Attract Mode

Let me begin by saying that I'm starting this blog a bit late. You see, I had orignally wanted to start this back in February, when Street Fighter IV had just come out for the PS3 (and the X360 as well). But for reasons that shall remain undisclosed, I ended up not starting this back then. Now that Arc System Work's BlazBlue is out however, I've decided to give this another shot.

It's a fitting start really, Arc System's previous game (and BlazBlue's spiritual predecessor) Guilty Gear was one of my favorites. Not only because it was a heavy metal fans wet dream turned 2d fighter, but more of the fact that I was pretty decent at it, enough that I could clean up at the local arcade (not that it really means much since there are very few GG players here in my country - the Philippines by the way, where just about everybody and their dog plays Tekken, and only Tekken).

Since I've dropped that bit of information, let me go ahead and introduce myself. My name is Franz, however I will be posting in this blog under the handle "d3v" which is the handle I use in Capcom Unity (where I'm pretty active in the SFIV and TvC boards), Shoryuken (lurker), Dustloop (active only in the BlazBlue threads) and AstralHeat (where I'm the guy trying and failing to set up matches between players in the Philippines, probably because I'm the only one there). I also use that handle in a few other sites, but they're irrelevant to this blog. I've been playing fighting games with regular consistency since about 1993 when I, along with most of my generation got introduced to a little know gem called Street Fighter II (in case you're wondering "little known" in this context is sarcasm). Ever since then, to use a cliche, I've been hooked -addicted so to speak.

Addicted is probably a good word to describe me in terms of my relationship to fighting games, I mean why else would someone with as rocky a record as mine keep coming back if I weren't addicted. Hence we have the second part of the title of this blog (the first part being "combo," a staple of fighting games which should need no explanation to anyone familiar with fighting in general). But anyway, back to being "addicted," I was such a big fan of Street Fighter that I actually took up Shotokan Karate-do (see, addicted - although delusional would also be a good fit).

Over the years that "addiction" has led me from plain SF, to other games and franchises. From established ones like Mortal Kombat and King of Fighters to obscure indie fighters like Vanguard Princess, from 3D stalwarts like Tekken and Virtua Fighter to hardcore 2D gems like Guilty Gear XX #Reload. Heck, I've even dabbled in M.U.G.E.N. - the Mary Sue factory of fighting games. Currently, a good portion of my PS3's library consists of fighting games and my PC also has it's fair share of old school fighters running on various emulators.

Now, just because I've played alot doesn't mean that I'm some sort of fighting game god. No, in fact (as I have previously pointed out), I've had a rather tumultuous relationship with fighting games. You see, just because I love them doesn't necessarily mean that they love me. There are times where I will find something and show some semblance of brilliance (such as in Guilty Gear XX and possibly during the early days of Marvel VS Capcom in the arcade), but most of the time, I find myself getting my virtual behind kicked by the dude in the machine next to me (or beside me on the couch). Which brings me to the reason why I'm starting this blog in the first place. I've decided to create a journal of my current progress as a fighting game player, a place to share my thoughts on my wins and losses in the virtual ring. Aside from that, it's also a place for me to write about fighting games in general whenever I feel the need.

So that's about it for this introduction, to end this properly, I'd like to explain why this post is titled "Attract Mode." You see, the "attract mode" or "introduction" is what an arcade game runs when no one is playing so that it catches the eye of the arcade's patrons as well as give some basic information about the game. As such, I'm hoping that this post serves as an "attract mode" for this blog and I hope to see you here in the future.

P.S.

I'd like to send thanks to the ff. friends:

Dave - who I have never won against (dude, you should go pro).

Manny - who's ongoing WoW blog inspired me to start this (although I don't think he plays fighters).

Anjo - who kicks my ass in SFIV, but it's OK since I kick his in SFIII: 3rd Strike.

Dan - your Dan is an inspiration to us all.

I'd also like to give a shout out to the fine folks at Capcom-Unity, SRK, Dustloop and Astral Heat.