<p><span class="strongInContent">I want to do Street Fighter cosplay!</span></p>
<p>This comment made FRIDAY&#8217;s gravure editor raise an eyebrow when he met with &#8220;Nippon Wachachacha&#8221; idol Mob. No matter how much she says she likes games, there is the issue of copyrights. &#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> If by any chance we get the OK, let&#8217;s do it.</span></p>
<p>A few months later, a unique collaboration with &#8220;Street Fighter 6&#8221; was realized in the October 31 issue of &#8220;FRIDAY.</p>
<p>This project was actually made possible by the fact that Street Fighter 6 director Takayuki Nakayama and Suzuki Mob. were acquaintances. The creator of a blockbuster game that has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide and a maverick idol who gets a lot of buzz &#8211; what was it about these two creative individuals that resonated with each other (see Part 1 of the interview)?</p>
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<h3>Video of Mob. kneading a white ball while weeping</h3>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Nakayama：I</span> first became aware of Mob. when I saw a video of him on YouTube in which he was making white balls while crying. I usually watch videos of ruins or eating in exotic places, but it suddenly came up in my recommendations.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Suzuki</span>: I took this video when I had just moved to Tokyo and was feeling homesick. My parents owned a shiratama shop, so I made a video of me kneading and eating shiratama while saying, &#8220;I want to go home. &#8230;&#8230;</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayxpAZcdPBs">*Click here for</a> &#8220;Membre woman making shiratama dango while crying &#8211; moon viewing while being sick.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent">Nakayama：It</span> &#8216;s a great idea (laughs). I was intrigued by that video and went to the signing event first. The meeting place happened to be close to the venue, and I thought that if I went there now, there would be a &#8220;person making shiratama&#8221; there.</p>
<p>I arrived early, so I sat down and waited, and then I found Mr. Mob. He was late, or so I thought, and Mr. Ipp (the office president) was getting angry with him. When he awkwardly went to the backyard, I passed him and he bailed me out, and I remember thinking, &#8220;He is a very nice person.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Suzuki</span>: I remember when Mr. Nakayama followed me on SNS, I thought, &#8220;Who is this famous old man? Actually, I was not familiar with games, and when he mentioned CAPCOM, it didn&#8217;t ring a bell.</p>
<p>Later, I started receiving game goods. The characters were all cute, so I secretly bought Street Fighter 6 without telling Mr. Nakayama. I&#8217;ve never been good at games, but the world was well-developed and the characters were fascinating and the backgrounds were detailed. I found myself hooked.</p>
<figure id="attachment_396917" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4560px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-396917"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="655528f1"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/10/ef936da9b97553e8585fe3ebf5f7353e.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-396917" class="wp-caption-text">Mob. Suzuki, who shows a unique collaborative gravure in FRIDAY</figcaption></figure>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> -What was your first encounter with Street Fighter?</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Nakayama：My</span> original experience was Street Fighter II. When I was in elementary school, a transfer student came from the next town over, and we became friends because of Street Fighter. I used to pedal my bicycle to the distant candy store where the cabinet was located.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Mob.</span>: I hardly played video games, so I didn&#8217;t think I would get into it. But there was an adventure element before the fighting game, so I got into it from there. The story was interesting, and as you progressed through the game, you came closer to &#8220;what is a fighting game&#8221; and &#8220;what is strength&#8221;. Before I knew it, I myself had come to face the game as a gaming experience.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Nakayama</span>: (As the creator,) that was exactly what I was aiming for. This year marks the 37th anniversary of Street Fighter, but when we were playing it, it was just a game to play against each other. It was fun to play, but there was no process to get to that point. From the perspective of today&#8217;s customers, it was a game that was difficult to understand how to enjoy, so we created a mode to get people to like the characters before playing against them.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Mob</span>: I like Gouki the best. Gouki is the only one who can win.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Nakayama</span>: I don&#8217;t know what part of the game stuck with me from the perspective of the people who made it. When we started pushing Gouki, I thought, &#8220;Why?　I thought, &#8220;Why?</p>
