My first real fighter was Street Fighter Alpha 2 for the playstation. That’s what got me into the series, anyways.
Daigo Parry
Long story short, the first game that truly got me interested in fighting games was Samurai Shodown II on the PC. My friend bought it and showed it to me one day; after that, that’s all we would play.
As for what got me interested in playing fighting games competatively, I started getting back into fighters a couple years ago when I met some people who were into them. I picked up Guilty Gear (oddly enough I straight out suck at the game) and went from there. After messing around with Guilty Gear I tried out 3S, then started getting into some SNK stuff again. Now I find myself playing SNK fighters 90% of the time.
Yie Ar Kung-Fu
I grew up with a Genesis and SF2CE and things kinda picked up from there…
Three words: Sexy ninja women.
I was kinda’ in and out of fighters. Like every other kid, I played SF2 and Mortal Kombat. But I never got into fighters, and at the time I couldn’t pull off any kind of special moves.
Flash forward to around 2004/2005, I get a PC again and discover the world of Neo Geo emulation. Quickly getting lost in the euphoria of the Metal Slug series. I got curious about SNK’s other titles. I remember playing Garou (just messing around, not trying to do any of the specials) and remember not liking it too much. I liked the animation, but not much else. But I kept reading about how great the games were. So, I started reading up at Gamefaqs and started dedicating myself to these games.
Here I am now. I’m not the greatest player, but I think you would find me quite decent and able to hold my own.
basically the same here
street fighter got me into fighters
king of fighters made me hardcore to the genre
edit: great post DG
My turtle Bowser died, which expedited my receiving of a PSX along with a copy of XvSF.
In the name of my fallen turtle I vowed to become the best, and my journey began.
True story.
On the real though, I ventured into SNK territory and decided that FGs were more than what I thought they were, and I started to take playing more seriously.
good thread hanz0
To be honest I’m not to old of a person Im still in my teens, but when I was younger my unlce always took me to the arcade and played Street fighter and mk. Every friday after school he’d take me there and I enjoyed watching. So of course he let me play and I was hooked, but I was never an arcade rat, but when the first soul calibur came out I got hooked to fighting games. He pretty much shaped the person I am now
Well, I never was interested in the genre to begin with during my earlier years. That goes the same when I bought SSF2 for the SNES - I played it sparingly and not as much as I could compared to other games.
A few of my friends introduced me to Mortal Kombat, so we started to have get togethers playing MK2 mostly and a little bit of MK3. I was still a noob at the time, so I haven’t even bothered to check up on movelists or do any proper tactics, aside from the tips they gave me.
Fast forward to the Saturn era and I experience my first 3d fighter, Virtua Fighter 2. I was surprised at the entire concept of a full 3D fighter at the time and it also seemed so different from the older 2D games that I’ve played, with it’s lack of super special moves, ring out schemes and other stuff. Ever since then, I’ve grown to appreciate the differences between both 2D and 3D fighters and how each are enjoyable in their own way.
Now how did I get hooked into 2D fighters? 3 words (and a number); Street Fighter Alpha 2. Not only did it look good (at the time) but it played great, sounded great (love the AST) and it felt thrilling at the same time. In essence, that’s how the love for Street Fighter came to me and I’ve been playing all the games ever since; and delved into the other franchises Capcom had to offer (…despite some of the shitty PS ports at the time. Least Alpha 3 was pretty good).
After that, few years into 1999/2000, and I hear of Capcom’s new crossover game with another company that makes fighting games - SNK. I thought it might be interesting to see how their games fared, so I picked up KoF '98 for the PSX. Later then did I realize that the port was ass too when I got to play it via emulation, and in turn, got to play the rest of SNK’s library as well. Funny enough, it reminded me of my 1st experience with NeoGeo games - there was this store in a shopping center that specialized in selling Neo Geo consoles and carts and used to display the newest titles on a really big TV screen; I think I got try out 3 Count Bout, Fatal Fury and AoF2 mostly.
