*EDITED 2/13/14 original post from 2012?*
(In July of this year, SF4: Volt added Wi-Fi multiplayer and a total of 18 characters among other features-see Part 2 in the future for more on this.)
If ever there would be a fighting game to have on the iPhone or iPod touch, this would be it. And how unexpected it was when announced. I don't think I had given much thought to the idea of having an on-the-go version of SF except in the past when I had SF2 for the GBA on my Nintendo DS.
March 2010 marked the release of SF4 for Apple's iOS. It was priced at $9.99 and initially featured 8 characters, a fully featured training system, multiplayer (over Bluetooth which is terribly slow), achievements, and future DLC options including 3 more characters. Oddly, this version had the title of SF4 but is actually a mixture of SF4 and SSF4 by way of the India stage and inclusion of DeeJay. As of this time it is priced at $0.99. Without buttons I wondered how the inputs would work on the touch screen. Thankfully Capcom implemented a good system with large directional arrows and a simplified button scheme. The Special Move Assist option (which I never used until the recent release of Volt) makes the inputs tremendously easy.
Since I've played this version for many hours, how many exactly I don't know , in this post I will make a few notes about some of the patterns the CPU has, the matchup balance and post my completion times for each of the difficulty settings (in order of grueling, hard, normal, and beginner).
One helpful tip that applies to all characters is that each Super and Ultra can be done with the tap of the respective icon on both the 1P and 2P sides. SP Move Assist makes the game very beginner friendly and almost too powerful in the hands of an experienced player.
Ryu
58:30:90
22:19:35
09:47:90
06:24:85
Ken
99:59:99
14:59:75
12:10:15
07:01:40
Chun
99:59:99
28:22:35
10:55:50
07:00:20
Guile
99:59:99
19:20:55
08:58:05
06:23:85
Blanka
32:55:80
14:00:95
08:46:95
04:03:05
Dhalsim
56:53:60
32:42:15
05:27:70
05:09:85
M. Bison
If the AI is walking forward from more than 1/4 distance away it will always do a HK slide. The counter to this is L2 FA. On Medium difficulty and up, knocking him down and waiting until the last moment to do a cross up jump will trigger the AI to do Ultra.
93:39:70
17:57:25
06:24:95
06:18:65
Abel
99:59:99
20:13:85
09:39:20
06:34:10
Zangief
49:13:15
11:47:65
10:54:50
06:31:25
Cammy
99:59:99
14:45:20
07:40:30
05:55:45
E. Honda
20:240:15
10:58:30
05:09:45
05:01:10
C. Viper
99:59:99
24:01:10
08:03:70
09:33:55
Sagat
45:03:75
19:56:80
07:08:60
06:17:25
Dee-Jay
99:59:99
19:36:50
12:29:70
07:23:40
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Don's Arcade - Torrance
A staple of the South Bay for fighting games for a couple years now, Don's Arcade is not what you would expect when you think of an arcade, but it's pretty close. There aren't any tokens or quarters to disappear from your pockets, but instead a $5 bill is all it takes to play all night- until 4AM to be precise. You won't find little kids running around looking for a claw machine, but you will find some workout equipment and Christmas decorations. Water or soda are $1 a "pop" but bring your own snacks (eating inside is welcome). No, it's not a department store but it's his home garage in the nice part of South Torrance. On one side there are 4 console setups, 2 Xbox and 2 PS3 to satisfy the players who are used to the subtle but important timing differences between the systems in Street Fighter 4 and Marvel 3. Go through the door to the other side and now we have what looks like an arcade (minus the 70's era Corvette) - 7 or so cabinet machines all featuring fighting games from years past and present.
If you're reading this, then you are probably aware of Shoryuken.com and its regional forums for places to find other players looking to compete; casually or in a tournament. That's how I found Don's in early 2010. At that time I couldn't get enough of SF4, going to Rowland Heights to the now closed Arcade Infinity or even San Diego for tournaments. Every weekend I would be at some fighting game event grinding away, sometimes 3 days a week for several hours into the early morning. Good thing playing these games is inexpensive. A quarter or two may only get you a game of 3 or 4 minutes if you lose, but as long as you're winning you get to hold your seat as champion of that little timeframe. I needed to find something closer particularly after AI closed. Don's was a good choice since it is physically closer to my location now, but also close to home figuratively speaking because I grew up in that area so it was comforting in a way to make my weekly trip down there. So to this day I still attend every Friday night for a few hours, but not as many as I used to.
I don't know too much about the history of his arcade, but it seems Don had been collecting arcade cabinets for a few years and the popularity of SF4 for home consoles had brought a dedicated bunch of players together looking for a place to practice. Don may have been hosting events prior to SF4 for SF3 and Marvel 2 so there may be another era I'm unaware of - I'll get the scoop from Don soon. In fact, I would like to interview Don for a feature article, hopefully he's up for it.
In 2010 and most of 2011 you could easily walk into a crowded garage, sometimes too hot for comfort from all the calories being burned by fingers tapping away and elevated heart rates from the stress of trying to achieve a win. You'd hear moans of frustration, or screams of excitement and cheer while watching an intense match. You can still hear and see some of that but with less intensity. Some of California's best players (like Shizza and Sanchez - sorry if I'm forgetting anyone else) were regulars and provided a setting for the aspiring player to challenge himself. Lately there's a less of that to the dismay of the remaining loyal players. You may overhear others, and at least once in my own thoughts question continuing to attend weekly because of the lack of competition (and waining interest in SF4)- not necessarily in skill but in number of opponents to test yourself against. I was fortunate to be there one week with the most guests, around 40, but also one of the worst nights with 5.
