Idol Showdown at ESGS 2023
We reached out to the top 2 players of the first Idol Showdown tournament held at the biggest esports event in the Philippines.
Of all the things that have happened during my trip to ESGS 2023, I remember few things that resonate with me as part of VTuber NewsDrop:
- The Philippines made history with its first magazine dedicated to the local VTuber scene,
- I've met Numi mod Nymo, the guys at Brand New Company (HEYU), Rumble Royale's Ran-kun, as well as &Cider Studio's Tapsi and several VTubers at V-Tahanan, and
- Idol Showdown made its way to the local fighting game scene.
We'll focus more on the third point, as the hololive fan-favorite game gets its spotlight at the Fighting Game Arena, alongside Street Fighter 6 and Soul Calibur 6.
Sunday, November 5—The last match in the Idol Showdown tourney organized by Just Amazing Videogamers has GoreValues and zakutena battling it out for the championship title in the grand finals.
GoreValues and zakutena chose Ayame Nakiri and Tokino Sora for the grand finals of the Idol Showdown tournament at ESGS 2023's Fighting Game Arena. (Screencap from Facebook / ESGS Fighting Game Arena)
I catch up with zakutena about his experience following the match—"Exhilarating. Really, it's because I've never made it that far, actually. It's my first time to play Idol Showdown competitively."
Zakutena told us that he just casually plays the game online since it debuted, so to try gunning for the top spot is something that he tried out following the announcement from the event. "I did not expect it to make it that far."
While he also chooses Inugami Korone and Shirakami Fubuki for his matches, "I main [Tokino] Sora because she has one of my favorite characters—Athena Asamiya from King of Fighters—as a color."
As for the champion GoreValues—who added Idol Showdown to his medals that day—he got interested in playing the game once it's out.
"Well, although I'm not familiar with hololive VTubers, when the game got released on Steam, as a fighting game enthusiast, I'm interested to play this game and I learned the mechanics of the game, so I adapted to the game easily."
The competitive fighting gamer, who is also the champion for the Killer Instinct tourney, explored the game and the styles of each playable character.
"At first, I was looking for a character that fits my style, so I tried Ayame Nakiri. I've played her, and just wow, I found my main character that fits my style."
During the tourney, GoreValues played no one else but Ayame from start to finish. Having won two titles at ESGS, he is thankful for his brothers in the FGA for setting up an Idol Showdown tournament.
This is the first Idol Showdown tournament held at a major esports event in the Philippines—and we look forward to witnessing more of this in the future.
More details about the Idol Showdown tournament at ESGS 2023 can be seen on Tonamel.
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