I was wondering what effect if any FINAL ROUND has had on the people that have attended Final Round in the past. I’m looking for some good feedback because i’m trying to get sponsership and I need some good feedback from the community. So post away people. I can’t wait to read you guy’s post.
For me, it has been a great opportunity to see and meet players from beyond my region. I have been a gamer for a long time, and Final Round has been a highlight for me every year that I have attended (4 total, for now).
I have had some great times and the competition is always top notch. I love the city of Atlanta also, it is great. Just an all-around positive event.
The level of organization and preparedness is something else I want to mention. Things are always well orchestrated. I know it is very demanding on the staff and administration, but it always shows in how smoothly things end up going. So thanks to all of the people who help you every year, they really put this thing over the top.
Thanks Rod!
You inspired me to start doing my own tournaments in florida. Atleast when you answered that ridiculously long pm i sent you about 4 years ago. You really turned around my view to the community. Also i went to final round for the first time last year and to be with a bunch of people that share a similar interest while having fun was a good experience for me. Keep it up.
Final Round (and Calm Warrior) are what inspired me to run my first tournament at Florida International University. The sense of community and the chance to meet a ton of players from different walks of life and outside of my city and state was what effectively got me to really want to get better at the games I play, and always gives me something to look forward to every year.
The level of competition is awesome, the camaraderie is hot fire and, Final Round being my first major, it really does have a special place somewhere in the cockles of my heart.
Maybe deeper than that. Maybe the sub-cockles.
Thanks fella’s for the kind words.
I’m a big fan of Final Round because it’s not just about the competition, it’s about the consideration, hospitality, and friendship. Being in the military(my term is over, i shouldve been out 40 days ago though but that’s a long story and I digress) I’m stuck on a strict schedule, and when I went to my first Final Round(FR8) not only did Leigh(RoninChaos, one of the organizers for Final Round) and Los allow me to stay at their place(well we friends anyway, but that’s besides the point hah), but also they went out of their way to pick me up from the airport, pick others up from the airport, transport myself and others to and from the tournament etc. Even show me around places in Atlanta, all while trying to juggle organizing the event. To add to that, alot of games were being played and the competitions were running longer than they should have, but since the organizers(I dont even know if they remember this one) knew I had to catch my flight back to base they moved my matches earlier up in the brackets at the last minute, and made sure I could get my matches in. You might not be able to get anything like that anywhere else, I mean to take personal consideration like that is exceptional and they didn’t even HAVE to do it because it’s not just about me personally.
So that meant that I had no problems helping out whenever I can when I’m there, and so when I went to FRX, I helped out with signing people in that were waiting in line and helped set up the ballroom before everyone got in. It’s not even a problem, Final Round is really from the people for the people and everyone supports each other in what they got going on, even those willing to bend over backwards to help you out when they don’t even have to. In addition to all that, the people that attend, like for example Rod Driguez, he went out of his way to find me and had a couple of beers with me to show his appreciation for me being a war veteran. I think that’s a great representation of the people that attend. There’s much more highlights and appreciation from others too, but I don’t want this post to be so long so I’ll stop there.
This is only just a little bit about what Final Round means to me, I mean what it’s not that serious… just a video game tournament! Nah man, when things like the examples I mentioned above happen it’s more than just that.
-Jason
yo man on the real final round was a stepping stone for me. i went by myself and met with some people that i only chatted with online and got some games in and in the process met up with some good people and had some random ass moments (some pregnant chick comes to mind :lol: wasnt my baby) but yeah frx was my first final round i met up with some cats from orlando, one being calm warrior (david) who will be paying me money this final round, and the other three being james, anthony, and lil man. but after experiencing my first nationals it made me STEP my game up in all forms so i can play majority of the tourneys there new and old and in the process helped me get my money up so i could make it to the next one :lol: definitely looking forward to coming back each of the upcoming years. :tup:
NINJA EDIT: slide you played a3 last final round right? if so i want to play you again in it i was the guy with the weird ass chun li :lol:
Well like my boy Xero said Final Round was big for me also it help me get a better understand of the games I play I met some really cool peeps and also it made me think of all stuff people like SB and CalmWarrior have to deal with running a tournment and some of the assholes you guys put up with so Thanks for having FR and Team Step Up will be there in full force this year sir bet on it lol later.
Don’t forget floor space to sleep on… :lol:
Yeh we can do that
I’m more interested in playing VF though, with others there that are going to be playing it
Man! This is gonna take a while… But let me start it like this (Part 1) -FR1-
FINAL ROUND: (Which isn’t the first video game event we’ve thrown) Was held at Georgia State University and the set-up was real nice but the community support wasn’t there. We were young and unknown. Shit we had to beg people to come to our tournament literally. Like walk down the street to the local arcade and beg people to come. It was a rainy day and the turn out wasn’t great but how often do you get to play street fighter in a college auditorium for free with giant projected characters? I do remember Ayano getting mad at me and calling me a asshole for being bossy but it got done!
Final Round is an opportunity. An opportunity to learn more about games and game play on various levels. It’s an opportunity to meet and interact with new people and old friends. It’s a great networking opportunity. You never know who you might meet there and how he or she can help you in the future. It’s an artistic outlet. We’ve seen some really impressive sticks, T-shirts, cos-play, player created mugen games and other knick-knacks that we wouldn’t regularly see. (I’m looking forward to seeing RPD Rookies’ Turtle Shell + Q combo and Bojanglin’ with YD120%) So over all it’s an opportunity for growth as an individual and a community.
Final Round is like my family reunion now. It’s also like watching a good kid grow up into outstanding human being. Yeah, Final Round may not have the luster of other tournaments but like any Team EMS/DFP event it’s always been about taking it “outside the game.” I’ll go into this a little bit more later but if you have ever been to the DOJO or Shinblanka’s you already know what I’m talking about.
