Wonder what’s the secret to Japan’s top Street Fighter player Daigo Umehara’s success (and the eventual surge of Guile players online in SSFIV)? According to an interview conducted by Famitsu (via a 1up.com article), his secret is getting the idea that fighting games in general are one part physical skill and one part psychological breakdown. “I first started actively thinking about the issue around the time I was into Darkstalkers, about age 14,” he says. “I thought at first that it’d be best to wait for my opponent to make a mistake, but naturally, that means you can’t beat someone who performs flawlessly. So I started pondering over how to beat opponents like that.

He continues: “Having a good fighting-game strategy is vital if you want to win, of course, but being able to observe people is just as important — figuring out what kind of style they’re bringing with them. Ideally, both players are bringing their best skills to the game, but in real life, everyone has little quirks. For example, every time a brand-new fighter comes out, people tend to look for some ‘one true’ strategy and try to win just with that one approach. They wind up depending on it too much, and they forget how vital observing your opponent is. You always have to strike a balance in your mind.”

Utmost dedication and determination’s another one, though that’s a given. “I don’t know if you’d really call this a secret, but back when I was a kid, I always wanted to find something I could really dedicate myself to,” Umehara said. “I didn’t like schoolwork and wasn’t really into sports, but once I started playing games, it wasn’t long before I realized I was addicted. What school and sports are to some people, games were to me, I figured. The thing is, people don’t give much credit to games — they tell you to stop playing them and study more and so on. I was sort of rebelling against that; I figured I’d put my heart and soul into gaming the way that other people do with studying or sports.”

Do check out the rest of the translated interview, as it’s also about why he came back into fighting games after a brief hiatus as well as how he’s paying his debt to the fighting game community.