Bang The Machine

riiv writes "I saw the premiere of Bang The Machine tonight at SXSW 2002. The film is a documentary of the Street Fighter tournament scene. There's another screening March 15 so if you are near the Austin area, it is your moral obligation to watch it. I asked director Tamara Katepoo if they had a distributor lined up, unfortunely they don't. If you're looking for a film to distribute please get in touch with the film creators. The movie rocked and validated my wasted life ever since the purchase of Street Fighter 2 Japanese for SNES."

Comments

huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

The Street Fighter tournament scene? Was there a Street Fighter movie or something?

Re:huh?

[lordkuri]

here

I live down the street from the sunnyvale golfland

[linzeal]

I'm going to go down there and look around this weekend this is pretty wild. At first I thought it was a real fight and I'm thinking golfland wtf. Anyways chun li rules screw all you powerball throwing bastards out there.

Video Game to Film

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't there a high failure rate for video games making the transition to the big screen? I think this one will be just like all the rest--a failure. Final Fantasy sucked and it bombed and so will Resident Evil. I'm filled with the disgust of these greedy bastards making money on anything they can. They deserve to fail.

Re:Video Game to Film

[red5]

Yah and streetfighter the movie sucked too.
But this is not a videogame to movie transition.
The closest comparison is "The Wizard" It was not too bad a movie BTW.

Re:Video Game to Film

[mudder]

Way to read the link there AC. If you actually bothered to look at the page, you would know that this isn't a spin-off movie like Final Fantasy or Mortal Combat, but a DOCUMENTARY about people who play Street Fighter.

Steps for posting to Slashdot:
1. Read link
2. Post
3. Smoke Crack

Do not reverse the order!

Re:Video Game to Film

[starz]

Don't forget the "goodguys" that geet taken down with them. i.e. Square lost a lot of money they could have spent to make final fantasy XXX better.
Did noone mention how cheesy Mortal Kombat I/II's moovies were?

Starz

Re:Video Game to Film

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn! I knew I should have saved the crack for AFTERWARDS!

Re:Video Game to Film

[Anonymous Coward]

But wouldn't making a documentary about Capcom's game violate their patent under the GPL, and thus, violate the DMCA?

Re:Video Game to Film

[Anonymous Coward]

I totally agree. We should NOT support this film and show to Hollywood that they can't keep feeding us this GARBAGE over and over. Films were much better before, even 10 years ago but now most of it isn't worth watching now.

Re:Video Game to Film

[Anonymous Coward]

"Did noone mention how cheesy Mortal Kombat I/II's moovies were?"

Who the hell is this "noone" person people are always talking about here. I can't find any information on Mr. "noone". Or perhaps "noone" is a group of people...that would fit better. Or maybe, the people who type "noone" are just too lazy to hit the space bar.

Well, I might be wrong. If so, I'd like for noone to correct me.

Re:Video Game to Film

[Anonymous Coward]

mortal kombat 1 was a great movie and i enjoyed watching it along with many of my friends and they all liked it. mortal kombat 2 however sucked royal dink though and disappointed many fans, including myself.

Re:Video Game to Film

[Anonymous Coward]

I always thought it was:

1. Smoke Crack

2. Post

3. Don't read link

Re:Video Game to Film

[Chris Burke]

That's only if you don't have moderator points. If you do, then it's:

1. Smoke Crack
2. Go buy more crack
3. Smoke Crack
4. Find secret 'emergency' stash of crack
5. Smoke Crack
6. Spray moderator points at random.
7. Smoke last rock from emergency stash to celebrate.

Re:Video Game to Film

[Anonymous Coward]

next please tell us about the editor's crack smoking habits

Re:Video Game to Film

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember watching The Wizard. Good movie.

Re:Video Game to Film

[Grahf]

You are an idiot. Did you even read the byline? It isn't even coming from Hollywood! AAAAGH! Independent movie, no distributor, ABOUT Street Fighter II SCENE. Dig?

Re:Video Game to Film

[Jonny 290]

Don't forget the "goodguys" that geet taken down with them. i.e. Square lost a lot of money they could have spent to make final fantasy XXX better.

Now that's a movie or game that i'd pay GOOD money to see. :D

Street fighter 2...

[Anonymous Coward]

Street fighter 2 Ultra turbp mega special edition...

THAT ruled.

Re:Street fighter 2...

[Graspee_Leemoor]

I think you mean:

Super Street Fighter 2 Alpha Turbo Championship Edition: Warriors' Dreams.

graspe

ugh - popup window assault

[unsinged int]

That "Bang the Machine" link opened up 8 separate windows asking me to download Shockwave. 8 WINDOWS!!! I get the point. Geesh...

Re:ugh - popup window assault

[Anonymous Coward]

You wouldn't happen to be running an older version of konqueror, would you? All flash sites used to turn Konq into a whack-a-mole game.

Re:ugh - popup window assault

[Anonymous Coward]

ahahahahahahahahahahahaha

true story

Re:ugh - popup window assault

[buzban]

usually when i open up anything that talks about banging, it opens up at least that many windows....but that might be a little different... =]

Re:ugh - popup window assault

[Julian Plamann]

haha, good one ;)

What about other games?

[Ferox]

I have spent many an hour on the SF series. But what about other games that suck away at our precious time. Warcraft, Mortal Combat, GT. etc.. ( my roommates were addicted to TheSims, so at least I wasnt totally alone with my obsession) Those games helped lower my GPA in college. Is there something that just makes the SF series more addicting?

Re:What about other games?

[slugfro]

Other more modern games may be more addicitng, but as far as I remember, Street Fighter was really the first game that practically everybody was playing. Everyone was constantly trying to get better in order to one-up the "competition" and be the local champion (even if it was only withing a small group of friends). Ahhhh the good old days!

Re:What about other games?

[vandemar]

Street Figter 2 was the first game with any real depth that let you play against another human. Before that, you could only show off your "skills" by beating the high score. This game significantly increased the social aspect of video gaming.

Unfortunately, it also significantly increased the actual physical violence in arcades. Now before you jump in and shout about columbine, the violence here was caused by not playing enough of the game. Most arcade fights are started by people who haven't played enough to get good at the game, resulting them losing. Like I said, this game has plenty of depth.

Street Fighter requires skill. In the beginning it was about doing those cool looking fireball moves. Then we discovered combos. Then the strategies started developing. The level it's played at nowadays involves mind games and knowing your oponent. This is not your father's video game (not that your father actually had video games). Many times, Street Fighter has even been compared with chess. I await the day when it will be an official Olympic sport. Heh. Imagine the judging disputes when one player abuses a game glitch.

Re:What about other games?

[abe ferlman]

Street Figter 2 was the first game with any real depth that let you play against another human.

Ahem. Karate Champ. Ahem.

I mean I know it's old school, but don't you whippersnappers know what mame is :?)

Re:What about other games?

[brer_rabbit]

I can still hear it ~15 years later:
Full point!

Re:What about other games?

[John_Booty]

The level it's played at nowadays involves mind games and knowing your oponent. This is not your father's video game (not that your father actually had video games). Many times, Street Fighter has even been compared with chess.

This is a really interesting point. A lot of people bitch and moan about things like chess going down the tubes in favor of videogames, but I believe that top videogame players are on a par mentally with top chess players.

It's somewhat an apples vs. oranges comparison, true, since videogames and chess are emphasizing different areas of the brain, but if you've never seen "pro"-type players I don't think you can realize what another mental level these people are on. Look at an RTS game like StarCraft... they're managing hundreds of units in real-time. It's amazing to watch.

Don't flame me... I realize "thinking ahead" in chess requires an incredible amount of mental calculation and is probably more complex than any videogame out there. However, videogame players do it in real time!

Re:What about other games?

[rho]

I dunno... I'd rather it be whispered about me, "there goes a chess grandmaster", than "there goes the best tiddly-winks player in the world".

FWIW, I don't think the comparison between SF and chess is fair. Sure, the player may be thinking in "real time", but the complexity of moves, compounded by hard-and-fast rules coded into the game means that at the highest levels, it's a test of endurance or reflex response (or both), not game skill.

Whereas in chess, at the highest levels, there can be multiple levels of attack, deception, gamesmanship, and defense.

Let me be clear, though--I find that at the highest levels of almost *anything*, the people there tend to be boorish, whether they be chess grandmasters, SF gods or Ph.Ds in French Realist poetry. The people at the highest levels of whatever dicipline tend to be one-trackers, of which sparkling conversation is not made.

Re:What about other games?

[SilentStrike]

Are you delusional? Starcraft requires no where near the "mental ability" as does chess. I used to be a pretty good starcraft player (placed in a few regional money tournaments, beat people who travelled to Korea for big money tourneys), but gaming requires a much different skill than chess does. People engage in deep thought in chess games.. there is nearly no thinking in games of Starcraft... it's all reactionary. Sure, some thinking goes on before and after the game, but the amazing unit/economy management of professional Starcraft players is simply pure quickness. Gaming skill is a lot more like boxing than it is like chess, you have to be quick during the match to win. Surely, a lot of prepation (including perhaps some deep contemplation about the game) goes into getting good at it, but in the match it really comes down to quickness.

Re:What about other games?

