Cross Up Shenanigans

I love fighting games. Love them. I loved them when I was a kid, and I love them even more now. But, as anybody whom has ever really loved a competitive video game can tell you, there's a breaking point; the part where you start getting pretty good. Sometimes, you start getting a little too good, even. By this, I mean good enough that your friends just don't want to play you any more. After all, you're the guy that sits around and plays it all the time, you're the guy with the opportunity to train, and you're the guy that's more immersed in the experience. Unless you know other people just as devoted to it as you are, you're just going to widen that new found gap.

This turns out to be a downward slide. Sure, there are tons of characters in, say Capcom Vs. SNK 2 to choose from, or maybe you haven't completed all of the sub modes in Soul Calibur 2 through 4, or maybe you find great practice in the survival modes in Tekken Tag, but you're just delaying the inevitable truth; and that truth is the cold realization that no matter how hard it can be sometimes, and how cheap you think Gill is to fight, the computer just not a very good opponent. Ok, now by "good opponent" I can mean a lot of things, but honestly, how fun is it to play a competitive fighting game when you're only really competing against yourself?

Then the zeitgeist started. You know what I'm talking about: the current rebirth of the 2D fighting game scene. It started with Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix and is continuing to supernova with Street Fighter 4. But when you take a clear look at the playing field, you cannot honestly say that the 2D fighting game left. The Guilty Gear series has been going fairly strong since the Playstation One, the Dreamcast, PS2, and Xbox all had ports of Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, and Arcana Heart and Battle Fantasia are both modern day competitive fighters that pre-date SF4. There are tons of great 2D fighters that have been steadily released over the last 10 years to keep the hard core satiated. So what happened? Is it because Capcom finally released a proper Street Fighter sequel that the scene is back in the mainstream? Others have called SF4 more accessible than a lot of the other games out there right now, and it's true; SF4 is a lot more forgiving with its combos and super moves than even HD Remix. But my fiancée can't pull off a Shoryuken, and I bet your kid brother can't either, at least at the onset. You can't tell me that a game with these kinds of complex movement and button mechanics is completely accessible. So what's the straight dope here?

The answer is online fighting. But not just online fighting. Be with me for a second: the Xbox had online fights with SVC Chaos and Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, and the original Street Fighter 2 Turbo showed up on Xbox Live. All of these were massive mistakes. It's not that the games weren't great (except maybe kinda sorta SVC Chaos...), the online play simply wasn't stable. Getting dropped from fights or crippling internet lag makes competitive fighting games require precise movements for higher-tiered play nearly unplayable. Fast forward to today, however, and things are a bit different. Fights are more stable with SF4; you can not only choose your opponents based on their internet settings, but also their perceived skill. Now that games are global and you could logically play against me if you live in the UK and I'm here in North America, a more stable online experience is really turning it around for either the lapsed fighting game Catholic or, at least in my case, their noob loved ones. For me, it was even a weird form of salvation, at least in the beginning. Finally! More than just the computer!

But it still isn't perfect. One cannot do anything about physical distance between players that causes internet hiccups. Capcom still has problems with fights "not counting" in their Championship Mode that takes GP away from you. Even players that are mediocre can tell you that loosing piles of points to someone you know is beneath you due to slow button reaction caused by a lousy internet connection makes you want to throw a cat out of a window.

So there I sat last night with perfect strangers in a beautiful home about 40 minutes from mine. To you, this may sound absurd. To me, it seemed to be the only answer. After playing countless hours of Street Fighter 4, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix, Soul Calibur 4 and whatever else I can find online (and a few more emulated on a PC from time to time), a level playing field was now a necessity, and a long drive was the only option left. After reading this article over at Gamasutra.com, I was given a new hope and a lot of renewed interest. The article, basically detailing the regional match-making that is becoming more common around the country for guys to get together and play, led me back to the forums at fighting game super source Shoryuken.com which has forums ranging from specific character match strategies (for a variety of games) to how to best modify your custom-built joy pad/ stick. I set myself up with my regional crowd -guys that have been playing together for a couple of years, at least- and the host was very welcoming for new people to pop in. Last night was that first pop.

I expected... well, shit, I had no idea what to expect. One part of me thought it was going to be a bunch of highly elitist dicks: the kinds of guys that I couldn't tell that I've been primarily using a game pad over the last however many years, or that I really don't care for Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 all that much. The other part was worried that we were going to be sitting in some kid's parents' basement ("Mom! MEATLOAF!") and having conversations about anime chicks. Both of those possibilities are weirdly intimidating. The reality, strangely enough, was a mixture of both. The host, let's call him Paul, was a very welcoming and cheerful guy in his early- mid 20's. He shook my hand, greeted me with a smile, and then introduced me to his mother as we walked inside the palace that he called a house and moseyed down the basement. The others, a heavier set African American guy with slammin' hair and fellow of Latino descent, were much quieter, and after we started turning machines on, I found out why. I was fresh meat.

As the host began setting up another TV for HD Remix, the other two guys and I began a winner-stays-looser-walks rotation of SF4. Everyone, not counting me, brought their own sticks with them -some personally customized. Billy, the African American guy, was proficient with just about everyone he used. Probably more so with Balrog and the Shotos, he firmly established himself as king of the hill early on, and he barely spoke a fucking word. Mike, the Latino, brought a newer stick with him and mainly used Sagat, whom would pull of cancelling/ ultra move combos that made my head spin. He played very much like me in that when he lost, he didn't just place blanket blame on the game or the other player as being cheap, he knew it was his own fault if he blew it. It was clear from the second I walked down to that cold, messy (though large enough to fit my entire apartment, maybe twice over) basement that these two guys were going to drop me like a bad habit. I picked up a spare stick to play with, and a little unaccustomed to the controls, I did what I could until I started to learn their play styles so I could adjust mine to compete. These two, though, were all business. I tried to ask questions to get a dialogue going that met with blank stares. I tried to converse about the ins-and-outs of the SF4 game system only to get quick responses. It's not that these guys were off putting, or even just assholes, though. These guys were there to play, not chit chat, and they wanted to see what I was made of.

Things lightened up a bit when Drew, a younger, almost freakishly cheerful guy of Asian lineage arrived with a Hori Real Arcade Pro fight stick (if this is the Cadillac of sticks, the HRAP is probably the Lexus). Now that I was fairly sure that the United Nations was all accounted for and ready to throw down on some Street Fighter, the night went on a little less silently. That is, at least, on the HD Remix side of the room where Drew and Paul were having a great time beating the snot out each other with Dee Jay and Sagat. Things were still a little quiet and tenuous for me until I started to step up my game when I would hear a "nice" thrown out ever now and then. I was beginning to break Mike's Sagat game with my Ken and as my ego was starting to boost his blood pressure was starting to rise, but not maliciously. All of us began to throw out help with tactics for each other, but not enough to tip our hand to the next guy up (you don't want to tell that guy that uses Balrog that you let yourself sit in a corner and bait him, do you? No, you sure as shit don't.).

A few hours, a lot of SF4, and a little Third Strike later, I was out the door with a handshake from Paul and an invitation to come back every Monday night. It's funny, the older I get, the less likely I am to just meet people like this and expand my list of people that play. I can't help but be grateful for the opportunity, but daddy's got some practicing to do. I see your Balrog coming, Billy, and I'm not falling for that Head Butt/ Ultra combo again. At least, not next Monday, I won't.