In the world of boardroom meetings, the topic of huge, sweaty men slamming into each other and grappling powerfully often comes up, but not since THQ has one company’s success so heavily depended on this practice. Nevertheless it has dogged the ascent of Capcom, swinging them aloft over its head and it will be there one day when they fall, to deliver the head-exploding final blow.

The first suplex was originally invented by paleolithic humans as a way to counter the threat of saber-tooth tigers, coinciding with the first Quick-Time Events. A caveman could deftly press the A button to deliver as many as six different wrestling moves to the tiger, shocking the beasts so much with their total sweetness that these early humans were able to survive and eventually go on to form Capcom. It was during these ancient times that the first Megaman games were carved out of rock, a tradition that is still continued today.

The first Capcom game to feature their trademark style of pounding punks also introduced one of its most iconic characters – Mike Haggar, the mayor of Metro City. The game was Final Fight, released in arcades in 1989 and still enjoying an iconic status today. This is, of course, due to the electrifying presence of Old Mike body-slamming suplexing power, allowing him to easily outshine the game’s other characters in melee and ensuring his place in the game’s sequels. Additionally, he would later appear in the rather invigorating title Muscle Bomber – The Body Explosion (it needs to be said out loud for the full effect), which was later released in America as Saturday Night Slam Masters.

This violent tradition was continued in 1991, with the release of Street Fighter II in arcades, a game that featured not one, but three suplexers, the towering Soviet fighter Zangief, the narcissistic ninja Vega and the American super stud Guile. It was this game that established Capcom as the Suplex Forerunners of the video game industry and lead to the successes of games like Power Stone, Dead Rising and Rival Schools. Suplexes also featured largely in the indy game Killer7, showing that suplexes were as artistically relevant as we’d all suspected.

The way seemed set for the suplex to enter the limelight as the most trusted and respected brand of video game wrestling move, but it was not until 2005 that the public was shown what the suplex was all about. Resident Evil 4 set a benchmark for ferocious levels of non-stop suplexing action that has yet to be matched. Not only was this brutal attack your character’s primary weapon for slaying zombies, it made their heads explode too. Dozens of zombies would all be dispatched in the same way, a much-relished joy that put this game head and shoulders above its competitors.

So, almost 600 words and one obligatory gay-joke later, what have we learned? Devil May Cry 4 and Street Fighter 4 show that this martial exercise is still alive and kicking, with the suplexes just getting bigger and better. And someday, in the not-too-distant future, you’ll probably find yourself sitting down wide-eyed before a sparkling new copy of Dead Rising 2 and unleashing meaty headsplosions, so when you do, take a moment to remember that great man Mayor Haggar and his contributions to society. His full-body slams will live on in our hearts for as long as we remember them.

2009 is the year, and we’ve got teams all over the bloody shop. MeetYourMakers, Fnatic, Complexity 20ID, Salvo, Dignitas, 4K, Reason and the list trails off into the ether with some successful.. and some less successful pro gaming teams. What does this mean? Does this mean professional gaming is now viable as a career? Can you earn money for headshots in todays world? Will I ever stop name dropping? How many commas can I write before you close this tab? Hit the jump to find out.

As with any story, you have to start at the beginning. The problem with this is, the beginning is a much debated topic. Some would claim it began around 1997 with the birth of leagues such as the much praised Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL). Some would also claim it died in 2007 when the CPL could truck no more. Alot of others would say ‘On my campus we invented pro gaming, we had Quake II Lan parties every week and gave out prizes!’ Thankfully, this is my article. So I’m going to tell you when it started. 1990. I’m aware prior to that numerous events were held, such as the 1987 Video Games Masters tournament, but I don’t care. Because in 1990, Nintendo held the World Championships.

Contrary to the title, the Nintendo World Championships were not actually World Championships. The Nintendo US Championship Tour would be a more fitting name, but I digress. There were age brackets from 11 and under, 12 to 17 and 18+. And if you’ve been into gaming for some time, you’ll certainly know of the famous gold cartridges Nintendo gave out as prizes, which fetch ridiculously high prices now on eBay.

1990 through 1997 was nothing serious. A few local arcade tournaments in the US, Blockbuster did their thing with a few gaming championships through the early 1990’s, but it is in 1997 when the internet exploded. This was the beginning of professional gaming. (The birth and the beginning are two different things my child. Think about it.)