[vandemar]

FWIW, I don't think the comparison between SF and chess is fair. Sure, the player may be thinking in "real time", but the complexity of moves, compounded by hard-and-fast rules coded into the game means that at the highest levels, it's a test of endurance or reflex response (or both), not game skill.

Although reflexes and dexterity are highly important, the high levels of play involve so much more. You have to control the space around you effectively. You have to know when it will benefit yourself to take the hit. You have to be aware of the range of your moves and those of your opponent. (A common technique is to stand just outside the range of his farthest reaching attack. The opponent, unnerved by your proximity, lashes out only to whiff just by a pixel. You then counter-attack his extended limb.)

A prime example of the mind games that go on is the "pyschic DP" (DP == Dragon Punch). It is so called because it appears to the observer that you've read your opponent's mind and countered his move in the exact same moment he initated it. What really happened is that you've been paying attention to the patterns of attack that your opponent is using. You know what his moves are, and what they are good for. So you set up your own pattern. Then when your opponent thinks he knows what's the next thing you'll do and tries to attack, you surpisingly just stand there. But it's too late, he's already pressed the button. WHAM! You proceed to nail his ass with your psychic DP.

In SF, there is a wide range of playable characters. Most of them have distinct styles and abilities. Your choice of character can result in a completely different way of playing. For those who don't quite see it yet, think of the character classes of Diablo 2. Necromancer plays completely different from Barbarian. There are characters that move very quickly and jump around all the time. There are others that keep their distance with long limbs or projectiles. Still others are big and slow but do huge amounts of damage if they can get close and actually hit you. Each character requires different amounts of reflex and dexteriety.

Re:What about other games?

[rho]

True, as far as it goes. But due to the nature of a computer game, the number of subtleties is much less than the subtleties of chess (or Go, for that matter).

I don't mean to demean a good SF player, but I just don't see the same level of complexity. By and large, SF ability is based on the twitch-factor. Chess is based on more complex strategy.

Re:What about other games?

[Qrlx]

A common technique is to stand just outside the range of his farthest reaching attack. The opponent, unnerved by your proximity, lashes out only to whiff just by a pixel. You then counter-attack his extended limb

Okay, first off I didn't become addicted to these sorts of games until Mortal Combat II but this always ended up being the problem. You'd get the two best guys in the arcade playing, and they would just stand there, waiting for the other to attack. Or, if you were just average (like me), you'd eventually get bored and attack your opponent. And then you'd get hit because by simply waiting for your opponent to attack you will always have an advantage.

The other option is the endless cancelling fireballs (or the MK2 version, SubZero ice blasts/frozen patches).

(Where I played it was considered "poor sportsmanship" to throw your opponent, but of course not eveyone played by those rules and while I never saw this lead to a fight it certainly could have. People get annoyed when they get their ass kicked. It even happens in chess.)

So, surely psychology is an important factor, but if you play defensively, and you're good, you will almost never lose. Which is actually a lot like chess come to think of it.

What was Ken saying when he threw those fireball things? To me it always sounded like "COOL whip!"

Re:What about other games?

[Qrlx]

The best move in that game has to be the Jamping Side Kick! That game was pretty awesome, and one of few head to head games around at the time. I think it was more like 20 years ago, too.

Re:What about other games?

[vandemar]

You'd eventually get bored and attack your opponent. And then you'd get hit because by simply waiting for your opponent to attack you will always have an advantage.

This is known as "turtling". There is a big difference between that and defensively goading your opponent into leaving himself vulnerable by executing an attack at the wrong range or time. Interestingly, despite the apparent effectiveness of turtling, you will be hard pressed to find higher level tournaments where turtling players win.

Where I played it was considered "poor sportsmanship" to throw your opponent

And that is probably why you were faced with the turtling problem. When someone is passively standing there waiting for you to attack him, he's a prime target for being thrown. When you refrain from throwing, you miss out on a very important aspect of SF.

To hear the words directly from a high level player, please go to
Domination 101 at Shoryuken.com.

What was Ken saying when he threw those fireball things? To me it always sounded like "COOL whip!"

It's "HADOKEN". The "HA" was very brief and the "DO" dragged on for a bit, so it's understandable that it might sound like "ha DOOOO kIN" or "a COOOL whip".

Re:What about other games?

[John_Booty]

Here's what I said:
I realize "thinking ahead" in chess requires an incredible amount of mental calculation and is probably more complex than any videogame out there

Here's what you said:
Are you delusional? Starcraft requires no where near the "mental ability" as does chess.

Um, that's what I *said*... you basically accuse me of being delusional, then echo what I said. Nice. It used to be, we made fun of Slashdot readers who didn't read the linked story. Then came a new wave of readers who didn't even read the *news post* on Slashdot's front page that they were replying to. The replies to this latest post of mine are representative of the third wave of ridiculous posters- ones who don't even read the post they're flaming! Congratulations, you're are the forefront of a (not-so-new) generation.

Re:What about other games?

[Jagasian]

For those who don't know, Karate Champ was the first 1-vs-1 martial arts competitive fighting game.

Re:What about other games?

[DNS-and-BIND]

Yeah, we played the shit out of Karate Champ. Once you got the moves memorized it was great. Very tactical, move and counter-move. We also used to play Track & Field, but that game was a lot of button-slapping, and not as deep as Karate Champ.

Re:What about other games?

[jgerman]

I'm not going to flame you, but to compare SF with chess is patently ridiculous. There is a lot more going on in chess that there is in any current game. Chess is played in realtime too, I'm not sure what distinction you're making. I'm the last person to put down video games, they are definitely good for the mind (though I don't usually include fighting games in this), but they aren't nearly the mind challenge that chess is.

Re:What about other games?

[Chris Mattern]

Were you ever able to knock out that damn bull?

Chris Mattern

Re:What about other games?

[brer_rabbit]

I saw people do it, never got it myself. I forget if they used a punch or kick on it. I think you had to punch it, either standing or ducking.

Re:What about other games?

[John_Booty]

Here's what I said:
I realize "thinking ahead" in chess requires an incredible amount of mental calculation and is probably more complex than any videogame out there.

Here's what you said:
There is a lot more going on in chess that there is in any current game.

Sound familar? I explicity said, yeah, chess is more complex than any videogame (although I said "probably" more complex... maybe there's games I don't know about). The irony of calling my statement "patently ridiculous" while basically restating it and calling it your own is delicious.

I wouldn't call chess "real-time". True, you usually don't have unlimited time to ponder your move, but not it's real-time in the sense that most videogames are. Chess is turn-based, with distinct movement phases for each player. Unless you're playing some new version of chess where both players move simultaneously? That could be fun.

So, to restate, VIDEOGAMES ARE NOT MORE COMPLEX THAN CHESS. I was saying though, that at higher levels of competition, there is some pretty amazing thinking going on in games that goes far beyond "twitch" reflexes, and unlike chess, it's real-time.

Re:What about other games?

[jgerman]

Here's what you said:\

but I believe that top videogame players are on a par mentally with top chess players.

Then here's what you said:

realize "thinking ahead" in chess requires an incredible amount of mental calculation and is probably more complex than any videogame out there

Contradict yourself much. That's what I was pointing out, it's absolutely ridiculous to make the comparison.

Re:What about other games?

[John_Booty]

Agree with my point or not, but I didn't contradict myself. My original point was that top game players can be on a par with top chess players mentally, although it's a different kind of mental ability (less complex, more real-time).

It's sort of like saying that the Hoover Dam and the Great Pyramids are both among the world's greatest feats of engineering. Nobody's saying they're the same damn thing... much like I went out of my way to indicate that chess and gaming represent two different types of mental acuity.

Validate your life?

[Indras]

The movie rocked and validated my wasted life ever since the purchase of Street Fighter 2 Japanese for SNES.

I don't think my girlfriend (or any non-geek) would agree :o)

Re:Validate your life?

[vandemar]

I don't think my girlfriend (or any non-geek) would agree :o)

On the contrary, many Street Fighter players aren't geeks. The most obvious example are the gangsta players (playas?). I'm sure there are at least a few geeks on slashdot who've been on the receiving end of gangsta violence after beating them at the game 3 times in a row. Oops, video games cause violence? No more than pool or poker.

I'd watch it on PBS maybe..

[RN]

c'mon now..watching documentaries at the theaters is a dry experience to begin with. None can really fill a big screen and the surround sound with much depth. I've seen a few at the theatres, and none were worth paying $9.50 to see, no matter how riveting it was. If it was on PBS or some other tv channel now then I would check it out.

Re:I'd watch it on PBS maybe..

[Dolly_Llama]

Go see Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy. It's a documentary, but hilarious, and suprisingly, not raunchy. It will change your mind about documentaries forever.

You're missing a step

[susano_otter]

1. Read Link 2. Post 3. Smoke Crack 4. Profit!

Streetfighter was all I did in the early nineties.

[Zaphod-AVA]

Sad but true.

I recall beating folks by watching the screen in the mirror on the ceiling...

The fact that the arcade is disapearing is lamentable, and I'm glad someone has captured some of it's.. well glory isn't quite the right word.

I'd go into SF Alpha 3 witdrawal if it wasn't for Mame. Mame rules.

-Z

Kinda ironic isn't it?

[CitznFish]

A movie that wastes 2 hours of your life showing how other people waste hundreds of hours of their lives. Seriously though, would someone actually pay to watch this movie? Do you get game hints or tips? What's the attraction?

