For whatever reason, a lot of kids on GGPO keep thinking I’m Tenren. Sure, my playstyle is a poor man’s imitation of his, but aside from the people who’ve been on for the longest who can tell the difference instantly, most just assume he’s playing under a different name (my name). Common quote is “Tenren has sure calmed down a bunch”. No, I’m just passive-aggressive with no feel for the game yet, is all. 
All this talk about most of the major arcades closing makes me sad. All my life growing up in So Cal the arcade scene was never dead. It was still alive one way or the other. FFA was the major reason why the arcade scene was great for the past ten years. It bridge the gap between SF2 and SF4 with 3S.
I don’t know. With Ralph taking a bow the arcade scene in So Cal might be extinct. I wonder what life in So Cal would be like if there were no longer any fighting game arcades. Only three left: Alex, Super, and James Games. My way of video game life might be over.
Only way it will survive if there’s an constant investment in the classic Capcom co-op fighting games: MVC2, CVS2, ST, 3S, and SF4. These games will always need the blood of the new generation to reinvigorate and grow the population. It has to have the same mentality or spirit of a chess club or even a pool hall.
I’m always an optimist but asking younger players to play old great fighting games is asking a lot. But there’s always a possibility of reforming.
I talked to someone last month and this person lived in Japan for five years and he loves arcades. The culture is definately different there than here. This is what he told me: The average arcade gamer in the USA is a college student or a working man working a decent job. The average arcade Super Turbo player in Japan is a businessman or businesswoman wearing a business suit and smoking. This is a really big difference in culture.
I was thinking since the average ST, MVC2, SSF4, and 3S player is getting older, these players need to go to a place after work where they can unwind and plays some games. I mean just because you get older doesn’t mean you’re gonna abandon your games completely. Everyone still needs an outlet especially after work. Hopefully the younger generation sees this ethusiasm in the older generation, they would want to mix in and join. Kind of like a poker game where you have the new school and old school playing at the same table.
Because the gamer generations (after Nintendo) will always need a place to hang out? They can’t stay coup up in their domiciles all day just playing online right? They need to get out to hang out?
The problem with this current generation along with American culture in general deals with instantaneous gratification. If I put X effort into anything, even if it’s tying my shoes, I should be rewarded with Y output even if what I think I should receive far outweighs the effort applied. This also applies to getting off your butt to go somewhere to hang out and play. If you can do the same thing online (which you can half do…sorta) without fearing social interaction (because, you know, face to face is soooo 90’s, amirite?), I doubt many people would care for a place to go to do the same thing despite how much better a FFA or a Japan Arcade is by comparison. More importantly, like your friend from Japan said, when’s the last time you’ve seen a outstanding citizen in an arcade fucking you up with C.Viper while wearing a no-nonsense tie? I sure haven’t outside of maybe Ultra David, unless we go way back to the 70’s/80’s. Everyone else is a man-child, just getting by, or bewildered youth (like me).
Biggest issue, however, is the mindset a new generation coming into all this would need. Sensationalism – for every time someone spouts out “e-sports”, a lot of the point of why we play goes out the window and replaced with the rhetoric that drives forward raffles and profit margins (or lack there of in the FGC’s case) in the scene. The average person viewing into the looking glass may think they have to follow suit with events and all of the complexities of play, otherwise they don’t belong. This said, the older games are brutal to master. It’s not so much that they’re archaic by today’s standards, but that A) there’s quite a few old FGs that require absolute dedication, and B) the game industry is a passive market space; the new replaces the old very rapidly. The climate set by these two factors create psychological barriers in the mind like “I should play what my friends are playing…” and/or “Where can I really go with this if I’m putting in all this time?”. Playing just to play is not something America is about anymore, especially if it requires an investment of any kind (mental, financial – whatever). In Japan, the opposite is true because they’re not allowed to gamble or have giant pots. They play just because it’s fun, which is enough for them to go to an arcade once in a while.
This. Pretty much nailed on the head. It is honestly hard to play just for fun anymore when there are others who are so invested in the game that there is nothing to do BUT to win. Losing just doesn’t seem to be an option for some people. I don’t think the analogy of having pro poker player and a new player at the same table. At the end of the day, it will be either me or him/her. I have to take this dudes money; I am going to be the better player because I am putting more time and effort into the game. Who wants to hang out with that type of asshole? In this sense, the way people play the game now is even more cuthroat than it was years ago. You would think nowadays the FGC is more inviting, but it’s not. You need to put in work in order to be accepted. Before you could easily topple the “king of the arcade” with just your $0.25.
