Memories of a Forgotten SF Tournament.

[Hanamaru Kunikida]

It was the summer of 1992 and Street Fighter II was the king of the still thriving U.S. arcades scene. I had been running the Champions Arcade in Glen Burnie, Maryland's Marley Station Mall for maybe half a year, spending my evenings fixing broken machines, counting tickets and playing way too much on my employer's dime.
Over those six months I managed to assemble an impressive team of gamers as staff, guys who spent their work time earning cash to go buy the latest Nintendo carts and their off hours hustling Street Fighter matches for cash down at University of Maryland College Park or the shady bars on Baltimore's infamous Baltimore Street.
We hung out together inside and outside the arcade. I was the group's official bait when they went to play for cash. I sucked and still suck at Street Fighter, but they'd let me beat them match after match until a sizable crowd gathered and they managed to find folks willing to play for money. Then they'd come in and win all the cash they could.

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http://kotaku.com/5713320/memories-o...yline=true&s=i

What this man just said...it's the goddamn truth. This really makes me feel nostalgic. I remember back when I was younger, like 10 years ago how I always gathered up with my friends in the arcade and played Street Fighter, Tekken, Bloody Roar, King of Fighters etc. I had the same feeling as the person who wrote this article, that competitive feeling in gaming, to prove who's the best. This is why Fighting games will always gonna be my favorite video game genre. The competition is so deep and intense, something that FPS/TPS will never provide. Like I said, it's so intense...my heart was always beating pretty darn fast. many close battles, lots of victories, lots of losses and in the end of each match, we shake hands, because it was indeed a great match....not something found in shooters.
Anyways, back to the point of this thread..."When I sometimes think back to the days before arcades fell, these are the moments I remember. No amount of online support, of voice chat, of video will ever replicate this experience." He's exactly right. An Xbox Live/PSN Party will never ever replace this experience, never.

Continuation of my first paragraph...sadly, all my college "dorm neighbors", all they wanna plays is either a shooter like of Call of Duty or Halo...and Madden, sometimes NBA 2KX....No FIFA, lol. It really gets frustrating, I sometimes join but that's mostly what a lot of them play. When I like "Who's up for some (Fighter game here)?!' they are like "What, man? Lol" Or some stupid reply.

Anyways, what are your thoughts about the article?

[Ghost]

That sounds cool