So why has attendance dropped off? The recent shift of fighting game player's attention to Marvel 3, the current state of character balance in SF4 (many aren't happy with), the re-opening of Super Arcade in Walnut, and simply people's ventures into other things in life has tilted the player base away from Don's. There doesn't appear to any fault in Don's approach to keeping players that has caused this. I'd assume that because of some of the above factors that other arcades like Family Fun have decreased attendance-in fact there is strong evidence of this since AI and Denjin Arcade in Simi Valley closed this year. And what can be done? Unfortunately I don't have a solid answer to either of those questions, however Don has entertained a few options to get people coming back: one being a two day event with the same hours but with a discount ($8) for the second day if you paid up front for both days. Don tried this for a couple weeks earlier this year but attendance was still low and it seemed it was unfortunate late timing at that point and it wasn't as effective as hoped. Again in no fault of Don's. I've always been a supporter and when possible brought friends and my brother to play. But Don hasn't given up-there may be some distant idea of moving to a location outside of his home in a typical arcade environment. But until that happens (or not), the recent release of King of Fighters XIII and moreso SF4 2012 looms near with it's wide range of changes to each character and there's sure to be renewed interest.
The regulars like me keep coming back, week after week. I bet I've attended about 40 weeks of this year. For myself, there's something intimate and casual about the environment. There's also the possibility that someone new (or from the past) will be there to challenge. You'll also find Don's hospitality to be great. A visitor will find he's excellent about rememering people's names and their stories. You can also discuss and debate movies with him on a different level - not just a good or bad debate. If you're nice and a regular, he might even hand out a free Coke or water bottle, but always, always make sure you pay the $5 entrance fee before you sit down and get started. He's also very involved with his "Don's Arcade" thread on SRK and his Facebook page with the same name. So if anyone is curious, check those links out and take a trip to Don's. If for some reason you forget, Don always sends out a text message to let everyone know if his garage will be open or not. There are some good friends to be made and a casual environment. Tomorrow I'll be there as usual with my Red Bull in hand to kickstart the button mashing, command grabbing, winning part of my brain.
(Hopefully I can put together some questions for Don and get a full length interview soon)
One side of the garage.
If you're reading this, then you are probably aware of Shoryuken.com and its regional forums for places to find other players looking to compete; casually or in a tournament. That's how I found Don's in early 2010. At that time I couldn't get enough of SF4, going to Rowland Heights to the now closed Arcade Infinity or even San Diego for tournaments. Every weekend I would be at some fighting game event grinding away, sometimes 3 days a week for several hours into the early morning. Good thing playing these games is inexpensive. A quarter or two may only get you a game of 3 or 4 minutes if you lose, but as long as you're winning you get to hold your seat as champion of that little timeframe. I needed to find something closer particularly after AI closed. Don's was a good choice since it is physically closer to my location now, but also close to home figuratively speaking because I grew up in that area so it was comforting in a way to make my weekly trip down there. So to this day I still attend every Friday night for a few hours, but not as many as I used to.
I don't know too much about the history of his arcade, but it seems Don had been collecting arcade cabinets for a few years and the popularity of SF4 for home consoles had brought a dedicated bunch of players together looking for a place to practice. Don may have been hosting events prior to SF4 for SF3 and Marvel 2 so there may be another era I'm unaware of - I'll get the scoop from Don soon. In fact, I would like to interview Don for a feature article, hopefully he's up for it.
In 2010 and most of 2011 you could easily walk into a crowded garage, sometimes too hot for comfort from all the calories being burned by fingers tapping away and elevated heart rates from the stress of trying to achieve a win. You'd hear moans of frustration, or screams of excitement and cheer while watching an intense match. You can still hear and see some of that but with less intensity. Some of California's best players (like Shizza and Sanchez - sorry if I'm forgetting anyone else) were regulars and provided a setting for the aspiring player to challenge himself. Lately there's a less of that to the dismay of the remaining loyal players. You may overhear others, and at least once in my own thoughts question continuing to attend weekly because of the lack of competition (and waining interest in SF4)- not necessarily in skill but in number of opponents to test yourself against. I was fortunate to be there one week with the most guests, around 40, but also one of the worst nights with 5.
So why has attendance dropped off? The recent shift of fighting game player's attention to Marvel 3, the current state of character balance in SF4 (many aren't happy with), the re-opening of Super Arcade in Walnut, and simply people's ventures into other things in life has tilted the player base away from Don's. There doesn't appear to any fault in Don's approach to keeping players that has caused this. I'd assume that because of some of the above factors that other arcades like Family Fun have decreased attendance-in fact there is strong evidence of this since AI and Denjin Arcade in Simi Valley closed this year. And what can be done? Unfortunately I don't have a solid answer to either of those questions, however Don has entertained a few options to get people coming back: one being a two day event with the same hours but with a discount ($8) for the second day if you paid up front for both days. Don tried this for a couple weeks earlier this year but attendance was still low and it seemed it was unfortunate late timing at that point and it wasn't as effective as hoped. Again in no fault of Don's. I've always been a supporter and when possible brought friends and my brother to play. But Don hasn't given up-there may be some distant idea of moving to a location outside of his home in a typical arcade environment. But until that happens (or not), the recent release of King of Fighters XIII and moreso SF4 2012 looms near with it's wide range of changes to each character and there's sure to be renewed interest.
