Hajime Taniguchi (Japanese: 谷口 一, Hepburn: Taniguchi Hajime; born July 7, 1985), also known as Tokido, is a Japanese professional player who competes in fighting games. He is most famous for playing games in the King of Fighters and Street Fighter series. Tokido also plays other fighting games at a high skill level, such as Tekken, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and BlazBlue. He has won the EVO championship three times, including the Capcom vs. SNK 2 title in 2002, the Super Street Fighter II Turbo title in 2007, and the Street Fighter V title in 2017. Over more than 20 years, Tokido has reached the top 8 round of EVO 28 times, a record only matched by Justin Wong. He has earned EVO medals in 12 different games.

Career

Tokido first played fighting games in the 1990s when he played The King of Fighters '94 on the Neo Geo MVS. His first experience with Street Fighter was when he played Street Fighter 2 on the Super Famicom.

At the CEO 2011 event, Tokido won first place in Super Street Fighter 4 and Marvel vs. Capcom 3. He also earned third place in Tekken 6. Sponsored by Madcatz, Tokido became a top player in King of Fighters XIII in 2014. Tokido joined Street Fighter IV later than many other skilled players. His teammate, Daigo Umehara, advised him to choose the character Akuma, as using Ryu would be too difficult for him. While playing as Akuma, Tokido created the "Tokido Vortex," a series of moves that almost always causes the opponent to take damage.

A few months before Street Fighter V was released in February 2016, Tokido wanted to change his playing style. Trying a "more basic, grounded style" did not go well at the 2015 Tokyo Game Show tournament. However, he won the 2015 Canada Cup a month later. This change in style helped Tokido prepare to use Ryu in Street Fighter V, since Akuma was not available in the game at that time. Tokido reached second place multiple times during the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour, losing only to Infiltration at Final Round 19 and NorCal Regionals 2016. In 2016, Tokido defeated Infiltration at the Community Effort Orlando event to qualify for the Capcom Cup.

Tokido left Mad Catz in 2016 because the company had financial problems due to low sales of Rock Band 4. On January 4, 2017, it was announced that Echo Fox had signed Tokido.

After Akuma became available in Street Fighter V, Tokido won the game’s tournament at Evo 2017.

Legacy

In 2016, a Yahoo Esports article called Tokido a "fighting game legend," noting his experience in many competitions over more than 10 years. Tokido is one of Japan's five "fighting game gods," a title shared with Daigo Umehara, Shinya Onuki, Tatsuya Haitani, and Naoto Sako.

Tokido is known for his unusual behavior during matches. There is video of him copying taunts from a character named Akuma, and in 2015, he made comments about his opponent, Bonchan, before a tournament. This behavior became widely talked about in the fighting game community. In 2015, Tokido said he planned to stop such actions because, as a professional gamer, he wanted to focus on showing skill during games rather than outside of them.