Back To The Lab

Back in 2009, I spent way too much on my first stick: a brand new HRAP 2 SA.

Over the years, it's seen some serious abuse. It's survived more than a few drops, some packed bags/trunks, a complete and utter failure of wiring on my part that ended up frying the PCB it came with (at least I got to see it arc before it became toast!), and most recently, the TSA.

Bearing this all in mind, I recently figured it was time to breathe life back in to it. Sure, it still worked, but it wasn't all it could be.

I ended up getting a (much needed) replacement JLF, OSBF-30RGs to replace the aging OSBF-30s (more on those at a later date), and a PS360+ PCB, so I could finally ditch my old Xconverter, and so I can use it with my recently purchased PS3.

Pictures of the finished project will come later. For now, enjoy looking at what four years of abuse will do to a stick.

The shaft was bent.

REALLY bent.

PS1 PCB, hacked to hell to work with the stock HRAP wiring harness.

Another Fucking Meta Post

I know what you're thinking: "Not another fucking meta post".

Well, sorry to disappoint. But this time, I'll at least get straight to the point.

As of right now, it's all but confirmed that I'll be living in Japan for the next few years. I have some lofty goals that I hope to accomplish while I'm there, both related and unrelated to gaming. So, what does this mean for this blog?

Rest assured, this isn't going to become a "Living In Japan" blog or anything like that. If anything, this will become a "Playing Games In Japanese Arcades" blog, since this blog is primarily for people who already know me through the gaming communities I'm part of (and secondarily, for people who don't know me, but happen to stumble upon this place anyways).

I'm going to be living in Yokosuka, which, according to Google Maps, is roughly a 90 minute train ride from Mikado Takadanobaba. If you're reading this and somehow don't know about Mikado, let's just say that it's the place to be if you play Guilty Gear. I'm going to try my best to make it to as many tournaments there as possible, since, well, it's fucking Mikado. It won't be easy with work and a personal life, but there's no way I'm going to be a stone's throw away from the best Guilty Gear players in the world and sit idly by.

But what does this mean for this blog? Right.

A large part of the reason I haven't finished the netplay article, as an example, is because I'm missing a critical element of it; to explain why it is necessary for players outside of Japan to play online, it is necessary to also explain why players within Japan don't. This means going arcade hopping to see what the typical Japanese arcade looks like on a weekday afternoon, and contrasting that with the days when an arcade like A-cho or Mikado is holding an event. To see just how easy it is to find competition for a game like Virtua Fighter or SFIV between train stops, compared to, say, Melty Blood or Guilty Gear. I could very easily finish the article right now without this valuable experience, but it wouldn't hold its weight over time, and I'd end up having to revise it as I learn more about how fighting games are played by those who play them best. So yeah, it's best to just hold off on it altogether until I know exactly what I want to say, and how I want to say it.

Of course, I'll also inevitably improve as a player. Which is kind of a scary thought, lol. That might mean revising everything entirely to reflect my newfound insights! But that is exactly what I should hope for, isn't it?

Unfortunately, none of this is happening any time soon. I'm going to be quite busy, you see, just getting on my feet and eventually settled in. So, it may very well be another eight months before you see a new post here. Waiting sucks, but trust me; it'll be well worth it.

THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS ENDS

Can't wait for +R!

Hindsight Isn't Upscaled

I was recently invited to play vanilla VF5 online. It had been awhile since I last played vanilla, so I figured; sure, why not?

Upon playing the game for the first time in at least a year, I immediately noticed something as soon as the first match started: this game looks like shit. Like, not even just a little bad, it looks fucking awful. In fact, if I had to guess, I'd say that this game isn't being upscaled at all.

How? How did Sega release such an awful looking port? How did nobody notice it sooner? I at least had the excuse of playing on various dying CRT monitors from the early 00's before now. This game was released in late 2007 for the 360, and as I recall, there were plenty of 1080p displays on the market back then. Even on a 720p display, I highly doubt it would look any better since the 360's internal resolution is lower than that.

