I can’t remember the first move I ever learned but I do remember my first combo, which was fierce to fireball or fierce to uppercut . . . but of course it was just done by rolling the controller from forward to crouch as fast as possible while lobbing a couple button taps in there.
For the, some of the real big moments were learning concept oriented stuff, like behind-the-back/cross-over kicks, or how to do standing-fierce to axe-kick type combos.
At the beginning of SFII, when people started really mastering combos, instant moves from the ground and the likes, I liked learning all the fundamental stuff, like being able to pin people in with guile while using only his sonic booms, low forward and his neutral forward or roundhouse kicks. I always liked to read people and the tick-tack them to death while they were trying to pull off all these advanced moves and combos and I wasn’t even using special moves . . . but I think UTC was kind of notorious for players who played the game a bit more “oddly” than a lot of other places.
I just found this thread today! I read it from start to finish! JCase is the bomb story-teller. He needs to be writing books!
All of this…the nostalgia to this quoted post is really making me wish I had frequented Yellow Brick Road more when it was open.
Yes, I’m an old-schooler, too. It’s too bad I didn’t climb out of scrubdom until I started at SDSU in 1994, after dominating at the Community College level (whatever that’s worth…heh). Shout-out to the old crew: Greg Clarke, Harry Chang, Don, Todd (aka Todd 1), RICO!, Andrew Chin, the Harry that beat me in the MSH tourney and won it, and my alt.games.sf2 SD alumni Bob Painter, Mark Zedaker, Milo Cooper, Eric Koda, James Romedy, and Terry Cox. I think Wei frequented Aztec Amusement Center because I remember a guy with the same name that fits your description! I don’t remember being that good against him.
Oh…I did meet Apoc…heh…lost a game of SFA2 with my Ken to his girlfriend’s Chun Li at the time…but not the match! Don’t get it twisted! (Chun vs Chun, low forward XX overhead ftw) And yes…James Chen. No one has ever made not being able to take off more than 50% of their life more fun and frustrating at the same time. SVGL! I know I’ve met some other people…my memory fails me.
By the way, if you’re still in SD, check out the Pacific South section. We’re trying to start something. You’ll see when you get there.
Wei originally came from there and he regularly played there when he wasn’t playing YBR. Like one poster mentioned, he just sort of “showed up” in some senses because he was kind of the top-dog there(we’re talking 92/93) but didn’t really play at YBR. When he came to YBR he was quite good but when he had top-level competition to play day-in and day-out, like there was at YBR at that time, he rapidly became a more dominant/consistent player. His Sagat was sick. That’s not to diss anyone from Aztec, but YBR had about 5 regulars there(that were ALWAYS there) that could win a tournament on any given day, and then had about 5 or 6 other guys who, while they may have played other arcades, probably played 2 days a week at YBR and showed up for the tournies.
This thread has brought back the best of memories. Thanks to all who posted. I was 12 years old when World Warrior hit arcades. Good times, good memories.
Old farts unite. Never stop playing, never retire.
Capcom released console sales figures. Resident Evil, as a series, has been the most successful, but their number 1 cartridge of all time was 1992’s Street Fighter 2.
Hard to believe that was 16 years ago. Half my life ago! I remember when this cart came out for the Super Nes back in the day and it was a very big deal. I believe it was in the Champion Edition days. The first time I saw it I was at Bay Con in San Jose. One of the vendors got ahold of an early copy and set it up next to his booth. It drew quite a crowd.
The release on the SNES was so important for several reasons. First, arcade to console ports were still very iffy. Everyone knew the graphics would take a hit. No one knew if the game would suck or not. Chief among the concerns was the gameplay, because if it differed markedly from arcade original it wasn’t worth bothering with. Fortunately, capcom came through and the game was reasonably close to the original.
Second, and most important, now people could play Street Fighter at home. This was both a blessing and a curse. This was still at the very peak of Street Fighter’s dominance in the arcades and it was common to see ten or more quarters lined up on a machine to play. When you finally got your shot, you had to really make it count or it was back in line you went to wait another 20 - 30 minutes.
Not so with the home version. The home version, therefore, was the weak player’s wet dream. They were sick and tired of you, me and everybody kicking their asses six ways to sunday in the arcades. All they wanted was a warm and fuzzy game against the computer and now they could finally get that.
So like I said, the home port of Street Fighter 2 was a blessing and a curse. A curse because those bottom few tiers of players who provided our daily fodder now “took their ball and went home”. They didn’t have to settle for the continuous, frustrating ass-beating they were handed constantly in order to get their Street Fighter fix. On the Super Nes they could lower the difficulty all the way down and live out their chun li anime fantasy of dominance. YA TA!
