Arcade Etiquette

This past weekend I was able to finally make it out to Arcade UFO to try out the new Street Fighter 4. If any of you are Street Fighter fans, what are you waiting for?! Oh that’s right, maybe you’re not as lucky enough as Austin to have a machine. Last time I checked there were around 10 machines in the U.S. and Austin had 2. Go ATX. I really enjoy how each machine is fit for 1 player, and 1 player only. That way, you don’t have to worry about arm space when you do your crazy moves. Some people get intense. Anyways, the set up is really 2 machines next to each other, or across from one another (Asian style) and each has it’s own flat panel HD screen. At this arcade there were 4 machines set up to form a square, so sometimes you would see a person peeking through the cracks to see who they were dealing with, kinda weird, but whateves. On with the story…

It takes a dollar to play, and I didn’t have ones on me. But luckily a friend of mine is a valet parker and has enough ones to hit up about 12 strip clubs in a night. I then proceeded to get dollar coins to actually insert it into the machine. Another thing I liked about this arcade game is that not only was there the normal arcade mode, but also a beginner mode. In this mode you got to go 3 rounds before anyone else could challenge you. That way you could familiarize yourself with controls and moves before someone annihilated you while you blew your dollar. I, of course, picked Ryu. He’s my go-to. When I was younger I would always pick Chun Li since she was the only girl. I finished my 3 rounds easily, and someone challenges me and also picks Ryu. What a jerk. I defeat him the first round, and almost had him the 2^nd round. He beat me, but barely. He clearly knew what he was doing. Imagine a stereotypical gamer nerd and you've got his looks down. I let my friend play.

I try Ryu again on beginner mode again because there are some moves I don’t understand. I didn’t play Street Fighter 3 much, so I wasn’t used to the charging up move. There’s also a counter move… I tried to get a grasp of those attacks to actually use. I thought I improved a lot and actually played a round after my 3 free rounds before someone challenged me. It was a peeping tom sitting either across or diagonal from me. He picked Ken. Fitting. I’m not sure if he knew I was a beginner, but he basically let me beat him up the first round. But the 2^nd and 3^rd rounds, he brought the big guns out. The second round I did okay, but the 3^rd round, I think I lasted 30 sec. Embarrassing. This same patterned happened with my friend too.

So I began to wonder...

I asked my brother if there was such a thing called arcade etiquette and he basically said no. Perhaps I should go to arcades more and conduct research…

Really though, if there is a Street Fighter 4 Arcade in your town, go check it out.