Just to be sure, I checked the back of the case, and it does say it supports 1080p. If this was Sega's idea of support back then, I shudder to think of what other games of the time offered the same kind of "support".

Unfortunately, I don't have any capture equipment and my camera kinda sucks, so bear with me here. These pictures aren't the best, but if you look closely you can see where vanilla looks awful and where FS fixes it (Jacky's feet are a good example). It's much more prominent in person, obviously, so if you have both games, I implore you to see for yourself. This is almost as big of a difference as the PC port of Dark Souls, pre and post patch.

Sore Winning

This is something I noticed some time ago, but recently came to light thanks to this video:

As you can see, this was part of a set I played with this guy on XBL. As you can also see, I lost horribly. As you can probably see, it was very laggy. What you can't see: this was one of the few, if not the only, matches I lost in this entire set.

This isn't the first time someone's uploaded just the match where they beat me. Refer to the following:

That last one was from a Dustloop vs. GameFAQS online tourney, where I played against a guy who, prior to that set, I had pretty much bodied every time we played, lol. 

Now this isn't to say that there aren't some noteworthy quirks in these matches that make them worth uploading, but it's oddly suspicious that all of these matches just happen to be one of the few I've lost in their respective sets. It's also evident that in these videos, I'm playing pretty sloppily/greedy (though, if you notice, so are my opponents).

Is it that these people want to prove that they can beat a famous player? Obviously not, since I'm a nobody in the "eff gee see" (and would like to keep it that way). Is it that they want to learn from the mistakes of their playstyle? Perhaps, but only uploading the matches you win isn't going to be productive towards that. So what could the reason be that all of these people just happen to upload the one match where they manage to win?

It's pretty obvious to anyone with experience in this community: ego. To them, playing me is like fighting a boss; like a frustrating, hellaciously difficult boss that they can come within inches of beating at times, but continuously fall short against (think Dark Souls). Once they're able to beat me once or twice, they consider themselves accomplished. Let's of course ignore the fact that in all but the VF vid I'm on the receiving end of bad, even terrible matchups (Johnny vs. Zappa is at least 7-3, and let's not even talk about BBCT).

What makes this all the more amusing to me is that, especially when I play online (for reasons I'll have to explain in the yet-to-be-completed articles on online play), I don't care whether I win or lose. To me, it's all about getting stronger, no matter how many losses it takes to get there (or, in other words, taking losses today for the sake of winning in the future).

If you don't put your ego aside, you're never going to reach your full potential. Sure, you'll improve, and you might even get damn good! But as long as you hold the kind of attitude on display here, you're never going to reach a point where you can look at how far you've come and think: "There's no way I can possibly go further than this".

In conclusion: lol.

アニメじゃない〜

I did say I'd eventually post something not related to fighting games, right?

Now that I've moved in to a much better place than I was a few months ago, I'm enjoying amenities such as high speed internet. This would probably be much less of a big deal if it wasn't the first time I've ever had full, unabated access to it.

And what better way to take advantage of this newfound wealth of bandwidth than to download practically every anime series from the past decade you wanted to watch but never got the chance to, and many that you never previously cared about but are willing to give a shot?

Back when I was stealing wireless from my neighbors I had to pick wisely, because even a short series could take weeks on end to download. Likewise, I picked the series that stood out to me as being the most interesting (having a local library that stocked anime DVD's helped in determining this). Anyone who knew me back then will tell you that I was obsessed with anything and everything Initial D, because, well, I was. I definitely still stand by Fourth Stage as being one of the best anime ever made, but it's about time I found something at least as good to waste my time on.

So now I'm downloading pretty much every major shonen of the past decade (that I haven't already seen and already have a formative opinion on), a few of those slice of life shows, and a few shoujo/josei, even (I read a lot of shoujo manga back in middle school, lol).

