Author: dtm666

I ramble about things.

Birthday Wish

Well, it’s my birthday today… nineteen years on this ball of soil called Earth.

I wish I could say that things were looking up from my point of view… but all I could really say is that things are going smoothly enough. So that’s guaranteed to not come true. There is something of a birthday wish that I would like to share… and I have no qualms about sharing it because it’s an outlandish wish that will never come true.

I wish that I had a more positive outlook on life.

I wish that I wasn’t as naïve about the real world as I turned out to be.

I wish that I was in a better place… or at least, a better frame of mind.

That’s my wish… and now that I’ve shared it, no chance of it happening any time soon…

Unless…

Revisiting THREE: A New Generation of Street Fighters

I remember going to the local arcade by the shopping mall, looking to see if there was anybody occupying the popular fighters during the day. And there it sat: THREE.

Why they went with THREE on the arcade banner and not Street Fighter III baffled me at the time, but looking back, I realized that the banner was a joke that Capcom went along with.

For years, people have been clamoring for a Street Fighter III and for years, we got anything and everything BUT that elusive game. In that time, there have been many countless jokes made about Capcom being unable to count to three when it comes to its Street Fighter games. The funny thing is that nobody at Capcom had a problem counting up to and beyond 3 when it comes to its Mega Man series. Maybe the problem is with Capcom’s arcade side of things, as now we seem to have a problem counting to 4.

Or maybe this is the last Street Fighter game for a good while… not counting the updates, of course.

I remember popping in a token into the machine, which had seen only a couple people play at most. I’d pick Ryu and then was astounded by the option to choose one of three Super Arts. Prior Street Fighter games and spin-offs gave fighters more than one super that were available at all times, so to restrict players to one out of three seemed like a step backwards, but then again, this was a “new” take on the property.

Other than Ryu and Ken, you have a cast of eight new characters. In a way, I was annoyed because that meant you had no old favorites to fall back on other than Ryu or Ken… but in a way, it actually makes sense. Street Fighter II had only three fighters making a return from Street Fighter I and this third game is supposed to denote a new generation. Shouldn’t there be more new faces to introduce to the pack?

So I play this new game and in a way, it’s familiar territory almost back to basics. Moves works as well as they did in past games, air blocking is gone, air hurricane kick is gone, only one level of super energy, and… wait a minute, why does that girl have three levels of energy and a much smaller meter? What’s going on here? Hold on, they’ve got a meter that shows me how many hits it takes to stun someone? Why would… HOLY SHIT! DID THAT SUPER SHORYUKEN JUST EAT UP HALF THAT GUY’S HEALTH?! WHAT THE FUCK?!

Street Fighter III was the same old Street Fighter game with a new cast of characters, a somewhat more fluid artstyle that was rougher looking and carried more grit than the anime-esque Alpha visuals,  and a new parrying mechanic that takes a while to master, but changes the dynamics of the game greatly. And I’ll be honest; I enjoyed the game quite a bit. It was nice to see a different looking Street Fighter game that didn’t just recycle the same Alpha sprites over again and there was a vibe to this one that I kinda dug.

The typical single-player experience gave you six random opponents for you to conquer before facing off against the final boss, Gill; a tall dude with blue and red skin wearing nothing but a loin cloth. This fucker was tough; his moves hit fast and hard, his reaction times were quick, and if he had a full super meter after getting KO’ed, he’d spring right back to life.  Clearly, this guy was an asshole that was hard as nails… but eventually, he was conquered and a high score was achieved… back when we cared for such things.

And then a year or so later, that SF3 machine was replaced with something else. I don’t remember what, but the game didn’t last long. I never did get to play the 2nd Impact upgrade in arcades, but I did play the Third Strike iteration during my wilderness years. A drastically different experience that no doubt felt like a considerable upgrade… but I’ve always had a fondness for the OG Street Fighter III. It might not have gotten the warmest reception at first glance, but I was just thrilled to get a different Street Fighter that actually felt somewhat different.

