Happy 25th Birthday Street Fighter

25 years of street fighter means a lot to me but it may not mean a lot to you. It helped be do something positive with my time while I mourned my mother's death. The fighting game community took me in and fought with me to be better and have fun. We spent time on each other. My fighting game career has not been 25 years. I am 27 years old. But the tradition of competitive fighting games has matured and taken in people from around the world. From the start its flagship game Street Fighter brought people together from all around the world in its character choice and in its participants. And on 12/8/2012 the street fighters came out to celebrate our anniversary in real life. The 25th anniversary of Street Fighter series was held in Brulingame, CA this past weekend. It had players from the past , the present , and the future. It was not a farewell to a great tradition but a hello to solidifying the most diverse family.

It was also a hello to some of the highest production fighting game entertainment has seen. Of the 4 games being run at the event 2 had a 1st place price of $25,000 dollars. The other 2 had 1st place prizes of $3,500. Not to mention the there was money for other placings. And to the 1st place winner of Street Fighter X Tekken was given a brand new Scion sports car, decked out with special gaming gear. The event itself had booths, and special arcade rigs available open for free including a mega man game that had street fighter characters as the bosses (which mega man go cool powers from). The event was streamed to 4 different countries; France, US, Japan, Brazil. And even before the event there were qualifiers in 7 different regions. So the overall value of this event was definitely bigger than anything that has been done in the fighting game community. Most amazingly it included people from all over the world and it was free to all attendants/spectators. Its nice to know that even if the fighting game scene gets bigger it still holds on to it roots of diversity and openness.

on the right: Ono Capcom producer

Whats in store for the future? More for the players and more for the fans. The community will grow. We should try to stay to our inclusive roots. We are gamers but we play in person, we go out to see eachother and compete angainst each other and this community should always hold this tradition true. The general player population may seem more distant to our pro counter parts as they start to win bigger and bigger prize pots, but the community tournament scene should always strive to exists. This money is not separating us, it's an addition that adds to our community. Lets use it to make us stronger. We all have had a part in making this thing as big as it is now and we all have a role still. You may not be the top player you were before but now more than ever it's important for people to do other things for the community. Find your nitch, help the community as much as you can, keep our great traditions alive so that we may always be a family.