The regulars like me keep coming back, week after week. I bet I've attended about 40 weeks of this year. For myself, there's something intimate and casual about the environment. There's also the possibility that someone new (or from the past) will be there to challenge. You'll also find Don's hospitality to be great. A visitor will find he's excellent about rememering people's names and their stories. You can also discuss and debate movies with him on a different level - not just a good or bad debate. If you're nice and a regular, he might even hand out a free Coke or water bottle, but always, always make sure you pay the $5 entrance fee before you sit down and get started. He's also very involved with his "Don's Arcade" thread on SRK and his Facebook page with the same name. So if anyone is curious, check those links out and take a trip to Don's. If for some reason you forget, Don always sends out a text message to let everyone know if his garage will be open or not. There are some good friends to be made and a casual environment. Tomorrow I'll be there as usual with my Red Bull in hand to kickstart the button mashing, command grabbing, winning part of my brain.
(Hopefully I can put together some questions for Don and get a full length interview soon)
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
FFA Ranbat 8/13/2011 (L-L)
Another event I hadn't planned on attending (or even knew about) - I got a call about it and Hugo101 wanted to attend and needed a ride there so I decided to enter. Nothing special to write about except that the pool was small this time compared to the usual FFA events but I think this was due to the Insert Coin(s) tournament in Vegas. Or it could have just been a good summer weekend and nobody really cared to play.
I lost my first match the ever random play style of El Fuerte. The following is sort of an excuse- I still don't know the matchup. I have no idea what counters what and I'm convinced there's no way to avoid Tortilla grab or his general knockdown mixups as Hawk (Yes I'm still using Hawk-why? AE Ver. 2012). EX SRK does not get you out of well timed crossups or grabs by Fuerte so escape comes down to not getting caught in the first place which is basically impossible. With tournament pressure and my opponent being all over the screen I had to play his game and jump/dive/attack frantically to keep up. It was one of the messiest matches I've had, almost like watching someone who had only picked up the game days before. Although I managed a round or two, I was out muscled by Fuerte's strength (ha ha..). As far as matchup experience I recently played about 10 matches vs SeeDogPoo, a player from the East and he beat me 9-1. A good Fuerte has an advantage over Hawk just by speed and randomness.
My second match was against a Guile player who I had fought a few times before and had won every set. His play style changed in our tournament match and resulted in a comeback victory. I got caught off guard several times one of which I took 4 of Guile's ST. FPs in a row - now that was embarrassing and lead me into a mini-depression in the middle of the match. He played very defensively (as most Guile players do) and whenever I got him to one corner of the screen he managed to escape, and in that matchup letting Guile switch sides turns the balance in his favor by tenfold.
While the tournament continued on after my ejection I played casuals on the other stations and played very well winning most of my matches. I don't know if my brain "turned on" after the tournament or what, but I should be trying to eliminate part of that possibility by warming up before the tournament as much as I can. I should be showing up earlier and playing for an hour to get my brain thinking in "6 buttons and a joystick" mode.
Hugo101 ended up with first place, so good work there. He also pointed out that I need to start putting effort into memorizing matchups and their details. The problem is that I'm aware of that but nothing is saving in my memory. Reset...
I lost my first match the ever random play style of El Fuerte. The following is sort of an excuse- I still don't know the matchup. I have no idea what counters what and I'm convinced there's no way to avoid Tortilla grab or his general knockdown mixups as Hawk (Yes I'm still using Hawk-why? AE Ver. 2012). EX SRK does not get you out of well timed crossups or grabs by Fuerte so escape comes down to not getting caught in the first place which is basically impossible. With tournament pressure and my opponent being all over the screen I had to play his game and jump/dive/attack frantically to keep up. It was one of the messiest matches I've had, almost like watching someone who had only picked up the game days before. Although I managed a round or two, I was out muscled by Fuerte's strength (ha ha..). As far as matchup experience I recently played about 10 matches vs SeeDogPoo, a player from the East and he beat me 9-1. A good Fuerte has an advantage over Hawk just by speed and randomness.
My second match was against a Guile player who I had fought a few times before and had won every set. His play style changed in our tournament match and resulted in a comeback victory. I got caught off guard several times one of which I took 4 of Guile's ST. FPs in a row - now that was embarrassing and lead me into a mini-depression in the middle of the match. He played very defensively (as most Guile players do) and whenever I got him to one corner of the screen he managed to escape, and in that matchup letting Guile switch sides turns the balance in his favor by tenfold.
While the tournament continued on after my ejection I played casuals on the other stations and played very well winning most of my matches. I don't know if my brain "turned on" after the tournament or what, but I should be trying to eliminate part of that possibility by warming up before the tournament as much as I can. I should be showing up earlier and playing for an hour to get my brain thinking in "6 buttons and a joystick" mode.
Hugo101 ended up with first place, so good work there. He also pointed out that I need to start putting effort into memorizing matchups and their details. The problem is that I'm aware of that but nothing is saving in my memory. Reset...