I gotta get back to the job…
Ciao
Final Round was the first mayor I went to and to this day is one of the best organized tournaments I’ve been to.
Larry was great of course, making sure everything went smooth and making sure everyone had a great time; and taking care of us :wgrin: .
The tournament I’ll never forget.
PART 1
Final Round started out begging people to attend a free tournament to win a neo geo pocket! We were trying to rebuild the Atlanta fighting game scene and promote Monkee77 radio show on 88.5. That was not our first tournament but we learn a lot about how you are suppose to promote and organize future events. Flash forward to FR3 when most of us was dead broke but we still wanted to throw another FR. So the monkee suggest we throw FR3 at his crib! I wasn’t sure if his room mate would be down for the cause but he said it would be cool as long as it didn’t get over crowded.
You have to realize this was his family home and he didn’t want a gang of random people in his home. FR3 is also the first tournament I advertised on SRK! I was really surprized how many people was planning to attend our house tournament! As the date for FR3 came closer more people started to post saying they was coming to fr3. We didn’t tell the room mate that people from Florida was coming or he would have called it off. Even Arturo Sanchez came down from newyork. That was a huge deal for a TOP PLAYER like arturo to attend a fairly new tournament in the community. The funny thing was we had more out of town people attending FR3 then we could dream of coming to FR3!
A few fools rolled over to the monkee crib at 1am knocking on the door asking was this the place for the quote “Final” tournament. I quickly replied “you mean Final Round 3 right?”. They was like “YEA dude finalround3”. Yes you are at the right place, but it’s 1am in the morning! The next day was crazy! We had over 100 people in monkee crib. The wife cooked for the players, but the freeloaders ate most of the food! That was the last time it was free entry for the people that wasn’t playing in a tournament! I have more to tell later!
There are two things I want to add right quick:
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Slide, you know you was good for that. My pleasure! And thanks for your service. I am glad to see you made it back.
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It really can’t be overstated how much Final Round has done for organized SF in the Dirty South. All of the other regions of the US had established majors; FR gave us our first big venue to showcase our talent. This was especially important because the South has to log more roadtime than other regions, generally speaking. So having somewhere central to meet and battle gave the players new purpose that perhaps people in the traditional “hotspots” might take for granted. We’ve had to fight for every ounce of respect… but I think we are finally there.
It has been a long road though, you could almost taste the “stepchild major” vibe that FR used to get early on. It has been very gratifying to watch FR grow beyond that. More people started attending from further and further away, and people found out it was worth the trip. I am glad to see it… not only for southern SF and the community as a whole, but for the people who worked so hard to make it happen and see it through. So mad props on that.
Yes of course…lol…that was very cool of you. I forget why that even wound up happening…must’ve been “my” room was “too full” :lol:
lol I didn’t know you were there last year
We gotta chill man :wgrin:
PART 2
FR3 was the tournament that started the saying "CONSOLE WARRIORS!!!" But back in the day Most if not all of the True MAJOR tournaments were ARCADE ONLY, so the term "console warriors" was not a term of respect in the community at the time. People kept telling me FR would never be taken seriously in the community because it was look apon by the community as just another one of the 102971027901397 console tournaments popping up over the nation at that time.:sad:
From that day forward I personally took the term "CONSOLE WARRIOR" as a badge of honor and I vowed to make FinalRound THE Major tournament in the ATL South Region.(APEX RANKING SYSTEM)
After fighting to get the SE it’s own region/ranking just before FR3 I took pride in new players steping into the scene as up and coming top players that attended finalround. For example at FR3 Mike Mixon made his presence felt as one of the best players in mvc2. Not only in the south, but one of the best on the EC at the time.
For those that don’t know Mike mixon is “MiXuP”. After that more top players from the south started to emerge. Players like Peter S. “Flash M.”, Alex Garvin, Clint Lamar, RTD, Mick, killa6, SieClayton, Alex Roski, and many many more started to make their mark on the fighting game scene as very strong players from the dirty south!
The word began to get around the SE that FR was the South Major! Almost every great southern player started to attend FR. I was so happy with the support the SE showed me every year. In those early years I lost MAD LOOT for the love of the SE community. There was a couple of times I seriously thought about not running anymore fr’s. I had alot of people tell me that they don’t never had a chance to goto one of the other MAJOR tournaments because they were to far for them to travel. I didn’t want to let the southern scene down, so I continued my quest to make FR are respected MAJOR tournament.
The ATL is a central city for most of the SE community and with me making new friends over the years I was running FR I met people who own arcade Cab’s. So with my friends donating their cab’s FR became a hybrid console/arcade cab style tournament. Mean while the scene was slowly changing and was starting to see that console tournament were the way of the future.
Part 3 coming soon.
Final round is something gamers in the south should be proud of. Me being from NY residing in FL for educational purposes FR is the one major im excited for without flying a plane. And come on its in the ATL SHAWTY!!!
The organizers treats the gamers with kindness and they payouts are perfected as always. Final Round is the south’s calling…THIS IS EVO SOUTH HANDS DOWN.
Anyways FRXI baby…HERE I COME!
-1-
-Beastcoast
Great thread. It’s 6 in da morn right now, i’ll post after work homies, long day ahead of me.
every single one of my memories of Fr is a good one, even when larry was yelling at me to stop throwing hamburgers. :]
lol wtf
i’ll hit this one up… kinda like final round this year:lovin:
Final Round is the highlight of my year. I’ve only been to the last two but I’m always amazed by how quickly and efficiently the tournament is ran. It is a great opportunity for me to play skilled players from other regions. With all the games being held and the decent way people handle their selves, this is the best tournament in my opinion. It represents the south and I’m proud to be a part of it.