Revisiting The Original Street Fighter Game

Most people’s first experience with a Street Fighter anything was the second game. The one with eight World Warriors, special moves that took time to pull off, and made for some competitive battles between players. Even with that initial iteration, it’s easy to see why it became the basis for a much beloved fighting game franchise.

Of course, that is Street Fighter II, which denotes a sequel to a prior game.

The only other Street Fighter game that I knew of back in the day was the Street Fighter 2010 game for Nintendo that was featured in some comic book ads, but eventually, I’d come across that very first Street Fighter game and while my experience with it was brief, it stuck with me until the end of time.

We were at an airport one time and on the second floor, there was a rather modestly-sized video arcade section. I only had a couple quarters on hand to try some of the games; most of which were older games that I wasn’t too familiar with at the time and most of which I probably wish I sampled for the sake of saying that I played an actual [insert vintage arcade game here] arcade cabinet. But instead, my eyes were affixed on this one machine in general with a very familiar name.

Street Fighter.

But this one was different. This one had no roman numeral II on the marquee. And also, the game that was being displayed was not the familiar Street Fighter II game that I had seen before. It took a moment for my young mind to register that this was, in fact, not Street Fighter II… but rather the original Street Fighter I. Yes, the game does, in fact, exist. I’ve seen it with my own two eyes… and it bore the familiar set-up of six buttons (three punches and three kicks).

Being someone who had been on something of a Street Fighter kick, I couldn’t help but be drawn by this magical cabinet before my eyes. Ah man, I’ve got to give this thing a try… aw, but it takes two credits and that’s all I had… but still, it’s Street Fighter I. I’m never going to get this chance again. I rarely get out at this young age of 12. So I popped the quarters in and I start playing.

The game was primitive compared to its sequel. You only had one character to play with (Ryu) and your only option was to fight in Japan or USA. Naturally, I begin the quest in Japan, where I face off against a bald guy named Retsu and eventually get defeated by Geki, a ninja. And then there was a bomb. And then I had no more spare change and moved on with my life.

That’s about all I remember about the game.

I don’t recall if the game ever got ported over to home systems. The closest thing that I could recall was reading about a PC version of Street Fighter II that also came packaged with a DOS version of Street Fighter I, but that’s about the extent of it. It’d be nice to be able to play that game again someday.

We’ll see, I guess.

Later.

The Three Fails Of Foley

On February 2, the man of many faces wrestled the last match of his career… or so we thought.

It was a failing effort.

And then a couple weeks later, it was announced that what was supposed to be a triple threat match for the title would now be a four-corners elimination match between champion HHH, Big Show, Rock, and the returning Mick Foley

Yep, that’s right. Mrs. Foley’s baby boy was coming out of his barely month long retirement and is finally getting his Wrestlemania main event… and I honestly could not care less.

Don’t misunderstand me; I tip my hat off to the Foley; he was one of the craziest – maybe even wreckless – wrestlers that I’ve seen in my short time following this show. The risks he takes to give audiences a good show and the costs he pays to maintain that level of believability and commitment is something that I don’t believe anyone would go far to take. What he brings to the table is something that can’t be contained with a sock puppet. And when he won his first World title, I don’t think I’m alone in saying that he deserved… no, scratch that. He earned the right to be on top of the mountain, even for the briefest periods.

Whether it’d be the sadistic hardcore legend or the funny man with the sock, whether it’d be laying it all on the canvas or in the written word, I tip my hat to Foley and all he has given.

But with that out of the way, was I really looking forward to his coming out of retirement to do this one Wrestlemania main event?

His last two matches were where he had awesome main event battles with champion HHH, both of which he had lost. His last PPV match, taking place weeks ago within the Hell In A Cell, was perhaps the best note he could end a career on. His last chance, his final bow, his going down fighting and in a blaze of glory. All capped with a standing ovation from an audience who not only admired this man, but respected him for his accomplishments and his sacrifices.

