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Wednesday Night Fights is a weekly gathering at Super Arcade in Walnut, California put on by level|up, a fighting game community organization dedicated to tournament events and live streaming. WNF is a timely tradition and gathering of fighting game enthusiasts and competitors for community tournaments in a variety of games. The tournament is spearheaded by Alex Valle - a veteran competitor in the fighting game community.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/onpHT.jpg)
A vibrant gathering for nerds of a different crowd
Super Arcade is a rather small venue, and the tournament regularly packs the arcade to maximum capacity. The surrounding has a vintage arcade smell mixed with the aroma of cigarettes. There is constant sound and noise from the rapid tapping of arcade sticks, game volume, and the constant excitement of the crowd. A mixture of pink and blue neon lights, combined with the vibrant and dynamic colors coming from the monitors, make for unique lighting of the facilities.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/X2aqK.jpg)
All the gaming stations are either PS3's and XBox 360's. They have arcade versions of some games, but they're not used in the tournament
In an interview, fighting game commentator and competitor UltraDavid remarked that between ESPORTS and the fighting game community, there is a much more "grimey" and "raw" aura that surrounds community events. Being packed into a small arcade, with constant movement and a loud megaphone announcing the next round of the bracket - I can definitely agree that the event felt a lot "scrappier" than your typical ESPORTS event. At the same time, it was somewhat refreshing.
Despite everyone playing the latest modern releases, the multitude of personal arcade sticks, choice of venue, and overall interactions and atmosphere vibrantly illustrates a rich history of fighting game and arcade culture that continues to universally tie the communities of various games together. The history of the community is almost tangible.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BFGvD.jpg)
There are always people playing older variations of Street Fighter 3 on traditional arcade machines in the background while the main tournament occurs
Wednesday Night Fights is a unique community event in that it is a regularly streamed event, even complete with commentators and a "main stage". " level|up's "PotatoHead" is on duty every Wednesday, acting as director, producer, and the guy who's always trying to yell across the crowd to get the player name overlays correctly spelled on stream.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/qFfbj.jpg)
The WNF streaming battle station, with PotatoHead at the helm
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/eYXCN.jpg)
"Main stage", where all featured games and competitors play. The monitor feeds into the streaming computer. EG's floe in this shot (collared shirt)
Top level players are in regular attendance at Wednesday Night Fights. Even though StarCraft fans regard their best players with an enormous amount of celebrity status, top players in the fighting game community can often be seen walking around among the crowd without fear of being mobbed. However, they still attract quite a lot of attention when they play.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Xm23l.jpg)
EG's Justin Wong is among many regular top tier players attending Wednesday Night Fights. Also, a wild Alex Valle appears! (left)
Overall, attending Wednesday Night Fights was a pretty electrifying experience, there is a particular energy that just emanates from the community that is both attractive and addictive. I think just the idea of an arcade being so full of life and excitement in an age dominated by stay-at-home console and PC gaming is really interesting in the way that the fighting game community has still managed to keep it alive.
Hopefully one week I'll be able to compete!
You can check out the stream every Wednesday ~9:30pm at www.twitch.tv/leveluplive and its definitely worth checking out if you're in the area.
 
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Man I wish we had places like this. I'm jealous! Thanks for sharing shindigs, really cool blog.
lol this was my 12,000th post. LR threads woo
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Sooo jelly, I wish arcades weren't frowned up in Europe. T_T
Everyone who lives in socal should give it a try. It's so amazing.
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On June 26 2012 22:09 hewley wrote:
Sooo jelly, I wish arcades weren't frowned up in Europe. T_T
Everyone who lives in socal should give it a try. It's so amazing.
Yeah lol the closest arcade to me which has SF4 in it(probably not AE, maybe not even super!) is in Manchester
![[image loading]](http://screensnapr.com/e/jjIj7f.jpg)
265 miles, 4 hours and 30 minutes by car -_-
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I watch WNF most of the time and it's pretty hype. Also, the Runback (on Thusdays) is pretty hype too. Seems like fun times every week at that arcade.
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I miss arcades 
Glad to see they are still alive other places though.
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Cool blog. I love the feeling of the FNC, there is still drama but without the super ultra "celebrity" thing e-sports has going. People are humble there, and the griminess is normal which makes it more fun then watching e-sports for me.
5/5
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On June 27 2012 01:18 luckylefty wrote:
Cool blog. I love the feeling of the FNC, there is still drama but without the super ultra "celebrity" thing e-sports has going. People are humble there, and the griminess is normal which makes it more fun then watching e-sports for me.
5/5
AHAAHAHHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAH.
You can't be serious. A community where flaming and trash-talking is not only accepted but encouraged and the egos are 2-3 times larger. It's not a bad thing, it's what makes the FGC so much more fun than the PC community in my experience.
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On June 27 2012 01:40 Kaal wrote:Show nested quote +On June 27 2012 01:18 luckylefty wrote:
Cool blog. I love the feeling of the FNC, there is still drama but without the super ultra "celebrity" thing e-sports has going. People are humble there, and the griminess is normal which makes it more fun then watching e-sports for me.
5/5 AHAAHAHHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAH. You can't be serious. A community where flaming and trash-talking is not only accepted but encouraged and the egos are 2-3 times larger. It's not a bad thing, it's what makes the FGC so much more fun than the PC community in my experience.
I said I like the griminess. Egos can be big that's fine, but in e-sports it's reached a whole new level.
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lol, Alex Valle is a boss. I found out about him from his partnership with The Game Station, and after that I watched him in most tournaments that he participated in. Justin Wong is also a boss XD
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This reminded me of one of the Arcades here in my city located in one of the poorer places, sick energy, a lot of passionate fighting game players and some sick pinball machines(arabian nights just arrived), the arcade in the mall doesn't have the energy of the cramped simpler arcade. Sick blog, wish I could go there ): . Tonight I'll play some pinball.
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FuDDx
United States5003 Posts
I have a buddy from the arcade days that was always into fighting games specially the Neo-Geo games like king of fighters,samari showdown etc.. I think he is rather well known or was...
One hand samurai is hia handle he has only one hand obviously.
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On June 26 2012 23:16 NexUmbra wrote:Show nested quote +On June 26 2012 22:09 hewley wrote:
Sooo jelly, I wish arcades weren't frowned up in Europe. T_T
Everyone who lives in socal should give it a try. It's so amazing. Yeah lol the closest arcade to me which has SF4 in it(probably not AE, maybe not even super!) is in Manchester 265 miles, 4 hours and 30 minutes by car -_-
there was that event for fighting games in glasgow a couple months back was there not? cant remember its name but it used the trainspotting style poster replacing the characters in the film with like Ryu and stuff.
misread your post.
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This is really cool I might have to tune into the stream tonight 
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United States17042 Posts
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Street Fighter is pretty fun, Super Smash Bros Melee even more though.
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On June 27 2012 20:58 huStl.e wrote:Show nested quote +On June 26 2012 23:16 NexUmbra wrote:On June 26 2012 22:09 hewley wrote:
Sooo jelly, I wish arcades weren't frowned up in Europe. T_T
Everyone who lives in socal should give it a try. It's so amazing. Yeah lol the closest arcade to me which has SF4 in it(probably not AE, maybe not even super!) is in Manchester 265 miles, 4 hours and 30 minutes by car -_- there was that event for fighting games in glasgow a couple months back was there not? cant remember its name but it used the trainspotting style poster replacing the characters in the film with like Ryu and stuff. misread your post.
I hear a lot of the UK's fighting game scene is more console based. Check shoryuken.com in the region finder forums to see.
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EPT