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<div data-friday-gold-link-url="https://friday.gold/gravure/article/282363" data-friday-gold-link-title="Suzuki Mob. Fighting Idols! (with video and other cuts)" data-friday-gold-link-excerpt="A miraculous collaboration with &quot;Street Fighter 6&quot; has come to fruition! Watch out for the &quot;special moves&quot; by a &quot;hardcore gamer&quot; who also participates in tournaments! I want to use the prize money to make the Budokan concert more spectacular! After the concert, he goes home and grabs the controller. ″" data-friday-gold-link-thumbnail-wide="https://assets.friday.gold/friday-wp-production-assets/app/uploads/2024/10/240924FRI0776-30100411653682.jpg/v/crop-faces:width=256,height=144/format:type=webp?Expires=4102444800&amp;Key-Pair-Id=K2H5GZZHVJCN4V&amp;Signature=JDshxYMkmNCwgLCZbrMwth6q4YsUentNu7e5TnfLnu3gHcIGbbJGIpJ4Ukuvvo8mimEPFoXkoJQiuZavobg3pv8s~LUPh3mSYjcC-c1KQCO0J1Qhj3RGGWxg1vxMQiQlHkj3G6FcK4NxgG~H4gdPE~AoK6PSKhw-XA7nAiSMR5Vevos56WRspSw1DEkmh5qC8w80ECLOqK0~FfrtP-1O2FAgEWic5gqw-K3~AMQcJ8AwdF2TsReIS8SVNhKt~T015-vCLv3IyodnOiOvBLIB5vrPxSPsRNUZ5V6O4wslGDhrP7k4T7lhMXnkqhYw6KQ3y110jlJXhhOo2SQxOGQV4w__" data-friday-gold-link-thumbnail-square="https://assets.friday.gold/friday-wp-production-assets/app/uploads/2024/10/240924FRI0776-30100411653682.jpg/v/crop-faces:width=105,height=105/format:type=webp?Expires=4102444800&amp;Key-Pair-Id=K2H5GZZHVJCN4V&amp;Signature=VKiAaKoBlcyLRtu-x0L65LvxlSAjtor5MQPbkR9FI6FheNfI2BeWKRFaBWllAgezXMJtlGFVglK5q2rKi4d2~K5Qie7xbsmqE3AsjCru0qcB2nHdSHTRpI0-bz6BWWKxfSlmWyvhGVCBZhyn-xWXcCH1zdY1jhgq2k4REqm6U9oLMxoHfM4r8YqzNArJyvkkc91hN53x22RUUml60KRrlJAfEEZlPMYEGXbGnfwaK~kifn~U82g9gjcKrP5qa0z1ZRPlzm3lM6SDMrBCbNpVjczesv412DYmjHsx30U66IU9oYXmHLiNYRRc~1zY9IxgqlC9G0YjYBEJCDquTwVpZQ__"></div>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="The surprising reason why I got hooked on Gouki"></div>
<h3>I want you to like the character.</h3>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Mob.</span>: First of all, the visuals are my type, cool. I like men with big bodies, men who look super strong!　Even the hair looks completely like our cat, Potee-chan.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Nakayama</span>: They look alike. The color of their fur is also very similar.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Mob.</span>: He is also a type of man and looks like a cat. And although he is strong and overwhelmingly powerful, he also has the delicacy of making his own rice balls. Such a gap is endearing. There is also the charm of his high firepower, which makes it easy to win in the beginning.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Nakayama</span>: He is a character who moves fast but is weak when hit.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Mob.</span>: He lacks physical strength, just like me. I&#8217;m overlapping with myself (laughs).</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Nakayama：When</span> we created the World Tour, we wanted people to like the characters themselves. Up until now, Gouki has been a &#8220;strong old man whose true identity is unknown,&#8221; but in fact, there was only a picture of him selling fruit to a child. We thought about how we could make the character more multifaceted and make people like him from various perspectives.</p>
<p>For example, making onigiri (rice balls) yourself gives a sense of life, doesn&#8217;t it? People have a hard time getting attached to characters that have no connection to them. They will only like a character when they have a connection with him or her. If an alien suddenly appears, you don&#8217;t want to be friends with him, but if the alien is holding an onigiri (rice ball), you will not want to be friends with him. &#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Mob.</span>: Cute!</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Nakayama</span>:To make it easier for people to understand the characters, we went through a lot of trial and error with various teams, including the scenario writers.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Mob</span>.: We did as Mr. Nakayama wanted (laughs).</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Nakayama</span>: I&#8217;m a grateful customer (laughs).</p>
<figure id="attachment_396918" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4560px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-396918"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="93df2f9b"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/10/d7cb7dd02275b7a90b93a510c77245d4.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-396918" class="wp-caption-text">Takayuki Nakayama, director of &#8220;Street Fighter 6</figcaption></figure>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> -Who is your favorite character?</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Nakayama：The</span> Street Fighter II game I played in elementary school had only eight characters, so we couldn&#8217;t play against the same characters. I joined the group later, so I couldn&#8217;t use the characters used by others. I could only choose Dhalsim or Guile, and my friend who joined the group with me and I had to fight for it, and I won in rock-paper-scissors-scissors and chose Guile.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Mob.</span>: So if you had lost the game of rock-paper-scissors, you would have chosen Dhalsim?</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Nakayama</span>: Actually, Guile and Dhalsim were strong characters, so I was often told, &#8220;You&#8217;re cheating by using only strong characters. I would say, &#8220;No, I just stayed with them. I didn&#8217;t choose them because I liked them.</p>
<p>I also used Mariza in Street Fighter 6. She is the &#8220;cool girl&#8221; character that I wanted to create from the previous game. There is also a gap in that her day job is as a jewelry designer.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Mob.</span>: She&#8217;s very strong, but she also puts hearts on the faces of the people she hits. It&#8217;s really cute!</p>
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<p><a href="https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/396915">Click here for the</a> second installment of this special dialogue.</p>
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 Hiroyuki Komatsu

 A special talk between "Nippon Wachachacha" idol Mob. Suzuki and "Street Fighter 6" director Takayuki Nakayama.

From Game Novice to Tournament Competitor: The Idol Who Got Hooked on Street Fighter 6 and Why

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