Earlier this year Blizzard celebrated the 20 year anniversary of StarCraft. An iconic game that we've all come to know and love. However, the original game had its issues and it wasn't until the release of the expansion StarCraft: Brood War, on the 30th of November 1998, that the game truely became competitive.
Since then we've been blessed to be able to follow the careers of players such as BoxeR, NaDa, iloveoov, sAviOr, Flash, Bisu, and Jaedong (and Yellow, Fantasy, Stork, etc. etc.). These players kept re-inventing the game until their retirements. They supplied us with countless hours of entertainment and have solidified their place in StarCraft, and esports, history. Not to mention our hearts.
The game is also responsible for building TLnet, a community like no other. All around the world people woke up at ungodly hours to hang out in IRC and discuss the games of the day. The hype levels were off the charts on QuakeNet, and the LR threads, when the MSL, OSL, or ProLeague finals were played. While Brood War never reached the popularity of SC2, the community was one of a kind and just as rabid.
So with the game now turning 20, which is insane, we want to hear from you, the community. What was your favorite moment? Your favorite game? Help us remember what made, and still makes, Brood War such a great game.
I've been away from the Brood War community ever since the start of SC2 but with this date coming up I wanted to look back at some classic VOD's and my god have I missed BW. So many memories came to mind. Good ones like spamming IRC like crazy when Jaedong won and sad ones like when I decided to stop rooting for Hwaseung Oz after Jaedong gave them a 3-0 lead in the 2009 PL finals, only to have them lose because no one else on the team could win a game. I started cheering for mbcgame hero after that... at least I'd know what to expect from them.
As for a game I'd recommend. I wasn't REALLY around for the boxer era. I really became invested at about the same time as Bisu, JD, and Flash rose to power. And the best game I ever saw was a game between JD and Flash. This game is insane. JD takes an early lead and sneaks a third just by Flash's base, that goes unscouted. It all looks over. Then Flash starts these pure mnm pinching attacks and JD looks defeated, only to come back. Insane doesn't begin to describe it.
I miss playing small maps style like Micro Jail and Zero Micro Clutter Islands. They were super fun maps. On Micro Jail you would get Cannon rushed, zergling rushed, or Siege Tanked. And on Micro Islands someone might proxy float Firebats or try to snipe your main with Mutalisks or Carriers. On Micro Islands it was TvB and on Micro Jail either LvR or TvB.
Sometimes the maps just for fun were the most fun.
I´ll never forget that Jin Air Finals where the players entered the stage from airplanes and it was a ll in a huge hangar. Had to set my clock for 5am on a Sunday the levels of hype were unrivaled.
Ah so many memories, i really miss the old pro league "re-streams" with english live commentary. I could go on for hours. THX BW
Congrats to Blizzard (whatever is left of it). I fear There may not be a future of starcraft sometimes when Activision is taking over. I played bw since 2000 and retired 2006. I play sometimes sc2 here and there, never got into it though like bw. I keep up with news to see whats going on. Personally I would've done things different when I was younger (like not play as much). Though I Thank Blizzard and the game for what it has shown me, This game is good..but there should be greater things to come in life.
There are so many amazing games of BW. But I think my go-to favorite for the combination of being an amazing game and an amazing storyline is game 5 of the JinAir OSL finals. Not just Jangbi making an amazing comeback to win the series, not just him beating the odds and getting out of a 2 year long slump and only qualifying through a wildcard bracket after someone forfeited their Ro16 slot, but this was the last OSL before SC2 was introduced into KESPA (the next OSL didn't feel as epic because most of the players were also practicing/playing SC2 at that point). It just felt like such a perfect display of how amazing BW can be.
On December 01 2018 01:17 Ideas wrote: There are so many amazing games of BW. But I think my go-to favorite for the combination of being an amazing game and an amazing storyline is game 5 of the JinAir OSL finals. Not just Jangbi making an amazing comeback to win the series, not just him beating the odds and getting out of a 2 year long slump and only qualifying through a wildcard bracket after someone forfeited their Ro16 slot, but this was the last OSL before SC2 was introduced into KESPA (the next OSL didn't feel as epic because most of the players were also practicing/playing SC2 at that point). It just felt like such a perfect display of how amazing BW can be.
- discovering Battle.Net mid 2005 and being addicted so badly (I pretty much skipped class for 5 years straight at university, not sure how I even got my degree)
- discovering there was a professional scene late 2005 and struggling so hard to find streams/VODs (even a shitty battle report was a luxury sometimes...)
- watching the rise of Bisu the underdog, I was hysterical when he defeated Savior in MSL finals
- attending Korean Air OSL season 2 finals (see my blog)
- attending the last Proleague finals (absolutely amazing finals, see my blog)
- spamming shit in the LR threads when they were still a thing (so much fun -- that day SuperArc was perma banned lololol)
EPT
the next 20 years will be even better.
the levels of hype were unrivaled.
