How An Evo Tournament Organizer Helped Improve Online Lag

You’ve probably never heard of Tony Cannon. If you do, it’s probably as one of the organizers of the Evolution fighting tournament. However, Tony Cannon has helped companies like Capcom and Namco Bandai deal with online latency issues in some of their recent games.

Gamasutra have an interview with Cannon where he reveals how he first developed his GGPO software — mean to reduce lag in online fighting games specifically — using an arcade emulator called Final Burn Alpha, with support included for some of his favourite older fighting games.

The difference between GGPO and other technology being used at the time, according to Gamasutra’s writeup is: “Instead of inserting any internet latency between the button press and the start of the move, his technique puts the lag on the beginning of the opponent’s move, with filler animation to hide the effect somewhat.”

When Cannon showed his work to Capcom and Backbone Entertainment, they didn’t opt to use it for Super Street Fighter II HD Remix. Today, however, the GGPO software is used in games like Final Fight: Double Impact, Skullgirls and several other unannounced titles.