EPTHonestly, I think the most interesting thing to me is that people have learned how to play Street Fighter IV just by going to arcades. They don't actually own a system with the copy of the game -- they just grinded out hours at an arcade. When I was 6, trying to figure out the game with my 14 year old brother pissed off at me that the only thing I know how to do is spam fireballs and dragon punch, I don't think I could even comprehend playing it in a more public scene like an arcade.
Back to present, I'm 18, I feel like I have a lot better handle of the game (thankfully). I've graduated past the shoto's (Ryu, Ken, Akuma) into Guy, someone I've had a hard on for since Final Fight.
I think the first time I really went to an arcade was Arcade UFO sometime in September. I had no idea they were having an even where they had a pro Third Strike player come in and show off. Show off he did; I'm pretty sure he went on a 20 win streak (I'd never seen bigger until yesterday). Every game was really close, even to the end. Yet he always managed to close it out. I even got to make myself look like a fool playing a game I may have monkeyed around with years ago. I managed to cheese a round off of him playing as Sean and spamming roll.
The point I'm trying to make is I don't know how to play stick very well. I learned through hard hours on a Playstation, when SF Alpha 3 was out. Come SFIV, it was the xbox controller, which by the way, is stupidly thought out. I wished I had played more of it with the Playstation controller.
Anyway, the community at arcades are actually awesome. I feel like since people can't hide behind a stupid alias they created, you get them, their actual personality, emotions in game, etc. That's not to say everyone is inherently rude over this sort of thing. I think it's the opposite. The kind of people that go to arcades is like the kind of people who really just do something because they like to. It's their sort of passion. It's like having 50 Day9's in the room.
I think I'm avoiding the story, so I'll stop.
I was just watching people play, as I honestly like watching it as much as I do SC2, and I noticed one of the guys playing was wearing a black CJ Entus sweatshirt. Besides the feeling that was urging me to get one of my own, I had a lot of respect for him, for just liking video games in general. I know a lot of people who generalize and say "Call of Duty is the best fucking game there is, what the fuck is Street Fighter? Why are the graphics so terrible?" "So all you do is just click a shitton in Starcraft II? That's boring."
Needless to say, the moment I noticed that guy, I hopped on the arcade booth, itching to play him. It was my Guy vs his Seth. I got stomped. Hard. I think I was laughing by the end of the match, and said to myself "Damn, I got toyed with." After a few more tries, I took a break...
... to go play some Dance Dance Revolution. The adrenaline was getting to me.
I ended up losing since I was doing some ridiculously hard songs, and a little kid who was running around the arcade would be like "PLAY" and smack the select button when I was taking my breathers. I couldn't feel my legs by the end of it. I was sweating as much as I did when I used to play basketball with my high school team.
So after a while, I took a breather outside, met some of the people who I had played before, caught my breath, went back in to get my ass kicked.
Eventually, people stopped playing against him, since they didn't have the tokens to spend anymore, but I kept coming back. I have to go back to Chicago in a couple days, I don't want to carry these tokens anymore. Game after game, things were getting really close in Ro1 and Ro2, but then something weird would happen to me in Ro3, and I'd just flat out get in 2-3 combos, dizzy, dead.
I'm pretty sure I spent about $10. But there were moments that really made it worth it for me. I remember watching Day9's 100th daily, talking about why he likes Starcraft. One of the reasons is because there's a feeling you get when you've worked for so long and you've finally solved a problem, or something clicks. It's probably one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. My problem was that I couldn't get in my hits through all the goddamn light jabs into kick-my-ass combos. I started being able to read when he would use a move that would suck me in, and I got it once. The moment he did that, I got my ultra off. I think it's the only Ultra Combo KO I'll ever get with Guy.
I was in kind of an odd mood. I remember trying to talk to someone next to me, saying "Hey man, I know you don't know me at all, but I have a question for you."
"... hmm?"
"Do you believe?"
At that point, the guy just kinda stared at me with a questioned look on his face.
Game after game, they were starting to get closer. Then, around his 40th game, no drama here, I took an entire game off of him.
Through my determination and sheer stupidity, I spent $10+ to play this guy and beat him. My record is around 1-22 in Bo3's against him.
I couldn't care less. I haven't had more fun playing that game in a while, and if I really cared about winning as opposed to having fun or learning the game, I would've found an easier arcade with 10 year olds that are just learning the game.
He didn't rechallenge back for the spot though, which made me kind of sad. I wanted to say hi to him and say something like "Respect for the sweatshirt man. It's nice to see you're holding strong for BW." But I suppose he had better things to do, I think it was past midnight at that point. Either that or he was tired of playing me, which I can understand.
Which finally brings my blog back around to the subject.
To the guy wearing a black CJ Entus sweatshirt at Arcade UFO yesterday: Hi. Thanks for the games, it was fun.
