Thank you everybody. To put a little history on me. I started playing in '98 at an arcade in Hamilton, NJ called Wizards. This place had everything, from the SNES/NES emulator arcade games, to the laser disk and even slot car racing, but the biggest thing I remember was the "fight pit". Every weekend, it was KOF, MK, or SF. It was 2 machines back to back and during the tournament, people would crowd around it like there was a pit fight going on. Well, during one of the off days, I watched a man who called himself "Ise", a generation one fighting game player on the KOF '98 machine. I would spend my 20 dollar allowance at the arcade every weekend, but then when I was done, I'd watch him play. It was like watching poetry in motion, the cancels, the loops, the combos...everything was just amazing to watch. One day, he caught me and I was like a deer in headlights. From there he asked if I wanted to play but I didn't really play or know how to play fighting games outside of pimp slapping the arcade stick and bashing on buttons like I had epilepsy. He then said he would decide to do what he's never done before and teach someone how to play. I couldn't believe he was willing to teach me and from that point, he put me through what he called "the 9 essentials of a complete fighting game player". I called it "the 9 circles of hell".
After a few months of him manhandling me, he then said that I was ready to compete. To say I was nervous is saying the Pacific Ocean is just a little wet. My first match, I lost, but it was best out of 3. At that point, Ise went to me from behind and said for me to visualize them as nothing more than a wall that I must break through to become stronger. After taking a breather, everything that he taught me opened in like a vicious floodgate. I didn't do anything flashy, but my damage was high and I was smart, visualizing each match like it was a real fight that I was in. I ended up beating the reigning champion there named "Hellion"...first time I had a truly ruthless rival. Each time we played, it looked like a violent slugfest with rabid animals. For 7 months and one other arcade in a mall called "Time-Out Arcade", I was a reigning, undefeated and fighting champion at both places
My only reason for stopping, was because I was starting high school and wanted to concentrate on it as much as I could. Every year that went by, I missed it there. The rush, the excitement, the intensity, the environment...it was like watching...electronic gladiators doing battle. There is truly no feeling that can describe or replace it.