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Evo 2011 (B-L-W-L)
The Evolution world tournament at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas has reached new levels of attendance, organization, excitement, and possibilities for entertainment. Although I don't have exact numbers, there were whispers of 1,500 entries for SSF4:AE and 6,000 in total for all games. The playing pool system was significantly overhauled to facilitate the mass number of players (in the biggest ballroom venue to date) hoping for a chance at the championship. With more top international players and basically all new games there was no doubt the buzz (or hype as the community says) was growing with each day. What else was there to do besides compete? Interview panels, short films in adjacent exhibit halls, side tournaments, autograph lines from the best of the best, playable game previews, and of course vendors with new merchandise like Madkatz who offered for the first time the option to purchase custom arcade sticks. And to kick things off Thursday night before all the action early Friday morning, a bar/arcade called INSERT COIN(S) hosted an EVO pre-party. Tons to see and do!
Wednesday night I packed and had mostly everything ready to go. I actually took quite a bit of luggage including two duffel bags, laptop, a folding chair, snack cooler, arcade stick bag, and an inflatable mattress. Last year there wasn't any seating during the pools so I wanted to make sure I had my own chair. Two weeks prior I had found someone on the SRK forums to room with for a fair price (I was told 4 people in the room including myself but that's not how things turned out) so I brought an air mattress assuming I would be on the floor. Thursday after work, I left and arrived around 6PM. The drive was about 5 hours as I hit some traffic near the NV border and stopped to get gas near Yermo-coincidentally at the same place I stopped last year. I hadn't driven to Vegas since so my subconscious must have made that exit familiar, or maybe I just had the same amount of gas in the tank. When I realized it was the same exit, I went to the same gas station and thought about the attendant I met last year playing a Gamecube at the register. He wasn't familiar with EVO and hadn't heard much about fighting games but I figured it was worth asking at the time. This year he wasn't there so maybe sitting at a gas station in the middle of the desert playing video games got old. Good thing I only had 3 days of that ahead of me. Being summer, it was obviously hot, and on the stretch of the freeway with warning signs about turning off A/C to prevent overheating, the car thermometer read 108.
Pulling in to the RIO near the Masquerade Tower I impatiently called my roommate trying to figure out where to go to put all my stuff down. When we met inside the cool casino, he appeared to be very exhausted and irritated. On the 13th floor, our room was full of people practicing, only 3 of them I recognized. Two local players and BurnYourBra, the second place finisher at the EVO 2010 Women's Invitational. I wasn't keen on the number of people in the small room as I had to find a place to put my stuff. I decided to quickly put everything in the closet and gained an unfriendly stare from one of the unknown faces. What was going on in this place? Was it time to find my own room for the night, play and leave again like last year? I decided to sit down and try to adjust to the people and get to know names but only a few minutes later everyone moved to another room for practice so I exchanged numbers and went down to the casino floor hoping to find someone I knew. I ran into some friends and wondered around for a while looking for cheap food. Starting on foot on Flamingo Drive we decided it would be better to get in the car and ended up at Taco Bell a couple miles away. Arriving back at the Rio still confused about the room situation, I headed up and knocked on the door to get ready for Friday's early morning competition. I decided to check in for the night not knowing how much room I would have when people got back, so I quickly picked a spot on the floor without my air mattress. I tried to sleep but was awakened by people coming and going throughout the night, being out of my element and nervousness about the next day.
Friday at 6AM my alarm went off, but I really didn't need it to wake me up. One of my other roommates (the one who gave me an odd stare earlier) was already awake and getting ready so we introduced ourselves and I got to talk to him some more. We ended up eating breakfast and hanging out through the weekend, and he eventually told me the stare wasn't unintentional and was out of his frustration with the number of people in the room. He was also told when he made the room reservations with the host that there would be only 4 people so seeing me come in and put my stuff in the closet irked him. We both had something in common and I had told him that I wasn't sure about staying in that room for the weekend at that point. I hadn't paid for my share of the room yet and was feeling relieved that I hadn't. After the costly $15 breakfast we headed down to the main hall where the first set of contenders were gathering and the EVO staff were preparing. The doors were closed so people piled up, some still yawning and looking worn out or hungover.
About a week before the event, player pools were assigned online at the EVO check-in site. I was in pool 10, 8AM for SF and pool 17, 12PM for MK. Shortly after pool station check-in I played my first match against a Dhalsim player. I had intended to use T. Hawk but I strongly believe it's a 8-2 or 9-1 in favor of Dhalsim, so I picked Yun knowing this was something like 7-3 or more for Yun. I knew my Yun wasn't up to par, but I thought I could get away with a win because Yun is so imbalanced. I did OK, but lost the first set and switched to T. Hawk and took my first loss. I'm fine with losing to Dhalsim as Hawk, in fact I'd rather not even play the match, but I had no excuse for losing with Yun-I simply hadn't practiced enough with him to be on an even field. After the set I asked my opponent what he thought of the T. Hawk matchup and he felt it was 8-2 or 9-1 if the Dhalsim player knows how to use his character.
In previous major tournaments waiting for your next match could take several hours. One of the most improved changes this year was the playing pool system. Instead of large pools with 32 or more competitors, each was limited to 16 with a total of 26 pools each filled every two hours with the next group of players. If you won or lost your match, it would be less than an hour before you played your next. Winners would move to a quarter final match later in the day and then onto semi-finals. If you lost, you had the rest of the day to do as you wanted to check out friend's matches or do all the other things available. So not long after my first match I was called for my next against a Dan player. He was new to SF or didn't know the matchup as I had no trouble winning. With one official win I was still in and ready to go for my 3rd match. I got put up against a Blanka player. Another significantly imbalanced matchup for T. Hawk, but one that I feel more comfortable with. I wish this match was recorded because I think I played very well, and we went to the end of each round. In the final set I got impatient and tried to attack aggressively which ended up being my downfall. Another tournament done and out. When 12:00PM came around for my MK match, I decided to forfeit and notified the pool ref. I just simply hadn't practiced since the game came out and didn't want to stress over a loss.
