Tougeki - Super Battle Opera
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Tougeki - Super Battle Opera (闘劇 Tōgeki?, lit. fighting play), also known as Arcadia Cup and commonly abbreviated SBO, is an annual Japanese fighting video game tournament hosted by the magazine Arcadia. Super Battle Opera actually consists of several tournaments for a variety of fighting games. Which games are to be represented are decided by the organizers of the event, and the roster is changed between each year.
Tougeki generally begins in April with the qualifications round, which is spread over all of Japan and is distributed over a number of months. The finals are then held over three intensive days in Tokyo, usually in August.
Unless explicitly stated, Tougeki usually refers only to the finals in Tokyo.
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[edit] History
As of 2007, five Arcadia Cups have been held. The next Super Battle Opera will take place August 15-17, 2008[1] and will feature the following games[2]
[edit] Singles/1 on 1
[edit] Tag Team/2 on 2
[edit] Teams 3 on 3
[edit] Format
Each tournament is played either individually or in teams of up to three players and uses a single-elimination system to determine a winner. The qualifications are done on a regional level, where players form their teams and compete at local arcade halls in a single elimination tournament for a place in the finals in Tokyo. Only the winners of the qualification tournaments get a place in the finals. Thus, every arcade hall has at best one representative team per game in the finals.
American and European players have been granted special spots in the playoffs. In Europe, the representatives are decided by the Tougeki France organisation[3].
Players have a chance to play casually in the arcade inside the SBO venue.
[edit] Champions
[edit] 2007 Champions
| Game | Team Name | Player(s) | Character(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arcana Heart | - | 青＠牧場 | Lieselotte/Bhanri |
| Soul Calibur 3: Arcade Edition | - | Sarusube | Astaroth |
| The King of Fighters '98 | - | Xiaohai (小孩) | Iori/Daimon/O.Chris |
| Melty Blood: Act Cadenza Version B2 | Nobless Oblige
(ノブレス オブ リージュ) |
Yuu (ゆう)
Denpa (電波) |
Tohno Akiha
Yumiduka Satsuki |
| Hyper Street Fighter 2: Anniversary Edition | ??? | Nuki (ヌキ)
Kurahashi (クラハシ) |
ST Chun-Li
CE Guile |
| Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection | Team Qin Ja Rou Su | Mainstreet Ryu Junior (Nidaime Mensutoryu)
Taizo Matador |
Heihachi
Feng Wei Ganryu |
| Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike | エターナルフォースブリザード | Uzemono (梅園)
Matsuda (松田) Shiro Itachi (シロイタチ) |
Chun-Li
Yun Makoto |
| Guilty Gear XX Λ Core | Oniganii (おにがにー) | Ogawa (小川)
Niga (にが) Niku-Q |
Eddie
Slayer Testament |
| Virtua Fighter 5 Version C | Clarken | Chibita
Yanaga Akape |
Lion
Pai Goh |
[edit] Controversy
On March 27, the large video arcade mi-ka-do wrote on its blog[4] that there would be an upgrade of Arcana Heart (known as Arcana Heart FULL) released before Tougeki was played. It was not said how much the upgrade would cost, except that it would be for a per-machine basis and that it would be "expensive for such minor upgrades", comparing it to games such as Vampire Savior, Vampire Savior 2 and Street Fighter Zero 3 (Known as "Street Fighter Alpha 3" in the US) which were all upgraded free-of-charge. Because of this upgrade, combined with the fact that it would be so expensive, the Tougeki arrangers choose to bend the rules for Arcana Heart players:
- The final in Tokyo will use Arcana Heart FULL
- Players are free to choose to qualify either with the original Arcana Heart, or Arcana Heart FULL
- If players qualified with the original Arcana Heart, they are free to change character in the finals.
According to the blog, this will demotivate players to participate in the Arcana Heart tournament because it is almost pointless to train for it unless their local arcade hall pays the upgrade price, which many smaller businesses cannot afford. In fact, they warned, smaller arcade halls may go out of business if the game industry continues in this way.
[edit] DVD releases
A few months after the finals in Tokyo, DVD movies containing all matches in the playoffs are released by Enterbrain, the owner of Arcadia. The movies are released in a number of volumes, containing a number of discs. Each disc containing one entire tournament. They are usually released 1-2 months after the actual tournament.