Is it really worth killing that moment for a one-off Wrestlemania main event for Foley? A main event that he will no doubt lose yet again?

The more I think about it, the more it makes my head hurt… because at some point, it dawned on me that this match isn’t about the four guys in the ring. It’s about the people outside. It’s about the stupid McMahon.

What was that tagline again? “A McMahon In Every Corner?”

Why would I care about that? Why can’t I just have a regular one-on-one match between Rock and HHH for the title and be done with it? Why do we need Big Show in there? Why do we need Foley in there? What’s the point of all this?

So here we are. A few days away from 2000 and a four-way that I should be excited about, but not really. All of a sudden, this feels like it’s going to suck hard. And that’s not a good feeling.

An Honest To God Reaction To Russo Nitro

So I got to bare witness to Vince Russo’s bold new vision for WCW… and it struck me as oddly familiar.

For those who don’t know, Vince Russo was the former head writer of WWF television. He also wrote some stuff in the WWF Magazines and his articles had the odd habit of GOING BONKO WONKO WITH THE CAPS whenever he FELT LIKE IT!

COME on, BRO!

Anyway, news broke that Vince Russo left WWF and decided to make the jump to WCW. When I first heard this, I already had an idea on what to expect, which was basically to turn WCW into a pale imitation of the WWF Attitude. Now let’s be fair. If you’re going to rip off Attitude, who better than the man who helped to create Attitude?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a stalwart WWF fan and could care less about Wheel Chair Wrestling with its old guys as main event guys. That has been the big divide between the two companies. WWF had guys like Austin, Rock, HHH, and others banging out hot main events while WCW continues to shove old man Hogan and pals into the World title picture whether we’d want it or not. So a guy like Russo going into WCW, promising to focus on the younger stock is something I was looking forward to. Finally, less old guys and more focus on younger guys… finally, someone like Benoit will get a chance to shine.

Both Russo and the other guy started earlier this month. I sampled one of their shows and a lot of it is stuff that I’ve seen before when it was WWF, but with less known stars and… honestly, I think this shit is even worse than before.

The Phantom Menace… A Misfire?

You know… I’ve only been on the Internet for a little bit. I only get to go on for about half an hour because I don’t want to hold up the phone lines because going online makes lots of weird noises and results in people not able to reach you while you’re online. So I’m going about here and there, looking up stuff… and then I find a page somewhere (2024 Update: Link no longer valid) that talks about how the Phantom Menace is one of the worst things to happen to Star Wars.

I’m reading this page and I’m like “Really? Phantom Menace is bad? I thought it was a good movie. Did I miss something?”

I remember the first time I saw it in theatres with my older brother and we both thought the movie was fine. Seeing the Jedi in action was a bit of a treat, that Darth Maul dude was a wicked fighter, that podrace was a lot of fun, that Padme girl was pretty cute and a nice contrast from the queen with her fancy outfits and monotone voice, that Jar Jar is… well, okay, he was kind of annoying. And Kid Vader is kind of bad, but that’s fine because every kid actor is bad before they eventually get good.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I actually liked the Phantom Menace… or at least, I remember liking the movie. The music was pretty epic; John Williams once again gives Star Wars another great score. And the movie – largely – is still fresh in my mind. That usually happens after I’ve watched a good movie or at least, one that I enjoyed a hell of a lot.

Maybe I’ll change my tune when the home video version is eventually released… but I never realized that you’re supposed to hate this thing. Oh well… maybe one of these days, I’ll get around to doing that. Right now, I’ve got other things to hate at the moment and a new Star Wars movie isn’t one of them.

Welcome To My New Place Online

Hello… and welcome to my new website.

I’m new to this web making thing and I’d like to share some thoughts to anyone who wants to read them. I talk about whatever piques my interest – whether it’d be video games, comics, wrestling, movies, or anything else. Sometimes, I’ll put little stories that I wrote. And I even have a couple games here and there.

So thanks for visiting the site and I hope to see you again.