T3-KAMUI Battle Garegga Interview
This brief interview from the August 2001 issue of Arcadia with T3-Kamui, the current Battle Garegga WR holder with Gain, is a neat window back in time. Kamui has since demolished the 19m score she talks of here, and continues to play Garegga today. In 2013 attended Stunfest in France and demonstrated her awe-inspiring skills and international shmup camaraderie.
T3-Kamui - Current WR holder for Gain and Wild Snail. 19 years old.1 Began playing Garegga in middle school. High score initials: TAK.
—First, please tell us what occasion led you to start playing Battle Garegga for score?
Kamui: It was simply that I found Battle Garegga to be very fun. Wanting to clear it was the first impetus. However, scoring in Garegga is normally required for clearing it, so shifting my focus to scoring happened unconsciously and was a natural progression.
—When you aim for a high score, are you conscious of other rival players?
Kamui: I don’t really feel very competitive with other players. Scoring is more like a challenge you put to yourself, and it isn’t the case that I’m playing Battle Garegga just to get a high score. So I don’t really pay much attention to others around me like that.
—You play Battle Garegga because its simply fun, you mean?
Kamui: That’s right. Even now, playing the first stage is very fun for me… its no exagerration that just seeing the title screen gets me pumped up.
Also, this isn’t limited just to Garegga, but I especially love the sense of achievement from a high score, as well as the nervous tension you feel while playing during a good score run.
—Are you only playing Gain now?
Kamui: Yes. Gain has both the highest scoring potential and the most special tricks available to his ship, so he’s the most interesting for me now. I like his absurd, energetic, “blast-off!” style. He’s fun to play as, and that’s why I use him. My personal view is that if something is no longer fun to you, its meaningless to continue.
—Your current high score is 19,541,530. Do you think breaking 20 million (letter K) is possible?
Kamui: Its possible. It isn’t theoretical; there are definitely enough points in a game to make it. Right now breaking 20m is a big goal for me. When I started playing Garegga I used Wild Snail and made it to 16m, but came just shy of 17m with 16,930,000. Then I started playing Gain and made it to 18m, then 19m. But getting to 20m with Gain will be the biggest waypoint I’ve reached in Garegga.
—And this is what you’d call your goal now?
Kamui: That’s right. But it doesn’t end at 20m, and I feel like the real battle begins from there.
—Having played so much of Garegga, what would you say its enduring appeal is?
Kamui: There’s too many great things for me to list here. (laughs) But to offer my personal view, what I like about Garegga is how it brings out the different personalities of those who play it. None of us play it quite the same way. Just taking the angle at whic Gain’s buster sword fires as one example, the places I choose to position myself and attack from with it are totally different from other players. Even now when I watch other players I’m always surprised. “Ah, so that’s possible too…”
—In closing, please tell us what a high score is to you.
Kamui: Its a way (and sometimes a contrivance) to deepen your enjoyment of a game. But scoring isn’t necessary to have fun with a game.
Also, playing at the game center is very meaningful for me, and just the very act of putting a new score up at a game center is something I love.
—Thank you for you time today!
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At the time of this interview, in 2001.↩