In the late 2000s, Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi found himself at a crossroads. Tokido had spent his whole life playing fighting games. His family was supportive of the hobby. His parents, both dentists, were willing to keep buying him games and letting him go to the arcades as long as his grades kept up. "Because I wanted to play games, I studied hard," Tokido said, "Because I played games, I was able to get into Tokyo University."
By the time he attended Tokyo University in the fall of 2002, he was already an Evo Champion. He had won the Capcom vs. SNK 2 bracket at that summer's Evo over Onuki, a fellow Japanese fighting game great who approached Tokido with the idea of flying over to America for Evo in the first place. He was an excellent Street Fighter III player, part of the team that won the first ever instance of the legendary Cooperation Cup team tournament in the same year. Originally known as a King of Fighters player in the arcades back home, Tokido had shown aptitude in just about every fighting game out there, known for picking them up and quickly figuring out the best -- and cheapest -- ways to win.
The skill was clearly there for Tokido to reach a professional level, but he maintained a deep focus on his studies throughout his undergraduate years at Tokyo University. As he progressed through the academic system, though, he found himself questioning his future. Was academia right for him? Would he regret leaving behind his passion for gaming? The combination of a rough performance on the graduate school entrance exam and his envy at seeing his countryman Daigo Umehara make a living as a professional fighting game player finally pushed him over the edge, kickstarting a career that now sees him entering the Evo Hall of Fame.
"At that time, I thought, 'If I imagine my future where the Umeharas around me are fighting as professional gamers, while I finish graduate school, get a normal job, get married, and have children, I can't bear that situation. They are competing with each other as professionals, and I choose to stay quiet and not jump in...' I thought that's impossible."
Daigo may have shown it was possible, but it was hardly a proven path. The idea of fighting game professionalism was still in its infancy, and despite Tokido's bracket successes thus far, he was far from making the kind of money it would take to support himself just from gaming. Despite the leap he was taking, his parents were there to support him. "I was really worried about whether I should have chosen this path. But my parents told me, 'Do what you want to do.' They're very understanding parents, and they still are. I wondered if it would be okay. But since I decided to do it, I had no choice but to do it."
Tokido was still competing at a high level during his grad school days. He won Capcom vs. SNK 2 at Super Battle Opera, one of Japan's most prestigious yearly tournaments, in both 2003 and 2005. But with his focus turned purely to fighting games, he ascended. He reached the pinnacle at Evo for a second time in 2007, winning Street Fighter II: Turbo, a year in which he also claimed second in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and fourth in Virtua Fighter 5. Over the next few years, he would also earn Top 8 Evo finishes in CvS 2, Blazblue: Central Fiction, Guilty Gear XX, The King of Fighters XIII, Street Fighter II: Tekken, Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter x Tekken (2v2) and Tekken 6. He was the consummate fighting game player, delivering performances at a high level across as wide a spectrum of games as anybody who's ever picked up a fightstick.
He was also developing a reputation as one of the most unshakable players in fighting games. He was confident, and more than willing to show off that confidence. Between his prowess with the character in Street Fighter III and Street Fighter IV, the name Tokido was becoming synonymous with Akuma. Nothing better shows off the way that confidence exuded from him than his legendary pop-off at SoCal Regionals 2010. After ending a set with a Raging Demon, Tokido stood up, positioned himself perfectly in front of the projector, and unleashed a dead-on Akuma pose as the heaven Kanji (天) was projected onto his back.
Tokido's multi-game proficiency might be surprising to players and fans who have only been following Tokido in recent years, watching him dedicate himself to the Street Fighter series. Late in the Street Fighter IV days, Tokido made the decision to stop spreading himself thin across other games. In preparation for show matches at the Tokyo Game Show in 2013, Daigo chose Tokido as his training partner. The sustained beating that Tokido took across their practice session completely changed the way he approached his professional fighting game dream.
“It was five years ago that he beat me very badly," Tokido said in a 2018 interview recalling this turning point in his career. "So, I had to change my mindset. I had to be – at least, I want to be the best, or I couldn’t survive in the fighting game community. I completely changed my mindset. I stopped playing any other fighting game.”
It took a while for this change in approach to yield results. Tokido had a slow start by his lofty standards in Street Fighter V. But soon, he would be reunited with Akuma, and he would start to put things together quickly. It culminated in his performance at Evo 2017. Despite a successful transition into his professional fighting game career, he was 10 years removed from his last Evo title. It would have been easy to question decisions made along the way. But Tokido's dedication was about to pay off.
After Punk sent him to losers prior to the start of Top 8, it was looking like another championship would have to wait. The loss meant he was going to have to win seven consecutive sets against world class competition, including a pair of sets against Punk when he made it to Grand Finals. But Tokido locked in like he had never locked in before. He won two Game 5 sets in his losers run and then dominated Punk in the runback, ending one of the greatest losers runs Evo has ever seen with a bang.
Tokido was one of the most consistent players in the notoriously inconsistent game that was Street Fighter V, but there were still sets that reminded him he could still ascend to greater heights. One of those didn't even come in a tournament. It came at Kemonomichi 2, part of an exhibition series put on by Daigo in which players could settle the immortal question of "Who's better?" through first-to-10 sets. Daigo was the one who had proven to Tokido that the fighting game professional dream could be a reality, one of those people who pushed him to be the best he could be. Tokido had confidence, riding high from Evo 2017 and his continued success in its wake, but Daigo stomped him, 10-5, showing him that there is always a higher peak he could reach.
Tokido's excellence has persisted in Street Fighter 6. He finished 4th at the massive Evo 2023 Street Fighter 6 bracket, the largest in fighting game history, but the game's first year came and went without Tokido adding to his major trophy collection. As 2024 approached, he had decided his focus was going to be primarily on Street Fighter League, training for success with his teammates rather than aiming for Capcom Pro Tour victories.
It paid off -- his team, REJECT, finished 2nd in SFL Japan in 2024, including the best record of Regular Season play. But it turned out that his regular play with his team, primarily his daily practice regimen with Leshar, one of the breakout players of 2024, was setting him up for solo success as well. Tokido hadn't qualified for Capcom Cup since 2019, and after busting out of the Singapore Super Premiere, his best chance to do so in 2024 looked like it was going to be at the Japan Super Premier, an absolutely stacked tournament featuring most of Asia's best and a number of strong competitors from overseas as well.
Tokido rolled through the bracket, and before he knew it, he was sitting in Grand Finals. Across the setup from him was none other than the player he had spent grinding with on a daily basis to get ready for this event: Leshar. The practice seemed to help in multiple ways: obviously, regular practice with another high-level player is the perfect preparation for a bracket like this. But it also helped Tokido occupy himself less with his own success.
"I kept thinking about it. Of course, we would train all the time," Tokido said. "But aside from just practice, I wanted to find more ways to show this team to the world. And somehow, that same effort ended up contributing to this tournament result of ours. It all came together, in a way."
"I was much happier about the fact that we, as a team, managed to get this far," Tokido added. "More than anything, I was happy to see our efforts show at a tournament like this."
Over the past 20-plus years from his time as the ultimate fighting game Swiss Army Knife, capable of dissecting and winning at any fighting game, to his time as a dedicated Street Fighter master, Tokido has produced one of the longest lists of fighting game accomplishments we've ever seen, and even as he approaches his 40th birthday, he's still writing his story. Back when he was a grad student with an uncertain future, he wasn't sure if this was the right choice. Now, there can be no question he made the right one.