Golfland

[Telastyn]

I live not a 5 minute drive from this golfland (and Neutral Ground, home of the regional CCG tournaments btw.)

It is a terribly unassuming place, just a kinda shoddy mini-golf place with terrible parking. It's nestled among large apartment complexes near a diverse (ethnically) area.

I heard about tournaments there a few months back, but have still never stopped by yet. But unless you knew any better, you'd just assume the place was a little shoddy mini-golf place, fighting off the Man to keep their little place alive. (there are tons of little shoddy shops in Silicon Valley that refused to sell, even when the land prices were exorbitant)

The SF scene

[infiniti99]

Check out Shoryuken.com, for the latest information (tournaments/ranking) on the SF scene, as well as combo videos and recorded tournament matches.

Currently, the most popular games are Capcom vs SNK 2 and Marvel vs Capcom 2. I am a big fan of the latter, and I often play at Southern Hills Golfland. The players there are incredible, and on the weekends the place is completely packed (15 minute wait for a game sometimes). I played in the MvC2 tourney last month, but lost first round. :)

Can'tt beat the original

[colmore]

And by original I mean Street Fighter II (the first one never really took off)

SF2 put fighting games on the map. It was a huge step toward the dominance of video games in youth culture. Whether or not this is a good thing, you can decide.

For like 3 years SF2 dominated the arcade and home console scene like nothing since PacMan. Only Halflife compares in recent times, though the PC market is much smaller than the console and arcade markets.

I don't want to think of how much money I put into that franchise during my middle school years. I was best with Ken personally, though I thought Blanka was the most fun to play. Some of the "sequels" were cool, Turbo, Special, and Super all added something. The later editions of the series, Alpha, III etc. never really did it for me.

And who remembers the huge debate over which was better, SF2 or Mortal Kombat. Where I was from the be-mulleted redneck teens were all into MK and everyone else was big on SF2. If you go back, I think it's fair to say that Street Fighter II had the better gameplay (at least compared to the first Kombat, MK2 was much better) though MK did a better job of getting itself in the news (for obvious reasons.)

Ah... memories.

3d fighters just don't do it for me, and now SNK is gone, and Capcom has been getting diminishing returns off of newer 2d fighters like capcom vs. marvel. I think we've finally reached the end of an era... oh well.

Re:Can'tt beat the original

[Tofuhead]

I wouldn't worry about 2-D fighters going anywhere. Guilty Gear and Capcom vs. SNK are VERY popular, as are the Marvel line of games (though they're not my cup of tea). CvS2 is coming to GameCube from Dreamcast and PS2, and CvS3 is in the works. SNK's KOF franchise is alive, and in the hands of new developers in Korea. And if you ever get nostalgic for the gameplay, you can always seek out older games for Sega Saturn, NeoGeo, and Capcom arcade boards that weren't in wide release here in the U.S., like Warzard/Red Earth. You only really got 2-D goodness from Capcom and SNK anyway, though smaller challengers like Sammy have come up with interesting efforts.

MK is a stereotypically gauche American game series. I played it with friends, but that's it. I'd never knock anyone who played it, but I didn't like it.

< tofuhead >

Re:Can'tt beat the original

[infiniti99]

And who remembers the huge debate over which was better, SF2 or Mortal Kombat.

SF2 was definitely a better game in my opinion. The characters felt stiff in MK, and they all played the same (and I won't even go into the number of palette-swapped Sub-Zeros). Here's a strange fact: I can remember that there was a developer called "Ed Boon" that worked on MK, but I can't name a single developer of SF. Why can I remember Ed Boon? Midway always had a thing about putting their developers in their games somehow (remember "toasty" ?). Note to future game developers: if you want to make yourself famous, put a character in the game whose name is yours spelled backwards. Then ensure that gaming mags make a point of it. You will be remembered for all time, no matter how bad your game is.

Capcom has been getting diminishing returns off of newer 2d fighters like capcom vs. marvel. I think we've finally reached the end of an era.

Marvel vs. Capcom was pretty good. Each "Vs" game, as they are called, has been progressively better than the last (Not counting Capcom Vs. SNK series though, which has a completely different play style). Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is insane. No other game can top 56 characters, with each player choosing 3, and I think even Capcom would have a hard time topping itself here and remaining playable. Let's see how long the CvS series lasts.

Re:Can'tt beat the original

[Evangelion]

Yes, but the problem is that MvC2 sucks ass. It has some horribly, horribly imabalanced characters (*cough*Cable*cough*), and it's the epitome of a button masher. It's made to attract crowds in arcades, which it does well -- alot of flash, and a few killer combos which dominate the game. 56 characters is all well and good, but when there's only a point to using 10 of them, it's not terribly impressive.

The CvS series is an attempt to return to the precision games of the past, a'la Super SFII Turbo, instead of the button mashing frankenstien they created with MvC2. They are awesome games, if only Capcom would bother actually caring about the character sprites in them. It feels like they overlaid SNES character sprites with DC backgrounds and effects in CvS.
.

Re:Can'tt beat the original

[silhouette]

Here's a strange fact: I can remember that there was a developer called "Ed Boon" that worked on MK, but I can't name a single developer of SF. Why can I remember Ed Boon? Midway always had a thing about putting their developers in their games somehow (remember "toasty" ?).

That's pretty close - Ed Boon is the lead programmer of the MK team and it's actually his voice used for the famous "Get over here!" Scorpion line. The "toasty" guy is Dan Forden, who does the music and sound effects. Once long ago when MK was much more popular than it is now I met Dan Forden through the music technology dept at my university - he was a cool guy. Definitely a sound engineer.

I really like the idea of putting developers into the games in creative ways. Another good example is Chrono Trigger - in one of the many different endings, you get to walk around a level talking to all the game's programmers and designers. That's the sort of team I'd like to work for! Put a little bit of my own personality into the product! (Hm, makes me wonder whose personality Clippy is based on)

Re:Can'tt beat the original

[Anonymous Coward]

Ed Boon graduated from my school (University of Illinois)! I remember he came back and talked to our intro to CS class back when I was a freshman 4 years ago. It seems Mortal Kombat was originally an underground project at Midway. He and his co-conspirators dressed their friends up in cheap costumes from a party store and photographed them to make the characters in the game. Then he showed us pictures of the costumes from "Mortal Kombat on Ice" (sounds really stupid), and unbelievably, they were worse than the original cheap junk!

Re:Can'tt beat the original

[Evangelion]

Has anyone picked up Final Fight yet?

FF: Mark of the Wolves kicks fucking ass on DC.

The character animation in there put's Capcom's efforts in the CvS games to utter shame.

And don't be so gentle with MK. The only worse fighter was Killer Instinct.

Re:Can'tt beat the original

[Rinikusu]

No f'ing shit.

I almost had to drop out of my freshman year of college because of the Original SF2. I probably spent a thousand bucks in the game to become a locally respected Dhalsim player.. ;) I didn't win everytime, but I could sure beat the hell out of the short-kick/throw ken/ryu players who hadn't mastered instant uppercut (or was that in the next iteration?). Unfortunately, I gave up around Super SF II, and quit playing the game pretty much for good. In fact, I pretty much quit playing all 2D fighters, much like I got FPS'd out after Doom II. I picked up Guilty Gear X for the PS2 and have had a blast with it, but it's still nothing compared to the thrill I got in an arcade full of shit-talking teens. You know it's bad when you tell your own brother "YOu know, you wouldn't be so bad if you weren't such a fucking bitch" as you bounced him off the game. Tough love indeed.

:)

Re:I live down the street from the sunnyvale golfl

[Anonymous Coward]

All Chun Li did was jump and bounce around. And people who used her for the first time could get lucky with no strategy or plan. She sucked.

Damn. Never knew describing a video game character could make it sound so dirty.

round one!

[Hagmonk]

Round one. Fight!

Ush ush ush.
Hadooooooken.
Hadooken.
Shoruken.
Ksh ksh ksh
Arooo, arooo.
Bzzt bzzt bzzt.
Shoruuuuken.
Aroo.
Ka-kumph.
Bzzt bzzt bzzt bzzt bzzt bzzt.
Hadoooken.
Ooooh - ooh - ooh - ooh ...

You win!

Re:round one!

[Laplace]

ya ta!
yesyesyesyesyesyesyes!

Re:round one!

[Hagmonk]

tiger.
tiger.
tiger.
tigeupercut!

Re:round one!

[Anonymous Coward]

The sad part is that I can actually tell Ryu just beat Blanka.

Re:round one!

[Wolfier]

Guess who's playing who?

Bom...

Bom...

Bom...

Ouah Ouah Ouah Ouah....

You Win!

Re:round one!

[Hagmonk]

"bom" is not onomatopoeic enough for me. More clues required!

But who can kill in three hits? Zangief's 360 piledriver? I'd like to see someone rip that off three times in a row. a) it's technically difficult to execute, b) what kind of chimp would let it happen three times in a row?

Re:round one!

[Wolfier]

Hint, it only happens in SF2 original. Everything but the "Bom" are silent.

Re:Bang this page widening post up your ass!

[Anonymous Coward]

Same here.

Netscape Comm 4.79 on NT 4.0.

"Bang the Machine?"

[flacco]

If I wanted to bang a machine I'd go here.

