I am convinced that this year’s Olympics are for gamers. Some time ago, a runner who was going to the Olympics, It was flashing Yu Gi Oh cards before his races. Then the Games actually started with a clear nod of the head Assassin’s Creedwith rooftop parkour and hooded figures. There was even a Hunter from Destiny 2or at least something close to one. Now there’s a guy who’s Clearly He has been perfecting his neutral game in fighting games. His name is Sebastien Patrice and if his fencing stops working out, he has a future at next year’s EVO Tournament.
This became obvious in this weekend’s match, which Patrice ultimately lost, but not before causing a bit of a stir. It happened because, while on the bottom, Patrice chose an unorthodox method to try to secure victory: he began jumping very lightly, then very aggressively, towards his opponent.
There’s a completely absurd clip of Patrice doing this at the Paris Olympics going around right now, and I’m a little incredulous about it all. He clearly resembles a wounded (and losing) animal who throws himself when cornered, but the move stuns the other guy so much that he just presses the button and frantically swings his saber for a touch until he finally connects. It’s the equivalent of smashing buttons on display at your local arcade and actually taking the win away from your opponent.
I’ve always thought fencing had a lot more to do with poise, delicate touches and comebacks, but honestly, I’m not sure Patrice has ever heard of those terms. One of the top comments under the video jokes that “0-60 is faster than most cars,” and they’re not exaggerating. That’s not at all like fencing in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.
His neutral jump Really he jumped out in a gaming community that started out jokingly commenting about his technique. Given that the world’s largest fighting game tournament took place in Vegas just two weekends ago, people who were fresh in the genre (myself included) began joking about the footsie and jab, which are attacks you do to try to nudge the other player and gain control of the space in front of you, opening them up for further moves.
In the parlance of the fighting game community, my buddy Patrice nailed jump. His opponent, who seemed confused by Patrice’s sudden burst of energy as well as his approach, could NO figure out how to punish that move. Instead, he landed on his back foot, holding that guard until Patrice finally got into an unblockable. He may not have won, but at least he secured (player) Olympics with its own EVO moment.
