Luckily we live in enlightened times, and in an enlightened part of the world, and today I got to attend the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Finals here in San Francisco.
Street Fighter is an arcade game where you unleash fierce and furious punches, kicks, and "special moves" on your opponent as you attempt to knock them out. It was never my game of choice. My friend Gaz had it on his Megadrive but we were more into Mortal Combat with its gruesome "finish him!" moves. Street Fighter is far more cartoony - no blood or anything nasty like that. The characters look like friends having a bit of fun. In bonus stages you break up abandoned cars, which could be considered community service.
Today the greatest players from all over the world gathered at a hotel just south of SFO. I caught the BART then walked through the surrounding area, probably the first place that most people go to having got off their plane. It's an odd introductory zone to US culture after the trauma of immigration - no one owns anything around here; the traffic is all airport shuttles and rental cars, the hotels and coffee shops are all chains.
But I quickly left this soft hinterland of unbelonging behind as I entered the Hyatt Regency where smackdowns and sonic booms were being piled up by one player on another. Free-to-play arcade machines of every Street Fighter iteration filled the lobby, but the real action was taking place in the massive conference hall.
Two huge cinema screens stood at the front and the challengers, sifted from competitions in London, Paris, Tokyo, etc. sat dwarfed on a stage in the centre. They were taking it seriously - each brought their own controller, lovingly protected in padded carrying cases. As they fought vicariously above, the crowd whooped and hollered in reaction to every Hadoken and Arutimetto Atomikku Baasuta.
I joined the hungry Colosseum for several grueling matches before moving off to the numerous booths and trade displays. The general demographic was extremely male and adolescent, but I was pleased to see that they're bringing out a Hello Kitty-themed version soon.
Freebies were at a disappointing minimum although I was handed a nice picture of Ryu to colour in. If you wanted to win stuff you had to throw your hat in the ring, which would have led to humiliation more painful than a Flying Barcelona Attack. Perhaps one day the most beloved game of my youth, Chuckie Egg 2, will receive its due and be recognised as a competitive sport. Then the real smackdown will begin!
Not the most impressive sign for one of the most important things to happen in San Francisco ever!
That's better.
Free gaming in the hotel lobby. I was too scared to challenge.
For purists, there's really only one Street Fighter - II.
Inside the competition hall. They've been doing this all over the world, and these are the finals.
Not sure what was going on here, you could probably win a T-shirt, hence the crowd.
You could also buy things like this for $$$s.
Hello Kitty - more violent than you realised.
Some fans took it far, although Vega looks less tubby on the screen.
Contenders, ready! Two joystick-wielding gladiators take their place on the stage.
Hushed expectancy from the crowd.
They think it's all over! It is now.
