The Will to Keep Winning
If you follow competitive fighting games you know who Daigo Umerhara is. The will to keep winning is his book written about his road to becoming pro, his childhood, his search for friends and community, and his successes – including his victory at 17 in the 1998 Street Fighter Alpha 3 World Championships against American champion Alex Valle. Let’s get started on this The Will to Keep Winning Book Review.
What is The Will To Keep Winning?
Ladies and gentlemen: I present to you … the Daigo Parry of Evo 2004. It is one of the most insane moments of competitive fighting game history. Even if you have never seen Street Fighter this clip shows you the magic of the whole thing.
The evolution of several aspiring young tournament goers and how they undergo a metamorphosis, from casual to competitive, can be traced back here with this moment. Justin Wong and Daigo Umehara, taking center stage in Street Fighter III: Third Strike at the Evolution tournament. This is what appears to render the making and breaking of many fighting game legends. Daigo’s Ken successfully guards Justin’s Chun’s III super in its’ entirety. This left Daigo to decimate Wong with Ken’s 3rd super art. The crowd loses it.
But this isn’t the beginning of our story. The Will To Keep Winning may be able to fill the hole through the eyes of “The Beast” himself.
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So Where Does The Beast’s Story REALLY begin?
To many of the untrained in the realm of eSports, this is where Daigo’s legend starts. To the competitive scene, this is only the middle of the Umehara tale. This misses out on the Street Fighter II phase of Daigo. Hailed as one of the FGC’s elite, even up to now in his home country and abroad: Umehara’s tale even goes to his infant days. Daigo shares his world through the various effects of his growth. From Japanese home family culture to his small stint in Mah Jong before the storm that was his comeback. Daigo is thorough, mentioning several main events in his timeline. All events are an influence on him whether detrimental or substantial.
Daigo has been at the top of his field for decades, so of course, he is going to have a bunch of interesting stories.
The Art of No Button Mashing
In the middle of the book, The Will To Keep Winning starts to shine on its’ original intent. There are inspirational points and lessons from Daigo. One thing that stuck out for me, “I put in an effort that I’m proud of”, can be applied to whatever one would want to achieve. There are a couple of chapters where Daigo breaks down his lessons in life to inspire the reader.
Despite the zen wisdom, there are few things the gospel of The Will To Keep Winning may not be able to bless upon his fans. For instance, if one is expecting to hear the good and the bad sides of the mysterious community. Daigo’s vision is nowhere near a Neil Strauss level ticket into the gaming society. Site communities like Shoryuken, and/or EventHubs will not grace your eyes in Daigo’s missive. You will not hear the reason why Ryu seems to be the choice for Daigo, or the switch to various other mains. Daigo does mention the reasons why he chooses games, but don’t expect any deep button-by-button breakdown. The Will To Keep Winning is nothing like a Brady Games Strategy Guide.
Overall the book is pretty short. You can easily read through the chapters very quickly.
A Fight To The Finish? Final Thoughts on The Will To Keep Winning Book Review
