Description: omg unbeleevabel motm match between AUSTIN LONG and SHOGO URAHARA!!! must see 4 insanity!!! (12,236,423 views) (WINNER: Shogo Urahara's Rust)
EVO 20XX MOTM FINALS: Austin Long(Aranha) VS Shogo Urahara(Rust)
At long last, it's the final match of the Match of the Millenium tournament here at EVO 20XX! The Youtube video starts on the horribly cluttered character selection screen. Seriously, there's something like one-hundred and eleven characters on this screen, how in the hell can modern technology even fit so many portraits on there? The pinging noise that comes with every move of the cursor is really grating.
"All right, folks, it's underway. Austin Long and Shogo Urahara, their long awaited rematch since EVO 200X!" Says an overly enthusiastic announcer in their 30s, wistful of their glory days in the arcades. "Urahara here seems to have something new up his sleeve for the final fight... he's not picking his usual mainstay, Jiro, from the looks of things-- wait, is he serious?"
He is, for the portrait of one Howard Rust flashes, bringing up the color selection. It's default the whole way through.
"He's seriously picking Rust? The recent Arcadia magazine hasn't had anything nice to say about him on the tier list. He's either got balls, or he knows exactly what Austin's going to pick."
The player one cursor repeats the same irritating pinging noise as the cursor moves past Frei and then it pauses for a moment over Ayame. Austin says, "Nah." The cursor pings a few more times before stopping on Aranha.
The overly enthusiastic announcer speaks up again, "It would appear that Austin is doing something completely different as well. He normally goes with either High Tier Ayame or Alan, but he has decided to go with a Lower Tier, Aranha. One of the main things that keep Aranha from being High Tier are his steep learning curve and the lack of power in his throws. Let's see what Austin has in mind."
The location icon shows up between both Rust and Aranha and after a few moments, Suiryuu Deck is selected. One of the secret stages in the game.
And now, the loading screen. A perfect buffer for more obnoxious dialogue.
"Oh wow, they're gonna put on a show for us. That's the most visually impressive stage in all of Match of the Millenium. That said... this matchup could go either way. I've never seen them play these guys before. You never know, they could be rewriting the rules tonight!"
A flash of a great yacht, fitted with technology not yet conceived for the appropriate era of its construction. It pans over the Ryouhara clan sigil, the three leaves swirling around a vortex. The strange lack of anything that would be a right angle on the conventional ship. The way some lines of it glow eerily in spite of what the sparse lighting of a brewing storm overhead would give-- whoop, someone among the competitors just kept jamming the buttons to pass all the introduction eye candy, you home version people can just get the game and see for yourself if you care that much.
"Here we go!" Does it need to be made any more obvious? Aranha and Rust are both in their idle animations, for what little could be noted of them. "Long to the left, Urahara to the right."
"FIGHT!" Goes the game. Right from the start, Rust springs into action, crouching down and swinging his pipe, Ol' Rusty, in two hands in an arc that goes a little too high to be treated as something that hits low. One of his bigger metagame issues is the scant few number of things he has that hits low (and for the stuff that does, they don't combo).
COMBATSYS: Rust has started a fight here on the right meter side.
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Rust
COMBATSYS: Aranha has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rust
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Rust's Medium Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rust
Austin is slow to start taking on a wait and see approach which doesn't quite take advantage of Aranha's speed. The animation shows Aranha leaning away from Rust as he brings his arm up in guard.
Interesting Fact: Aranha's block animation can pull him away from the hit zones of some attacks so he ends up dodging the attack. Problem is most players have trouble finding the right range to block in order to do so. Which goes back to Aranha's steep learning curve.
Aranha slides backwards slightly from the impact of the block and then once he gets out of his block animation, Aranha leans forward with one hand and then flips over it bringing his heel down on Rust.
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Aranha's Heel Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rust
"Slow start - they seem to be playing it safe." Some commentators might note that Rust's reach with his swings may be what allows him to overcome Aranha's blocking lean, giving him a lot more freedom on the spacing of his approaches.
Aranha's overhead heel kick seems like it should catch the crouching Rust - it is caught within a single frame of the hit being guaranteed as the blocking hitspark shows off of Rust's raised left arm. Now comes one of Rust's metagame tools - the sheer /speed/ of his back throw.
It's going to require some split-second decision making if Long wants to avoid having Aranha being hurled into a corner by a lightning-fast (and honestly, very boringly animated) hip toss.
COMBATSYS: Rust successfully hits Aranha with Medium Throw.
> Determined Hit! <
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Rust
Austin can't quite get away from the throw animation. The announcer can't quite contain his enthusiasm actually shouting, "Oh! And ALong can't quite tech out of the throw! Rust's throw tends to be fast which is one of the things going for him even if it's kinda vanilla as far as fighting standards go"
Aranha rolls to his feet and then tilts into a handstand which changes his stance from Ginga to Bananeira opening him up to head game options. That is one of the pluses of Aranha. One can never tell Aranha is going to use Inverted Flurry or Inverted Tornado out of Bananeira.