Even for us more hardcore players, the SNES port proved to be a lot of fun as we finally got around to playing with the other characters in the game. It also meant our group had something to do after the arcade closed at midnight. We spent a lot nights up till four in the morning, and there were even a couple where my friend said “Dude… we need to stop… the sun’s coming up…” Good times.
Edit: Here’s the table in the event the IGN article disappears.
Franchise Sales
Series Units Sold
Resident Evil 34.5 million
Mega Man 28 million Street Fighter 25 million
Disney Titles 13.2 million
Devil May Cry 9.5 million
Onimusha 7.8 million
Monster Hunter 6.3 million
Dino Crisis 4.4 million
Ghosts 'n Goblins 4.3 million
Final Fight 3.2 million
Breath of Fire 3 million
Ace Attorney 2.8 million
Commando 1.2 million
1942 1.2 million
Individual Title Sales
Title Released System Units Sold
**
Street Fighter II June 1992 SNES 6,300,000**
Resident Evil 2 January 1998 PS 4,960,000
Street Fighter II Turbo July 1993 SNES 4,100,000
Resident Evil 3 Nemesis September 1999 PS 3,500,000
Resident Evil March 1996 PS 2,750,000
Dino Crisis July 1999 PS 2,400,000
Devil May Cry 4 January 2008 PS3, Xbox 360 2,300,000
Devil May Cry August 2001 PS2 2,160,000
Monster Hunter Freedom 2 February 2007 PSP 2,150,000
Onimusha: Warlords January 2001 PS2 2,020,000
Resident Evil 4 December 2005 PS2 2,000,000
Super Street Fighter II June 2006, 1994 SNES 2,000,000
Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny March 2003 PS2 1,990,000
Aladdin November 1993 SNES 1,750,000
Devil May Cry 2 January 2003 PS2 1,700,000
Duck Tales January 1990 NES 1,670,000
Street Fighter II Plus September 1993 GN 1,650,000
Ghosts’n Goblins June 1986 NES 1,640,000
Resident Evil 4 January 2005 GC 1,600,000
Onimusha 3: Demon siege February 2004 PS2 1,520,000
Mega Man 2 December 1988 NES 1,510,000
Lost Planet Extreme Condition December 2006 Xbox 360 1,500,000
Final Fight December 1990 SNES 1,480,000
Resident Evil Outbreak December 2003 PS2 1,450,000
Duck Tales September 1990 GB 1,430,000
Resident Evil Code Veronica X March 2001 PS2 1,400,000
Dead Rising August 2006 Xbox 360 1,400,000
Resident Evil March 2002 GC 1,350,000
Mega man Battle Network 4 December 2003 GBA 1,350,000
Devil May Cry 3 February 2005 PS2 1,300,000
Resident Evil 0 November 2002 GC 1,250,000
Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition May 2007 Wii 1,250,000
Magical Quest Starring Mickey November 1992 SNES 1,210,000
Resident Evil DC Dual Shock August 1998 PS 1,200,000
Chip’n Dale Rescue Rangers June 1990 NES 1,200,000
Dino Crisis 2 September 2000 PS 1,190,000
Mega Man X December 1993 SNES 1,160,000
Monster Hunter Freedom December 2005 PSP 1,150,000
Resident Evil Code Veronica February 2000 DC 1,140,000
Commando September 1986 NES 1,140,000
Resident Evil Director’s Cut September 1997 PS 1,130,000
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts October 1991 SNES 1,090,000
Mega Man 3 September 1990 NES 1,080,000
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles November 2007 Wii 1,050,000
Final Fight 2 May 1993 SNES 1,030,000
Street Fighter Alpha 3 December 1998 PS 1,000,000
Just one hour ago I sent a link to this thread to one A2 fan and one crossover (vs series) fan. And changed sig.
I wish I could tell the story for the cities I lived in as well as you did. Very nice posts, man. It really took me back to those days when all was new, arcades were the one place a child would want to be and there was that aura about the guys who could even execute a shoryuken, or get past boxer.
Had to give a short presentation to the board of trustees (the big wigs) on the progress of our web site upgrades and enhancements. The agenda was running 90 minutes behind so they politely said, “make it quick”. And I did. Total shotgun presentation. About three minutes. “Any questions?” Nope. So I was outta there.
The marketing director tried to put me on the spot, which I anticipated. See, he wants this new home page layout, which his department crafted. However, he doesn’t want the faculty backlash of “why weren’t we consulted on this layout??!!” He has, in the past, kicked any such “negative” reaction over to us in IT. “That was IT’s decision - we are but your humble marketing servants!” is his excuse. His snakieness is almost impressive. Almost.
