The champion of the Capcom Cup 9 Street Fighter 5 tournament series expressed his immense disappointment with the trophy he received for winning the event. For the uninitiated, this is the latest in a series of professional competitive gaming tournaments for Street Fighter 5 that was officially sponsored by Capcom, with the qualifying rounds taking place over the course of 2022 via the Capcom Pro Tour, and the finals taking place at the aforementioned Capcom Cup tournament. The winner of this tournament was MenaRD, making him a two-time champion of this circuit after previously conquering the 2017 season.This was also the first time that the tournament finals was successfully held, after the 2020 Capcom Cup was forced to be canceled during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Capcom Cup 8 being similarly canceled due to rising cases. As such, some competitors would have loved to take home a glamorous trophy to symbolize their efforts at the prestigious tournament. It turns out, however, that the take home trophy for this year is rather underwhelming, as MenaRD posted online.The two-time champion posted a photo of this trophy to his Twitter account, accompanied by a caption that included a disappointed emoji. The trophy was rather small, with some unflattering comparisons to the trophies found at a little league tournament or Toys-R-Us. MenaRD even stated that the miniature trophy wasn't going to go on the shelf with the others, as it hardly represents the hard work he put into winning Capcom's tournament and one of "the best events of his life" as he puts it.
Some fans were confused at the take home trophy, as the tournament usually features a much bigger one that MenaRD held during the post-match celebration. According to former Capcom Pro Tour organizer, Michael Martin, the trophy was never given to the winners, but rather was contained within the office of former Street Fighter producer, Yoshinori Ono, until it was time for the tournament, which is how the trophy appears year after year at the event.
This smaller trophy was widely mocked by most of the competitive fighting game community, some even pulling up trophies that were given out from fighting game tournaments for Tekken and Mortal Kombat. Many were disappointed with Capcom for giving out the champion of its official tournament something that looked so cheap. The previous championship trophy that MenaRD had wasn't much better, as it was essentially an acrylic stand with screws in it. With Capcom's 2023 circuit featuring a $2 million dollar prize pool, some hope that Capcom will have a trophy will be able to match its first place prize.
Source: EventHubs