Re:"Bang the Machine?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod this guy up, that's some funny shit.

Re:"Bang the Machine?"

[Loligo]

>If I wanted to bang a machine I'd go here
>[realdoll.com].

So they've started putting motors in 'em?

-l

/. isn't that new

[the_march_hare]

ok i know this is SOS but /. isn't that "on the ball anymore"
just my NSHO

Re:Streetfighter was all I did in the early nineti

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah I recall beating folks like you did too when I was in H.S. around that time as well.

That is, until their moms came to pick them up because they're older siblings were done playing in the McDonald's playground next door.

But until then, I was the king.

Sunnyvale Golfland

[Tofuhead]

Let me tell you, the best SF2 players in the world are at a whole other level than normal human beings.

I hate the terminology, but all the players I've ever played outside of Sunnyvale Golfland are scrubs compared to those that I've played there. Good Lord. I don't know if John Choi (one of the best pro SF2 players in the U.S.) still plays there, but by God, he and those that were at his level were a sight to see. I entered a few tourneys alongside folks like them back when I went to school in the valley, and I never did better then the third round. John once handed my ass to me on a plate, double perfect rounds, then shook my hand and walked off. I didn't feel too ripped off though...we were playing SF Alpha (1), and he was taking advantage of Guy's endless redizzy combo.

I highly recommend this place to bay area locals, whether you want to play or watch, you're bound to see some of America's best playing there on almost any given night. Reeks of tobacco too, just like all good SF2 arenas.

< tofuhead >

Re:Sunnyvale Golfland

[hiryuu]

Let me tell you, the best SF2 players in the world are at a whole other level than normal human beings.

Gawd, ain't that the truth. I made it through college (in central Indiana) thinking pretty highly of my SF2 skills, until I moved to New Jersey after graduation. I looked around for a decent arcade with Capcom machines, and on some advice from Usenet, managed to find 8 on the Break ten minutes from my place. (Much to my surprise, I found out it was one of the sites for the East Coast SF tourney.) For about a year I tried to keep up with the gods who frequented that place - most of whom fit the gangsta description mentioned elsewhere in the posts - and then I just gave up. Too many times losing in a handful of seconds - ouch.

Re:Sunnyvale Golfland

[keflex]

Hehe... I attended an MvC tournament held in Sacramento once and both Johny Choi and Alex Valle were there. Suffice to say, ppl were more interested in watching them play Alpha 3 than whoever was playing MvC at the time ;) (they had also registered for the tournament).

Re:Sunnyvale Golfland

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm just curious about "best players in the world."
What about people from China (Hong Kong area and other areas too, of course), and what about Canada. I only saw one guy who was a friend of hours that lived in Hong Kong, but used to come to Ottawa, who as you put it...on another level. Nobody touched this guy.

Som I'm thinking, there are other countries out there that also have the few rare folks that can compete. I'ld like to add them to the mix. I'm really curious about this...

Re:Sunnyvale Golfland

[reo_kingu]

And yet, USA *NEVER* beats Japan at international tourneys. Come to Japan sometime, and walk into any arcade. I guarantee they'll have SF machines, and kids playing them like they were born for it.
In America, I hardly ever found anyone who could give me any kind of challenge, I always had to play my least favorite characters just to make it interesting. Since coming to Japan I use Ken or Gouki and still lose at least 50% of the time to people I don't even know. The kids here have crazy mad SF skillz ;)

And don't even get me started on the kids who play Beatmania :) I never would have thought a human being could do things like that If I hadn't seen it myself.

I saw this documentary years ago!

[Nathdot]

I would've picked that Jean Claude Van Damme was involved in the Street Fighting scene at some time or another, but it was a true revelation to find that Kylie Minogue wasn't averse to the odd urban brawl.

Before that I thought she was a little bit soft, what with that whole "Do The Locomotion" song and all, but like, WHOAH! my eyes were opened!

Re:I saw this documentary years ago!

[Graspee_Leemoor]

And according to the film-makers, she was the first person they'd seen who could fire a gun without blinking.

Useless trivia, courtesy of the lemur factoid machine...

graspee

you will die by the kung fu

[Anonymous Coward]

ar yu questering chwun wee kung fuu, huh, huh, i thinks not mistir...

Re:I live down the street from the sunnyvale golfl

[Tofuhead]

Hush now scrub. Chun Li doesn't suck; the problem is that in some of the games, she's TOO good. In my own competitive SF-playing days at Sunnyvale Golfland, I used her against all those ARK scrubs (Akuma/Ryu/Ken weaklings) just to get them off the machine so I could play other players who had more interesting strategies than hadouken/hadouken/shouryuuken.

My old game of choice was Alpha 2. Three sucked balls IMO. SSF2X was cool, but Golfland didn't have a machine. Marvel...NO. Anyway, in the Alpha games, Chun Li was too fast, had the most powerful super combos (that could be linked into each other), and had chain/link combos up the wazoo. One technique in these older games is to use her crouching forward to walk up to an opponent and poke (hit or force a block), then link the hit or block tick into her overhead kick or her fireball. She also had an air throw, which put her over the top.

In my experience, only inexperienced players could be defeated by lucky button mashers, even if they were using Chun Li. With skill, she's a top bracket character, which is why lots of the best players used characters that were more challenging/less flexible.

< tofuhead >

Subscribtions vrs Finders fee

[halo8]

So is this how /. is trying to cash in? they want a Finders Fee for the distribution rights.

Go For the Gold Guys

Another good movie at SXSW

[gazuga]

If you're gonna be around Austin, check out "Prizewhores" -- it's a documentary about all those people who go around to radio promos just for all the free stuff. It's pretty interesting. Made in Austin too.

Disclaimer: I'm not at all involved with the film, I just find it kind of funny. I guess it's a more profitable way to waste one's time rather than playing SF ;)

--gaz

Re: screw you, chun li has a power ball move too

[nagaxen]

besides, you know ken and ryu kick everyone's ass anyway.

SxSW rules

[Funk_dat69]

Woah...lots of hostility in here today..

Anyway, I just wanted to post and praise the fellas that put together the SxSW festival and bring neat little known movies like this to the (somewhat) mainstream. I havn't ever had the chance to check out the interactive part of the festival (mostly because this stuff costs an arm and a leg!), anybody see anything cool there?

and ..oh yeah..SF rules.

what do you mean M.Bison is Balrog is Vega is M.Bison???

Re:SxSW rules

[DNS-and-BIND]

SxSW is completely mainstream. It's not underground, or alternative, or cool in any way. It's just a whole lot of people who ordinarily consider Austin, Texas flyover territory, and muddy their boots once a year so as to see and be seen. This director we're speaking of would not even have his film featured at SxSW unless he was in the "in crowd".

Re:SxSW rules

[mazachan]

In Japan, Balrog is m. bison. They changed the name because Balrog is a boxer and sounded too much like m. tyson (if you notice, it looks like him too). I forget how the other names are changed since it has been at least 10 years since I last played it..(or even thought about it)

Re: Mame? pffft... ps2 man. ps2.

[nagaxen]

it's all about street fighter ex3, none of that alpha 3 bs, w/all the cartoon looking anime characters. that stuff can get on your nerves in no time. street fighter ex3 is by far better than any of the street fighter games i've ever played, and i had almost every version

bang the time machine?

[crystalplague]

For a minute I thought this was some weird fetish porno spoof of the new movie The Time Machine.

There was a bug in Turbo

[tiltowait]

You could throw people if you were on top of them. You could play Vega or Chun Li and just leap over your opponent, hit the throw button, and toss them down. It made the game pretty simple to beat, and fun to own people who were bugging you.

more

Re:There was a bug in Turbo

[Anonymous Coward]

It's called the "Rainbow Edition" You could also throw multiple projectiles at the same time.

movie trailer

[Pondy]

For those who are interested, there's a short trailer for the movie on File Planet. There's also an interviewwith Peter Kang,one of the producers, on Shoryuken.com. We got a press DVD this weekend which has 4 more teaser video clips. We'll planning on capturing them and putting them up on SRK in the next few days.

Lame

[Anonymous Coward]

They post a story about video game junkies but reject a submission about RevolutionOS. Is open source too controversial now? Slashdot is just doing cartoons and video games?

Re:Lame

[keflex]

They post a story about linux junkies but reject a submission about (insert article not pertaining to linux). Is (subject) too controversial now? Slashdot is just doing linux and DMCA?

Hehe... I hope you die, you ass.

Re:I live down the street from the sunnyvale golfl

[Anonymous Coward]

Huzzah!

A film about freaks

Re:Get some priorities

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't be such an earnest twit.

ShoRyuKen.com's upcoming Evolution2002 Internation

[*BBC*PipTigger]

SRK is putting on an International Tournament! Check out http://evolution.shoryuken.com/

The best fighters from every continent are coming to LA this summer to battle. My friend (Sirlin) did a lot of the narration for Bang The Machine && we're working to make Evol2k2 great this year (it was called B5 last year). Please show up to compete or spectate. TTFN.

e v o l u t i o n
International Fighting Game Championships

August 9 - 11 :: UCLA Ackerman Union

This year, SRK's national leaves the warm nest of Folsom, CA., to take the action downtown. It's Los Angeles, CA, and the going has never been rougher. Last year's event showed that the only guarantee is that there ARE no guarantees in these events. With a powered-up Japanese contingent and new faces from around the world, this will be the premier event of the North American calendar. From rickshaw to junk, from the junk to a trunk, from your moped to MOPAR, find a way to get there. Start planning NOW to catch all the action and take your place alongside the true world warriors.

