Justin Wong: Training Mode Monster

In 2008, renowned author Malcolm Gladwell sought to discover the keys to success in his novel Outliers. He concluded that the common thread linking the most successful individuals in their respected fields was committing at least 10,000 hours to their craft. Video game champion Justin Wong is a testament to that theory. Recently, he shared some of his trade secrets with the world at EventHubs.com.

“When I was growing up, I sat in the arcade (there was no access to these games for consoles at the time) for 5-6 hours every day during my summer vacation and practiced my combos over and over.”

Wong has earned a reputation as one of the greatest fighting game champions in the world. The endless hours of fine tuning his abilities paid off in 2009 when he took first place at GameStop’s Street Fighter IV  US National Tournament.

“Practicing your combos and executions helps a lot because it builds some type of muscle memory in your fingers so your body can understand when you need to do the combo and when you hit your opponent,” Wong explains. “This also will help you get more consistent wins and even place higher than usual in tournaments.”

Wong focuses his training on performing a wide variety of combos as well as defending against situational attacks. While many fans of Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs Capcom 3 turn their noses to the monotony of honing their skills in the training room, it is hard to argue his methods.

“There is nothing wrong in being a training mode monster. It helps you learn the most about your character because you are having hands on experience with your main character and you are helping yourself on knowing how to deal with the match up that you always have problems against. This method also gives you more knowledge to the game and it will help you feel more confident when being in a tournament atmosphere.”

Via EventHubs and JWONGGG.COM