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Aranha's Inverted Flurry.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Rust
And then all of a sudden, Aranha lashes out with a rapid series of kicks in an attempt to smack Rust with his kicks and drive Urahara's Rust backwards and gain more space to work with.
"Austin's putting the pressure back on," the commentator comments as those kicks tick away at Rust's life bar. The Inverted Flurry is really good at doing guard gauge damage - something that can probably empty even Rust's pretty fast if he stays at it.
Urahara, as always, is this quiet guy whose focus remains squarely on the match without any colorful commentary. He's like some kind of predator, carefully watching their prey. It is why the west calls him the Predator.
Long appears to have control of the fight's momentum, as Urahara's Rust continues to sit there, sometimes crouching but otherwise appears content to simply hold the stick back and chance a guard break.
COMBATSYS: Rust focuses on his next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Rust
On the other hand, while Austin has control of the pace, one needs to keep in mind that that Shogo is still in control of the life bars.
Aranha goes out of the Bananeira and goes back into Ginga before moving back into Rust's Ol' Rusty range wiggling the stick back and forth causing Aranha to move in and out his range and then all of a sudden he drops down to perform a scything kick down low before immediately comboing into a cartwheel kick.
What does the announcer has to say? "He's still on the attack!"
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Rust with Light Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Rust
There's some laughter from the audience at Aranha's wiggling while Rust just... sits there. But these two are the best of the best of the best. There is a method to this seeming madness.
Austin takes the fight to the waiting Urahara, and... Urahara is caught blocking while standing, the low kick comboing cleanly into the cartwheel kick for a somewhat miniscule amount of damage. To Rust's credit, he comes close to topping the list in terms of stamina - meaning he typically has more room to mess up than most of the cast.
Too bad the metagame sees him having few answers for some of the real nasty top tier stuff.
"Wait a minute--" The announcer gasps as Urahara gets his Rust back on his feet, Aranha maybe a little too close post-kick as Rust reaches out with his free hand...
COMBATSYS: Aranha interrupts Hammering from Rust with Malicia.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Rust
"The predator makes the catch!" The announcer cheers as Rust bends Aranha down on a knee and bashes at his back a couple times with the makeshift hilt of that rusted length of pipe. It's the light version - there's only three good, solid strikes in there before the characters are disengaged from that particularly brutal animation.
Urahara is not content with this small victory, chancing whatever Long might do for wakeup as low jabs are mashed. This may prove to be his folly...!
But Aranha turns his back polishing his shades as part of a taunt. One hit connects with Aranha's back but then Aranha lashes out with a glowing spinning back heel, knocking Rust away from him.
"That goes to show you that when you're fighting against Aranha, a taunt isn't always just a taunt."
Urahara's Rust is blown away. The distance causes it to zoom out a little, showing off more detail of the lovingly crafted Suiryuu. The water effects of the pool and hot water tub as the storm rages onward on the deck of one of the greatest sea vessels to ever exist (within the world of Match of the Millenium, anyway).
"And the two are far apart - Rust's at the disadvantage here. Will Austin start zoning?" Rust, back in the day, used to have this really good vaulting jump that made up for his incredibly crappy normal jump - it's too low to easily dodge some fireballs, too floaty to take advantage of what a low height might help in jumping in on an opponent.
Not even Rust's dash helps a ton in closing the distance. Urahara is undeterred on this approach, but this lets Long dictate the pacing. Zone? Approach? The crowd awaits with bated breath, waiting to see how these two fighting game grandmasters go about navigating the next encounter between them.
It's still anyone's game.
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Rust
"At this range, Austin could probably get away with spamming Aranha's Web Shot all day from there!"
To the surprise of the spectators, Aranha doesn't immediately go for the Web Shots. Instead he moves to one of the crates, and performs a head butt next to it breaking the crate and revealing a rocket launcher.
Aranha kneels down to pick up hoists it up on his shoulder and fires away the really slow moving projectile.
The announcer's jaw drops open for a few moments before he can completely respond, "That was not... expected."
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Rust with Huge Thrown Object.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Rust
Someone forgot to turn the items off.
/Someone forgot to turn the items off./
It's absolute chaos backstage, with tournament organizers yelling at other staffers as to why this machine was not set with items off! This grand build-up match is ruined! Skill has been thrown out the window, turning Match of the Millenium into some... /CASUAL/ party game! This game will never be played in another EVO ever again! Ever! The hardcore will shun it forevermore.
Urahara does not give a shit. Frighteningly, to the one filming him, he even manages to crack a smirk.
