted Wong's every move. You can see him dancing back and forth and Wong prepares to use the Super Art, because Umehara knows he has to be a set distance away to parry the hits. Even more impressive is the parrying itself. Parrying is an advanced form of blocking that allows you to block without taking damage (normal blocking in Street Fighter results in chip damage). Rather than just holding back, you have to hit forward at the exact moment of impact to parry an attack. If Daigo had blocked rather than parried, he would have died after a single hit. This moment was included as an achievement in the remake of Street Fighter 3, cementing in forever in the game's history. 

Thanks Kotaku