A tournament by the name of Red Annihilation was held, the game was Quake, the host was Micheal Shearon and the prize.. the prize was John Carmack’s very own Ferarri 328 GTS Cabriolet. And the winner? Thresh (Dennis Fong). Some of you may have heard of him, most of you haven’t. Thresh went on to win tournament after tournament, prize after prize and has now co-founded Xfire (which got purchased by Viacom for some $102 million) and is now worth millions of dollars.

Also in 1997, a man named Angel Munoz invented the CPL, hosting Quake II to Quake III and many other tournament focused games. As with any great idea, there were always imitators. The turn of the millenium rolled around and the first World Cyber Games was hosted in Korea, Quake III, Starcraft, Age of Empires II and FIFA 2000 were the games. 174 hopefuls entered to win a part of the total prize share of $20,000 (for comparison, by 2006 the WCG’s total prize fund was $462,000.) And by 2003 the Electronic Sports World Cup began, with 358 participants from 37 different countries entering. The prize fund here was no small feat at €150,000. The ESWC also was the first league to have a game specifically created for it, Trackmania Nations.

In 2006, professional gaming went mainstream. MLG was invented and brought the fight to the consoles, also being the first televised tournament for any league, with Halo 2 being splashed across TV screens nationwide. This year also saw the birth of a CPL spin-off, the World Series of Video Games, which gave host to big names such as the oft-heard Fatal1ty, FoV, Grubby and Team 3D. Times were good, there was money to be had if you had the skill to compete, the fresh blood had never stopped flowing, teams fought hard and shook hands, but times were not to be all smooth sailing.

From 2006 to now, the CPL has managed to die to be succeeded by its sister league, the CAL (Cyberathlete Amateur League). The Championship Gaming Series was invented, and also managed to die, Halo 3 went massive on the console scene and the PC scene has splintered into the best of the best, and the smaller leagues like TWL.

Today, there are literally thousands of teams from every country with decent internet. Only the top 10% of those teams play regularly in leagues, and only the top 4% of those teams manage to find regular sponsorship. It’s not a good idea to go out and say ‘I want to be a pro gamer’ just as in 2004 it was not a good idea to go out and say ‘I want to be a game designer’. But perhaps, in the coming years we will see the rebirth of the CPL and the rise and rise of tournament gaming.

So no, teabagging your friend after he dies and proclaiming ‘pwnt*’ as many times as you can does not make you a professional gamer. A pro is judged by the amount of sponsors he has, the level of sportsmanship he represents and first and foremost, his skill at the game. And go forth, with this knowledge, pick up your keyboards/pads and proceed to get your ass whooped in COD4 some more.

*Fun fact, did you know pwnt is just a mispelling of ownt? Look at your keyboard. See how the O and P are close together?

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

Street Fighter II is the classic that truly kicked off the entire genre.  HD Remix is a gorgeous update to the best version of said game.  As most gamers are aware, this game captured the arcade scene of the early nineties, devoured millions upon millions of quarters, and nearly made “shoryuken” a household term.  While the gameplay feels understandably dated (relying too heavily on a game of meaty attacks and reversals), it’s still the best fighter of its era and remains surprisingly playable to this day.  Whether you’re a SFII virgin or a seasoned vet, it’s certainly worth revisiting to see where it all began (in glorious HD, no less).

Samurai Showdown II

Another golden oldie- Samurai Showdown is different kind of 2D fighter, and it peaked at the second entry.  The gameplay is slower and more defensive; special moves are almost all useless, and combos are nearly nonexistent.  Instead, this weapons-based fighter was all about timing- bide your time and find an opening to land a heavy attack for some significant damage.  This gameplay philosophy is further illustrated by the inclusion of just defense, a technique in which you defend at the exact instant your opponent attacks you.  If done right, it leaves the opponent wide open for you to attack.  In truth, the game hasn’t aged as gracefully as Street Fighter II, but it’s fun to play simply for the unique experience it offers, and to play the game that put Capcom’s chief genre rival, SNK, on the map.