Wednesday night I packed and had mostly everything ready to go. I actually took quite a bit of luggage including two duffel bags, laptop, a folding chair, snack cooler, arcade stick bag, and an inflatable mattress. Last year there wasn't any seating during the pools so I wanted to make sure I had my own chair. Two weeks prior I had found someone on the SRK forums to room with for a fair price (I was told 4 people in the room including myself but that's not how things turned out) so I brought an air mattress assuming I would be on the floor. Thursday after work, I left and arrived around 6PM. The drive was about 5 hours as I hit some traffic near the NV border and stopped to get gas near Yermo-coincidentally at the same place I stopped last year. I hadn't driven to Vegas since so my subconscious must have made that exit familiar, or maybe I just had the same amount of gas in the tank. When I realized it was the same exit, I went to the same gas station and thought about the attendant I met last year playing a Gamecube at the register. He wasn't familiar with EVO and hadn't heard much about fighting games but I figured it was worth asking at the time. This year he wasn't there so maybe sitting at a gas station in the middle of the desert playing video games got old. Good thing I only had 3 days of that ahead of me. Being summer, it was obviously hot, and on the stretch of the freeway with warning signs about turning off A/C to prevent overheating, the car thermometer read 108.
Pulling in to the RIO near the Masquerade Tower I impatiently called my roommate trying to figure out where to go to put all my stuff down. When we met inside the cool casino, he appeared to be very exhausted and irritated. On the 13th floor, our room was full of people practicing, only 3 of them I recognized. Two local players and BurnYourBra, the second place finisher at the EVO 2010 Women's Invitational. I wasn't keen on the number of people in the small room as I had to find a place to put my stuff. I decided to quickly put everything in the closet and gained an unfriendly stare from one of the unknown faces. What was going on in this place? Was it time to find my own room for the night, play and leave again like last year? I decided to sit down and try to adjust to the people and get to know names but only a few minutes later everyone moved to another room for practice so I exchanged numbers and went down to the casino floor hoping to find someone I knew. I ran into some friends and wondered around for a while looking for cheap food. Starting on foot on Flamingo Drive we decided it would be better to get in the car and ended up at Taco Bell a couple miles away. Arriving back at the Rio still confused about the room situation, I headed up and knocked on the door to get ready for Friday's early morning competition. I decided to check in for the night not knowing how much room I would have when people got back, so I quickly picked a spot on the floor without my air mattress. I tried to sleep but was awakened by people coming and going throughout the night, being out of my element and nervousness about the next day.
Friday at 6AM my alarm went off, but I really didn't need it to wake me up. One of my other roommates (the one who gave me an odd stare earlier) was already awake and getting ready so we introduced ourselves and I got to talk to him some more. We ended up eating breakfast and hanging out through the weekend, and he eventually told me the stare wasn't unintentional and was out of his frustration with the number of people in the room. He was also told when he made the room reservations with the host that there would be only 4 people so seeing me come in and put my stuff in the closet irked him. We both had something in common and I had told him that I wasn't sure about staying in that room for the weekend at that point. I hadn't paid for my share of the room yet and was feeling relieved that I hadn't. After the costly $15 breakfast we headed down to the main hall where the first set of contenders were gathering and the EVO staff were preparing. The doors were closed so people piled up, some still yawning and looking worn out or hungover.
Journey to the EVO area, 7:50AM.
With a few minutes to wait in line and mingle, I picked up my lanyard/badge and promo bag which contained a coupon for a free EVO 2011 shirt. People near spoke of the usual things like where they were from or what they were expecting to see like who would make it to the finals in each game. I actually hoped WolfKrone (from Minnesota) and Daigo (from Japan) would be in the SF finals and made sure to point that out to WolfKrone when I saw him. The doors opened exactly on time at 8:00 and people rushed in to admire the main hall which was actually several rooms combined.
Main hall 8:05AM. Keep in mind that this photo shows only a handful of the people from the morning pools and there was still 2 full days of players to pass through- attendance was very high this year.
In previous major tournaments waiting for your next match could take several hours. One of the most improved changes this year was the playing pool system. Instead of large pools with 32 or more competitors, each was limited to 16 with a total of 26 pools each filled every two hours with the next group of players. If you won or lost your match, it would be less than an hour before you played your next. Winners would move to a quarter final match later in the day and then onto semi-finals. If you lost, you had the rest of the day to do as you wanted to check out friend's matches or do all the other things available. So not long after my first match I was called for my next against a Dan player. He was new to SF or didn't know the matchup as I had no trouble winning. With one official win I was still in and ready to go for my 3rd match. I got put up against a Blanka player. Another significantly imbalanced matchup for T. Hawk, but one that I feel more comfortable with. I wish this match was recorded because I think I played very well, and we went to the end of each round. In the final set I got impatient and tried to attack aggressively which ended up being my downfall. Another tournament done and out. When 12:00PM came around for my MK match, I decided to forfeit and notified the pool ref. I just simply hadn't practiced since the game came out and didn't want to stress over a loss.