In the meantime, my quest to (re)watch every UC Gundam will occupy me. I've already sledged through First Gundam (dear God, never again) and I'm currently well into Zeta, which is likely going to be a favorite of mine. I've only seen the first few episodes of ZZ, and it was a few years ago before I had watched any Gundam to completion, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless. Late UC is probably going to be tedious as hell if the few episodes I've seen of Victory are any indication, but whatever. It's not like I'm going to be doing anything better with my free time.

I promise I'll keep any further posts about anime few and far between, but maybe if I come across a funny screencap or something I'll post it here.

Oh, and I might post about my experience at NEC soon. It was kind of mediocre, but that's why it makes for a good story.

Guess Who's Back, Back Again

I was getting burned out on fighting games for a bit. KOFXIII had already started to get a bit old even though I hadn't even entered a tournament yet, and Guilty Gear had turned into a rhythm game as far as I was concerned. I couldn't bring myself to want to play anything with two life bars. Sad times, I know.

So, I did what any sensible person would do and built a PC. Now, I was able to play Counter-Strike day and night like I did back when I was in middle school. Except now I had decent internet, a computer that could run it above 800x600, and a mouse that didn't suck. I got accused of hacking (more than once, lol), I defused some fucking bombs, but most importantly, I had fun. All was well.

Then one day, around the time I made my last post, I got a text from a guy I knew from a friend in high school asking if I wanted to play KOFXIII with him and a friend in Cupertino. Well, what better things was I going to do? Not fully knowing what to expect, I went along.

Little did I know, I was soon going to be a member of a fledgling South Bay fighting game community. One that wasn't tainted with false egos, bad attitudes or people that generally rub you the wrong way. Where people can be brutally honest all the time and it can be appreciated- met with laughter, even.

Recently, we've come up with a name for ourselves: The South Bay Cult.

It's just some guys in some guy's living room, but that's exactly what it needs to be. On the big screen, people get mad at Marvel 3 (and sometimes Marvel 2). At the kitchen table, KOFXIII and NGBC are holding it down. And last, but not least, the corner of the room has a four player SSBM setup, where "lag" means recovery.

The guy that hosts it is just the kind of guy that would host something like this; laid back but entertaining. Make no mistake though: even though it's a relaxed environment, everyone here is looking to improve and expand their horizons. Marvel/Smash players are now picking up KOF (thanks in no small part to yours truly), and I'm even thinking of putting more than ten minutes into Marvel 3 one of these days. Maybe.

If our idea for a stream takes off, I'll be sure to link it on the sidebar. You won't be disappointed, trust me.

This is all fine and dandy, but we're just getting started. The meat of this post has to do with my experience at two tournaments that were only a week apart from each other: Super Norcal Install and Norcal Regionals.

This is the part where I remember why I love fighting games and regain my motivation.

For me, SNCI was a test. I had to get as many wins as I possibly could in Guilty Gear against the best player in the room. Little did I know, the one and only Mike Z was there to promote his Suicide Girls fighting game. He seemed far more interested in playing GG, however; especially so once he started playing me.

Playing Mike Z showed me a few things. First and foremost, that American Potemkins are nothing to be afraid of, which I had already started to suspect awhile ago. None of them know the Johnny matchup (how it's supposed to be played, at least), and many of them take huge risks that they think are safe as a result. Secondly, that even the best American players lack defense in unfamiliar situations. Lastly, that you should never, ever, assume your opponent will respect you unless you have good reason to. Half of the reason I gave away as many rounds as I did was because I assumed he'd be afraid to press buttons after blocking a coin. Hah! In any case, I've learned my lesson, and I'll be ready the next time I play him.

In one of our later matches, I was able to get a reaction out of an otherwise stoic Mike Z. I had hit him with a counter hit 5K and I had full meter, so I just kept doing 5K 5HS MSDJ on him. Then, at the end, I did a Low Level 2 into TK Enkasu for corner knockdown. As soon as this happened:

Mike Z: "Was that intentional?"
Me: "Uh, yeah."
Mike Z: "That was cool as hell!"

Here I am, some fucking nobody that never leaves his house, being complimented on his Guilty Gear play by internet fanboy fap fodder Mike Z. Worse yet, for the easy part of an otherwise "match impractical" combo. What is this world coming to?

