People say that a good night’s sleep fixes everything. It’s not true. I still felt distraught when I woke up this morning. I needed to go out, and what better way than to visit the local arcade?
Tampines was quite the arcade gamer paradise, back in its heyday. There were 3 arcards, all located within each other’s vicinity. However, just as the beautiful snow must eventually melt, Today there are two, and many great machines were gone. Sure, the most popular ones were still around, and new games like Time Crisis 3 and OutRun2 continued to stream in, but now I have to travel halfway across the sunny island to play Keyboardmania 3rd Mix, or Pop’n Music 5.
Anyway, the first thing that caught my eye on my way into the Century Square branch of the Star Factory was a small advert about a ‘Super Street Fighter’ tournament. Initially I hadn’t gave the tournament much thought, since I knew that at the very instance I was reading the detail-deprived sign the tournament must be proceeding just nicely in their Suntec City branch. I had previously saw the sign stating the tournament was on 28th March. Then I noticed that the date given was now 1st May.
“Please ask counter staff for details” I quote the sign. With a decent amount of interest now, I asked the nearer of the two guys behind the counter. His education standard was impressive:
“Hi, I’d like more details on the Super Street Fighter tournament.’
(In Chinese) “Wait.. he speaks English. Here..” went the guy as he directed me to his colleague.
C’mon, I wasn’t exactly speaking the Queen’s English. T___T But I understand that it’s reasonable for him to be eloquent in Chinese, and maybe some other languages, but not in English. That I can still understand. However, I could not tolerate what was in store for me:
“I was wondering which version of Street Fighter this tournament will be based on..?”
“Er… I don’t really know. I think it’s the very first one.”
T_______________T
“Because if it was the new one, they would have listed the version mah. But they didn’t. They only said ‘Super Street Fighter’. So I think it should be the first one lor.”
“…. I… see…” went me. If I were an anime character, there would be an incredibly big sweat drop near one side of my face.
Amazing. “You work here, the sign says that I should ask you, and you don’t even know what you’re talking about. Are you guys trying to screw me?” was what went through my mind. Nevermind the fact that he did not know something he’s supposed to know. What’s worse was that he actually suggested ‘the very first’ version of Street Fighter. Because Street Fighter One only allowed you to play as Ryu or Ken. It was more of a stage-by-stage single player game (playing as Ryu or Ken, you got to fight several non-playable characters including Birdie, Eagle, and eventually Sagat) than a VS fighting one. If what he said was true, then the management must have been on steriods.
I imagine that important details kind of fell off somewhere during the communication of instruction from the organisers to the counter-boys:
Tournament committee to Century Square branch manager: “okay, so we’ll have a Street Fighter tournament. Not just any Street Fighter tournament, but a ‘Super Street Fighter’ tournament. We’ll challenge the best players to take each other out in Street Fighter Zero One, Street Fighter Zero 2, Street Fighter Zero 3, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, and Super Street Fighter 2X. Ah, since this is such a long list of games, and may be a little confusing to potential participants that don’t play every single version of Street Fighter, let’s get our branch staff to explain to them.”
And the commitee passes the gay signs they got their primary 6 kid to design to the manager.
Branch manager to branch counter boys: “We’re having a Super Street Fighter tournament. The games involved in the tournament.. aiyah, I just tell you the very first one lah: Street Fighter Zero One. Everything else is on the sign lah. Remember to explain to the customers when they ask hor.”
Counter boy to enquirer: “Er.. I think the version is the very first one lor.”
Anyway, after some discussion with CrashWire and Doumyouji, we figured that they must have meant some version of Super Street Fighter 2, since it’s the very first Street Fighter to revolutionise the vs. fighting genre.
Super Street Fighter Tournament. Are you the best Street Fighter? 1st May, 11AM, Plaza Singapura. Register to compete for $2.
So, is anyone interested in accompanying me to the tournament? Yeah, the whole point in writing this post was just so that I could get someone to go and accompany me. Who knows, I may even play, and being the egomaniac I am (see how many times I use the word ‘I’ in this sentence?), I need my group of cheerleaders behind me all the way.
Oh, c’mon! I’ll reward you with… I’ll play you the Akumajo Dracula theme song in Keyboardmania 3rd Mix on Real mode. In actuality I’d be butchering the song, but since the arcade is so noisy, you won’t notice it. :P
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Did’ja know.. that throughout the Street Fighter series of games, Capcom gave some extremely old characters from Street Fighter 1 brand new redesigns? For instance, in Street Fighter 1, Birdie had white skin, and had an average build. The next time gamers would see Birdie was Street Fighter Zero, this time with black skin and a humongous build. Sagat, the final boss of Street Fighter 1, appeared in the rest of the Street Fighter games with a giant scar diagonally across his chest. This scar was supposedly given to him by Ryu and his dragon punch.
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Hehe… that’s very funny. People really should take more pride in their work and try to find out what the hell is going on to avoid looking like retards when questioned, especially when it involves big events. Managers should try to instruct their staff properly and organisers should stop being confused and organise the damn thing properly. :P
Anyway, I hope you manage to win something at the tourney. Good luck!