A veteran Street Fighter player, Tatsuya Haitani has had a successful competitive record in the game for years, earning some attention for his performances in Street Fighter IV.
However, it wasn’t until Street Fighter V when he truly flourished due to his ability to master the entirely new character Necalli. His performances have since resulted in him being seen as one of the Five Gods of Gaming in Japan.
The Beginning
Relatively little is known about Haitani’s history prior to his fighting games debut.
His earliest performances date back five years, with his first tournament play being at the prestigious Evo 2012 event. He earned some attention by playing Makoto, one of the more unpopular characters amongst pros due to her unusual combination of extremely slow and extremely fast movements, along with her short effective range.
Despite this, he showed dominance with the character, making his way into the top 16. He failed to earn a spot in the top eight though, being eliminated by Xiao Hai in the fourth round of the Losers’ Bracket. Still, it was an impressive result for such a new player.
Undaunted, he entered the competition again in 2013 and fared even more impressively. He secured a top eight finish, even managing to defeat Gamerbee, considered the absolute master of the character Adon. This cemented his position as a player to be feared.
He participated in Evo 2014 as well, but performed more poorly than in his first competitive debut, failing to place inside the top 16. It seems that he had something of a break from the genre after this, as nothing more is seen from him until 2016, apart from one 1st place performance at Evo 2015 in another fighting game, Vampire Savior.
Necalli
When Street Fighter V dropped in early 2016, Haitani took a swift interest in the new game. He was particularly drawn to one of the characters over which people felt more uncertain, Necalli, who had not been involved in the franchise up until now. His themes, techniques and overall strategies were completely unknown because of this.
Necalli is a very heavy character – his maneuverability is limited and his reach is not the greatest, but he has high health and high damage to make up for it. This can make him quite tricky to use, especially against more mobile or long-reaching characters who have more control over initiation. However, Haitani not only learned to overcome these weaknesses with excellent prediction, reflexes and timing, but he can even use them to his advantage. For example, he often uses Necalli’s short reach to bait out an opponent’s attack, putting himself in a position of being able to hit them as they extend their character.
Haitani made an appearance on the Street Fighter competitive scene once more after practising with this new character, and made quite a splash. One of his earliest and more impressive achievements was in May 2016 at Battle Arena Melbourne 8, one of the game’s Majors. He showed his early mastery of the character by placing 1st in the tournament, coming ahead of two former Street Fighter Evo champions, Xian and Momochi. This was no small feat, of course, and earned him quite a bit of attention.
He competed in more tournaments over the course of the year too. Although he failed to achieve any more 1st place spots, he performed impressively, securing 2nd place in both Sonic Boom 2016 and the popular SoCal Regionals.
In early 2017, he earned his greatest accolade, attending the Ultimate Fighting Arena in Paris and defeating all before him. He triumphed over the competition with breath-taking performances, even crushing top-tier player Itabashi Zangief 3-0 twice in a row in the Grand Finals.
He has performed in a number of tournaments since then, placing 1st in the esteemed Japan Cup most prominently of all. This has cemented his position as one of Japan’s top players and makes him well-deserving of his place in the Five Gods of Gaming roster.
Conclusion
Haitani has mastered the character Necalli, absolutely coming into his own on Street Fighter V. His execution, discipline and high-pressure plays have proven enough to crack even the most seasoned veteran, earning him an absolutely amazing record with this character. He’s certainly defeated some of the biggest names in Street Fighter – Momochi, Tokido, Xian, to name but a few. Keep an eye on him through 2018 as his reign shows no sign of ending.