The King of Fighters 2002

Choosing one King of Fighters game over all the others may seem somewhat pointless (they are all fairly similar), but ‘02 offers something the others don’t: the (nearly) complete roster.  All the best characters from the series’ tremendous cast are present, offering the most complete KoF experience you can get from a single game.  So what exactly is the KoF experience?  Well, it’s basically the opposite of what you’d get out of a Street Fighter game.  The focus is less on controlling space and fighting from all ranges, and more on up-close and personal, combo-heavy combat.  The characters each have an impressively large set of special moves as complicated as they are unique, with some characters taking days, or even weeks to master at a basic level.  The input on commands is more demanding, or more finicky, depending on your perspective.  All that adds up to give the games a steep learning curve and a reputation of being for serious fighting fans only.  However, the experience can be quite rewarding if you’re willing to put in the time.

Street Fighter Alpha 3

The Street Fighter Alpha series is a prequel to Street Fighter in terms of  story (not that the story is all that important in a fighter), but a true successor in terms of gameplay.  Alpha 3 is the best in the series both for the impressive size of the cast and for depth given by its “-isms,” the variations of the super meter that gives each character three distinct play styles, dependent on both the style and skill of the player.  Scrubs may stick to X-ism for the simplicity, having only one solid meter and a single super move, similar to Super Street Fighter II Turbo.  Intermediate players may prefer A-ism, which gives their super meter three levels and three unique versions of each super move for more flexibility, similar to the previous Alpha games.  Experts can use V-ism, which allows normal and special attacks to be strung together as long the meter lasts and the player can keep it going, to its fullest potential.

Last Blade 2

SNK’s lesser known weapons-based fighter is different in every way from Samurai Showdown, but almost entirely more fun in practice.  Like Alpha 3, and like its predecessor,  it offers unique play styles for each character, the main ones being Power and Speed.  Power is easier to use, makes the character’s attacks more damaging, and grants access to their second and more powerful Desperation Move, but in return does not feature many combo possibilities.  Speed is all about the combos, allowing the player to link several normal and special moves together, and to use speed combos similar in execution the Alpha 3’s custom V-ism combos.  The game is great to look at and easy to get into, but takes time to master, making it one of SNK’s best efforts overall.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2

It should be noted that 2D fighters fall into two distinct camps- there are the slower, more technical games like Street Fighter II and The King of Fighters, and there are the over-the-top, super-flashy and blindingly fast games at the other end of the spectrum.  For players who prefer the latter, this game is the messiah.  It features a tremendous cast of Marvel and Capcom icons- everyone from Ryu, Jill Valentine and Mega Man to Spider-Man, Wolverine and the Incredible Hulk.  Gameplay was whiplash inducing, allowing you to swap out characters on the fly from your team of 3, string together huge combos (if your reflexes could keep up), and execute several super moves in sequence or simultaneously.  The downside: for those who prefer the former style of 2D fighter, the game can prove more frustrating and confusing than fun.  Also, the soundtrack (featuring mostly mellow jazz tracks in contrast with the hyperactive action) is a love it or hate it experience.

Garou: Mark of the Wolves

Garou: Mark of the Wolves (a game set in the near future of the Fatal Fury universe) is, in the opinion of this writer, SNK’s best fighter to date.  It’s relatively simple with a small but balanced cast, easily executed specials and supers, and a smooth, easy to get into feel.  The presentation is superb- characters animate well, the voice work is well done, and the gameplay feels heavy, responsive, and satisfying.  Due both to the animation and sound design, every hit given and received feels like it has a real and painful impact.  Really, Garou doesn’t do anything that hasn’t been done in other fighters.  It simply does everything very, very well, providing a fun and addictive game that keeps the player coming back for more.

Guilty Gear X2

Play any version you’d like of the heavy metal brawler, just make sure you play it.  Guilty Gear has the distinction of being the only non-SNK or Capcom developed game on the list and one of the only noteworthy 2D fighters of the last decade.  It boasts flashy hi-res graphics, gameplay speed that falls somewhere between the two camps, and some stunning depth.  The cast is large and completely off-the-wall crazy in their designs, and each brings a unique play style to the table.  It might be the only 2D fighter with a comprehensive story mode and plenty of other robust single-player modes, just in case you don’t happen to have any friends on hand.  Unfortunately, as is typical of the genre, the game isn’t very newbie-friendly, but it’s great if you’re tired of Capcom and SNK’s games and you’re looking for a different flavor.  If you’re a fan, keep an eye out for the team’s next project, BlazBlue, later this year.

