The year 2007..... sometime in earlier October we got a very exciting teaser of a highly stylized Ryu and Ken sparring session and after that we were given the title "Street Fighter 4". I remember thinking to myself holy-crap finally after almost 12 years since 3rd Strike dropped in 1999 we are getting an actually numbered update to Street Fighter.


Months later we get more info on the engine and in game specifics, characters, consoles to which it would be released and so forth. Then sometime in Sept of 2008 a few Arcades in America, most notably in SoCal get there hands on the Japanese Arcade version and BAM, it feels like the early 90's again. People are lining up to pay 75c to $1 per play just to see what this game is all about. Some like it...some are in the middle and some are just like...I'll stick to 3rd Strike.


Anyway Arcades are booming and Feb 2009 hits we get a launch party and the console release with more characters and game modes. Now in between all this Hype for Street Fighter it seems the other companies who held the fighting game community up jumped on track also. Namco releases Tekken 6, Arc System Works release Blazblue, SNK-Playmore release King of Fighters 12, Capcom also re-releases Super Turbo in the form of HD Remix and Tatsunoko vs Capcom for Wii.


Within the span of 2 years the quiet and considered by some dead Fighting Game Community saw a resurrection and surge. It seem like everyone wanted in on the action. Tournaments are bigger, better, more hype, new games and champions to be crowned. We also saw the surge in streamed tournaments and matches being uploaded to youtube like crazy. On top of that a ton of good fighters were released on XBLA and PSN (Marvel vs Capcom 2, King of Fighter 98 UM, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, Garou:MOW, Fatal Fury 2 Special, Samurai Showdown 2 etc) that's just a handful of games.


It seems now that we are in for a huge increase that even I or even the fighting game community expected. This year alone we have had release updates for King of Fighters, Blazeblue, Super SF4, Virtua Fighter 5, and have been promised future games like Marvel vs Capcom 3, Street Fighter X Tekken, Tekken X Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat 9, Virtua Fighter 5: Final showdown (for consoles), Blazblue: Continuum Shift 2, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and possibly Soul Caliber 5 and King of Fighters 13 for consoles.


Right now is the time to be a fighting game fan especially if your like me and grew up around the Street Fighter surge in the 90's. The future seems bright and with it years of good memories to come, new battles and friends to be fought and made. In the End I hope there is room for all this and it's not overcrowded and gets over-saturated with half assed weak stuff....like we saw in the 90's, but I'm confident we won't be going that route this time. Only the Best of Best will stand tall this time.



Ironreaver