Dusting Off the Ring Rust

Perhaps one of the most appealing things about holding on to a fighting game for an extended period of time is the competition. You see, when a game intially releases, even the most casual player buys into the buzz and for seasoned fighting game vets, it's quite easy to blow through the common competition. However, when you give the game a couple of months, the people who don't want to stick with the fighter no longer log online, leaving only the serious competition or the aforementioned commoners who have put in the time and trained to become a legitimate competitor. Such is the case with Street Fighter IV, where, I found out this past weekend, I have some serious, serious rust.

After spending a weekend watching EVO, I thought I would give the game a little more playtime, influenced by the performances of my favorite Street Fighter player Daigo - mostly fueled by his usage of Ryu, who I like to use as well. However, Honda, Blanka, Boxer - it didn't matter who it was - they all kicked my ass. As a supporter of competitive play, yes, I can admit that. I even gave most of my opponents three matches and I could barely win one round in each, if any at all. It was evident that my habits of moving quickly on to a next game thanks to my journalistic endeavors had severely "f'd" me over in my Street Fighter IV bouts. After that, I knew a little more training was definitely in order.

Street Fighter IV was also a victim of my quick-bursting achievement method of spanning multiple games quickly to gain a variety of achievement points instead of buckling down with a game and scoring higher amounts of points per game. I noticed a large number of achievements that would just come naturally with dedication, so I've been firing the title up with the intentions of bettering my game. Last night I cleared out the hardest difficulty of arcade mode and, surprisingly, it only took about 45 minutes to accomplish. There was a rough matchup with Fei Long at first, but I could manage most of the others with little difficulty until I got to Seth. I probably spent a half-an-hour of that time figuring out this beast. I quickly found that I could punish his low fierce with a shoryuken, but his constant teleporting made it difficult to do much once you were knocked down. I still managed it by playing a mid-range game, though, and I did it all with Ryu.

One thing I keep going back to while playing last night, though, is the time I wasted giving my Mad Catz stick another try. Seeing that thing just reminds me of how I really need to do the review of it like I've promised all these month. A square joystick well? Seriously?!?

But I suppose all of this is where the pride of a fighter comes from - win or lose we fight just to become the best we can possibly be. I know there are people who just can't understand the subtle differences found in every fighting game, but, believe me, they are there and there are reasons why professional champions train endlessly. The game will only hold your hand for so long - after that, it's up to you to know how things such as kara throws, ticking and meaty attacks can improve your game. It goes beyond what magazines and strategy guides will explain to you and while you can read as much as you want, much like anything else people do in life, it boils down to experience. Sure you fight to win, but, mostly, you fight to learn.

Congratulations to everyone that handed my ass to me. It only serves as a motivation to wake up and find out what is wrong with my game plan. Fighting game fans are truly a noble breed and it's no surprise why events like EVO are treasured by the gamers who take it seriously. I suppose that's why, even after more than 15 years, the fighting genre has been among my favorites in all of video gaming.