Julian “Hotashi” Harris is a household name in the competitive Guilty Gear community with consistent high placements in major Xrd tournaments across the country. The Elphelt player hasn’t skipped a beat in Guilty Gear Strive. He recently won NLBC and LEVO in the same night. Hotashi may have switched mains to Nagoriyuki for the big wins, but his classic colors and expertise are just as apparent in the new game.

We got the opportunity to interview Hotashi about his entrance into Guilty Gear and competitive fighting games. He also shared his thoughts on Strive and the changes it brought to the series.

When did you first play competitive fighting games? 

Hotashi:

I entered some Soul Calibur VI tournament with Cervantes and Algol at a crummy anime convention. I don’t even know how long ago. It was great fun! Hearing the crowd roar about me missing a counterhit win and just getting excited really attracted me to compete more.

How'd you get introduced to Guilty Gear? 

Back in high school, I had been playing Guilty Gear Reload after renting it from Blockbuster. It had netplay, which was a lot of fun. I figured I liked it and then I found out you could play it on PC, so I started grinding in the library after school and stuff. Some years later I found out there was a netplay patch for PC. After that, I was hooked.

I really got it started when GGXrd was released stateside in December of 2014. I had already been playing Guilty Gear casually online, so I just saw Xrd was my big chance to get good for real. 

Did you have any walls you had to push through before you felt yourself getting good at the game? 

I had a lot of bad habits that I had to learn to overcome through playing with my local scene. It was quite a struggle, but without it, I wouldn’t be as good as I am today. 

How do you feel about Strive compared to Xrd? Any likes or dislikes? Would you change anything? 

Since the floor has been lowered so much a ton of my friends are playing it – even ones who have never played a fighting game before! It’s quite pleasing to be able to enjoy Guilty Gear with everyone. It’s not exactly as in-depth as the previous entries – special moves and mechanics being pruned, interactions being more predictable, but if this is what it took to get more people into Guilty Gear, I’m all for it. The game is still fast and furious.  

If I had to change anything, I’d chop the damage that reversal supers do by maybe 50%. Or maybe even decrease the damage of the game overall, it’s quite extreme.

Is there anything you find yourself struggling with in Strive? Maybe a habit carried over from Xrd? 

Trying to grab bursts, or “steal souls.”  

(To explain, in older Guilty Gear titles, if you read that another player was going to burst, you could grab them before the animation even played out. This technique is called “stealing souls.”)

Are you hoping Elphelt returns or are you in for the long haul with Nago? 

Elphelt’s done enough. She did what she was supposed to do and can rest easy. I don’t want her to come back. I’m fine with Nagoriyuki.  

How do you feel about Nago? Any inherent strengths or weaknesses you've noticed? 

Nagoriyuki is exceptionally powerful. His number one weakness is Sol’s current power level and how his tools interact with Nagoriyuki’s size and lack of mobility. I can't really complain about him.  

What advice would you give to a newcomer jumping into Strive? 

Don’t worry about tier lists, matchups, or playing on stick or pad. Don’t overcomplicate it. Just get the game, sit down, and go from there. I promise you won’t win at the beginning, but the point is that getting good is a journey. You’re not meant to just jump in and win. You’re meant to jump in and be able to play.  

Hotashi is a player you’ll want to keep on your radar if you have even the smallest bit of interest in Guilty Gear Strive. You can keep up to date with him on Twitter and Twitch.