picture credit: @Vexanie
We continue our interviews with the French champions of the FGC. After talking with Mr. Crimson, it’s Super Akouma’s turn to answer our questions. The CRaZY Esport player has dominated Europe since the game’s release. While his hegemony on the Old Continent has sometimes been threatened, he remains the most consistent player since the game’s release. His passion for Tekken has never waned, and he is ready to take on new challenges.
Staying at the top level despite the pandemic
vincent “Super Akouma” Homan has been doing his best to stay at the top level during the COVID-19 outbreak. He regularly participated in InterContinental Fight Club (ICFC)online tournaments bringing together the crème de la crème of European players. He will give up participating in the final to fly to the Red Bull Kumite Las Vegas. It will end on podiumbut with a big personal win : “I finally beat JDCR (one of the best Korean players, editor’s note), which had never happened to me in an official tournament. For me, it was proof that I had not stagnated during those difficult years.“
He says he is a little disappointed with his performance at CEO 2021 : “The opponents I lost against were takeable. I dropped way too many combos, which is unforgiving at this level.“When Akouma talks about counter performance it means making a top 16 in a tournament of 464 players. The 2022 season is off to a flying start, with a top 3 at Red Bull Golden Lettersthen excellent performance during CFCB. However, the player is not completely satisfied with his level: “Between Kumite and the resumption of tournaments in March 2022, there have been no competitions. Inevitably I had lost my touch a bit.“
He then mentions the Tekken France Toura fantastic community initiative, which he regrets not having been able to be in good shape during the finals due to insomnia. He takes the opportunity to salute the performance of his teammate Hexmarkwho finished best french of the tournament. From this first edition was born the Tekken France Championship, a national championship counting towards the Tekken World Tour, and recognized by Bandai Namco. “This one, I intend to win it even if I’m a little apprehensive about the format of this World Tour.“
Bandai Namco has indeed decided that points earned on World Tour events will first be used to participate in regional qualifications. If the system seems more just for players with few means to travel abroadSuper Akouma regrets that the season is played over a single tournament: “I can win 20 important tournaments during the season, but if I miss D-Day, I will not participate in the finals to designate the best player in the world for the year 2022. Giving a chance to players with less means is a noble cause , but I think we should manage to find a happy medium to also reward those who have played the best over the whole season.”
Next comes the Combo Breaker. Super Akouma quickly finds himself a loser, following set-ups that lag a little. He nevertheless manages to make a good comeback, before falling against Joonya, at the gates of the top 25. “While I can complain about the lag for my sending off as a loser, as even players who have won their matches admitted there was, I have no excuse for my loss to Joonya. Unless you consider that falling against better than you that day is a valid excuse (laughs).“
This does not stop his ambitions, however, and he continues to win at several European events. Then comes the CEO 2022, another milestone. “I was knocked out of Red Bull Kumite by Gen (one of Japan’s top players), but there’s always something to learn from a loss. I challenged myself, did my homework, and beat him to the CEO. These kinds of victories are good because they are a good indicator of my progress.“
Despite this victory, the tournament stops at top 5. The performance is fine, but disappointing, in the player’s own words. ” I had a good performance, but I’m disappointed. I don’t feel like the other players were stronger than me. I think it’s a tournament I could have won, but it just wasn’t my day.“
EVO in sight
About the EVO, the player teases us a bit: “I won the EVO Online in 2021. Technically, I’m a bit of the defending champion (laughs)”. He quickly becomes serious again, evoking the rivalry between Europe and North America. Despite great performances from the Europeans, some of the players across the Atlantic tend to look down on them. Although the spades have calmed down a bit since the recent American tournaments where the Europeans did not deserve, winning a big tournament on their soil would be the best way to silence them.
“The EVO is a bit of a teenage dream. I was already looking at him, when I was a stranger playing Tekken Tag in his room. In terms of media coverage, winning the EVO is even better than winning the World Tour. I’m aiming for a minimum top 8, I want to play on the big arena. I can even win it, if I’m lucky and Arslan Ash is eliminated from the tournament (laughs). Anyway, for all big events, it takes a lot of skill and a bit of luck.“.
After EVO
The French champion has plenty of projects. Of course the World Tour remains his main objectivewith the Tekken France Championship then the European finals. Failing to qualify for the World Finals would be a big disappointment, even if the format doesn’t benefit him greatly. According to him, it is important that the best european players go therein order to show that the Old Continent scene can compete with other major scenes.
He also has other more personal projects. Besides the Tekken 7 course that he dispenses via the site Metafy, he still intends to strengthen ties with his sponsor HitBox. Although brand ambassadorhe may occupy an additional position during his establishment in Europe. It would give him a more regular job, while still allowing him time to continue being a professional player. Even though today finally gets to live totally from Tekken 7, which has not always been the case, he does not want to put all his eggs in one basket. Lucid, he adds: I owe a lot to CRaZY Esport and HitBox who have trusted me for years. I certainly won’t be here without their support, but I have to keep a cool head because everything could end overnight. If this should be the case, I will do everything to continue to share my passion.“
It walks the talk, regularly organizing the Execution Tournament on its Twitch channel, which he comments live. The goal here is to make sure to energize the community even more, and he hopes to inspire some of his spectators to get started. Thanks to his sponsors, he will even be able to win a HitBox in a future tournament.
around the game
When asked why he chose Tekken as a fighting game, his answer is straightforward: “For me, Tekken is the fighting game license offering the most freedom in gameplay. Although there are several Akuma players in the top world, mine is unique. And this is the case for many other pro players, they each have their own style, because the license allows it. Tekken is the game of freedom.“
The champion is more critical of game balancing. Even though the latter is pretty well balanced, it does not necessarily validate all the choices made by the editor. “Rather than nerfing certain strong characters like Geese that they pretended to nerf, they preferred to buff the rest of the cast, including some who didn’t necessarily need it.“. If asked the characters who benefited the mosthe quotes Feng, Heihachi, Lily, Devil Jin, Ling Xiaoyu, as well as Marduk even if he recognizes that the latter is lower in the tier list. He still believes that Akuma is not to be pitied, unless we compare him to Geese who went through the nerves. “In the end, we end up with a lot of characters who break the game a bit. Since this is the case for almost all of them, we can’t say that the game is not balanced, but I’m not sure it was the best choice. After all, that’s just my opinion.“
Regarding the potential continuation of the license, his answer is just as clear: Bandai Namco must above all offer a better online mode. That of Tekken 7 is widely open to criticism, and we will have to do better in the future, especially given what the competition can offer at this level. At the level of the expected casting, he chambers once again: ” I don’t think Akuma will return, but it would make me laugh a lot if it did, considering how much hatred some people have for this character. If he comes back I will surely play him. Otherwise I would really like to play an original character from Tekken 8, provided I have as much freedom in terms of gameplay as with Akuma.“
He then mentions the original characters released last season. For him, Leroy Smith will surely come back since he is here in the anime trailer which will be released on Netflix. Fahkumram is also a very good candidate, given the passion of Michael Murray, one of the producers, for Muay-Thai. But neither of these two characters really interests him, and that’s Lydia who has her preferencethough he’s not sure she’s interested him enough for the hand.