Achievement: Arcade Rat - Over a Decade Unlocked!

By Freemason 03-29-2009 02:21 AM

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Achievement: Arcade Rat - Over a Decade Unlocked!

After firing up Street Fighter 4 for the first time, I went into it thinking to myself, " I'll get tired of it and trade it off or sell it in a week, til then just get a few Gamerscore points. " After about 3 hours of playing my old favorite Ken I got to a point where I was already starting to feel that, " eh, I'm bored. "

I instead switched fighters to Sagat and went through Arcade on Medium beating it with no losses and no continues for my Arcade Rat achievement... well then I thought about the term used in that score, thinking back to when I was an arcade rat around early teens when Mortal Kombat 2, Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition where the reigning games to play in the local quarter vacuum. First a little history on the place and I am sure many had local arcades just like it.

The place was simply named TL's Arcade, after the owner TL, who was a mountain of a man about six foot seven and 300lbs +. If you took Mr. Clean and Zangief and mixed them up you would have this huge dude. Not only was he a gentle giant and great with kids, he offered parents security nothing would happen when their kids were dropping their allowance in the place. On a side note, he was also a former professional wrestler in the WWF( my generations UFC at the time ) as well as a substitute history teacher at my school. So he talked wrestling to us all, taught us about the Battle of Gettysburg, and could shake a quarter from a pinball machine like nobody’s business. He knew all of our names, when we should be home and not there, and kept everyone in a honest, fun, competitive, and safe environment.

Gaming was face to face there, you would be watched, commented on, trash talked, and people had their favorite players and matches they liked to see played. Just seeing people pick their quarters off the machine and walk away when you'd sit down was a great feeling, especially when you are a 13 year old kid whom is initially discredited by the older kids and adults who played as a non threat What they didn't know, is that my parents owned a business 2 blocks away, my best friend's parents owned an eatery with a small collection of arcade games in it, and I had a lot of free time in a small tourist town with nothing to do.. so I gamed. Although we owned a Nintendo ( can't remember if SNES was out yet but we had one of those too ) The fun of standing next to your opponent and winning or losing to their Digital Warrior of choice is something i feel is missing today.

I can still hear the laughs and groans of people watching Shang Tsung pull off the Goro transformation Fatality, and the joysticks banging out combos, yoga fires, sonic booms, and spinning bird kicks. Guns and Roses was our rock, reflexes and reading the other player was our kung fu.. and it was strong. Living off a diet of personal pan pizzas, bagged snacks, and BOTTLED pop ( yep we had an old glass bottle machine.. and yes it does taste better ) I think anyone that grew up in the arcade culture can attest to the " feeling " of competitive gaming then as it was respectful ( mostly ), players were taught and shown the good players moves and strategies to further improve the challenges, and there was nothing like seeing your initials roll up top as number one on all 3 major games of the time. People knew you by face, saw what you could do, and it was fun to be around. Also discrediting the myth of Gouken ( Shen Long ) by actually getting a double perfect on hard Bison just to see nothing happen was a moment I'll never forget with so many watching and cheering you on after about $8 in quarters.. while that sucked, it was still very memorable.
So what happened? Fighting games fell to the wayside of ever expanding and immersive first person shooter games, arcades closed up due to the console revolution, pool tables, darts, and other staples moved into bars, anonymity of the internet turned people into no holds barred animals of insults, derogatory remarks, accusations of cheating when matches were lost, gay bashing, griefing, female gamer harassment, no respect or accolade, impersonal matches of no communication or acknowledgement, no social interaction, spam, viruses, hacks, hate, and shenanigans. How many Public matches of Halo, Gears, Left 4 Dead, or TF2 have you NOT had someone call you a cheater, something related to your sexual preference, your mother, disconnected early, or otherwise just been an asshat for the simple purpose of being one and knowing the interweb will hide their actions and face?

Now almost 29 and sporting two gaming daughters to be ( at least one anyways, the other is to small to really decide yet ) I sit in my first matches in Street Fighter in the first time in a decade. Playing Sagat ( my now chosen fighter ) trying to practice my jumping Hkick, crouch Lkick, short low tiger shot, tiger genocide combo, i mostly get folks who don't say anything, but of those that do i heard something i haven't heard in a loooong time from multiple people...

" Good Game. "

I think these two words says a lot to any long time or hardcore gamer, if you won or lost, the opponent respected your playing them, acknowledges the competition, and still accepts that behind everything, it is in fact a game to be shared, experienced and enjoyed by both parties. So in closing, be a gamer not a lamer. Man ( or Woman! ) up, be respectful, teach and learn from others in your chosen games, and when playing, even if you lose, at least let the player and the people who put all the work into making your favorite pastime know that you and they have just played a " Good Game. "

So all you arcade rats, drop a line of your favorite arcade moments, opinions on the state of the game, or simply insult my sexual preference and mother, either way, state your piece.