Nowadays, if you get a win, people will want the runback and claim how you got lucky or some other random bullshit. Beating the main guy in an arcade just doesn’t have that same effect, people won’t respect you. Back in the day, you also had to earn the respect of the regulars. But, the loses weren’t always taken with such negativity. I am a youngster compared to the older cats I consistently play with, but the point is that there wasn’t as much bullshit drama as there is now. This coming from folks who are like 30+, it was go hard or go home. Thing is, people did go home and strive to become better. Now, people throw huge bitch-fits over the losses and call you a scrub.
If I can just have fun with a few friends with MY copy of Marvel or Street Fighter, then who the hell cares about going to places to play? I will just invite friends who don’t play the game and see if they want to learn. I will be respected amongst the friends that I frequently talk to. Why should I care to travel to play? I put little investment in the game, but get huge gratification with playing the people I like. I don’t have to worry about the asshole in the arcade.
You guys make great points. But are people really that bad in an arcade? When I went to Camelot to play 3S, I’m bringing up Camelot because it’s a side by side cabinet, the competition was intense but no one really was an asshole to each other. I think Versus Cabs solve the asshole problem especially if they’re back to back. You’re just focused on the gameplay and not really the trash talking.
I don’t know about you guys but when I play a fighting game in an arcade environment I get a tremendous high. It just feels right. Playing it at home on console is boring and lifeless. Not to mentioned cheapened because it’s on pad. I don’t like playing SF4 at home but when I play it on a machine it’s a different story.
Also playing a FG in an arcade environment is the best way to play a FG. At home online, it’s all bs and trash competition. In the arcade you’re getting high quality matches. Not to mention a chance to play against the best players in the area. If there are no arcades the seriousness and the passion for a game will have a hard time existing. An arcade game is a place where like minded people can exist and trade great information to one another.
Arcades are necessary and appealing. People have to go out and hang out. And an arcade is a place where people can hang out. Going to an arcade and feeling the energy of a lot of people crowded around a machine is something that a room with Internet can not mimic.
It is perhaps one of the few places in the real world where you will meet people who care about the game as much as you do.
I really think people exaggerate this whole “arcades are full of assholes” idea. I’m pretty sure the only place where this might have been true were MAYBE a few places in socal where the hardcore competition was at, and CTF in its MVC2 heyday.
It’s no secret why some of the best players in the scene today came from the arcade culture. You will never, ever, be able to replicate that environment at home. When you lose at home playing online or offline matches it’s easy not to care about it and just move on to the next match. At the arcades, not only did you have to play and lose money, but you had to sit your ass back in line and wait until you get another chance. Not only that, you had to do the walk of shame as everybody watching you kind of laughs silently as you hop off the machine. Losses were much, MUCH more personal, and if you kept losing, it made for an expensive day at the arcade. This really forces players to think about their match, what they could’ve done right and what they could’ve done wrong, and come up with some sort of solution to adapt. Now, I’m not saying that you can’t do this at home, but the environment at home isn’t really conducive to produce top-level players.
This is largely why have the community-at-large has more stream monsters and fan boys than actual players and killers.
Arcades need to focus on what made them so popular in the first place. It’s the social aspect. It’s the act of getting together with your boys and grinding out some matches and see who’s better than who, and who has gotten better since the last time. It’s where you go to hang out, talk to other people, catch a quick meal together, and then head back. It shouldn’t JUST be a place where people casually pop in to play a few games before heading off somewhere else. It should be destination.
Here’s another thing that’s annoying me and this has nothing to do with you players.
Recently I’ve been getting arcade collectors coming to my gatherings. I mean they’re cool people but they can be annoying as fuck. These are guys who own like 150 arcade boards but don’t own one single arcade cabinet for them to play on. On top of that when it comes to playing Street Fighter or any fighter they suck. Instead of practicing and learning the mechanics of a fighting game they rather talk about other sellers and buyers/collectors and the drama that occurs when a transaction doesn’t turn out so well.
Now just because I own a bunch of machines, these collector guys think I’m into the collecting culture of it and they make me want to care about the other community of collectors and their drama. NO!!! Fuck NO!!!
The main point and probably the only point of doing this is for the players especially the players who like the OG Street Fighters and are passionate about them. I can care less about fucking collectors who think it’s cool to own a bunch of machines and arcade boards but only leave them in their closet and don’t really care about playing them.
Collectors are scared of people playing on the machines because they’re afraid they’re going to “mess it up”.
Alex Valle’s quote: “Without the players Street Fighter is nothing.”
Yes I’ve been hanging out with collectors too much and I’m realizing that they’re not my crowd lol:p. I mean you get access to a lot of people/communities with cool shit but for the most part most or some of these guys don’t really give a shit about the actual game. I mean some like the Neo Geo fighting guys care about their games but they’re few and far between.
It’s all about being a gamer. GAMER: One who plays the games.
I don’t give a fuck about a guy in another thread who sells his Gauntlet board for an inflated price that is not “market value”. Who gives a shit. I don’t want to be a part of the collecting police.
