True, but I wonder if there is a way that he can fix it up for big tournaments at east and go back to not using it the rest of the time.
dunno. maybe im just wrong and he doesnt own it anymore. but im pretty sure dramtr told me amar does own that lot still. so who knows =/ would be nice tho
if not then I’ll buy that SSF2 cab he has hiding back there lol.
Sweet vids. Thanks for uploading them. :tup:
haha, OG. I remember having arcades just like that down here in FL way back when. This brings back serious memories; thanks for the vids 
A few months ago I played street fighter 2 with someone and he was like… I didn’t know you played this game…
FUCKING EVERYONE PLAYED STREET FIGHTER 2
Anyway thanks for posting… it was great. SJG used to be so awesome.
actually at the time of this vid it was JUST that side…it didnt have the side that is actually all of nickels now…a few years later is when they bought that other side…then a few years after that is when they closed down the side you see in the vid (which had all the random kiddie shit like the carosel,bumper cars,bigass playpen thing…but this vid was before even all that came out!)
I definitely agree with you, however (time to back up MN) considering what extremely limited competition we had in Minnesota I feel we were just a notch lower than Cali. It’s too bad we didn’t have more of a variety of players. I’ve always said, and Gamepro quoted me at the time, that my severe loss to Mike was due to not having any real experience against Guile.
There were really only a handful of fierce people to play against. I’d say in total there were over 30 players, but really only about 5 or less were top tier. Among them were myself, Wes, Alexei, Hung, and a guy named Josh who kicked ass at HF but stopped when Super came out.
People may recognize the name Alexei. He’s the guy in the beginning of the vids with the long black hair. He basically taught me how to play the game, taught me my first combo, and just basic strategy in the beginning. Only a few months later I was beating him. He somewhat lost his drive, and people still say to this day that if he kept playing he would’ve been one of the best. You could almost call him a Minnesota Tomo, although I’d like to think of myself as that. =P
Somewhat off topic but I had the opportunity to go to Japan way back in 1993. My god was Japan different then before internet days. We all know arcades are great there, but they even seemed more hyped than they do today. I went with my father who hates video games, but actually watched every second because he loved watching me kick their butts. SSF2 had just come out at the time and this is where I honed my Fei skills. It’s a shame I didn’t continue to play him.
All right, this is turning into an unneeded dissertation. =)
If you have any stories of you beating japan, please tell. We have too many people here that think Japanese is the best at everything.
I definitely would say I was at my best when I was there in 93, 95, and 97, maybe even 98. God it sucks getting old. I would have Japanese people lining up to watch. I can’t imagine back in 93 and 95 there were many Americans over there beating up the competition. The best was when someone would stand up after the match and look over the machine to see who they were playing. When they saw it was me they quickly sat back down and rechalanged. The longer I played the bigger the crowd got. Those were the days!
Holy…:amazed:
Thanks very much for uploading these! Wow!
The gief/boxer match in the 2nd or 3rd film was fun to watch, just cause it went down to the wire.
I’m curious about what you said in regards to Guile, Jesse. He didn’t get much play in Minneapolis? That sounds so odd to me. Guile was super popular in the Bay Area, and of course SoCal. Mike’s style was obviously cutting edge but I knew a lot of people that played like that (though obviously not as well).
However, I have never seen a video where a player used guile’s close standing forward kick that much. I used it all the time. We used to call it the “donkey kick”. 
It really threw people off.
**I just realized that when I split the vids into the 10 parts I screwed up on part 10. I cut about 3 minutes of match footage with me and Mike. It’s still not complete footage but here’s another 3 minutes. I’m so glad I realized this because one of the rounds is me perfecting Mike’s Ryu with my Lei. Watch for the DK through fireball, twice! =) Too bad I still lost the match.
Also I deleted the video title Jesse Howard vs Mike Watson Finals. This is actually the exact same video as Part 10 of the footage. I edited the first post in this forum to reflect. Enjoy an extra 3 minutes!
Part 10 - [media=youtube]Q4kEU_TtIUg[/media]
This thread is wonderful, i was way too young to play in the touney scene…hell i didn’t know there was one. Makes me wish I continued to play sf…hell…this week i will be doing nothing but that!
Too much nostalgia in this thread. Remember the heated EC/WC rivalries? Arcades gave us so much. =(
^ I didn’t know SF players got into the 2pac & Biggie beef.
jesse: thanks for the stories. i like reading this stuff. keep it up! its just amazing how far people have come with strats and techniques since then. and how scarily advanced some players were even back in the early days.
you were definitely good at sniffing out pokes with dp. shit was funny. people just getting hit midscreen out of nowhere. its quite entertaining to do and see.
Thanks for the vids and info JHow !
at people booing tick throws.
Hahaha, arcade boos at a throw. Good times.
A little piece of history. Good stuff here. :tup:
Who was the kid playin’ Fei Long!?
Arcades had a different aura back then.
Damn, this is now going to be a daily visitor thread for me. I am still in awe that this footage exists.
I am kicking myself in the face for turning down the camera guy to be interviewed, and letting Chris go ahead with his “Street Fighter is Life” speech. :lol:
When re-watching the vids, the comments about lack of a certain player type in your particular area is right on par. In Binghamton, New York, we had only about 6 players who played on the level we were at. Unfortunately, they were all Ken, Ryu, Zangief or Sagat players. Stepping in to SJG that first day, (as we promptly tested out which machines still had the Zangief magic throw…lol) we were in awe to see the skill level brought forward by other characters. Dhalsim? Fei Long? Hell, even the lower tier characters were being played in ways we had never ever seen before. It was one hell of a learning experience for sure.
The sad thing about it all though, was I barely touched the SSF2T machine, and would have never guessed it would be the staple niche that the game holds within the community today.
Only regret I have, is not meeting more of the people that were there.