When fighting game tournaments come up, many spectators already know of some competitors like Daigo Umehara. Yet there are many other interesting players, some of whom are actively securing sponsorships and trying to build the community. Eric Albino, more popularly known as Juicebox, is one of them. He has made a series of podcasts and articles offering help to newer players, and even gone to some incredible lengths for training to become an even better player. If you’re interested in learning more about competitive play, or just what makes one of the more exciting players out there tick, read on!

Jim Cook, Gamers Daily News: You’re a relatively new name in the tournament scene, but how long have you been playing fighting games? Not just in competition, but in general.

Eric ’Juicebox’ Albino: When I was a kid, my free time consisted largely of playing my Super Nintendo. When I wasn’t replaying Super Mario RPG or Mega Man X for the millionth time, I was playing the original Street Fighter 2 (The World Warrior). I would spend all day trying to double perfect all the CPU opponents. Sometimes I’d just listen to the sound test, and other times I’d try to come up with new combos. SF2 is a game that’s very important to me, as it almost single-handedly molded my childhood.

As for competition, I didn’t start thinking about playing competitively until I hit 12th Grade. Tournaments began to get my attention simply because it was possible to be paid for being good at a game… Something I’d daydreamed often about as a kid. I was living in Suffolk County, Long Island at the time. Some of my friends were really into Smash Bros. Melee, and were doing things I didn’t know existed, like wavedashing, jump-canceled grabs, SHFFL’ing, etc. Melee was the first game I’d picked up for my Gamecube, and I’d spent a lot of time with it, so I was naturally curious about all these techniques. I spent lots of time with my friends learning new techniques and getting proficient at the game, even trying to go to a few local tournaments, with mediocre results. I got much better at 1-on-1 though.

GDN: So you got your start with Smash... when did you cross over into focusing on Street Fighter?

Juicebox: Around that time, my friends showed me the now legendary Daigo Parry Video. Of course I was impressed, but I didn’t know what game it was from at first glance, and I thought I knew everything there was to know about Street Fighter (Didn’t we all?)! After some research, we all agreed to start playing 3rd Strike, and I started by playing Ken. With our little community of 4, we were able to reproduce a lot of the high-level play we’d seen online. Soon after graduating in 2006, I moved down to Phoenix, Arizona. When I arrived, I went straight to the arcade I’d visited multiple times as a child, in the Castles ‘N Coasters amusement park. Luckily, they had a 3rd Strike cabinet, so I spent a lot of my time there trying to meet new players and continue leveling up. They also had a Capcom VS. SNK 2 cabinet, and I also tried learning that game.

After meeting the AZ community and playing in a few events, I realized that I was not very good at 3rd Strike. It was a difficult thing to admit, but after reading David Sirlin’s Playing to Win book I had set a new standard for myself. Either I was winning tournaments or I wasn’t, and that’s the only thing I can base progress off of. Street Fighter 4 was announced around this time, and I made a pledge to myself that SF4 would be the game that I sink all my energy into. The rest is history.

GDN: Super Street Fighter IV seems to be your main game, but do you play any others, be it competitively or just as something more relaxed and casual? Are there any upcoming games you’re looking forward to?

Juicebox: The only other game that I consider myself highly competitive in is Dragonball Z: Budokai 3, and that’s not a joke. That game is as close to balanced as any DBZ fighter has ever been. Capsule setups complicate the game, though. I’m very excited for King of Fighters 13, and I plan to play it religiously after its console release. I may also get into Marvel VS Capcom 3, depending on how it plays.

Next: Recent events and life as a sponsored player.