This is where the legends are born. Old-school? New-school? Doesn't t matter. It's time to put the hype down, and your fists up. Because Evolution is all about the basics: Fight. Survive. Win.

Re:Get some priorities

[Anonymous Coward]

elenchos, is that you?

Re:Get some priorities

[colmore]

if i were posting this on September 11th, i'd be worried about me, but anniversaries are meaningless aside from symbolism.

I *live* in New York City, and this evening I took a walk downtown, saw the Tribute in Light (it's amazing, you should try to see it before April) and had quiet personal reflection time.

Slashdot isn't very quiet or personal. I post about video games on Slashdot, and reserve other things for the serenity afforded by real life.

You, sir, are a troll.

... cat /. /dev/toilet

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah So Uhh.. Who gives a shit.

What on earth are these people gibbering about?

[Anonymous Coward]

if you are near the Austin area, it is your moral obligation to watch it

Fortunately I live thousands of miles from Austin, so am immune from your imprecations

But couldn't you at least have included some basic description of whatever it was you were gibbering about in your breathless introduction?

To someone who has never heard of this "Bang the machine" (what is it, a new film, the latest hoola hoop, a hairstyle, one of these modern beat comboes?) it reads like complete gobbledygook.

Re:What on earth are these people gibbering about?

[Kraphty]

Perhaps clicking on links and reading a bit would clear up your confusion. I do believe that's what they're there for.

Re:What on earth are these people gibbering about?

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps clicking on links and reading a bit would clear up your confusion. I do believe that's what they're there for.

And if one day you should encounter a link labelled "If you don't have a Feckle Freezer, you're NOTHING!", you'll click on it, right? :)

Re:What on earth are these people gibbering about?

[keflex]

Yeah, but I guess anyone who decided to post on a topic would read the link... which is exactly what you did-- oh, wait... you didn't. You can shut the hell up now.

Evol2k2 link...

[*BBC*PipTigger]

Sorry... Here's that link the right way: http://evolution.shoryuken.com/

TTFN.

-PipTigger

Re: Mame? pffft... ps2 man. ps2.

[Anonymous Coward]

Beg to disagree, SF2 Turbo Championship was IMO the best SF to date. I dig all the alphas and trey and all, but Turbo Championship was PERFECTLY balanced and just always feels right.

And a big F-U to all the SF haters, that game WAS the arcade for about 5 years. I so miss that kind of competitive environment. It was always so cool to be able to go play in any arcade in any city and just to feel the rhythm of those battles like you were home. The most bizarre game I ever played was about a year ago against a Japanese guy who spoke very little English. It was a classic Ryu vs. Ken battle (each representing our respective countries) and the battle was intense; the rhythm of the battle, the back and forth, defense/offense felt like communication in the most basic sense. It was like we were talking without sharing a common spoken language.

CitznFish from ls1.com?

[Win-Developer]

Hey are you the same guy that posts on ls1.com?

A long-term Austinite's view of SXSW...

[Loligo]

I've lived in Austin for 27 years, and I've been watching SXSW since it started.

Unfortunately, SXSW (the music part, anyway) is somewhat of a local joke for longterm residents and some local musicians.

When SXSW started out, it was a great way to get some exposure for a struggling local band. I imagine Sundance was originally the same way for smaller indy film makers.

Now, however, if you don't already HAVE a name, you can't play SXSW. And since it pretty much takes over the Sixth Street scene, your ability to play down there is very very limited during the "festival" as well.

I've seen a number of local indy musicians wearing "SXSW SUX" shirts, and I think that sums it up pretty well. It's become too big, too commercial, and a waste of time for people that want to PARTICIPATE in the music side. The old Austin Aquafest went the same way in the last years before it went belly-up.

I haven't attended the Multimedia Conferences or the movie part of things, but I hear they're still worth doing. I'm not sure how the dot-scam bust will affect the multimedia stuff, but it still should produce some interesting stuff.

-l

(flame on...)

Re:A long-term Austinite's view of SXSW...

[smcdow]

I've lived in Austin for 27 years, and I've been watching SXSW since it started.

So have I, on both counts.

Now, however, if you don't already HAVE a name, you can't play SXSW.

I don't know about that. For instance, do you already know of any of these bands?
Uncle Smithee's Esoteric Music Emancipators:
White Ghost Shivers (Austin TX) 9:00 p.m.
Dark Holler (Austin TX) 10:00 p.m. audio
Shorty Long (Austin TX) 11:00 p.m.
Ridgetop Syncopators (Austin TX) 12:00 a.m.
Dave Biller and Les Niglos (Austin TX) 1:00 a.m.

Re:A long-term Austinite's view of SXSW...

[jefflinwood]

Shorty Long (Austin TX) 11:00 p.m.

I've heard of Shorty Long...I think they used to sit down in the basement of the Empanada Parlour playing before the other bands showed up :)

The film festival is definitely worth your time. I bought one of the $50 passes so I could skip the ticket lines, and I've seen 4 movies so far. Two of those are probably going to be coming to theatres across the country in a few months, but I don't think I would have heard of the other two. If you think sitting in the Alamo Drafthouse drinking beer, eating nachos and watching weird films sucks, then you probably wouldn't enjoy it! I also plan to catch:

• Last Party 2000 with Philip Seymour Hoffman
• Gigantic: They Might Be Giants documentary (with John and John at the movie Tuesday)
• Journeys with George (W Bush)
• Whatever else is around

I don't usually like a lot of the musical genres they pick up for SXSW, so I'm not particularly planning on going to any of the bands.

Re:A long-term Austinite's view of SXSW...

[starman97]

The Interactive tradeshow was pretty dead..
I really wanted to wear my F*cked Company shirt
just to rub it in, but figured I'd get kicked out.

Bruce Sterling's party was pretty good, better than last years, so it wasn't all bad.
If you're in town, hell, run on down, it's still going on.

OK, I admit it...

[Anonymous Coward]

...this article is more pathetic than even I thought /. could get.

Validated your life???

Folks, get a frickin' grip, turn off your computer, and go do something worthwhile for at least a few hours a week. If nothing else, the sheer diversity of the real world will be more amazing than anything you'll find online.

Re:OK, I admit it...

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

You make it sound like they were seriously bitching about it. Personally, I find a life doing what I love very fufilling. Tell that to an archaeologist, or a biblical scholoar who obsesses over the very *sentance* pattern of the bible. It's not what you do, it's how much you enjoy it that should validate your existance.

fuck you

[Anonymous Coward]

get a life you turd miner

Wow... that's deep!

[Anonymous Coward]

"had quiet personal reflection time."

You mean to say you looked in the mirror at your partner ramming his tool into your ass.

CowboyNeal!

[Anonymous Coward]

I said, COWBOY KNEEL...

Kneel down and suck my cock!

-Rob "Cmdrtaco" Malda

Chun li has a fireball move!

[Sorcerer13]

It's called the kikokken.

Re:Chun li has a fireball move!

[linzeal]

Was this in the first one?

Re:Chun li has a fireball move!

[Anonymous Coward]

It was first in Hyper Fighting, which came after Championship Edition. In Super Street Fighter 2 they changed the animation and the move command from a half circle to a charge.

Best Street Fighter Movie Ever

[EvilBastard]

Cheng shi lie ren (City Hunter)

You haven't seen Street Fighter until you see Jackie Chan get beaten up by Ken Masters or Jackie Chan come back into the fight dressed as...
I won't tell you. Check out this 8 meg mpeg to see

Re:Best Street Fighter Movie Ever

[ChiPHeaD23]

This is hilarious shit... Somebody better mod this up.
Nice use of original soundtrack, too.

Mame and final burn alpha

[Anonymous Coward]

For those who don't live near a major SF tourney area there are always emulators. Particularlly final burn alpha which has a nice online component. At any time you can fire up MvsC, or any of the older arcade favorites and find an online opponent to play against.

No

[CaptainSuperBoy]

You're thinking of one of the hacked versions. There were ones where you could shoot fireballs while you were jumping, throw people while you were over their head, etc. In contrast, SF2 Turbo: Hyper fighting was as close to perfect as they get.

Re:No

[Requiem]

The unfortunate side-effect of playing SF2: Turbo on the highest Turbo and difficulty settings since I got my SNES in '93 or '94 is that everything else seems painfully slow.

Re:No

[flink]

SF 2 (original) for SNES - Play as Chun Li and do a fierce jump kick. If you got the distance right, they will either get hit by the jump kick or block. If they block, you can throw them before they let their guard down. Works especially well if you do it as they are getting up. I don't think it works with the "faster" later editions.

Interesting...

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

they list Mary K's as the place to play in Vegas. Fuck that shit. Mary K's is so ghetto it made a friend of mine from LA scared of that place.

Anyway, bitching about that aside, it looks like an interesting look into a much MUCH neglected subculture that blends every other possible subculture into it. All walks of life, the thing is, is that if there wasn't such a stigma on females playing games, you'd probably see a few females starring here. This kind of reminds me of Tampopo Arcade...(Which is another story altogether.)