Random pool match.
With all the frustration at it's peak I did the usual contemplation of quitting fighting games and walked in circles pretending to pay attention to other player's matches. I couldn't really leave all the action and even if I wanted to I would have to go back up to the room and hope to not disturb everyone by knocking on the door to get in. From what I can recall I stayed in the main hall for most of the day, then went to eat with one of my local buddies Nick at the Rio seafood buffet. Endless crab legs? Always worth the money and with our EVO 2011 discount I couldn't pass it up. Going back to the main hall towards the end of the day I checked to see if anything else exciting was happening but most people were totally burnt out and there were only a handful of murmurs about money match suites. Traveling and playing video games could never be more tiring.
MvC3 People
Saturday and Sunday were mostly a blur, possibly from the constant food coma I was in. Saturday I did get to play against "Image", a fellow T. Hawk player who has had more success in tournaments than I have. We played a set of about 15 games and he beat me 6-4. I didn't get to go to the swimming pool on Sunday because it was raining and humid, and not only that but when I asked about going on Saturday you needed a room key to go down there. Another reason to get my own room. One embarrassing thing I did was waited in the buffet line for 20 minutes thinking my pass was still valid from the previous day, but unfortunately I was 8 hours late. My sense of time seems to get mixed up when there's so much going on around and there's not really a need to check the clock. Nothing really stood out Sunday except the closing events and their raw excitement of exhibitions and special video premiers, and the top 16 final matches. Good thing I had a folding chair because the main hall was completely full and seating consisted of finding a spot on the floor in the back of the gigantic hall. Slowly I inched my way up through the rows in the folding chair until I was about 20 rows from the front on the left side. I had to use the restroom at one point - I couldn't give up my spot but luckily there was a nice guy who watched my seat for me. He said he came from out of state with his girlfriend, who had no interest in the whole thing and instead waited in the hotel room throughout the finals. Would you rather sit in the hotel room all day or at least come down and watch something exciting? Speaking of exciting...
Right before the final match between Latif and Fuudo, I get an angry text message from one of the roommates saying that something was stolen from his bag in the room. Here we go...am I going to miss the finals again? I sat for a minute and contemplated just ignoring the possibly problematic situation and peacefully watching (while screaming) the finals. Last year I didn't get to see the finals in person and yet again I missed them this year. It would be wise of me to go check on the situation as my belongings were in the room and who knows what could be missing. I called the room host and he was aware of the situation but like me didn't want to leave and miss the finals to see what was going on either. Why was our other roommate not watching the finals and instead in his room checking his bags? I felt obligated to tend to my roommates situation because we had established a friendship over the weekend but it was very bad timing. The room host and I went up to the 13th floor and things got messy when accusations about thievery started flying around the room (among bags and clothes as everyone sorted through their belongings). Eventually things cooled down, but as names were mentioned as possible suspects in the possible theft, everyone went down to the hall to look for possible thieves except for myself who waited in the room to make sure nothing strange was going on. The situation ended without any violence but suddenly everyone packed up their stuff wanting to avoid any further friction and left early except the victim of the possible theft and myself. It was around 10PM at that point so I decided to call it a night in the empty room and set my alarm for 7AM Monday. Surprisingly I slept well after all that, maybe from the exhaustion.
Monday I just packed everything as fast as I could and made a valiant effort to carry all of my belongings to the car in one trip. That was a very challenging task. Time to exercise so I can carry luggage once a year....Still blurry eyed from awakening I hopped on the freeway, noticing how strange it was to drive after a 3 day break from being in a car. One the way back home I stopped at the Alien Fresh Jerky store in Baker, CA. I'm convinced I'll find something I like here but so far I haven't. The prices are high and there were not any free samples despite the posted signs saying otherwise. Still I walked out with Imperial sugar Dr. Pepper and peppered jerky. I'm not a huge beef jerky consumer probably because it's hard to digest. Turkey jerky next time. And- thanks to new spark plugs and wires before the trip, I drove 440 miles on a tank.
In retrospective, I feel that possibly for the first time I came out of a tournament less frustrated (or for a shorter duration) and more optimistic about improvement. There are things I can now see I'm not doing (what?) and look forward to making some adjustments for the smaller events in the upcoming year. I saw the local mystery T. Hawk compete at EVO who almost eliminated the 3rd place finisher. I'm also starting a savings fund for my own room next year. Lesson learned there. I also said I would be more of a tourist but didn't get to do that either. So to next year, with more good drama and less bad drama!
Horrible photo from the 13th floor elevator waiting area.
Right before the final match between Latif and Fuudo, I get an angry text message from one of the roommates saying that something was stolen from his bag in the room. Here we go...am I going to miss the finals again? I sat for a minute and contemplated just ignoring the possibly problematic situation and peacefully watching (while screaming) the finals. Last year I didn't get to see the finals in person and yet again I missed them this year. It would be wise of me to go check on the situation as my belongings were in the room and who knows what could be missing. I called the room host and he was aware of the situation but like me didn't want to leave and miss the finals to see what was going on either. Why was our other roommate not watching the finals and instead in his room checking his bags? I felt obligated to tend to my roommates situation because we had established a friendship over the weekend but it was very bad timing. The room host and I went up to the 13th floor and things got messy when accusations about thievery started flying around the room (among bags and clothes as everyone sorted through their belongings). Eventually things cooled down, but as names were mentioned as possible suspects in the possible theft, everyone went down to the hall to look for possible thieves except for myself who waited in the room to make sure nothing strange was going on. The situation ended without any violence but suddenly everyone packed up their stuff wanting to avoid any further friction and left early except the victim of the possible theft and myself. It was around 10PM at that point so I decided to call it a night in the empty room and set my alarm for 7AM Monday. Surprisingly I slept well after all that, maybe from the exhaustion.
