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)
On November 30 2018 23:46 Julmust wrote: I've been away from the Brood War community every 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. + Show Spoiler +
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TtWegXOOGg
Thanks, that was such a good game! I thought JD was done for and I was complaining to myself about how wide open and hard to defend Rush Hour is. And suddenly JD switched from lurkers ling dark swarm to hydra lurk plague and turned the tide!
On November 30 2018 23:46 Julmust wrote: I've been away from the Brood War community every 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. + Show Spoiler +
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TtWegXOOGg
Thanks, that was such a good game! I thought JD was done for and I was complaining to myself about how wide open and hard to defend Rush Hour is. And suddenly JD switched from lurkers ling dark swarm to hydra lurk plague and turned the tide!
Also, everyone looked so young!
So were we.....
Rush Hour game is one of their best games imo, just so memorable. Happy Bday BW!
Been a lurker for so many years.. unlurking to celebrate! Thanks BW and TL so much for being here! Will never forget the streams and TL Attacks with Chill.. so many names and events come to mind that I'll just keep my mouth shut and have a nice nostalgic evening with Nevake.
The legendary Flash vs Jaedong rivalry is what really defined the game for me during my first years playing/following the game. I don't think any story-line has come close to what they achieved during their time as rivals and their 2010 games from the WCGs are still some of my favourite of all time, and on top of that Flash won his golden mouse in their finals at Korean Air S2.
On December 01 2018 08:45 chaosTheory_14cc wrote: The legendary Flash vs Jaedong rivalry is what really defined the game for me during my first years playing/following the game. I don't think any story-line has come close to what they achieved during their time as rivals and their 2010 games from the WCGs are still some of my favourite of all time, and on top of that Flash won his golden mouse in their finals at Korean Air S2.
I remember when i was 13, freezing my ballz off infront of the only internet cafe nearby, waiting for it to open on a saturday morning so my buddy and i can get a pc each to play bw.
At 10am the fucker finally opens the door from the inside, only to tell us to fuck off because he had a girl over and wasnt gonna open shop that day... I was so angry and impressed at the same time haha
Long live BW, its one of the examples of humans reaching their potentials, both the makers and the players.
Better than ever. This current meta is pretty neat. Honestly thought the games have been better and better and almost all winners up until this KSL season.
Hope they manage to keep it up next year. Dreaming of a day we have two tournaments running at the same time multiple times in the year.
Happy Birthday!!! It's insane if I think about the fact that this game accompanied me almost 2/3 of my life already (and counting). I still remember the first times I played StarCraft in a PC bang with friends, of course on BGH :D Hardcore turtling and teching to Carriers/BC's. Thank you for the memories!
Was introduced to BW during the GOM Avertec-Intel Classic S2 by a friend in 2008 and was instantly hooked by the depth of the game and the plethora of personalities involved. Soon I was watching Proleague weekly without English commentary.
Favourite player moment: Batoo OSL final. I remember parking my WoW character in the Exodar and connecting to that nice nostalgic OGN source url via Windows Media Player only to watch Jaedong seem helpless against Fantasy's Vulture play in the first 2 games, then somehow turning the situation on its head and masterfully reverse sweep him for his 2nd OSL win.
Favourite personal moment: The Winner's League in 2010 which FPL 10 covered. I got assigned a boring internship for school that lasted a few months. BW helped me get through it - whenever I was left alone for extended periods of time, I'd load up the ol' OGN url on VLC and have it play in the background (I was allowed to have earphones). Checking results and the FPL table became a daily ritual, and it was always nail-biting praying for Jaedong Oz to sweep. I finished 3rd overall and was pretty happy with myself since it was my first (and last, RIP) FPL. I even got a mention in a TL BW article as I was tied with 1 other person for highest number of points accquired from trading in that FPL. I was really into BW then.
Happy, well-deserved 20th anniversary BW! What a gem of a game to exist.
I got hooked on BW early 2008, and then joined TL forum later that year. BW helped me survive PhD. I would stay really really late at night to watch proleague or starleagues trying desperately connect to daum player, or whatever it was called.
Favorite moment was when I watched Flash win over Jeadong in MSL final 3:0. I remember, we went out with friends to a club. I got back around 3:30 am; took 1 hour nap, and got up to watch my favorite player live up to his hype. I stayed till 9 am posting on TL and celebrating!
The game that made me into Flash fan was the one against Bisu on Katrina.