Japan Still Has Love for 2D

[mrmomcn]

I'd just like to make a comment here from the land of the rising sun: If you think 2D-fighting is on it's death-bed, hop on the next flight to Nippon, and you'll realize it's quiet alive and well. Seriously, most arcades here carry more 2D fighting games than 3D ones, and you'll be able to play the original SFII in a box constructed nearly a decade after its release. Even better, you can play the original Kung Fu game on an arcade box for 100 yen, twice as much as for a game of Tekken 4! Hah! But other than the strong representation of classic 2D fighters, Japan has still produced some new modern ones as well. I recommend Guilty Gear X as an example of how Hi-Res, super-fluid 2D fighting can be done. But I must say, always kept a soft spot for Chun-Li and the hacked Championship Ed. with the mid-air moves and Guile's handcuffs.....Ahhh the good old days.

-Morgan McN.

fat jew alert

[Anonymous Coward]

go suck some chode and take the black cock out of your ass

how a top player plays...

[kejadlen]

this artcile [shoryuken.com] is an analysis of a top level match in a tournament. if you think that button mashing is a way to win in street fighter, or that it takes no skill, think again!

Mr. Noone

[MsGeek]

Who the hell is this "noone" person people are always talking about here.

Well, they could be talking about him.

Apples and Oranges Together

[Kwil]

Try www.kungfuchess.com for a taste of marmalade. Real Time Chess.

Re:Can't beat the original

[Nailer]

Can't beat the original

Yes! it must defeat Sheng logn to stand a chance!

What's the attraction?

[Chelloveck]

I was working at Capcom Coin-Op around the time SF Alpha came out. We had one in the showroom on free play, so I played it a bit. Never could understand the popularity of it. Or any others in the fighting genre, for that matter... The whole thing seemed to come down to memorizing arbitrary joystick/button sequences that had little or no connection to what was happening on the screen. Wanna do your super-mega-knockout move? LLLDU-sweepCCW-punch-kick. I never really saw the game aspect of it.

Now, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo , on the other hand... There was a great game! It was so cool to see half the company lined up to play it; everyone from the assembly-line workers through the highest levels of management. Time to fire up MAME, I think...

Re:What's the attraction?

[slim]

Now, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, on the other hand... There was a great game! [...] Time to fire up MAME, I think...

See here. SPF2T is excellent, but does not (yet) work in MAME. SPF2X works (apparently) but mame.dk has no known good dump.

However, there are excellent Playstation (1) and Saturn versions, as well as a Jap-only Dreamcast version which you can play online.

Why has there been no input from King of Fighters freaks yet?

Re:What's the attraction?

[Chelloveck]

Odd. I have a working SPF2X dump for MAME. Got it off the net somewhere. My kids love it.

Re:What's the attraction?

[slim]

Odd. I have a working SPF2X dump for MAME. Got it off the net somewhere. My kids love it.


Cool! Perhaps you could send a copy to the guys at mame.dk?

Too bad

[Com2Kid]

Us Neo-Geo fans will always know that Garou: Mark Of The Wolves beats the pudden out of any of those capcom games. :)

After you go MOTWs everything else just seems SOOO slow. (the SF franchise included, I can no longer play any SF game on the account of falling asleep in between moves. . . . . damn those games are SLOW. I mean unresponsive type slow too.)

Good Job /.

[Jubii]

... on giving us a diverse story that breaks the mold of:

Microsoft is evil, or MPAA/RIAA is evil, or power to Linux!

There's a lot more to being a nerd than spending a Friday night recompiling your Linux Kernel. The guys at Penny Arcade said it best when they said, "You play video games? Welcome to Dorksville." I for one don't know how many days and nights I spent at the local arcade, wasting my hard earned grocery sacker salary on that game. I don't think I'm the only slashdotter out there that was flooded by memories when I saw this article. I hate when people flame just because they have no interest in the article. That's what makes Slashdot great, there's a little something out there for all of us nerds to enjoy.

*Sigh* ...Let the flaming begin

See It

[Puk]

Having been a part of the Street Fighter "scene" for quite a while, having a lot of friends in it, and even being in the movie for an extremely brief period, I have to say that the Jab Strong Fierce crew did an excellent job with the whole thing. I drove down to Austin this weekend to plan in the tournament they planned around the screenings, see the movie, and just hang out with friends (some of whom I don't get to see much and flew in from Chicago, LA, and the Bay Area), and I was really impressed. To be totally honest, it's a bit worrisome when you realize they're going to open a window into the things you participate in, when most people don't even know they exist -- and I was scared about how the whole thing would come across to "outsiders".

I was amazed with the results. The did a great job of capturing the events of that year and the people involved. Even people who have no interest in video games (including my friend who drove down with me) seemed to enjoy it immensely. If you have a chance to see it, go. Keep in mind, the Sunday showing was over-packed, and SXSW visitors get preference, so it may be difficult to get into, especially given the /. article. I really hope they manage to find a distributor so more people can get a peek into the fun and insanity that is involved in a SF addiction and the world around it.

Now I'm going to go crash since I drove all night to get home so I could make it to work today after watching the Sunday midnight showing.

-Puk

Re:... cat /. /dev/toilet

[keflex]

I concur... who gives a shit about software?

M. Bison

[Ferd Lamarche]

M. Bison (Vega in the Japanese version) was pretty, um, fun in the Champion Edition:

Round one... Fight!
Whooosh!!
Smack!
Whooosh!!
Smack!
Whooosh!!
Smack!
Whooosh!!
Smack!
Whooosh!!
Smack!
Whooosh!!
Smack!
Aaaaaahhh!!

You win! Perfect!!

Too bad Capcom weakened him in the Turbo Hyper Fighting version.

Also, there was nothing like nailing your opponent with the scissor kick, which they later slowed down and eventually made it knock the opponent down (as opposed to leave them standing so you could mess them up more).

A lot of people called him a "cheap" character. Cheap? No, he's efficient and effective! Easy to beat other people with! What the hell's wrong with that? Sure, they tried to "balance" the characters but always failed, usually leaving Ken or Guile too powerful and making Dhalsim and Balrog (M. Bison in the Japanese version) too weak. Oh yeah... Balrog was fun, too. Nothing like running across the screen and smacking your opponent in the face. The Dashing Uppercut was cool, too. Jumping characters never knew what hit them!

FUNNY SF2 JOKE

[Dr Kool, PhD]

One day, Ryu saw Guile walking down the street and decided to come over.

Ryu: Arrrrrrr-yuuuuuu-keeeeeennnnn (dragon punch)
Guile: No, I'm Guile.

Shadow Throw... and some thoughts

[yunfat]

I'm glad there is a movie about SF2. Perhaps if people see how much skill is involved in playing video games, they won't criticize them quite so much. It's about respect. Watch a good player and you know what I mean. Their hands are as nimble as a concert pianist.

The best competitors of the original SF2 know that Guile is unbeatable (original arcade ROM)... once you learn how to shadow throw and freeze. I have never been beaten after learning these tricks, and no one will play a Guile that uses a glitch in the game.

After becoming a good player, I played competitively at the Broadway Arcade in NYC (now deceased). The competition was the best I have ever seen, many players played 5 days a week for about an hour (on lunch, like me) and were significantly better than competition in any other arcade in the NYC area. I got so good I often get treated like a celebrity when I display my skills at local arcades. When good players see me shadow throw, they know they aren't on the same level and usually stop playing and start asking questions.

Hyperfighting was the best SF2, turbo sped things up too much for me. I liked Hyper the best because the characters were so well balanced. But again, a good Bison can beat anybody, so I don't play him.

You know you are playing a good SF player when you think your mind is being read by your opponent.

On a related note, its impossible to beat an arcade cabinet for these games. Having a large, unmoving arcade cabinet significantly increases your ability to execute complicated moves and combos. Even the best home controllers (the Dreamcast Arcade stick and the Shadowblade come to mind) can't duplicate the precision of a good standup unit.

One last thing to note is that no 2d or 3d fighter will ever ever translate well over tcp/ip... latency is too much of an issue. When the stakes are high, you would never trust your shoryuken to a missed packet... hence, fighting games may go the way of the arcade, since you have to have friends who come over to play, and who have their own expensive arcade sticks. Also, good competition is hard to find. When you reach a certain level of proficiency with a Capcom fighter, people can't beleive that they can lose hundreds of games in a row, and then they never play you. Its sad, but true.

Re:Shadow Throw... and some thoughts

[DavidKirkEvans]

The best competitors of the original SF2 know that Guile is unbeatable (original arcade ROM)... once you learn how to shadow throw and freeze. I have never been beaten after learning these tricks, and no one will play a Guile that uses a glitch in the game.

Not unbeatable. Well, it depends on your definition. In this case, I would bust out Dhalsim, and do the machine reset on your sorry ass. Then we BOTH have to pay to play again, and that gets old fast. It eventually forces the Freezing Guile off the machine. (Assuming the rest Dhalsim player has more money.)

One last thing to note is that no 2d or 3d fighter will ever ever translate well over tcp/ip... latency is too much of an issue.

While you have a good point, it's good enough to be playable, and fun. Check out http://www.kaillera.com/ (of course, it's down now) and some local kaillera servers. I run one and am always hosting a good game of SSF2T when I have some spare time.