Capcom vs. SNK 2

The dream match-up between the two biggest names in 2D fighting turned out just as great as it sounded.  The cast is fifty-strong, featuring mostly characters from the Street Fighter and The King of Fighters series’, but also a few from Samurai Showdown, The Last Blade, Rival Schools, and Garou.  There are six “grooves” (selectable styles affecting both the nature of the super meter and well as the characters basic moves, like dashing, running, air guards, parrying, just defense, and dodge rolling) lifted from the various games the characters hail from.  In addition to this, it features the option to customize and build your own groove.  The gameplay is about what one might expect from a Street Fighter/The King of Fighters crossover- skewing towards the slow/technical end of the spectrum, far away from the frantic gameplay of Marvel vs. Capcom.  There are the expected balance issues that come with a mash-up of this type, and the sprites were dated even for their time, but it’s an overall impressive and definitive entry in the genre.

Street Fighter III: Third Strike

If you’re skipping straight from Street Fighter II to Street Fighter IV, you may want to give this forgotten gem a try.  It’s been called the greatest fighting game ever made, and for good reason- deep, intiutive gameplay, amazing animations, a strangely fitting hip-hop soundtrack- it’s all here.  The inclusion of a parry, executed by tapping forward at the instant you’re attacked to eliminate both the chip damage and your recovery time (thus leaving the opponent wide open), and EX moves (upgraded special attacks that use up a bit of your super meter- these are also featured in Street Fighter IV) are simple and surprisingly effective methods of adding depth to the gameplay.  Both the control and the character animation are the smoothest in the genre.  All of this together make Third Strike both one of the easiest to pick up and ultimately deep and rewarding fighting games there is.  Unlike its sequel, the game has only a few returning characters from Street Fighter II (only Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Akuma), instead featuring a totally different and, in my opinion, better-designed roster of characters.  Third Strike is available for the Playstation 2 as part of the  Street Fighter Anniversery Collection, so be sure to check it out if you need a break from SFIV.

Inspired by Goldanas talking about naked ladies, I would like to talk about sex.  Video games are still a relatively new medium, especially when it comes to games with a narrative.  We’ve come a long way since ‘Save the princess’ was our only goal, our only reason for existing as a pixelated avatar.  Of course, along with narrative comes an increase in fanservice, which, considering that the market is aimed mainly toward teenage and young adult males, tends to come in the form of, well, naked ladies.

Now, I love naked ladies.  I myself am at times, naked.  However, it’s the way these naked ladies… ARE, which bothers me.

Women on the whole have been objectified in all forms of media since the beginning of time:  In a male-run society, this is to be expected, and it’s certainly better to objectify a fictional character than it is to treat your girlfriend like a piece of trash.  There’s no comparison.  But that’s hardly the point I’m trying to make.

What I want to see in more video games, really, is strong female characters.  Women on the whole are generally portrayed either as meek and helpless, as overly-sexualized to the point of METAL THONGS and INDEPENDENT BOOB PHYSICS, or as caricatured sexless beasts.  Men, too, are normally portrayed as either incredibly feminine shells of the definition of androgynous, yet still somehow pigheaded and chauvinist, or masses of testosterone with NO HAIR and SCARS and THREE FOOT BICEPS.  And so we end up with sex being portrayed almost entirely as a joke.  In my opinion, this is pathetic.

I am 23 years old.  I do not see sex as a joke.  Funny at times, sure.  But in general not a lude pun.  The industry is quite a bit older than I am, and yet still sees sex as ‘lol cooties’ and ‘lol tits.’  When a sex scene is presented, it’s embarassing, even painful to watch.  All as though choreographed by someone who’s never had sex.

This is not unique to video games, certainly, but it is very prevalent.  There are movies – Good movies! – with good sex, believable characters, and well-contrived plots.  The same goes for books, comics, TV shows and Rock Operas.  I have never, EVER encountered a video game with all of these things, and certainly never one which could turn me on.