So we agreed before that he would present that part, since, you know that’s the marketing part. He intro’d me and then handed me the podium to do the WHOLE presentation. So I said “the marketing department has come up with a new layout…” to stick it right back in his lap. Ha ha bitch. Not that fucking stupid.
And when he saw I nailed it and the reaction to the new layout was positive, then he wanted to jump back in and add some additional comments. Ha ha.
He’s like the guy at the arcades that suddenly pretends he’s been your friend for life after you win 10 straight.
I mean c’mon. I grew up playing Street Fighter. You have to adapt the gameplan on the fly. It’s all part of the training. You can’t think you’re gonna make me lose a step when you said you’d pick Ryu and then suddenly switch to Guile. I got that gameplan, baby! I got 12000 quarters+ of training on that flow, baby!
So the point is, whether it’s sports or competitive game playing or being competitive at whatever, that experience can make all the difference in a clutch when someone tries to change the gameplan last second on you and tries to stick you holding the bag. You know to be prepared for all situations, all circumstances. And when the unexpected happens, you still step up, ready for the game, and you execute regardless. Bust your combos and counters just like practice, and maintain that focus.
And you get the win.
So whether it’s street fighter or life, the rules are the same - you need to think through the angles in advance and plan and expect for the unexpected. And when the unexpected shows it’s head, you’re still ready to go, not missing a single step, a counter, or a clutch situation. It’s all just the way you did it in practice and against the uncountable fools that stepped before. And you send them back to the token machine like all the others.
Wow great thread read, and great thread . Brought back a few memories of my first time seeing SF2 at the community center in Adak Alaska.They had it set up there, and one machine at the gym. Everyone would go there to either watch, try or play the best that was there. There was something special about people just meeting somewhere for something. Thing is, it wasn’t spoken of when or where we would meet sometimes, we just did it.
Man I’ve been looking for this thread for years. I thought it’s awesomeness would be lost to the ages. Now I’ve found it again and this shit is STILL legendary. Great read all and all.:encore:
Thanks much to whoever bumped it.
Props and Respect to jcasetnl. You rock brother.:rock::rock::rock:
I remember being in the 3rd or 4th grade when SFII hit the arcades. I remember the first time I played it, it had just come out at my local arcade and I had the machine to myself. I was just a scrub ass kid who didn’t even know how to Hadoken, but I instantly knew this game was going to be huge because I was very hooked from my first play experience.
Not surprisingly, everywhere I went there were crowds upon crowds at every SFII cabinet. I’ve never seen anything like this at an arcade and it was THAT popular. It went on like that for months until MKII was released, then that’s when a lot of the hype and excitement started to die for SF.
By the time Super Turbo came out, everyone had already moved on to so-called “greener pastures,” but at least ST and SF altogether became more popular with time.
As an adult in my late 20s, I’m more than happy to see SF be back in the mainstream. SF is probably my favorite game franchise of all time that I can never get tired of playing.
Wow, the stories in this thread are downright amazing. I really wish I had been able to experience the scene, but I’m only 17 and to my knowledge there aren’t too many arcades around Anaheim Hills :shake:
jcasetnl - Your personal story reminded me so much of Mark Helprin’s book The Soldier of the Great War (my favorite book ever). I dig your writing style a lot man.
It was definitely an awesome time. Arcades were all over the place, and even then you didn’t need one. Street fighter was everywhere. It’s amazing that when my arcade closed it’s doors a month ago, me and some other guys exchanged games at Marvel. But it would only be 3 or 4 of us at a time on a good day exchanging wins.
Back in the days you could go to 7-11 for that. You went to the arcades to really show if you dominated. The competition was so heavy back in those days. Too bad those days are dead everywhere. Even in Cali there are only about 6 or 7 arcades within hours of each other. Back in the days there were tons of arcades all pretty much 15 minutes away from each other.
I mean I remember when me and and 4 other cat were going back and forth in CE at Pizza Hut. You couldn’t go to a convenient store that didn’t have a few arcade machines, and some decent fighting games. If your mother was shopping for groceries, you can go to the front of the store and play a few games of Street Fighter with other kids waiting for their mothers to finish shopping.
You basically could walk anywhere and get a good game of Street Fighter against anyone. It's a shame people your age missed those days, they'll never be a time like that for ourscene.
This is exactly why my friends and I ditched so much HS to practice and get better. The rush of stepping up in front of a crowd and KOing the ‘champ’.
Only after coming back to SF (thanks IV) and reading a great write up like this, I realize how blessed I was to be a part of this ‘golden-age’ of SF arcades.
(Chun vs Chun, low forward XX overhead ftw) And yes…James Chen. No one has ever made not being able to take off more than 50% of their life more fun and frustrating at the same time. 