Isn’t that like collecting rare baseball cards, but not knowing a thing about the sport or the players? I mean, I get it, but…no, nevermind, I don’t. I’ll be quiet now. :rolleyes:
Tbh I never understood the idea of collecting stuff for the sake of collecting. Isn’t that just basically extreme OCD? Collecting stuff basically puts you between being a normal person, and one of those guys you see on Hoarders on TV. lol.
Anyways, the purpose of things, especially arcade games, is to use them. What good are they if they’re just sitting around on your shelf or in boxes? They’re taking up space and a LOT of your money for no good reason. I understand wanting to keep them protected so that they can still work, but what’s the point of all that if they never get put to work?
But of course, some keep want to keep, collect, and maintain things, for the sole purpose of preserving its history. We’ve seen this recent phenomenon with video games, where’s actual video game MUSEUMS (small ones) springing out around the country.
I’m guilty of buying extremely expensive Japanese games made over 2 decades ago just to use the cartridges as display pieces (because Megaten games are awesome). Then again, I like video game history in general. What I don’t understand is collecting for the sake of it with no real attachment. I have 5 copies of 3rd Strike because I’m a junkie. A no good, hardcore, kind-of-a-scrub-but-not-really, junkie. Why anyone else would have more copies than me, let alone an arcade board for the sole purpose of saying they have one as well as removing the kill chip, is beyond me.
Heck, I think you told me before, Don, that when improved versions of a game come out, the previous board loses it’s value. You mentioned that with GGXXACPlusR-why the fuck are there so many subtitles for this game?
Real quick example:
To “CPS-2 Collectors” a battery powered American (Blue) Super Turbo is more valuable than a American (Blue) Phoenixed Super Turbo because it hasn’t been “corrupted” by the Phoenix code.
Ok Super Turbo is a 20 year old game and I’m pretty sure that a lot of them out there the battery died because it’s so old. So you need the Phoenix chip to revive a lot of these dead boards. But if you’re lucky to find one with a battery intact then you have a “collector’s item”. Who comes up with this crap?
Keep in mind these guys suck or don’t know how to play ST.
So apparently my whole CPS-2 collection isn’t worth that much since all of them are Phoenixed.
I’m sorry I wanted them to last forever so I could “play” them.
What can I say? Some people get off on the idea of owning arcade boards to games that they don’t play or they suck at. lol. Generally the more “original equipment” and “mint” an item is, the better it’s worth, despite the idiocy of it’s original design.
And that’s why there should be arcades lol. So we won’t have collectors dictating the “value” of the games we play.
After playing SNK games I realize what great designers Capcom had. Don’t get me wrong SNK is cool but comparing the design of an SNK fighting game to a Capcom game is really no comparison.
When you play SNK games the feel of the game is so choppy. Like in Mark of the Wolves when characters jump they’re so floaty. But if you play World Warrior the gameplay is so smooth. The characters have a gravity to them. Compare Fatal Fury to WW which both came out at the same time and you can see that WW was far superior even it’s primal stages. Even in a beat em up game like Final Fight, comparing it to games that were made at the same time, it’s really smooth. In restrospect I’m really impressed with Capcom. They know what they’re doing. They’re perfectionist.
When you input moves in an SNK games there’s like a delay or lag. Capcom it’s instantaneous. Even in CVS2, a SNK character like Terry Bogard feels so smooth. When I play him in an SNK game he’s so choppy.
I’m riding in the passenger seat trolling right now so forgive me. On my iPhone 3 forever baby lol.
There’s nothing wrong with collecting if you’re a fan of what you’re collecting. But for these arcade collectors when it comes to CPS-2 boards and other arcade boards, it seems like they’re just trying to “outcollect” each other with no understanding of their product. It’s driving me crazy right now lol.
I agree. I think if people consider the arcade as a place to bring your buddies, they will be more successful. Sell food, water, have comfortable chairs, some tables, TV, internet, cable TV, air conditioning, it’ll make a nice place to be. Watson does a pretty good job of this over at Super Arcade. He’s always playing the latest sports games, watching the latest streamed major tournaments, lots of nice chairs, a few tables, and he’s pretty lax on people bringing food and drinks in there. Besides WNF and TRB, the arcade actually stays pretty cool with the A/C blowing and the doors closed. Plus I hear he’s working on bringing in more non-fighting games to attract a different audience and upgrading the arcade in general, probably due to the upcoming influx of cabinets that comes with the closure of FFA and Japan Arcade.
I’m most definitely a fan boy, but I love Capcom games. SF2 always just felt so…right. The speed of it, the responsiveness, the simplistic yet complex gameplay, the game has so much to offer at any skill level you play at. The only real threat to SF2 was MK, and that’s because of the gore and “realistic” graphics. Look at how well that stood the test of time.
It might be like how rich people compare each others stocks. So elitist without any purpose.