The industry is relatively young, blah blah blah.  But it’s at this age that it should be attempting to grow up, I think.  It can’t live in the basement forever, and with as many twenty-and-thirty-something women playing video games as pubescent boys, there’s plenty of reason to advance in that area.

I know everybody is all happy about how stylized this game is, but I’m not one of them. Seriously, I have no idea what the hell is going on in this trailer. Everything just seems to melt into everything else.

In truth, this is exactly what the internet casual games are doing, selling you a shotgun blast of a million little games that are otherwise shit with a bit of polish and seeing which ones stick. The game Insaniquarium has been done hundreds of times before it was known as such. It may not have had the same textures or exactly the same polish. But I can assure you that the game mechanics were THE FUCKING SAME.

But all in all, there is one merit to casual games. And that is they keep it old school. And by old school I don’t mean only working off 16 bits. I’m talking about the kind of stuff you can go into an old arcade and find. What casual games capture more than retards in a room full of bouncy balls, is the lure of goofy sounds coming from that Neo Geo cabinet that costs you endless quarters even after you’ve beaten it just for the slight feeling of gamers adrenaline.

Which is exactly where these types of games belong. In the arcade, I suppose you could say that the average PC owner is not really set up for games that require a decent amount of juice, these people all agree with me that casual games suck and are at best a waste of time. I hate to sound elitist here but there’s a sense of pride when you grind 60 levels in a month, your arse sores might not agree but whatever, you’ve got your new set of armor and you could give a shit about some punk’s high score at the casino. If we wanted to play gambling games we’d go get liquored up in a social environment and have women with titty tassles serve us booze while we lose our money, not give it up to some dealer’s avatar on Hoyle.com.

Again I may be one of the lucky ones to have a still functioning arcade in town but wouldn’t you rather see a cabinet with Castle Crashers hooked up to the net to have constant scores and saves? Jesus it wouldn’t take much to set this sort of thing up, a tower in the cabinet with a loader.dll and a front end, hook a few game controllers up to it and what would’ve cost a few grand for a running The Simpsons arcade game is significantly decreased.

Keep the casual games to a casual platform. Like Wii shovelware and the arcade where it only costs a quarter.

-Veraliis

BUBBLEPUZZLE SUPER REVOLUTION DX is the name of this first song.  Bubble Bobble was my favourite of all arcade games ever, and there was something about it that could make you feel completely badass just from playing it.  It didn’t matter that you were playing a game about fat little dragons who blew brightly coloured bubbles in order to entrap happy little wind-up toys, in order to rescue your fat little girlfriends from a fat old alcoholic, all the while with the same song blaring over and over again in the background.

Ironically, I think that the song was my favourite part of the game.  I have never lost that song to the far corners of my memory, even when I’ve got stretches of years without hearing it.  That song, as cheery as it was, made you feel like the saviour of all mankind.  Or fat-little-dragonkind.   Y’know, whatever.  It’s all cool to me.

The feeling it instilled, from start to finish, was surprisingly similar to, on a smaller scale, performing on stage.  This was reinforced by everyone crowding around, more people coming to gawk the further you got.  Rounds of applause and frenzied whooping would be heard ’round the block when the game would show ‘And today’s record is..!’

In short, Bubble Bobble is METAL.  There is no other word for it.  And so, in tribute, I have written the preceding thrash-metal remix of the main theme song.

Later on, the Puzzle Bobble, or Bust-a-Move series was released: A puzzle game that was, lo and behold, about popping bubbles.  It still starred Bub and Bob, the lovable little lard lizards, but now they got less exercise, and would mostly just stand around, using a crossbow to shoot bubbles at other bubbles.  Now, this game didn’t make you feel anywhere near as badass.  Something in that area was lost in translation.  But the voice acting in Bust-a-Move 2DX was so perfectly abyssmal that I couldn’t resist inserting it into my already completed track in an equally abyssmal fashion.  If you’ve ever played that particular incarnation, you probably just got said voice acting out of your head within the past couple of weeks.

Now is the beginning of a fantastic story!  Let’s make a journey to the cave of monsters.  Good luck!

You’re welcome.