Many favorite moments, from first playing with friends in middle school, to Starcraft64, to rediscovering the games among enthusiastic friends in college, to late night sessions on no rush maps and 3v3 BGH Free [fill in the blank], to learning how to PortForward to be able to host games, to following the pro scene with its history, drama, personalities, and indie rock music, to, to...the list goes on. I guess into a continuing love for the broader sc scene including sc2, and a revived broodwar scene. Too many good games, here is a first person VOD that still leaves me in awe:
Heres some of my favourite videos and games from the past 20 years.
This was definitely a great one at the time, because he went on to win that OSL taking down Stork getting revenge for the first ever OSL finals I saw the 2008 Incruit OSL. All the matches in that final were amazing too, especially the pathfinder game.
FlaSh vs FanTaSy in the BigFile MSL on Polaris Rhapsody. Absolutely fantastic game.
FlaSh vs Firebathero
Both fantastic TvTs from my personal favourite ERA of BW (although I only started watching in 2008.
Another epic TvT between FanTaSy, but this time with HiyA!
This was definitely a great one at the time, because he went on to win that OSL taking down Stork getting revenge for the first ever OSL finals I saw the 2008 Incruit OSL. All the matches in that final were amazing too, especially the pathfinder game.
My favorite moments in BW came during sAviOr's time, and back in the day when SlayerS_`BoxeR` was in his prime, to me those were the golden days, but I am really glad to be where we are today, with the matchmaking and Blizzard continuing to help BW move forward, I wonder if we will have any private ladder servers soon? :-P
I remember one of the first games of BW I played. It was a 3v3 on Hunters back in 2000. A guy from the team told me how to make DTs and then I was supposed to leave the DT to do its thing in a mineral line. And I was hooked, just like that. Such an amazing game, wide variety of memories and frustration with it. Best game for me, doubtless.
I played BW as a child but never anything more than campaign and single player(back in early 2000's) fast forward many years and i stumbled upon this website called teamliquid after playing nothing but fps and mobas for years. I got so excited when i realized how big BW was and immediately searched up stuff to watch. Luckily proleague was on and the first ever live game I watched was Jaedong vs fantasy on sin chup un ryong or whatever where he used queens and ensnare to crush fantasy, at the time I didn't understand how epic it was but damn. Probably my best memory. Other than that there is sooooo much greatness that I cant choose between them all.
Happy birthday Starcraft/Brood war! It's been 20 amazing years.
Played the game since 98. I will never forget - the first time I sat down and saw my cousin start up the original SC single player xD. And afterwards playing with my classmates on BGH with "20 min no rush" pretty much every game :-D
And from there on.. so many moments (in no part. order): Discovering bnet (when we finally got internet at home ;-D),all the clan wars, nation wars, joining korean guilds, playing in BWCL, PGT, WGT, ICCUP, WCG, reading the battle reports and trying to download the VODS from the OSL/MSLs, SClegacy and TL, The Slayer TV-documentary (go watch it^^), JulyZerg wining the golden mouse, JD winning the golden mouse, watching the first seasons of GOMTV TG Sambo-Intel Classic's.
Had a great time playing this game, and a good time now following it still. Love BW. <3
I think my favorite memory is still waking up in Acadia National Park at 5am in the morning on vacation to catch the SPL finals between SKT and KT where Violet opened against Canata. One of the happiest days of my life.
I remember playing the original Starcraft and early BW when the game just had come out for days and days, mostly against the computer. And then just one day in the autumn or winter of 2007 searching for Brood war on youtube. Me and my brothers randomly thought "Some one in the world must know how to play that old game so much better than we did." We searched and found Klazart commentating a Boxer game. We were like -why is he placing buildings all over the map instead of just in the base? And since then I am watching BW.
My fondest memory was when I first moved to Paris to study in 2009. I used to go out to Mcdonalds at 5-6 in the morning with my laptop to catch every Jaedong game because I didn't have an internet connection in my lousy minuscule apartment. Sometimes it was like a lifeline. That was nine years ago and I can still watch Jaedong play amazing Brood War. That is something to be happy about.
Back when replays were still something ahead of its time (as far as I know BW was the first engine able to replay a game). It´s funny to think the only way to have a game commentary outside Korea was to download Manifesto7´s mp3s.
Back when replays were still something ahead of its time (as far as I know BW was the first engine able to replay a game). It´s funny to think the only way to have a game commentary outside Korea was to download Manifesto7´s mp3s.
I still have the fan made video of this event somewhere on my PC. Nice event.
