*Sobrang means too much or excessive in Tagalog (Filipino)
Before I start detailing the Tekken culture of the Philippines, I’d like to introduce myself so that you know who I am. My name is JT, aka JTchinoy. I’m a Filam (Filipino American) from Northern California and my main character is Ling Xiaoyu. I’ve been active in the American Tekken community since Tekken 5 and have used Xiaoyu since Tekken 5: DR. I have experience playing against the top players in Japan, Korea, and the United States. Don’t worry, I know just enough about Tekken and Tekken communities around the world to talk about this.
I’m currently living in the Philippines for an extended period and I’m here to give you some insight into the Tekken community that has bred a few big name players in America including the one and only FilthyRich. While everyone knows of these players, nobody actually knows about the culture that raised them beyond that fact that they grew up and learned Tekken in the Philippines. I’m here to provide that information. I’ve spent a total of 5 months in the Philippines as of this article and have been extremely active within the community since I’ve arrived. There’s a lot to cover, so I’ll be writing about a different aspect of the culture in this series of articles.
The first thing I’ll be covering is play style in the Philippines. Coming from America, I’m used to seeing play styles of all sorts from every corner of the country. Unlike America, however, Filipino Tekken players, or Tekkenistas, are mostly oriented towards turtling, or a defensive play style. Most people wait for others to whiff or do punishable moves or come to them and run into whatever they want to throw out. Tekkenistas have very good throw breaking, which is likely tied into their defensive style. While the players all are at a similar level of decency, very few players have play styles that make them unique compared to other people with the same character or make them raise above the rest in skill.
Among the few to be noted as unique in their own rights is the Lei player Dax. While not being a complete monster of a Lei player, his understanding of the transitions of Lei and constant use of them makes him always a nice break from the normal flow of games. Along with him is a Marduk player named Allan, who doesn’t know when to stop attacking. His offensive is typical Marduk offense, except he feels like a freight train running at you once the mixups start. He’s also very adept at using Marduk’s clap to launch people, when most Marduks would just ws+4 or ws+1 in the same situation. Lastly, there’s a misplaced Middle Eastern super model named Sassan who actually goes beyond the 5 move Bruce style. I’d say he uses maybe ½ of Bruce’s movelist, which is more than any Bruce I’ve played in any country. He also has a ridiculous instinct to low parry that dumbfounds me at times.
Because of the turtling oriented culture and emphasis on learning from each other, rather than pioneering their own play styles, the skill level of Tekkenistas is overall stagnant. While people improve their knowledge of matchups, nobody seems to take the time to refine their basics and adaptability. Some people spend several games losing just to get a vague grasp of their opponent’s style. While this may be okay for casuals and possibly death matches, it makes the community overall very vulnerable to new opponents in a tournament environment.
Comments
166 responses to “StrongStyle meets SobrangStyle*: Filipino Tekken”
kaw na kaw na tekken god kht d nmn! ahahaha joke. 🙂
*pops the popcorn*
………………
……………………………
…………………………………….
………………………………………….
………………………………………………..
*finishes the popcorn*
*bomba star movie still buffering*
Seriously dudes, this article is giving me a boner, I mean let’s not get over ourselves on something such as this.
Yes Tekken is a great competitive game in which a player, if he/she wants to improve must dedicate time and effort in practicing alot
but c’mon, the replies in this article has gone overboard,
if we are going to feed the troll, specially if it already has gone out of topic ,what impression are we giving on our foreign guests?
Kung talagang di kayo makapigil mag away tagalogin na lang natin para di na maintindihan nung ibang mga forengers…. na pikon tayo sa isat isa. Pinapakita natin na nag iinit ang ulo natin sa isang simpleng bagay, aabot pa ata sa suntukan? Omaygad ano na ang impression satin nila niyan? Di ba pinalalala lang natin yung initial impression ni jt satin? imbes na sa gameplay lang tayo mapuna pati sa ugali narin
ang ibig ko sabihin kung cool lang sana tayo edi di ba mas astig yun?
Anyways, we can talk about how serious we are when it comes to playing Tekken, maybe that’s why alot of us reacted when we have been criticized regarding our gameplay, but here’s the thing….there are other games that we can also be serious about
like….SEXY BEACH 1,2,3 for example….we can also argue about our play-style in that game on how we can “wavedash” with our (joy)stick even though it’s only a game which supports mouse and keyboard…or how many “clicks” we should do in order to “win” the match. How about BIKO 3……or BATTLE RAPER??? Now that’s a game we should get serious about…Im actually thinking about holding a tourney of that game I think that game is Evo worthy…
Now those games are games that we can also talk seriously wag natin ubusin ang ating galit at poot sa iisang topic marami pang topic ang pwede tayong pag tigasan
* ahhh napadaan lang ako. tagal kasi mag buffer nung bold…..dont mind me….*
P.S. T@ng 1na bat ambagal ng youjizz ngayon? nauna pang mag load ito:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IXmWD293Ms
+1. 🙂
lol at the video.. hahaha! talented talaga mga dinos.. hehe..
Whenever I read this article, it makes me feel weird… So weird that a Tentacle sprouts out of my crotch…. I named her Donia Sugar…
DEFENSE is the BEST OFFENSE…so yeah
i have to agree with buknoy ^^
Comments show just how “classy” some of the Filipino players are…
Hate to say it but I agree with ya. Take note though that it does not apply to the community as a whole.
Let’s have classy buttseckz
…….. Agreed.
You’re on.
Meet up on same place or what?
Pm sent
Ano namn kung turtle type ang isang player ano namn ang problema dun. isa sa pinka mahirap pag aralan ay ang palakasin ang depensa ng isang player kesa bumato ng kung ano-ano ng prang nag 10 string combo. Wla akong nakikitang problema sa turtle style or kung anong playing style ng player. IMHO 😛
abangers, punisher, grabbers, etc. kanya kanyang style lng yan maxado kayong mainit ahahaha 😀
Yo JT. I have to say you pretty much summed up the tekken scene here. But not all good players are from Metro Manila. I’m 3 hours away from Metro Manila and I play good Tekken players here in my province. I’d have to say if you’ve seen any videos of Ronix on youtube(Mostly casual matches between me and him but him using secondary characters). You’d be surprised. We don’t have a big fancy mall here with T6BR machines but what we do have is a PS3 and the internet to keep ourselves informed on anything new happening in the International Tekken Scene. I’m pretty proud to say that Ronix which is basically the strongest player on our team (BTT) swept the Olongapo iPlay T6 tournament. He has an very aggressive play style that’ll pressure a pressure cooker. BTW he mains Kazuya(who is known for being a punisher). You can check out my youtube channel for some vids though I forgot if I got any recorded Kazuya Matches of him.
BTW if you ever feel like roaming around the Philippines and get to a little place called Bataan, send me an e-mail. I’d be happy to introduce you to the underground Tekken Scene here.
btw. My youtube channel is under arvs14
yo bro. sky here of team SMN. Looks like players on your province are good. are you planning to visit Manila? if you’re planning to visit Manila, be sure to drop off at SM North Edsa. i want to have a match with you guys. or could you arrange a team battle between your team and our team (Team SMN) when you visit here? we want to have a descent match with you guys. just let me know. you can visit our thread to let us know you’re going to visit Manila. Thank You.
by the way battz, i saw your vids at youtube that’s why i want to have a descent match with you guys. we also want to have a match with your best players out there on your province. maybe we could share information/s so we could reach a new height on our game play. Thank You.