Elite Beat Agents/Ouendan

If you haven’t heard of EBA, you probably need to come out of your cave. This game is totally amazing. The song selection is a bit… Odd, yes, but solid. Every second of this game is hilarious. The EBA go around the world and cheer on people who are in tough situations. How this would help someone steal back plans for their business or help a cat save a baby from a construction zone is beyond me, but I won’t complain. The game gives you numbered circles, and you have to tap them in sequence and rhythm with the playing song. Easy, right? For a while, sure, but you’ll be crying when you fail at the last stretch of “Without a Fight”. This game is on the DS only, has an American version(EBA) and two Japanese versions with different characters, scenarios, music, but that same awesome gameplay. There’s even a custom song game with gameplay very much like it on the PC called “Osu!”, but unless you have a touch screen PC you’re gonna be mousin’ it.

Dance Dance Revolution!

If you’ve ever even seen someone play this game, you’d know what I’m talking about. This game is everywhere from arcades to Gamecube and even the original Xbox. There’s enough remixes and such to put Final Fantasy to shame. Pick a song and step on the dance mat. You get arrows coming at the top of the screen and you have to step on the arrows on the mat as they hit the ones up top. Simple? Sure, just set it on heavy and we;ll see how simple it gets.  The song selection in more recent titles has degraded a bit, but it’s not like the gameplay is any different. This is on damn near any console you can find since the Playstation, and with every mix of music you can imagine.

Parappa the Rapper (2)

Ever play a rhythm game with ORIGINAL music? I know, not uncommon, but every song in Parappa from Cheep Cheep the Cooking Chicken to the Hair Scare are not only catchy, but funny and well suited for the situation. You’re the rising rapper Parappa trying to win the lovely Sunny Funny’s heart. Why a dog loves a flower, I’ll never know… Anyway, in your adventures Parappa comes across snags where he’s gotta raise money to buy a new car or bake a cake… This is where the RAP MASTERS come in. The rap master and Parappa have a rap off and Parappa has to win in order to get shit done! Sometimes Parappa sounds a little inquisitive about what he’s doing, but it’s all good. Just make sure you have awesome rhythm or you ain’t gonna get nowhere in this game. The original Parappa is on the PS1 and PSP, number two is PS2 only for now.

AudioSurf

This game is beautiful, and that’s just part of it. Audiosurf uses your own music, something not many music games do. The game makes a personal track for every song, you choose a car and difficulty and you’re set for the next song duration. The point of this game is to make color clusters of the same color as you go down this track, see? The vehicle you choose can give you different abilities to aid you in doing this. One vehicle pushes the blocks into different lanes, another can share them for later, and one can erase block you don’t want. This game is cheap. Like, $10 cheap. If you don’t own this, then just end yourself because not only is this beautiful, it’s fun and it uses your own music. Give the director of this a medal because he deserves one.

I wanted to add in a few more, but I have yet to play Gitaroo Man and Guitar Hero is over rated.

So play these~

Till next time!

Jumpluff~

Written for GIANT ENEMY BLOG

However, this post is actually about a franchise that is also being revamped. Granted, it’s a lesser-known series, but it still has a strong following. The King of Fighters has always held a place in my heart, at least. Whether it’s the ever-changing game mechanics that are fresh in each and every iteration, the sheer amount of characters that is ever-growing still, or even the sprites and animation that each have so much care, detail, and attention attributed to every single one, this fighting series has remained a strong underdog in this shrinking market.

With the latest chapter, SNK Playmore has taken it upon themselves to finally update the graphics from the more-than-a-decade old set they’ve been using for the last 11 or so games, in addition to other titles of theirs not a part of this particular series. Rather than going into the details of the full HD rendered sprites and the soft shadow and lighting effects, here is a fat truckload (go to page 2) of videos from the first location test for the game. I feel these three are the best.

Everyone’s wearing green. There are two matches in all of these videos, so stick around for some rad Goro Daimon action.

Hell, yes, Andy!

The background work here is just fantastic.

Of course, SNK Playmore ain’t the only doing this sort of thing. Arc System Works, famous for the Guilty Gear series, is putting out a new title with the same sort of treatment because there’s a licensing dispute over Guilty Gear with SEGA. Personally, I prefer the KoF XII style and work. BlazBlue seems to look exactly like the old series: exceedingly cartoony (animeish?), relatively stiff, and altogether far too small. But this is just my opinion on the matter, I should really let you make your own decision.

