If you are watching the EU SoulCalibur scene, today’s name will surely ring a bell. And if you are not… well, of course, shame on you, but that is why you should read this interview with WorldBranstar (and start watching EU scene!).
Twitter: @WorldBranstar
Twitch: worldbranstar (don’t stream though)
Youtube: @Scotvenom
Birth Year: 1982
Country: Scotland
If you had to introduce yourself in three sentences to some SoulCalibur player who didn’t know you, what would you say?
I’ve been playing Soul Calibur for over 20 years, so you might think I should be pretty good and know a lot about the game by now. That’s not true though; I don’t enjoy labbing and I’m addicted to hard reads which gets me in trouble half the time, when it works though the outcomes are often hilarious enough to keep me hooked. I like to try and help to keep the community going in a small way, as an Admin in the Astaroth Discord plus putting on a show on stream whenever the chance presents itself so long as people keep running events and watching them, plus travelling for UK tournaments (come to VersusFighting in August!) and very occasionally events that are further afield.
What is the origin or meaning of your nickname?
It was originally Branstar, which is linked to my surname and was a nickname friends from university gave me. That changed when my pub quiz team – Team World Star – won the Hypespotting 3 pub quiz. I pledged that if we won, I would change my name to WorldBranstar in their honour. Not only did we win, I went on to win a dance off vs the rest of my team and take the grand prize!
How did it happen that you ended up playing fighting games?
I’ve been into them since Streetfighter 2, which I started playing in arcade then poured thousands of hours into on the SNES at home. Some time later at university I met people who were into the original Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast – I’ve many fond memories of being smashed regularly, including one night where it took me at least 6 hours to get a single win against each of the 6 different characters one of my friends could play… we all start somewhere. By the time Soul Calibur 2 was out in my last year, I was the one to beat. It wasn’t until Soul Calibur V though that I travelled for a tournament, though with 6 I’ve travelled a lot more.
Who do you main in SC6 and why?
I’ve played Astaroth in every Soul Calibur he’s been in, which lucky for me is all the ones I’ve played. I’ve played some other characters alongside him in the past as well, too many to name in past Soul Caliburs, though as my free time has slowly decreased and the complexity of the game has increased I’ve found that I’m playing fewer other characters. At this point Astaroth is my only main in SC6. I think a large part of the reason I main Astaroth is because hard reads with him can go a long way, plus he just has a lot of very specific answers which make for even more satisfying reads.
What do you consider to be your greatest SC6 achievement and why?
That’s a tricky one. I haven’t won much outright, mostly locals. I’ve had a few online top 8s, with my recent 2nd place in EOS Finals being a personal best; honestly that’s probably my best performance based on the match ups I had in that event. Offline, 4th at Celtic Throwdown is probably the best I’ve done, plus that will always hold a special place in my heart for the cheers and chanting from the travelling support. I think though my greatest SC6 achievement is helping to raise over $400 for charity along with fellow Scot Sett in a RandomSelectLeague FT10 – I’m proud to have been involved.
If you will be able to add one more character to SC6 – either existing SC character, or a guest one – who will you pick and why?
It’d be a toss up between Ezio, who I actually enjoyed playing, and Zwei, so I could see what Andyroo could do with him. I’d love to see how both would work in SC6 with all the extra moves, though I’ll admit the thought of an Andyroo Zwei with Soul Charge is pretty scary!
If SC7 will be released, what do you wish to be changed and/or kept from the current game?
*When* hopefully – top priority for me is to make the online experience as good as possible on a variety of connections, whether that’s rollback or something else. Allowing for more possible playable matches is so important, particularly for games with a somewhat niche appeal.
Reversal Edge has been pretty divisive, so probably needs rework. My main complaint with it would be the RE cancels – because of Astaroth RE B, I’d be sorry to see the RE cut scenes go altogether though.
Meterless Guard Impact is a must imo, part of the identity of the series which I sorely missed in SCV. SC6 style Just Guard is fine, definitely don’t want it granting frame advantage like in SCV if they keep that; if they want to do something involving frame advantage as a reward, the risk needs to be higher – like pressing forward in Streetfighter 3.
Other than that I’m fairly easy, I’ve enjoyed playing all of them for the most part so far.
Please answer a single question that you were not asked but you would like to answer!
What’s the deal with Scotvenom?
That’s my old nickname. Back in my university days I started out using plain old Venom while playing Counterstrike, cos I thought Venom (the symbiote Spiderman a-like) was cool. I ended up on a server one day with two other players called Venom… so added Scot in front, to stand out from the rest. To this day I’ve never seen another Scotvenom, but I did have occasional hassle when using that name, so ended up making the switch to Branstar roughly 15 years ago.
I’d also like to do some shout outs: to my uni mates for those millions of games, to all the folks who were involved in Versus Scotland (RIP) who raised the bar with the Hypespotting series back in the day, to the Burn To Fight Glasgow crew for running FG locals in Glasgow every week, and last but not least to the Soul Calibur Community for being some of the friendliest and funniest folks I know. Thanks also to you Unicorn, for running the SC Portal and putting out these interviews, it all helps keep the community going.
BONUS: You have 1% of battery left in your phone and no option to immediately recharge. What will you use it for?
I’d probably message the missus to let her know I’ll be unreachable for the foreseeable, then use it as a paperweight.
Thank you for the interview!
Also, WorldBranstar attached a LOT of clips to his interview, so I will put them here for you all to watch 😉
Vods
EOS8 Finals
Clips
Recent Jump the low
See ya later Rufus
Recent vs Fanlee
No Fly zone
The double hug
Interesting 3B
Funny hop
Funny dodge
Bullrush vs CE
CT robbery
Meme vids
Asta Waltz
Asta Touch