For my part, I still have found memories of Nada winning vs Anytime in ShinHan2 (And also the previous final between Boxer and Anytime).
Back when replays were still something ahead of its time (as far as I know BW was the first engine able to replay a game). It´s funny to think the only way to have a game commentary outside Korea was to download Manifesto7´s mp3s.
I still have the fan made video of this event somewhere on my PC. Nice event.
For my part, I still have found memories of Nada winning vs Anytime in ShinHan2 (And also the previous final between Boxer and Anytime).
I totally forgot about SO1 and Anytime beating Oov and Boxer.
Back when replays were still something ahead of its time (as far as I know BW was the first engine able to replay a game). It´s funny to think the only way to have a game commentary outside Korea was to download Manifesto7´s mp3s.
I still have the fan made video of this event somewhere on my PC. Nice event.
For my part, I still have found memories of Nada winning vs Anytime in ShinHan2 (And also the previous final between Boxer and Anytime).
I totally forgot about SO1 and Anytime beating Oov and Boxer.
you are totally right... that revolutionized PvT as much bisu did PvZ... also the other bracket was awesome Pusan vs Boxer in semi and Pusan vs Oov for 3rd place... 815 was so fun map... that mass lot into mass carrier was fun to watch
On December 02 2018 05:56 FlaShFTW wrote: I think my favorite memory is still waking up in Acadia National Park at 5am in the morning on vacation to catch the SPL finals between SKT and KT where Violet opened against Canata. One of the happiest days of my life.
On December 02 2018 11:42 Malongo wrote:as far as I know BW was the first engine able to replay a game
No, Doom was, and even then someone might have done it before. Replays were invented as a debugging tool, to capture and replicate conditions that led to crashes and desyncs.
On December 02 2018 11:42 Malongo wrote:as far as I know BW was the first engine able to replay a game
No, Doom was, and even then someone might have done it before. Replays were invented as a debugging tool, to capture and replicate conditions that led to crashes and desyncs.
While this makes sense, are you sure that was the only reason? There should have been replays in football games way before computers became mainstream. Computer games aren't football, but it's not uncommon for concepts to be reused.
On December 02 2018 11:42 Malongo wrote:as far as I know BW was the first engine able to replay a game
No, Doom was, and even then someone might have done it before. Replays were invented as a debugging tool, to capture and replicate conditions that led to crashes and desyncs.
My bad, I was thinking about pvp RTS games from that time.
edit: btw I'm still waiting for someone to write an editorial on Reach. That's only thing I have against TL after all these years... No Reach editorials.
Back when replays were still something ahead of its time (as far as I know BW was the first engine able to replay a game). It´s funny to think the only way to have a game commentary outside Korea was to download Manifesto7´s mp3s.
Happy birthday starcraft.... nice dose of nostalgia watching those old videos. I started watching during the height of the Boxer vs Yellow rivalry I was fairly devastated at Yellow getting bunker rushed three times in a row.
This was definitely a great one at the time, because he went on to win that OSL taking down Stork getting revenge for the first ever OSL finals I saw the 2008 Incruit OSL. All the matches in that final were amazing too, especially the pathfinder game.
This was definitely a great one at the time, because he went on to win that OSL taking down Stork getting revenge for the first ever OSL finals I saw the 2008 Incruit OSL. All the matches in that final were amazing too, especially the pathfinder game.
If you want to have a break from PRO leagues I'd recommend to watch this epic match again between Chill and Combat-EX casted by good old (young at the time) Day9.
On December 04 2018 06:10 QuadroX wrote: If you want to have a break from PRO leagues I'd recommend to watch this epic match again between Chill and Combat-EX casted by good old (young at the time) Day9.
I'm very confident. Korean Zerg strategies are ahead of foreign Zergs by about 1-2 years, and foreign ZvT also develops very slowly. I think TvZ is my strongest matchup. I predict I will go 6-1 or 5-2; there are a few maps that are very suited to early rushes, very suitable to his [F91’s] style, so I might lose two games.
And what happens? Idra loses 2-5. The white hope of the modern day and age losing to some random zerg player from China. If you can't beat him how are you supposed to beat progamers? I mean seriously the only games you won were games on two maps, Colosseum and Destination, maps that you've been practicing on 13 hours a day in the CJ Pro-team house with Koreans. Of course those are locks but the other five? Why did you lose Idra?
EPT
the next 20 years will be even better.
the levels of hype were unrivaled.
![[image loading]](https://ausefultalenttoihave.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/makingcarriers.jpg)