Which do you think is better?

Today I went to my favorite arcade for the last time.   No, it wasn’t shutting down like most arcades, I just couldn’t bring myself to witness it’s slow demise. Like an ailing loved one, seeing the decay of what used to be is heart wrenching.  What was my home away from home is now a husk of it’s prior majesty.

Before the lights got dim and the pickings got slim, the arcade was thriving.  The day I turned sixteen was the day I had a free pass to game town (not the name of the arcade).  It’s because of my fondness for the place I write not to lament it’s passing, but to remember it’s living; to share what I experienced, in a place few more will share, in this Internet age.

I was not old enough to partake in the first arcade boom.  Instead I was there for the second, Street Fighter 2 inspired boom.  Having lived above a bar that housed a Dragon’s Lair machine, the large and well animated fighters immediately drew me in.   Thus began my love affair with arcade games. I got my fix whenever I could.  Comic book stores, convenience marts, bars; wherever I could con my family into taking me. What I really wanted, though, was to pilgrimage to that video game meccha that is Family Fun Center.

In its hayday the arcade was full of a noisey busyness of thousands of eyecatches vying for coinage. It’s that purposeful chaos that calls to a child. Sure, you could play mini golf there, or win some prize-tickets, but you couldn’t beat pile driving Dracula with Frankenstien while a would-be martial-arts Wolfman had a coin up for nexts.

That’s what I was big on, fighting games. Friday nights and the place was packed; machines lined with tokens, youth clutching movelists, the low murmurs of comparing tactics and talking smack occasionally gave way to a tide of rising voices, infused with the excitement of a comeback combo.  Familiar faces, but you only earned a name with skill.  In this dark room, lit only by active monitors, was community.

Like the rise and fall of mighty nations, that community was destined to break.  With the advent of better-than-arcade consoles, those great amusement houses went south. At the same time, the price for arcade cabinets started to skyrocket.  Arcade owners had a decision to make: go with the tried-and-true money makers of ticket machines and other light amusement, or pitch in the big dough and pick up the latest fighting game.  It was a no – brainer.  Why cater to the smaller audience?

The only respite for the core gamer was to huddle close to their Playstations and Saturns, playing rough ports of games they already beat.  Sporadic visits led to generic apathy, and flaccidly, the boom ended.  That wasn’t the final bell toll for arcades, though.  It would take a revolution to revitalize the arcade industry… a Dance Dance Revolution.

I struggled a bit with the new Bemani revolution.  After the dark and clandestine back rooms of the fighting game boom, the peppy j-pop sounds and bright flashing lights were bit of a culture shock.  The usual early twenties denizens that used to populate the machinoid jungle were replaced by youthful and trendy scenster types.   What once was dominated by one sex now beset by a mix.  As any old-timer I resisted these changes, snubbed the game and it’s fans; dismissing it as nothing more than a passing fad.

It was roughly this time when I managed to catch that fabled of creatures, the girlfriend who is into video games.   She, as a come-lately gamer, hadn’t ever been to an honest-to-goodness arcade, so, naturally, I wished to share this aspect of gaming with her.   That’s where my geezerish disdain was challenged. She wanted to play, I got talked into it, and that’s where my involvement in the third arcade boom started.

Humid, loud and confusing; sometimes a bit smelly, the Bemani section of the arcade was always full.  Chattering boys and girls clumsily flirt as their friends work up a lather, stumbling about a DDR pad.  Instead of eyecatches, conflicting songs, baselines from different machines making all hard to discern.   More than just Bemani, other games were discussed, familiar faces and if you were around enough you were known. No real rivalry, only mutual camaraderie, sometimes a little cheering on. In this hot and sticky room, people activating buttons to timed cues, was also a community.

That leads us to now, the dregs of that Bemani boom are slowly circling the drain.  My hallowed arcade recently obtained a Guitarfreaks V3 cab, but I can hardly make the effort to go and play.  Two DDR machines stand where six used to be, the keyboard mania is missing keys. I heard rumblings of another fighting game wave, but I won’t get my hopes up.  Perhaps the day will come when the arcade is fully phased out, it seems to be happening in many places.  I figure on that day, I will make my true last visit, and perhaps pick up a brick or arcade marquee as memento.