BTW, Kudos to Pete and the guys (and girl!) from Jab Strong Fierce for getting this out. Their production studio was completely wiped out Sept. 11th (they were a few blocks from the WTC) so I'm just really impressed they got something together from the footage they had remaining.

It's kinda like chess...

[func]

but faster. I used to be into SF2 a lot too, spent way too much money on it. Then I got back into martial arts - taekwondo. Wow, talk about chess! Chess where you get to make your moves as fast as you want, it's full on 3d surround sound, and it hurts when you loose. What could be better? :) Chicks dig scars.

Re:ShoRyuKen.com's upcoming Evolution2002 Internat

[dimator]

Oh man, I'm there. Are the best players in the world really going to be there? I suck terribly, but I used to be half-decent in the SNES days. :)

My first thought...

[Anonymous Coward]

...was that you were talking about street fighter tournaments, not Street Fighter tournaments. I would have been interested in the former...bleh on the later.

Really, why waste time playing it on a computer? Do it fer real!

Actually I only do Martial Arts tournaments. I did see some ameture MMA fights at the local gym...they frighten yet intregue me...

NR

SF2 in EGM and a Bit of SF2 History

[Rahoule]

Does anyone remember all the fuss Electronic Gaming Monthly (or EGM) made over the game? They had nonstop coverage of SF2 in all their issues (and even in their spinoff, EGM^2) from 1992 to 1995!

I've got a box with a whole load of EGMs from that era right beside me now. SF2 was featured prominently in a lot of the issues, and whenever any version of the game was review, it always got high marks (with an exception, below). Granted, it deserved them at first (until it was obvious that Capcom was trying to milk the game too hard).

As a quick sidenote, there were five SF2 games:

1. the original (subtitled The World Warrior), released in early 1991. Play as one of eight fighters, beat the other seven, then fight the "mysterious Grand Masters", as the manual called them (the boss characters). You could play against another player, but the two of you couldn't pick the same character.
2. the Champion Edition, an upgrade released in March 1992 which allowed you to play as the four boss ("Grand Master") characters previously reserved only for computer use (Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison), allowed both characters to select the same character, and added various minor tweaks to the characters' abilities
3. the Turbo Hyper Fighting edition, released in December 1992, which was basically a patch for the Champion Edition which sped up the game by about 20% and attempted to even out the fighters' abilities. This was released partially in response to the number of unauthorized ("pirate") hacks circulating for the Champion Edition which allowed midair fireballs, etc.
4. Super Street Fighter II, released in September 1993, which featured improved backgrounds, reorchestrated stereophonic music (previous versions were mono), and added four new characters ("the New Challengers"): Fei Long, Cammy, Dee Jay, and Thunder Hawk (T. Hawk). This version was criticized because the faster gameplay from Turbo Hyper Fighting was eliminated (to "allow for more technique"), and there was very little in the new technique added. This also marked the transition for the game from the Capcom's CPS1 arcade system to the newer CPS2 system. Capcom also released some sort of networking kit which allowed an arcade owner to link four of the machines together for eight-player "tournament battles".
5. Super Street Fighter II Turbo, released in early- to mid-1994, the final upgrade and probably the best. This version introduced vast amounts of new technique and new moves to the game, such as ability to "juggle" your opponent by hitting them multiple times in the air before they fall (like in Mortal Kombat), the ability to "soften" throws, and "Super" moves, which were extremely powerful special attacks which could be executed only after filling one's super power meter (separate from the life meters at the top of the screen). True to its "Turbo" name, this version restored the faster gameplay from Turbo Hyper Fighting, but its most celebrated addition was the addition of a hidden boss character named "Akuma" in the English version, or "Gouki" (pronounced "Goki") in the Japanese version. This character may appear to fight you at the end of the game if you played well enough. The exact method to reach Akuma was never clearly documented and apparently was different between the various home versions (PC, 3DO, etc.).

I guess that wasn't a "quick" sidenote. Anyway, as you can see, except for perhaps the last version, each upgrade was only incremental in nature. This was probably done to keep the game fresh (apparently) and keep in the pages of game magazines and on the minds of game players. Capcom also released home versions of the games for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis (Megadrive in Europe and Japan). They first released a port of the original World Warrior game for the Super Nintendo in July 1992. In September and October 1993, they released a combination Turbo Hyper Fighting/Champion Edition for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. And in July 1994 (I think), they released Super Street Fighter II for both systems.

The first two releases of the game (World Warrior and Turbo) got high marks in all game magazines, but with Super, EGM broke ranks. EGM had been one of the biggest cheerleaders of SF2, as I mentioned above, but by this point, they finally started to see the continuous upgrades for what they were, and gave the home versions of Super marks like 6/10 and 7/10. This greatly upset Capcom, and EGM's editors had some interesting things to say about this, but I don't have time to retype their interesting editorials or drag out my scanner and OCR program.

If you didn't quite understand that, let me clarify here, since it's late at night and I can't be bothered to edit. Capcom released three home versions of the game -- now if you're a kid who got your parents to buy the original, and even the second version, could you get them to buy the third? And why bother, because, when you look at the release dates, the port of Super (the 4th arcade version) was release around the same time as the arcade release of Super Turbo (the 5th arcade version). Furthermore, Super Turbo added loads more technique not present in Super! Anyway, Capcom got into some financial trouble for this and had a lot of unsold Super cartridges for the Super NES and Genesis. Yes, there were home versions of Super Turbo for the PC and 3DO, but not the Super NES and Genesis, and this is where most of the money in home versions of arcade games was at the time.

I thought all the incremental upgrading was silly, myself, but I did plunk quarters into all five versions, and I played all three home console versions (in rental form), so Capcom made money off me with the game in some form. I left the video game scene in 1995, so I missed out on Alpha, Alpha 2, Alpha 2 Gold, Alpha 3, etc. I did recall seeing a Street Fighter 3 machine once, I think around 1997 or 1998. It was just labelled "THREE" which was pretty funny, because once it was clear what Capcom was up to with all the incremental upgrades of SF2, people would make jokes that Capcom couldn't count to three.

Anyway, despite that criticism of it, I still must say that Street Fighter II was truly a landmark game, not only because it was incredibly fun to play, but also because it revived a slumping arcade industry (at the time) and gave game companies everywhere a whole new format to copy! Remember all the SNK Neo-Geo fighting games?

If I ever see a "Top 20 Games of All Time" list with Street Fighter II not in the top five or (gasp!) not listed, in my eyes, the purveyor of said list has instantly lost all credibility!

I'm sorry if all of that was poorly written or didn't make much sense, but I'm tired and want to go to bed now. Thank you for reading.

Oh, and by the way, I never thought much of Chun Li. She never seemed very cute or very strong, and Cammy, the second female character who appeared in Super, was fucking ugly. Blecch.

Re:SF2 in EGM and a Bit of SF2 History

[Anonymous Coward]

Incredibly fun to play? What part of memorizing by rote endless lists of moves, many for each player, did you consider fun?

Re:SF2 in EGM and a Bit of SF2 History

[Rahoule]

Well, for me, it wasn't exactly "by rote", as there were some distinct patterns to the joystick movements/button presses. But given how much I loved the game, I really didn't mind at all. For a while, in '92 and '93, I lived and breathed SF2.

Re:SF2 in EGM and a Bit of SF2 History

[fatbastard10101]

I'd like to point out that the original had some bad bugs that an asshole could exploit to make the game uncool. Guile had the "hand-cuffs" and "shadow-throw" which basically made him unbeatable if exploited right. I'm not sure if this was fixed in Champion or Turbo or was patched.

Re:SF2 in EGM and a Bit of SF2 History

[Rahoule]

Those bugs were patched in the Champion Edition and above, and they were not present in the Super NES version of the original SF2. They were also patched in later revisions of the arcade version of the original SF2. These bugs were just that -- bugs -- and were never considered an "official" part of the game.

Perhaps it was because they didn't want to spoil the fun or for some other nonsensical reason, but EGM refused to publish any information on the bugs. Here, let me dig up one of my old EGMs from 1992...

Ah! Here were are! Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) number 33, April 1992. Here is an excerpt from the reader letters published in that issue with the editors' response:

(Readers' letters:)

STREET FIGHTER 2 GLITCHES
Hats off to the first magazine who knows what a good arcade game is. Your Street Fighter 2 coverage was right on the money... One thing you didn't do though, is cover the 'freezes'.
Rob Shields
Eugene, OR

I just read your February magazine and it is awesome. In the SF2 part, it said to write a letter if I find any secrets. There are some which you haven't talked about. While using Guile, I found a way to freeze and handcuff your opponent.
Brian Gray
Santa Ana, CA

(Editors' response:)

(Ed. Since we published our request for new SF2 moves and tricks, we have received over 500 letters talking about everything from program glitches, like the freezes, to Guile's gun hiding in his boot! Most were just rumours, but the freezes are very real. We knew about them when we began the article, but have refrained from publishing how to do them as they can actually be harmful to the machine. These bugs have been removed from all new versions of Street Fighter II beginning with the Version 4.0 motherboard. Another famous Guile glitch is the Guile Blackout which actually resets the game (and causes you and your opponent to lose your credits). This has also been eradicated. It was also possible to reset the game with Dhalsim. Dhalsim could also turn invisible, Ken and Ryu have an endless hurricane kick where they continually spin across the screen until they get stuck in the corner. Another brilliant Guile handcuff glitch is playfully termed the Magic Throw in some circles. This is just one method to escape the Guile Handcuff. The frozen character can also initiate his/her own escape without being thrown. [...] Believe us when we say we have found everything there is to find in this truly incredible game. [...]

