Yes, a Yoshi riding a speed runner.


Chris 'Satoryu' Kirk


By "X".

From Long Island in the state of New York we present to you: Chris 'Satoryu' Kirk! A seasoned speed runner with runs on the site from as far back as 2005. He is an avid Mega Man runner, notably for the X Series, but occasionally throws in some Castlevania to spice things up.

Interviewer questions are in bold.


When and how did you discover SDA? What got you interested in speedrunning?

I think it was around 2003-2004 when I was googling for Metroid fan-sites. I stumbled across archive.org and saw one of the Prime videos and some Mega Man stuff. Then I noticed there was a link to SDA. I watched a bunch of the videos, and eventually said to myself "You know what, I wanna try this." I tried Metroid Fusion and failed miserably. Sometime later I found games that I was actually good at.

What speed runs do you currently have on the site? What runs are you most proud of?

I have runs for:

Of those, X5 and X6 stand out to me. X5 because of the insane luck I got on the Black Devil and X6 because I just poured my soul into that one. I think Maverick Hunter X has my best audio commentary, though.

Will we be seeing any runs from you in the future? Any new projects or any existing records you'd like to beat.

Most likely I'll do more stuff. I may try and beat X8 100% again, there's a few Castlevanias that have my attention, and I might try the two No More Heroes games.

You seem to be a big fan of running games from the Mega Man and Castlevania series, any particular reasons?

They're two of my favorite game series. I've played so much of them now they just come easy to me. I can't say the same for Metroid or Sonic, though.

Who would win in a fight Mega Man or Simon Belmont?

Captain N would kick both their asses.

Where you a fan of the reboot of the classic Mega Man series, starting with 9?

Sure. I'll play any Mega Man that's side scrolling. 8 bit, 16 bit, I don't care so long as it's fun.

Would you like to see a Mega Man X9 one day?

FUCK YEAH

Do you you prefer X series over original Mega Man series?

Yes, I'm a big fan of X.

Will Castlevania ever work in 3D?

I'm a strong advocate of the PS2 games Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness, so I think Castlevania already does work in 3D. I don't think it's necessary to turn it into something more like God of War. 2D will always be better though.

What's your favorite aspect of running? Do you enjoy the planning, discovering glitches etc...

I just like the feeling of accomplishing it. It feels good to say you have the record time in a game.

And what have been the most frustrating moments of your speedrunning career?

I get the most frustrated when I make stupid mistakes. Like forgetting to jump or dashing the wrong way.

Where does your nick originate from?

As a young weeaboo, I wanted to pick a screen name that sounded Japanese. So I picked parts of anime and game characters' names and combined them into Satoryu.

What are your favorite runs on the site, any favorite runners?

Favorite run? Oh that's a tough one. I guess anything Metroid Prime and Mega Man X. As for favorite runner, gotta love Frezy_man.

What makes a good audio commentary? Any favorites on the site?

I think a good audio commentary should be entertaining foremost, but also informative. While they're not on the site yet, I love the team audio commentaries for Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. I'd love to do one of those actually. Editor's note: Both of these runs are now posted on the site.

What do you do with your time outside of Speed Demos Archive?

I'm fresh out of college, and am looking for a career. I want to get into the voice acting business. Otherwise, I'm either playing games or talking about them on the internet.

What kind of voice work? Anime dubs, western cartoons, videos game characters? Any particular character you'd like to play?

Anime and game dubbing, even though anime dub companies are a dying breed.

What are you currently playing? What genres do you enjoy playing? Any games you are looking forward to?

I'm playing Metroid Other M right now, with some BlazBlue on the side. And I'll likely pick Castlevania Harmony of Despair back up once the DLC comes out. I'm eagerly anticipating Mega Man Universe and Zelda Skyward Sword. I love sidescrollers, platformers, fighting games, some puzzle games and whatever the hell genre No More Heroes is. Very rarely will you see me playing an RPG or an FPS.