Tokido

Hajime Taniguchi (Japanese: たにぐち はじめ, Hepburn: Taniguchi Hajime, born 7 July 1985), better known as Tokido, is a Japanese fighting game player. Active in the King of Fighters and Street Fighter franchises, Tokido has a unique play style. Tokido is a three-time EVO champion, having won Capcom vs. SNK 2 in 2002 as well as winning Super Street Fighter II Turbo in 2007 and Street Fighter V ten years later.^[3]

Career

Tokido was introduced to fighting games in the 1990s, when he played The King of Fighters '94 on the Neo Geo MVS. The first Street Fighter game Tokido came in contact with was Street Fighter 2 on the Super Famicom.^[4]

Sponsored by Madcatz, Tokido was a highly successful King of Fighters XIII player in 2014.^[5][6] Tokido got into Street Fighter IV late compared to other high-level players. When he did, teammate Daigo Umehara suggested him to pick the character Akuma, as a character like Ryu would be too difficult for him. Playing as Akuma, Tokido invented the "Tokido Vortex", a move that guarantees an opponent character will get damage.^[4]

Shortly before Street Fighter V was released in 2016, Tokido expressed a desire to make a change in his playstyle. Playing with a "more fundamental, grounded style" did not work out well at the 2015 Tokyo Game Show tournament, but he won the Canada Cup 2015 a month later. The change in style prepared Tokido to use Ryu in Street FIghter V, as the game does not include Akuma. Tokido reached second place multiple times during the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour, losing only to Infiltration at Final Round 19 and NorCal Regionals 2016. Tokido would eventually defeat Infiltration at the 2016 Community Effort Orlando in order to qualify for the Capcom Cup.^[7][8]

Tokido is known for taking on a somewhat eccentric persona on stage. Footage exists of Tokido imitating some of Akuma's taunts, and trash-talking his opponent Bonchan shortly before a tournament in 2015 became highly discussed among the fighting game community. In 2015, Tokido stated that he is meaning to leave such behavior behind him because, as a professional gamer, he wants "to show that entertainment in game, not out of it."^[4]

In 2016, Tokido was released from Mad Catz as the company was having financial trouble due to the sales of Rock Band 4. ^[9] On January 4, 2017, it was confirmed that Echo Fox had picked up Tokido. ^[10]

Tokido won the Street Fighter V tournament at Evo 2017.^[11]

Legacy

In 2016, a Yahoo Esports article described Tokido as a "fighting game legend," as a veteran of numerous battles spanning over a decade.^[7] Tokido is considered to be one of Japan's five fighting game gods, a title he shares with Daigo Umehara, Shinya Onuki, Tatsuya Haitani, and Naoto Sako.^[12]

References