As for Guilty Gear, I remember watching vids and reading up on the internet at how GGX is “one of the best and most underrated fighting games you probably never played” - at the time I was mostly impressed with how the game looked with it’s massive sprites and wacky effects - especially when it comes to Faust. A friend of mine then was kind enough to send me a copy of the DC version and I had a blast with it.
was a gamefaqs-type of MK fanboy in my childhood… then got sucked into PC gaming
i hated street fighter of course as i thought it was childish (i remember how dumb kids were whoring out in SF2 CE with Bison’s psycho crusher)… MK with its photorealistic gore was hardcore and super srs in comparison.
sometimes when i got bored i used to google for MK stuff and run into shoryuken.com a couple of times… never understood what it was really about (some weird forum about weird games… SF Alpha? 3rd Strike? wtf) and why MK is not very popular in its respective threads
10 years fast forward… i saw the Daigo vid which made me play SSF2 emulated on the Genesis with a friend. shortly after GGPO popped up and started playing just because it was unbelievably great… fell madly in love with SFA2, then the rest is history (in the making :D)
Well, I didn’t know anything about fighting games for a long time. Some mortal kombat, I even played SNES SF2 once…
But once I heard some gamer praising a fighting game, where one guy can place projectiles on the field, and launching them in any direction he wants, and the projectiles bouncing each other… Also he continued with telling about an other character in the game, who can summon a helper, to fight effectively 2v1 against the opponent… a char, who can place invisible traps on the stage… so on, so on. I had to try this out.
So that was the time I was introduced to Guilty Gear. I played it with my friends, who also liked it because all the interesting concepts.
After a while, I heard about the competitive scene, I started reading, searching a lot etc.
I got to know Third Strike, SF2 as a competitive game, doujin fighters…
I started playing Guilty Gear online, and occasionally GGPO. I can’t go arcades cause there isn’t any in Hungary. Also the fighting game scene here is pretty much nonexistant.
I tried it, I liked it. 
When I was little, my mom occassionally took me to arcades, and it was like walking into heaven for me. Sadly, this was a rare event.
I had Mortal Kombat and TMNT: Tournament Fighters for the SNES (I occassionally played SF2 at friends’ houses). Didn’t like Mortal Kombat, did like TMNT.
The game that really blew my mind was Marvel Vs. Capcom. I would button mash like crazy and when a super move went off, I would get super hyped.
I didn’t live by an arcade (despite living in Southern California), and I didn’t know anyone that seriously was interested in fighting games, so I just played different genres. One day, I discovered a SFIII: Second Impact machine at a nearby laundromat, and I was hooked to it. I became increasingly frustrated at my lack of competition.
Eventually, I started going to the University of Pittsburgh, and I discovered SRK. From here, I learned that there was a Pittsburgh scene nearby. Started playing with people that actually give a crap about the genre, and am slowly getting better. I’m loving it.
Oh, and the Daigo vs. Justin video also got my hyped about fighting games.
i used to beat up kids for their quarters and cash in the alley behind the video store. Then one day I decided to walk inside and saw the SF2 arcade machine in and gave it a go… haven’t stopped playing since.
I was trained from my youth in the ways of the martial arts. To honor my masters, I participated in an illegal full-contact martial arts tournament, held for the elite fighters of the world every five years. On the the third and final day, I faced the defending champion, Chong Li. I thrashed him soundly and punched him in the titties.
When I discovered that a character with a similar name was in Street Fighter II, I knew I had to play it.
I would have posted more on my post if people wanted to here why I got into the whole tournament scene. I would have to write a book to really show and point out things that changed my attitude towards fighters. Most of the stories so far are great, thanks for sharing everyone.
great to see people are posting nice stories everyone and by the looks of the polls we got tons of people who have been playing for more than 10 years 
My parents introduced me to video games at a very young age. When I was 4 my first video game was Tekken 3, and I mashed around with it in a local arcade. When the console port released I begged my dad to get it for me as a birthday gift. I played Tekken 3 nonstop, and that in turn sparked my interest in fighting games. I enjoyed using cool looking combos to slaughter my opponent, and playing with a friend is just as fun. 95% of my gaming time has to do with a fighting games now, and I am 15. Later on I began to keep a lookout for any other fighting games that I could enjoy (and every series on the market is great imo). I aspire to play fighting games competitively in the future.