Urahara has participated in countless tournaments of strict rules and formats. But now, the Predator takes a new, certain perverse delight in what has gone on. He, himself, cannot possibly have been innocent of whatever sabotage has been made to the game's rules in between matches.
Judges insist the game be paused and the round restarted. Urahara ignores this request with but a simple wave of his hand.
"Who turned the items on?! They're gonna ask to restart, I'm sure--" The announcer says in an unsure tone as Urahara's Rust tries to jump the slow moving projectile with a slow moving character that has a slow moving hop with a somewhat narrow horizontal path. This ends about as well as one would expect, bodily contact being made with the slow rocket that sees Rust pop up in flames.
"They're not stopping?!" The announcer asks. The crowds seem decidedly mixed on what's going on here, hooting and hollering with mixed cheers and jeers. For Urahara's part, he zones out the noise. All that exists is him, his amazing manual dexterity, and whatever the hell's going on on-screen.
Rust's closed in enough during the time it takes for Aranha to get the rocket launcher, enough that he just might be able to nail him with a jump-in - the really infamous one where Rust simply raises a knee. It looks like a light kick. It, in fact, uses the same hitbox data as his light kick, giving it a severely disjointed, glitchy hitbox.
It stuffs way more than it should, but this tool alone didn't see Rust soaring too high on the tier charts. But will Long have any easy answer to it?
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Rust's Strong Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Rust
After seeing the wave off from Urahara, ALong cracks a smile of his own. You have to wonder if the two planned on this sabotage of the game rules the entire time. Meanwhile, Aranha tosses aside the rocket launcher which after two bounces fades out of existance.
That's about the point where Aranha goes into his leaning block animation which pulls him just barely out of the glitchy hit box range. After that, Aranha crouches and the moment Rust's feet hit the ground, he sends out another scything low kick similar to the combo he performed before on Rust but then he follows with a roundhouse kick with his feet elevated off the ground while he keeps one hand still planted on the ground.
COMBATSYS: Rust interrupts Fierce Kick from Aranha with Crane Launch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Aranha 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 Rust
For a brief instance, it's back to relative tactical normalcy between the two. Austin making good on Aranha's leaning block with pixel-perfect spacing against the might of Rust's bullshit jumping strong kick.
"They're just going to keep doing this like nothing happened?!" The announcer exclaims, as if ready to - wait for this - ragequit his position entirely. (ANNOUNCER RAGEQUIT!! ANNOUNCER RAGEQUIT!! World first!)
Never mind that even in hilarity, the two of them still show their impeccable timing and incredible skill, Aranha's timing perfect for catching Rust with that low kick... but wait! There's something sparkly just underneath Rust's foot... and Urahara manages to pick it up in time! A vial of whatever the hell it is that gives Urien that amazing metallic body sheen!
The crowds jeer and boo, ignorant of the sorts of fingerwork it takes not only to pick that thing up - but to complete the motion for Rust's Crane Launch super at a most opportune time, mere frames away from that roundhouse kick striking.
A massive uppercut with Rust's free hand sends Austin's Aranha flying up, the balding fatso leaping up after to hook into Aranha with a pipe (...somehow) and spin rapidly until Aranha is flung all the way... over at the other side of the screen.
Thus resetting the zoning game between the two back in Austin's favor, unless Urahara there just happens to come across the next COMPLETELY GAME-BREAKING THING YOU SHOULD STOP HAVING FUN WITH toy that spawns, whatever it may be.
Judges remain at a loss as to what to do. Forcibly cut the power and stop the match?!
Austin's Aranha goes flying high into the air, caught, spun and sent flying some more, until he lands right on another crate and grab a power up that makes Aranha flicker between red, yellow, and blue. Which can only mean one thing. A Freedom Pickup.
Oddly enough, Austin is now playing against his usual strategy of spamming the projectile. Instead Aranha rapidly dashes in close, turns red, and then blows his super gauge on a roundhouse followed by a hooking back heel which if it catches Rust will, pull him face first to the ground and then if he gets him to the ground with that, he'll button mash the kicks for additional damage.
As for the people in the audience, they're throwing trash up on the stage. An empty can hits the announcer in the face.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Rust with Face Down.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Rust
The announcer would talk about how Austin is blowing away one of Aranha's big advantages in this matchup - his (native) projectile - but he's too busy being pelted by trash. That can seals the deal. He's had it. There's some microphone feedback as he tosses it at the stage and just walks off. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the first recorded announcer ragequit in EVO history. This will go down the books. (Not to mention some guy... name starts with a T? He's doing a paper on competitive mindsets, maybe he'll get plenty of interesting info from these guys up here.)
The two meet in the center. Rust, all Urien'd up, just waddles through that first roundhouse kick as though Urahara over here is thinking of some classically silly way to just stuff it - but that hooking back heel kick isn't something you can just Hyper Armor your way through, nope. The crowd is so loud that it's hard to tell if there's anyone who can appreciate the amount of hits that Austin Long is able to squeeze out of mashing the buttons. It takes a real pro, a real pinball wizard, to get so many button press registers on that thing.
