This is going to be a long post/reply. So if you don’t wanna read a long post, I completely understand
When Injustice 2 came out, there was actually a lot of pros, particularly Japanese pros, that started entering the early Injustice 2 events. I distinctly remember there was a cheetah player I followed through pools and stuff, in that first evo, as cheetah was my main back then. If I remember right injustice 2 was really popular in Japan as there is a long history of banning MK.
Anyway, my point is that big names like Pongo (tekken god), played injustice 2 and while they got deep in the brackets, didn't crush the NRS scene, which was what a lot of the chat-monsters kept predicting all evo.
There’s been several times where players from other FG communities will shit on NRS games and the players. Saying that we’re not very good at fighting games, that NRS games are easy and don’t take much skill, and that if they played our games it’d be free money. And a lot who have said that have tried to do just that. Meaning that their goal was to start playing an NRS game, and to make that easy, free money by dominating and winning tournaments. And every single one who has came in with that mentality… have failed miserably. And do they say “you know what, NRS games are actually not as easy to be good at as I thought, and the NRS players are actually very talented”? Of course not. Instead, they will just bash the game and say something like “it’s not worth even trying to get good at this terrible game”. When it’s clearly just an excuse because they couldn’t pick it up and immediately dominate like they thought.
Which, I absolutely love it when players from other communities even try to play NRS games. It’s awesome and great to see. And for the ones who come in with humility and just want to have fun, play a different kind of fighter, want to compete, be apart of the community, etc etc, genuinely we all welcome with open arms (for the most part). It’s the ones who talk so much shit about our games and players, saying everything I said they said above, that get treated with the same energy they put out.
The fact is exactly what I said earlier. That it’s extremely difficult to become good at ANY fighting game. It’s even harder to become great at a fighting game, and harder still to become one of the top players in a fighting game. Especially when the game is completely different than what you’re used to playing. So anyone who is able to become
just “good” at multiple fighting games, that alone is an achievement worth noting and celebrating. And the more different the games are the harder it is to become even “just good” at them. But to become great or even among the top players of multiple fighting games? That’s beyond difficult to do, which is why very very few people have managed to do it. Because no matter the fighting game (to an extent), it takes a lot of time and dedication you have to invest specifically into that game to become great at it, let alone considered a top player. I’m talking a ridiculous amount of time investment, like a bare minimum of several hours a day. And for a lot of players, even that isn’t enough. A lot of top players treat whatever game they’re trying to become great in like a full time job. Meaning they spend anywhere from 6-12 hours a day just grinding the game trying to improve as much as they can in that timeframe.
My point is, it’s fairly irritating when players who clearly have no idea what it takes to become a great player, try to diminish the success of those who HAVE been able to accomplish this feat. And when it comes to someone like SonicFox, he’s one of the few to be able to do it across multiple different games. How many players can say that they’ve won majors, EVO, pro series, etc, across multiple completely different titles? And I’m not talking about winning in SF4, SF5, SF6, or in MKX, MK11, MK1. Which, that’s still insanely impressive and incredibly difficult to accomplish. But it’s that much more difficult to do it in completely different types of FG’s. Like Injustice, Mortal Kombat, SkullGirls, DBFZ, DoA, MvCi, Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, Soul Caliber, etc. Seriously, how many players have been able to just become great at multiple completely different types of FG’s? Let alone become among the best and/or even winning majors in all of these different FG’s? Outside of SonicFox, I honestly don’t know of very many. Maybe Justin Wong, ChrisG, and Leffen? I’m sure there’s more, but what I’m also sure of is that there’s probably NONE that have done it in as many different types of FG’s as Sonic has.
The craziest part about all of this is that I’m not even a big fan of SonicFox. I just am able to deal with reality on realities terms, and not fabricate excuses or impossible standards just because I don’t like someone. So it actually is annoying me that I’m having to defend him so much to the point to where it looks like I’m glazing. But I cannot stand when people try to discredit or diminish the success or the talents of others,
especially when it’s
completely unprovoked. I also can’t stand these same people waiting for the first time in over a decade that SonicFox hasn’t made top 8 to come out with all of this nonsense. It’s literally the embodiment of praying on someone’s downfall.
In conclusion. You don’t have to like SonicFox at all. You don’t have to believe he’s THE FGC GOAT, or THE NRS GOAT. No one here is really saying that anyway. We’re just saying he’s ONE of the FGC GOATS, and ONE of the NRS GOATS. And yes, an argument COULD be made that he IS the greatest FG player of all time. But what I think is undeniable based on the evidence is that he is, at the very least, in the conversation.