Well, if you really want to know more about these bugs, go to gamefaqs.com or some other knowledge base of videogame information, and you'll probably find the information there.

One thing that really galls me is the line, "they can actually be harmful to the machine." Did the EGM editors ever take computer science? Sure, the bugs will usually crash/hang the game (requiring the arcade owner to reset the machine and yell at you), but they are not "harmful" to the machine!! Oh well... I suppose there was not much point in publishing them, anyway, because they would not be guaranteed to be present in all versions or ports.

Re:SF2 in EGM and a Bit of SF2 History

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

There was infact, a Street Fighter 3 Released. Roughly around 1997 or so, capcom used thier newest board to introduce SF3, a bunch of new characters, some memorable, some not. It was a mild success compared to SF2, but the hardcore fans either loved it or hated it. It too, also was put into the same upgrade curse that SF2 was under, but not as badly. SF3 2nd Impact and 3rd Strike introduced new techniques, and new( and some old!)characters to keep things somewhat fresh.

I believe she first had it in SSF2T.

[Sorcerer13]

that's super street fighter 2 turbo, an the it was in all of the alphas.

Re: Mame? pffft... ps2 man. ps2.

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't that a bit redundant?

Re:I live down the street from the sunnyvale golfl

[Anonymous Coward]

My penis is gargantuan...

first version

[sewagemaster]

the first arcade version of street fighter version II was one of most interesting ones. i still remember the 'bug' that they had with Guile. You could execute a move that would throw your opponent without being near them. it wasnt easy to execute but it was awesome seeing your opponent's reaction when you do something like this :)

the move was similar to the sonic boom, except you need to press back right and press fierce punch + roundhouse kick.

in other words:

- (quick back after the forward above) + fierce + roundhouse.

this only worked on the ARCADE original version of street fighter II. does not work on anything else (champion edition, turbo, accelerator, etc)

All played the same?

[Mr2001]

The characters all have a common set of fundamental moves, but the range and timing of each is different enough that choosing a character is a strategy all of its own. Your opponent loves to block? Pick Kitana and sweep him before he knows what's coming. He attacks up close? Pick Sub-Zero and maintain the distance with a roundhouse from a few steps back.

Or if you're a true master, pick Shang Tsung and switch characters during the match to counter your opponent's changing tactics.. but you'd better know how to use every other character.

Now if you want to complain about Mortal Kombat, look at MK3's dial-a-combo system. 5 button presses to do a 15-hit combo that deals 10% damage.

Re:Bang this page widening post up your ass!

[Anonymous Coward]

it only works on ie

Best thing...

[Anonymous Coward]

...about SFII (up to turbo...from super thru alpha and III the game lost it) is that each move has a counter...every attack can be countered if you know how. That is where the skill comes in, and the 'chess' element. Games like MK didn't have that...there were unbeatable combo's, which ruined the game.

Wow..

[stevey]

Its good to hear about these older games, sometimes I wonder if people will be reminiscing about our current games in 10 or 15 years time.

Nowadays the main game that I play is Counter-Strike, its a great game - but it can only be played via a network, so each game is varies, depending on who you're playing against.

I used to play an awfull lot of SF2 when I was at college, on friends machines - I only saw one arcade machine of SFII in the wild, and that was at my local tattoo parlour; where I got these beauties, I'd kill to own one of the consoles now ..

Film Distributor: OSDN

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, my first thought was that if a distributor of images was wanted, maybe they should ask OSDN. The link is up there in the top left corner of the page...

SF2 ww and MAME

[Covener]

Last I tried MAME didn't reproduce some of the world warrior glitches too faithfully (tried a couple of different roms, too).

Breaking out of guiles 'statue' get's you a kick or jump kick and not a flash kick, and either I was REALLY bad on the keyboard but the mame/rom combo I was using couldn't shadow through. No Guile reset, either -- handcuffs works but no shadow throw = no getting out :(
(I would have loved to re-enact the 5 consecutive [walking-forward sonic boom style] shadow throw I once bashed a player who had come down from NY w/)

I was happy that dhalsims invisibility actually did work, In the arcades we frequented in philly all of them were of the revision where all of dhalsims glitches were resets.

This leaves kens infinite spinkick the only thin i've never seen w/ my own eyes!

I'll put this troll to bed...

[mekkab]

People dedicating their lives to training to become better then their opponents. The obsession, the hard core commitment. The quest to become the best.

[SARCASM] NAh, there's nothing interesting about that![/SARCASM]

to break down your post:
1) Who are you to cast judgement that they are "wasting their lives"? People are making a MOVIE about them. Is anyone making a movie about your life?
2) Read the comments around you. People would not only pay to see this, they would pull all nighters and stay up for 36+ hours to fit it into their lives.
3) the attraction is as stated above. Mastering the game, becoming one with your tool (the game), and using it to trounce the competition.

Okay, all of your troll points have been addressed.

parent is funny, not off-topic

[mekkab]

Next time you drop a cultural reference involving a movie that tanked, you might have to clue in the rest of the slashdot public.

regardless, you had me laughing.

Bang the machine?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it pr0n? That's gotta hurt.

SF2 SNES

[Anonymous Coward]

The Real Street Fighter games are for SNES screw combos, straight out fighting

I hope everyone knows...

[Anonymous Coward]

That the truly skilled players play king of fighters. So much more depth than that capcom trash.

ah...the beloved knee-jerk

[Funk_dat69]

he he...
What would we do without the jaded mainstream haters?

What I meant in my previous post was that the mainstream(me) would have no clue this flick existed except for publicly available festivals like these(SxSW).

There's nothing wrong with getting your work distributed. If the director played the game, got into the 'in crowd' or whatever, then more power to him because he sure as hell didn't get his film(about a video game of all things!) into the festival because the content would guarantee a packed house and big sack of money for everyone.

These kind of Posts

[Anonymous Coward]

I want to start this post by saying I really enjoy the majority of this site and find it informative but it's posts like this that make me wonder what the hell I'm doing here. This type of content taints the rest of the quality content with a junvinille basement dwellers tinge.
I think most Slashdot readers consider themselves professionals and look to this site for quality technology information and news. If I want information a Street Fighting Movie I'll go to a B-Movie site.
I would like to disable the Movie feature on the site but I feal at times there are legitimate news articles that cover technology in movies.
Am I the only troll that feels this way. Chances are that if there are any readers that have this same opinion they won't get this far into the site to read the rest of the rediculous dribble. Oh well. Flame away fellas.

Where are the GIRLS?

[5arah]

SF2 is all I played from the age of 13 until I grduated from high school. I played Chun Li and managed to beat Ken and Ryu players...The funniest thing I've ever seen was my mom playing one of the better players in our group and watching him get his ass kicked.

So I'm wondering, how many girls played SF2 on a religious basis? I picked up Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct as well...I still play in arcades, mostly for pinball, but its rare to see a girl actually PLAYING a game instead of hanging on to some videogame playing guy.

As for the "gangsta" image the guys in the movie have...well, they look like suburbanite wannabes. The socioeconomics of videogame playing doesn't seem like it would allow for "real" gangstas. There was one seriously looking geek guy in there, that I would imagine rebuilds his kernel every other day.

errr big deal....

[Archfeld]

Fighting games are the worst thing to happen to video games ever. Useless, brainless games designed to suck another $.50 from you. Wait that pretty much sums up all video games..oh well back to the arcade :)

GO HOME!!!

[rhaig]

All the New York and California people in austin this week make living here unbearable. We're glad that you like SXSW, we just wish we could enjoy it since we live here. Paying $100+ for a wristband that might get us into a concert sucks. a few years ago they were $20, and you could pretty much walk in and out of whatever show you wanted to. It wasn't so fscking overcrowded.

But we're friendly in Austin. Welcome to austin. Now eat up and go home!!

...tourneys...

[splint3r]

Just coincedentally, I'm holding an old-school SFII tourneyment at my house soon. Ah, the memories.

ahhh, the days...

[crashx99]

I used to play SF a lot in middle and high school. Back on the military base in Germany, we didn't have a large gathering of hardcore players, but the group we had (10-15) was big enough to know who was good and not. I used to skip my lunch and go straight to the arcade with my other SF people and challenge the high schoolers, it was fun, despite getting threatned every 3rd game by someone much bigger than me for about 45 minutes straight. I would last long enough until lunch would end or someone from my crew came up against me. Ahhh, the good ol' days, I guess thats why I got SF collection for the Sega Saturn, and I hope I can get a NEO-GEO this summer!

Crashx99

I lost blood to SF2

[Bryan Ischo]

Summer after freshman year of college ... 1991 ... I was playing SF2 late one night in an arcade and some local rowdies came in. I kicked their asses one by one, using Chun Li, and eventually one of them got mad enough to sucker-punch me. I lost some blood and had to get 6 stitches above my eye.

I didn't stop playing (well, I stopped playing that night, but I didn't stop playing altogether). I loved that game, man. It was a serious addiction.