In an episode of PlayStation’s Face Off, Street Fighter pros Justin Wong and MenaRD discussed the best moments in fighting game history and why it’s Evo Moment 37 – aka the ‘Daigo Parry.’
Saul Leonardo ‘MenaRD’ Mena II and Justin Wong are both legends in their own right when it comes to the world of competitive fighting games. MenaRD is a two-time Capcom Cup champion, while Justin Wong boasts a total of 8 Evo championships and a decades-long esports career.
The two hashed out their differences during an episode of Face Off, hosted by acclaimed commentator Tasty Steve, when the topic of ‘the greatest fighting game moment in history’ came up.
Although he was on the receiving end of Daigo’s famous parry, Justin Wong had to admit that Evo Moment 37 earned this title. In fact, he claimed that the modern fighting game community (FGC), as we know it, would likely not exist if his Super hadn’t gotten parried twenty years ago.
“If that moment never happened, would we be here right now doing this Face Off episode?” he asked. “…in general, I think Moment 37 changed a lot of people’s lives from that era and even now.”
Justin went on to say that he’s interacted with a bevy of fans over the years who told him that Moment 37 got them into fighting games in the first place.
“Even though I’m on the losing end, the fact that we have so many people coming up to [me], first-timers coming to tournaments, saying, ‘Hey, I watched this moment, and I wouldn’t have gotten into fighting games if I hadn’t seen this moment.”
For Justin, Moment 37 isn’t just the pinnacle of fighting game culture; it’s the “number one esports moment of all time.”
“The fact that that moment, in general, was able to beat League of Legends, Dota, Counter-Strike moments – this old, 480p – I think that really tells you a lot about how important this moment is, how it changed my life, it changed Daigo’s life. And it’s changed [the life of] everyone who’s pursued fighting games in general.”
MenaRD agreed with Justin’s opinion that Moment 37 was the greatest esports moment ever, saying he thinks it’s “underappreciated because people don’t really understand how hard it is.”
However, he also wanted to highlight other iconic moments in the FGC. For him, Tokido vs Punk at Evo 2017 is one of the standouts from the scene because it marked a key moment in the passing of the torch from the older generation of players to the youngsters – something that Tokido managed to put off for a few years thanks to his win over his American rival.
“I feel if Tokido hadn’t beaten Punk, that was the passing of the torch right there,” he explained. “I feel the older generation versus the new generation extended for multiple years, even now, just because Tokido won and the way he won.
“If Punk had beaten Tokido right there, that was it. I feel like the torch was gonna be passed right there. It’s beautiful about how it happened, how the old generation was able to fight back and show that everybody here gets to play. It’s not only the younger ones.
“That was the most beautiful moment. No moment is gonna top Evo Moment 37 in this life… but I do feel that was the most important Street Fighter moment out of all these years.”
Despite their differences, the two came to an agreement on this point – but we can’t say the same for the other fighting game topics they debated on Face Off, which you can watch on PlayStation Esport’s official YouTube channel.