It might be the defense bonus provided by that dumb hyper armor item that prevents Urahara's Rust from fainting. There is no colorful explosive 'KO!' backdrop just yet.
But for the Aranha fans, if they weren't rioting from the use of items in a high profile match, would gleefully call 'face down, ass up, bitch!'
Some sort of floating glowy ball passes over Rust's head, which Urahara manages to score immediately on wakeup with a crouching middle strike. Rust starts to glow a shiny color, and everyone knows what to expect here. They hate it. One of those awesome Ryouhara clan chi balls granting its user unfathomable power, if for one blow, that completely turns the tide of the match and makes things more reliant on luck than skill!!
Urahara decides to blow it, as the clock is running low and at this rate Long might win this on time-out. It's some fancy finger olympics to get the motion for the MAX out right as that claiming swing for the ball even /ends/.
And so, the motion goes in, the entire scene going into slow motion for a gratuitous close-up shot of glowing light at the end of Rust's pipe before he suddenly dashes forward. There's cola spilled all over the big screen now, so it's hard to pick up whatever might be going on.
COMBATSYS: Rust successfully hits Aranha with Condemned.
[ \\\\ < > / ]
Aranha 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Rust
A single, thunderous sound not unlike a wrecking ball hitting a condemned building resounds as the 30-something (or isn't he forty now, who the fuck cares about the scrubby character shit that has nothing to do with WINNING THE GAME) balding American man turns his back to Aranha and sheathes his weapon in a classy manner in an overly long animation.
If only there was an amazing commentator to talk about this amazing reversal, but... oh wait, he's busy being pelted by garbage down there, too bad.
Judging by the commands that Austin was entering in, it would appear that he was attempting to input Aranha's Sky's the Limit as a way of escaping the attack. He just didn't get away in time. And Aranha goes flying away as he screams, "NOT MY SHAAAAAAAADES!!"
Meanwhile, Austin rises from his seat, walks over to Ura, and nods before turning and walking right into the path of a tomato.
The natives are getting restless.
COMBATSYS: Aranha takes no action.
> / ]
|======-\-------\0 Rust
COMBATSYS: Aranha can no longer fight.
> / ]
|======-\-------\0 Rust
The Predator appears to have won, based on how one can make out a close-up of Rust saying something or another, who gives a shit about winquotes anyway? Shogo gets out of his seat and goes over with a nod. They have totally decimated this gathering, it's gonna be a picture for the scrapbook.
So is the part where someone gets a banana peel on his face. Wiping it away with a glare, he turns to face the assembled mob who scream about getting to the /real/ fight already without items or, say, anything truly fun at all.
Screw those guys, he's off to play some ONF3.
COMBATSYS: Rust has ended the fight here.
HIGHEST RATED COMMENTS
----------------------
ironicname1513930296 (4 days ago) 19^
Aranha found that he was alone and his groupie drawer was empty. After seeing this match it became obvious why. He couldn't finish.
WilcoxFTW1325 (1 week ago) 16^
the hell they do to rust he rocked in cog he lost like everything good to him thats not even him nemore WTF IS UP WITH HIS HAIR
MOST RECENT COMMENTS
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GoukiCombos932 (5 minutes ago) v2
Austin makes all gamers look bad. He's annoying as all hell and really really fat. And he smells rotten hoagie.
SoDaToSeRvE (8 minutes ago) ^3
Shogo owns everyone but that's ok because it's Shogo.
darksydepaul (8 minutes ago) ^1
That dumb fucker deserved to lose. He completely neglected Aranha's Web Shot.
pkill (9 minutes ago) ^4
I wonder what came over Austin. Maybe he's having flashbacks of a certain tournament?
furinkazanchan (11 minutes ago) v3
Austin was acting like a douche after he won his semi-final. He got humbled by Shogo. Serves that jackass right.
RyanValley (14 minutes ago) ^2
This match shouldn't even count, they were using items, what were they thinking?! They're insulting all serious competition everywhere for a goddamn joke. If EVO falls apart it's their fault
MotMChampion1235 (16 minutes ago) v31564
shogo aint shit heres my id XXYX-YXYX-XYXX CHALLENGE ME COWARD!!!!!
limpycrab26 (18 minutes ago) v3
along 4eva!! shogo had 2 use instant supar to win he sux......
SPEEKENGLIZZPLOX (20 minutes ago) v6
What happened to Evo? :/
Nameless4 (21 minutes ago) ^4
Austin + Shogo = Best. Trolls. Ever.
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Log created on 13:42:35 05/14/2010 by Rust, and last modified on 00:02:28 05/17/2010.