One gaming genre that I have always liked and respected but do not put a lot of time into or purchase a lot of games from is the fighting game genre. When I was a kid I loved playing Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat on my Sega Genesis. I remember when Super Street Fighter 2 released on the Genesis I was so excited to get my hands on that game. Even though I didn’t play fighting games with my friends often, I loved playing against the CPU regardless. Where did my love go for the genre? How come I didn’t get excited over the Street Fighter Alpha series, or even Street Fighter IV for that matter? My excitement over fighting games simply died after the 16-bit era and I’ve only had a very mild interest in the genre since then.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have definitely played and enjoyed fighting games since then. I remember playing quite a bit of Tekken 3 on the original Playstation, the Soul Calibur series (which is probably my favorite modern fighting game series) starting on the Dreamcast, Dead or Alive 4 on the Xbox 360 and most recently the new Mortal Kombat -- which happened to land a spot on my Top Ten list in 2011. Most of my interest in the genre lies in 3D fighters, since 2D fighters like King of the Fighters, BlazBlue, and Guilty Gear really didn’t do anything for me. It was not until Super Street Fighter IV that I started to regain interest in 2D fighters and the genre as a whole. I have found myself recently watching live streams from professional competitions like EVO and SCR (Southern California Regionals) for fun and keeping an eye on professional players by seeing how they play.
To return to the original question, why have I lost the love for the genre? I think part of it stems from not having anyone to really play and practice with. Playing a fighting game online is a frustrating chore since the majority of players are too highly skilled to have fun playing against and latency issues plague many online fighters. The biggest reason behind my lost love for the genre is the lack of an arcade stick. Even though some professional players use gamepads, it isn’t very many and using the standard controller is a pretty big handicap for many. Pulling off intricate combos and moves are much easier when using an arcade stick, but a good stick can range anywhere from $200 to $300 if you want one that performs well right out of the box. Some players will buy cheap arcade sticks and mod them using high-end parts from companies like Sanwa and Seimitsu. Due to the pricey nature of these controllers, I sort of ignored most fighting games since I know the cost of getting good at them can be pricey.
Watching these professional fighting game tournaments has inspired me to get back into the fighting game genre. I would love to finally be able to practice and become good at some of these games, like Tekken Tag Tournament 2 or Super Street Fighter IV, so I took the liberty of finally jumping the gun on an arcade stick purchase. I faught with myself all weekend on whether or not spending the money on an arcade stick would be a worthy investment, but now is probably the perfect time to splurge on one and Mad Catz (one of the top manufacturers) will typically have big sales on arcade sticks during major professional tournaments. Since SCR 2013 occurred this weekend, Mad Catz indeed had a nice sale on fancy arcade sticks, so I purchased the Street Fighter X Tekken Xbox 360 Tournament Fight Stick (originally $160) for only $100. I figured since it will be awhile until there are major sales like this again, now was the time to go for it. I am now patiently waiting for the arcade stick to arrive hopefully sometime this week so I can start learning how to properly use it.
Now that I am an arcade stick owner, I plan on picking up a few new fighting games to test it out. I recently picked up Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition for the PC on the cheap (thanks GreenManGaming.com) and I plan on grabbing Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Persona 4 Arena, and Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 soon. Wish me luck, and if anybody needs a sparring buddy let me know!
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