Coming in hot from his win at the Street Fighter 6 Capcom Pro Tour 2023 – Singapore Offline that happened during gamescom asia 2023, we got to chat with Tsunehiro Kanamori, better known as Gachikun.

Gachikun is a professional Japanese Fighting Games player who is also a Capcom Cup champion, having won the CPT circuit final back in 2018.

Interview Edited For Clarity

How does it feel to win the Singapore Offline and qualify for CPX?

Gachikun: This year’s Capcom Cup is incredibly difficult to qualify for, and there were times when I was unsure that he could even get in. So to be finally be able to qualify is a huge relief and I credit that to all the practice that I’ve done and the results showed from all that hard work.

There was a lot of concern early on the tournament where there would be only characters like Luke, Ken and JP, how does it feel having won a tournament with a lesser played character like Rashid?

Gachikun: Rashid is a DLC character and after EVO I switched from Manon to Rashid but in the beginning it was very difficult in different tournaments like Street Fighter Leagues, he wasn’t able to produce the results that he really wanted.

But there was another player, John Takeuchi who also uses Rashid and upon seeing that and experiencing that “oh like I could learn a few things it could work out”. Upon practicing a lot after that,  I could show some results for it and it also has a connection because I used him in Street Fighter V as well, so I’m really happy about that.

I think that Rashid is a viable character in the long term and will be fun to play.

A recurring theme with the Singapore Offline Premiere is the presence of less typical characters.  Do you have anything to say to players who wanna stick with characters even if they’re not oppressively top tier?  

Gachikun: In any type of fighting game, there are going to be strong characters and there’s gonna be the characters that is just gonna be an immutable fact and you need to accept that with weak characters when you start to use them as I experienced, you’re going to do align to the so called stronger characters just because of damage output or some kind of mechanic.

You will be frustrated if you stick with it and you really enjoy the character then you can come up with new ideas and strategies to overcome those weaknesses that are definitely there and that’s part of the joy in the process.

I believe in using the character for a very long time, I expect that not only will the community and myself come up with new tactics to make Rashid himself a strong character, so too will they develop strategies against Rashid, even though he’s a pretty rare character too. So you have to be prepared and evolve with the times.

How did you feel playing that Grand Finals after the reset? 

Gachikun: I play Chris Wong all the time online and we have a rule set, which is like you do a first to like five sets, but you’ll do three and it usually is like a seesaw where Player A will win, then Player B will win then Player A will win again right in the first day because he won the first one.  The pattern between me and Chris Wong has always been player 1 wins, then player 2, then player 1.

I’m like: “oh, okay I have a chance because this is how it usually goes” . Whoever wins first will get reset, but inevitably triumph.

Now that you’ve got the money and the ticket to CPX, what are your plans between now and Capcom Cup?

Gachikun:  Assuming Capcom Cup is next year and I don’t think it’s been announced exactly when, there’s quite a lot of but as we just announce next couple of weeks there will be the Capcom similar CPT premier tournament in France.

I’m able now to skip that and I can stay home and be with my family and also stream and concentrate on that and apply practice and use that time instead of having to go around on this global tour. I’m really relieved I can repurpose that time in preparation for Capcom Cup.

Who are you most looking forward to fight at CPX?

Gachikun: AngryBird

Any final messages you’d like to share?

Gachikun: It’s hard to believe, but Street Fighter 6 only came out half a year ago. It’s only been six months and it’s already at the very high level and it’s only gonna evolve and get to an even higher level. Thanks for the support today. I believe it’s going to get really hype that it’s gonna get even better just with the evolution of the game. .

We would like to thank Gachikun for taking the time to answer our questions. We would also like to thank Capcom Singapore for setting up the interview.