Monday I just packed everything as fast as I could and made a valiant effort to carry all of my belongings to the car in one trip. That was a very challenging task. Time to exercise so I can carry luggage once a year....Still blurry eyed from awakening I hopped on the freeway, noticing how strange it was to drive after a 3 day break from being in a car. One the way back home I stopped at the Alien Fresh Jerky store in Baker, CA. I'm convinced I'll find something I like here but so far I haven't. The prices are high and there were not any free samples despite the posted signs saying otherwise. Still I walked out with Imperial sugar Dr. Pepper and peppered jerky. I'm not a huge beef jerky consumer probably because it's hard to digest. Turkey jerky next time. And- thanks to new spark plugs and wires before the trip, I drove 440 miles on a tank.
In retrospective, I feel that possibly for the first time I came out of a tournament less frustrated (or for a shorter duration) and more optimistic about improvement. There are things I can now see I'm not doing (what?) and look forward to making some adjustments for the smaller events in the upcoming year. I saw the local mystery T. Hawk compete at EVO who almost eliminated the 3rd place finisher. I'm also starting a savings fund for my own room next year. Lesson learned there. I also said I would be more of a tourist but didn't get to do that either. So to next year, with more good drama and less bad drama!
Horrible photo from the 13th floor elevator waiting area.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Evolution 2011 Preface
Up until last weekend I wasn't sure if I would be able to make this year's 3 day fighting game extravaganza. I had registered early in April, scheduled vacation time at work and was ready to go except that I didn't fully plan out the financial aspects of the trip. Where would I stay? How would I get there? How much money would I have to survive on? Those are probably the most significant questions that needed to be answered and planned for. At EVO 2010, I came with a meager budget that only allowed me to stay for one day in a dingy hotel outside the strip. After barely sleeping from a massive allergy attack from the dirty room and desert pollen I swore then that I would have a nice room at the same hotel as EVO the upcoming year. Having to drive to the strip was a hassle as well. So here we are at EVO 2011 and I didn't get a hotel and didn't save any money. Jeesh-what's my deal? Next year if I'm still interested in the fighting game scene I won't do this again, or so I say. Why not start now just in case, with SmartyPig? Fortunately I had some help from giving family members and I'll be heading out this afternoon. I found a room to split for 4 days with people I've never met. Let's hope it works out! If not, I suppose this will be a short trip like last year.
So what's it about? Primarily a massive tournament, but also a vendor showcase, a game developer panel, interviews with top players, and short films. What about the competitive aspect of the event? I'm going to compete in a tournament against a record number of people. I've heard that there are around 6,000 entries this year (combined for all the featured games), compared to 2,000 last year. The competition will be much stronger because the players who are tournament minded now have 2 years of practice, and also there are more top international players. At EVO 2010, I didn't win any matches (lost to Guile and Abel.) This year I'm not going into the tournament with such heavy weight on my shoulders about trying to win. It's unrealistic to expect to win with my character choice (yes, even though I swore off T. Hawk I don't really have a choice at this point). Why not learn another character? It takes a lot of time and energy. I could say I didn't have enough time to learn a new character since the release of AE but if I would have dedicated every day to the job I might have been able to pull it off. But winning matches in a huge tournament? Real difficult. So this year I'll be playing my matches with less pressure on myself and just go to check out the scene and maybe get some sun at the pool-be a tourist.
563 miles to go
So what's it about? Primarily a massive tournament, but also a vendor showcase, a game developer panel, interviews with top players, and short films. What about the competitive aspect of the event? I'm going to compete in a tournament against a record number of people. I've heard that there are around 6,000 entries this year (combined for all the featured games), compared to 2,000 last year. The competition will be much stronger because the players who are tournament minded now have 2 years of practice, and also there are more top international players. At EVO 2010, I didn't win any matches (lost to Guile and Abel.) This year I'm not going into the tournament with such heavy weight on my shoulders about trying to win. It's unrealistic to expect to win with my character choice (yes, even though I swore off T. Hawk I don't really have a choice at this point). Why not learn another character? It takes a lot of time and energy. I could say I didn't have enough time to learn a new character since the release of AE but if I would have dedicated every day to the job I might have been able to pull it off. But winning matches in a huge tournament? Real difficult. So this year I'll be playing my matches with less pressure on myself and just go to check out the scene and maybe get some sun at the pool-be a tourist.
563 miles to go
Monday, June 27, 2011
DIZeLAN 6/25/11 (L-W-L) and the end of T. Hawk.
Although I didn't plan on going to this tournament at DIZeLAN , even up to the day before, pending other plans, general laziness, and reluctance to (for the first time) enter a tournament using a character other than T.Hawk, something told me I had to do it. I have to give credit to Hugo101 and WonderChef for inspiring me to go by asking for a ride there to test their skills in SSF4:AE, MK9, and MvC3. I only the other hand, was only interested in SSF4: AE. This would be a significant event for me because as I said, would not be using the character I have entered every single tournament since the release of SSF4 (unlike SF4 which of the two or three tournaments I entered, used Ryu).
