prodystopian said:
Evo proved that Sagat is a terrible. The Mago proved that he can beat everyone with Sagat. The tiers are more clear now than ever.
Or not.
I'd say that the American tiers and Japanese tiers are a smidgen different. Sagat is obviously top tier in Japan and there are several top level players who use him. In America, I can't name a top level Sagat from the top off my head except for Haunts or Joe.
In America, we're all about Boxer. Japan doesn't really have any players using him. Probably why Daigo got tripped up at Evo.
And from reading Haunts' comments, Akuma players like Momoichi, etc are using him at a higher level than Ed Ma, Sanford, etc.
And then the Japanese players don't use the console arcades, since they mostly play it in the arcades.
Also, when it comes to sticks. American arcades strictly used Happ/Il sticks up until they began importing them or the last few major fighting game releases. Most of the sticks on the market now are Japanese inspired and have a higher learning curve. I've played ST, TS, A1 - 3, KOF (until 2003), Samsho, Tekken, VF in the arcade and all used the Happ sticks in the 90s to early 2000.
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