Recently we had a chance to talk to the legend. No, not Bagger Vance. We’re talking about Seth Killian, a legend in the Street Fighter community and Capcom’s Producer and Senior Manager. He’s also the director of the EVO Championship Series, the largest and longest-running fighting game tournaments in the world.

NERDSociety (NS): If you had to choose, SF3 or SFIV?

Seth Killian (SK): SFIV.  SF3 has given us a lot of incredible moments and really sings in the hands of top players, but my parrying skills are soft and playing SFIV really takes me back to the core of Street Fighter:  playing footsies, controlling space, and lots of mind-games.  SFIV is also great online, with tons of readily-available competition.

NS:  Are you happy with how SFIV turned out on the consoles?

SK: Overall I’m very happy.  There’s always more you wish could have been squeezed in, but at the end of the day, you really want a beautiful game with fun characters and the chance to play satisfying matches online.  I think SFIV delivers like nothing else on all those counts.

NS:  Other than Rufus, who’s your favorite character?

SK: Is it a sin to admit that I really like Ken in SFIV?  I know everyone is tired of all the Ken players, but I haven’t played a Shoto character seriously in many years, and somehow fell in love with Ken’s crazy tricks.  I’m also an aspiring El Fuerte player (“aspiring” means I don’t win that much with him), and when I get angry I go back to Cammy,
Gouken, and M. Bison.

NS:  People have been playing with Ryu and Ken online a lot.  Do you think the community needs to step outside their boundaries?

SK: Definitely.  There’s so much fun to be had with a lot of the different characters–I just wish people could relax about maximizing Battle Points and remember to have some fun.  I always play new characters in ranked matches, and I lose a lot while I’m learning the ropes.  You know what?  That’s okay!  I always end up making up the difference pretty quick, and playing more characters helps me to really understand the game from all sides, as well as keeping it eternally fresh and challenging.  And re: Ken, I excuse myself because for me, Ken *is* outside of my boundaries!  I usually play “charge” characters, like Blanka or Balrog.

NS:  How come my favorite character, Viper, has a steep learning curve?

SK: I think you can play an effective Viper without getting too crazy, but it’s true that she really shines on offense and some of her best stuff requires trickiness.  Spend some time in the Trial modes and the training mode to practice her cancels and maybe one EX Seismo Hammer -> air Burning Kick combo, and you’re in business.

NS:  Is Seth really named after you? If he really is, how come you prefer Rufus?

SK: Yes, that’s what Ono-san tells me.  When they asked me if that was okay, it took me almost 0.1 seconds before I said “um… yes?”  It’s an honor to have the final boss in SFIV, but Seth’s play style didn’t fit me immediately.  The longer I spend with any fighting game, however, I find my tastes in characters change over time, so maybe I’ll get serious about him in the future.

NS:  Is there such a thing as being cheap in Street Fighter? If so, can’t we use the excuse, “If it’s in the game, it’s ok.”

SK: “Cheap” can be a pretty complicated question, and I’ve actually written long articles about it.  That said, almost nothing that most people complain about as being “cheap” is actually cheap. A lot of people are extremely quick to decide a certain tactic is cheap, when it’s usually just whatever happens to be beating THEM that day.  It makes me a little sad because if they stopped to think about how to counter the tactic (say, throws), they’d really improve their game and see whole new layers of depth.  “If it’s in the game, it’s ok” is not true in every single case, but it’s a good rule of thumb, and you should play hard and use every tactic at your disposal.  Those tactics are in there for a reason, and I think the game gets more rich and rewarding if you embrace all aspects instead of just ignoring certain parts. It’s only by having people play “all out” that we can accurately determine which things really do need fixing.

NS:  What do you think of the Legend of Chun Li movie? Also, what do you think of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Street Fighter movie?

SK: I think they’re both pretty entertaining.  While there are groan-inducing moments, I think they’re important parts of the franchise history and can be enjoyed in different ways if you just relax and have fun with them.

NS:  You must have the best job in the world. You get to play Street Fighter. How is working at Capcom and can you share with us your craziest moments working there?

SK: I don’t get to play as much Street Fighter as you might think.  I’m also on the road a lot, and work a lot of long hours at the office, but we definitely have some fun and I love the job.  I think my craziest moments are probably at the live events we’ve had–we did a standing-room-only panel at Comic-Con with thousands of fans screaming, and seeing reactions like that, or at the Street Fighter launch party in LA are really my happiest times.  I love playing games, but I love seeing other people get excited about them more than anything.

Street Fighter Party at Universal CityWalk. Read about it here.

NS:  How has working at Capcom affected your skill in Street Fighter?

SK: Great question.  A busy job is definitely not a great way to stay at the top of SF competitions.  It’s really hard to find time to play sometimes, and when I do, I sometimes realize I’m trying a tactic that only worked on an earlier build of the game!  I’ve probably played 80 different versions of SFIV, so I need to spend more time with the final build to erase my bad habits.  I’ve been playing online late at night when I finally get home, but I’m half asleep sometimes.  I also really like playing together in groups with other people.  It’s a great social experience, but I need more hours in the day.

NS:  If I can beat you in a game of Street Fighter, can I work for Capcom?

SK: If that was how it worked, we’d have a lot of people working here at Capcom.  That said, I did meet the guy I ended up hiring into our community group through Capcom-Unity.com, playing Lost Planet online, so anything’s possible.

NS:  Other than Street Fighter, what are your other favorites fighting games? How about general games at the moment?

SK: I think I’ve played every fighting game ever released for some period of time.  Does Marvel vs. Capcom 2 count?  I love the “Vs” series, but if we’re looking outside of Capcom’s stable, I’m always impressed by Smash Brothers, Guilty Gear, Tekken, and Arcana Hearts.  I’m much less good at those games–I like to play them to see their ideas, and I can relax and not worry about winning so much.  My darkest joys are Primal Rage and BloodStorm.  BloodStorm is kind of like the fighting game equivalent of Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree–very endearing.

Outside of fighting games, I’m also playing Resident Evil 5, Killzone 2, trying to finish Gauntlet on XBL, and anxiously awaiting StarCraft II.

NS:  Thanks a lot for the interview Seth!

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