Hugo101 and I picked up WonderChef and arrived around 11:30. DIZeLAN is an 80 mile round-trip drive so it would be a full day event for us. Joe and BeeJay had just opened up shop and they were still setting up stations. I had to get practicing as soon as possible. I thought the tournament for SSF:AE was scheduled to start at 12 but instead MvC3 came first. This worked out positively for me as I was able to get an hour or so of practice in with Yun and Fei Long. Yun is a new character that is widely recognized as the best in the game. Fei Long is a top tier character (modeled after Bruce Lee) as well, possibly 2nd or 3rd best at this point in time of the ever transitioning tier list.
At first I thought I would play with Yun, then switch to Fei if I lost. The point was not to fall back on T. Hawk. I even registered in the tournament as "No More T. Hawk". I would be using Fei for the first time in a tournament, and possibly for the first time ever ("day one Fei") as I had only tried a few things with him in training mode in the months past. During practice, I felt I learned quite a bit, getting into the motions of muscle memory and and setting patterns down. Some other players were helping me out too. One o'clock rolls around and the tournament begins.
My first matchup I actually don't remember what happened or who I played except that it ended in a loss. It's a total blank. However my second match was against a player who was at his first tournament, new to the game, and using one of the new characters, Oni. We shared one thing in common with our new character choices. I defeated him and went on to my next match against someone who knew multiple characters so I didn't know what to expect. He chose Sagat, and we went all three games and I lost by a hair. Interestingly, I was hardly disappointed but instead content with how I played for only having played Fei for a couple hours. One of the other players was eager to see me play and insisted that I should have won the match. Thanks for the reassurance, wish it would have turned out that way. It was nice to have someone admire a day one Fei.
Yes, I'm hopping on the supposed bandwagon and moving to a top tier character. Some frown upon people who switch and others like the talented Shizza see it in a much more realistic sense. At ReveLAtions, Shizza told me he felt that if you're losing, you should switch and that the majority of other players aren't even seriously paying attention to your decisions-so who cares? T. Hawk takes too much effort and I'll explain this in a future post. For now, he's on the farthest back burner.
One thing that I love about Fei is that Flamekick shortcut (F,B,F,K) this makes it very easy to anti-air an opponent. At this early stage I feel his speed allows me to be more coordinated, it's as if I have cat like reflexes especially with the shortcut. I don't know any of his matchups or specifics so this makes it hard to elaborate on how I played in the tournament. He seems to be a counter character and I think I should be effective with him. Off to study Mago from Japan, and hopefully get some practice from XBlades and Hugo101.
One more thing- sorry IkeTakeda, we were too far out when you called. Next time.
Hugo101 and I picked up WonderChef and arrived around 11:30. DIZeLAN is an 80 mile round-trip drive so it would be a full day event for us. Joe and BeeJay had just opened up shop and they were still setting up stations. I had to get practicing as soon as possible. I thought the tournament for SSF:AE was scheduled to start at 12 but instead MvC3 came first. This worked out positively for me as I was able to get an hour or so of practice in with Yun and Fei Long. Yun is a new character that is widely recognized as the best in the game. Fei Long is a top tier character (modeled after Bruce Lee) as well, possibly 2nd or 3rd best at this point in time of the ever transitioning tier list.
At first I thought I would play with Yun, then switch to Fei if I lost. The point was not to fall back on T. Hawk. I even registered in the tournament as "No More T. Hawk". I would be using Fei for the first time in a tournament, and possibly for the first time ever ("day one Fei") as I had only tried a few things with him in training mode in the months past. During practice, I felt I learned quite a bit, getting into the motions of muscle memory and and setting patterns down. Some other players were helping me out too. One o'clock rolls around and the tournament begins.
My first matchup I actually don't remember what happened or who I played except that it ended in a loss. It's a total blank. However my second match was against a player who was at his first tournament, new to the game, and using one of the new characters, Oni. We shared one thing in common with our new character choices. I defeated him and went on to my next match against someone who knew multiple characters so I didn't know what to expect. He chose Sagat, and we went all three games and I lost by a hair. Interestingly, I was hardly disappointed but instead content with how I played for only having played Fei for a couple hours. One of the other players was eager to see me play and insisted that I should have won the match. Thanks for the reassurance, wish it would have turned out that way. It was nice to have someone admire a day one Fei.
Yes, I'm hopping on the supposed bandwagon and moving to a top tier character. Some frown upon people who switch and others like the talented Shizza see it in a much more realistic sense. At ReveLAtions, Shizza told me he felt that if you're losing, you should switch and that the majority of other players aren't even seriously paying attention to your decisions-so who cares? T. Hawk takes too much effort and I'll explain this in a future post. For now, he's on the farthest back burner.
One thing that I love about Fei is that Flamekick shortcut (F,B,F,K) this makes it very easy to anti-air an opponent. At this early stage I feel his speed allows me to be more coordinated, it's as if I have cat like reflexes especially with the shortcut. I don't know any of his matchups or specifics so this makes it hard to elaborate on how I played in the tournament. He seems to be a counter character and I think I should be effective with him. Off to study Mago from Japan, and hopefully get some practice from XBlades and Hugo101.
One more thing- sorry IkeTakeda, we were too far out when you called. Next time.
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