Once we sat down for dinner on Sunday night, we were able to talk for a bit. He's a cool guy; very passionate about his work yet unassuming. I had hoped for and expected as much.

Still, we weren't quite done with our hilarious exchanges just yet. Once I told him who I was on Dustloop:

Mike Z: "You're qwerty?"
Me: "Yeah."
Mike Z: "Oh God."
Me: *laughs* "What, have I made you mad before?"
Mike Z: "No, it's just that you post like an idiot on purpose."

At that point, I lost it.

There were other strong players at SNCI, but doing as well against Mike Z as I did was a rite of passage, especially considering how ridiculously hard I used to struggle in that matchup. I hope I get to play him again soon. Maybe at Frosty Faustings?

I arrived at NCR around 3PM on Saturday, not being registered for anything, just wanting to get some casuals in. I knew there would be VF5:FS there in some form, but I didn't expect five (!) setups open for casuals.

I went right in to FS having spotty memory as to how the system's changed from Ver. C. I remembered my good friend from NYC told me FS was essentially VF4's offense with VF5's defense, so I just pretended I was playing VF4 at first. And hey, it worked! I did a lot better than I thought I would, and ended up winning my first match against Dennis, who, make no mistake about it, is damn good at the game.

And I thought I was going to do bad.

It may have helped that my main, Jacky, isn't much different than how he was in Ver. C, and is in fact a bit stronger (people are saying he's high tier, which he already kind of was before). Regardless, that wasn't the only win I manged to get- far from it, in fact. The same people that were destroying me the last time I played them (which was literally four years ago, yikes) were now losing to my absolutely ruthless offense. However, the matches I lost were lost for one reason, and it's a fundamental weakness I have in every fighting game right now: defense.

Everyone that plays against me in VF tells me the same thing: "You fuzzy too much". Well, yeah, I don't wanna get thrown, dummy. I also don't want to eat a mid. So, why wouldn't I fuzzy?

Well, because if they choose to not do either of those things, you're kind of giving them a free opportunity to position themselves and at the very least put you back on the defensive. At most, they'll hit you with one of those stupid 16 frame throws that does 100 damage. Luckily, I only got hit by Wolftemkin Buster once or twice, but still.

Overall, I'm loving FS. Throws are still strong, just not in the stupid way they were in Ver. C. Low throws are way more threatening now, too. I was getting especially wrecked by Taka, who is genuinely infuriating to fight against because no canned strings score knockdown on him. I'm sure I'll get used to it once I have my hands on the game, but, you know, obligatory new game bitching.

As if I haven't already written enough, I still have to talk about KOF. I finally met and hung out with Laban, who is seriously one of the coolest people on the planet. We played some KOF98 on his absolutely shit-tastic laptop, in which he extensively bullied me with alt guard and O. Chris.

When we played KOFXIII, however, it was a different story. As he put it, I was making better decisions. I told him it was because KOFXIII is easy. And, honestly, it is. You don't have to have anywhere near the kind of knowledge to play footsies in XIII as you do in 98, simply because the hitboxes don't extend you as far (at least, that's what I suspect). Nothing against XIII, because both myself and Laban agree that it's a great game, but it really isn't as close to older KOF titles as many people seem to think it is.

During Top 8, I invited the Team Chaos guys to come downstairs and play casuals with us once the tournament was over. They came down at some point, but they didn't play as far as I know. Shame, because I would've loved to play against them all. Maybe they were tired and really wanted to go home. Maybe they didn't want to waste their time on scrubs. I'm glad they came; I just wish I had a chance to play against them. Oh well.

As for the immediate future, I'm afraid all I can say is that I will probably be attending Frosty Faustings (or, as I like to call it, Guilty Gear Christmas) since there's a good chance I'll be living in Chicago later this year. I may or may not make another post between now and when I leave. As always, I'm taking a wait-and-see approach. If I do, though, expect it to be an article about my single favorite mechanic in all of fighting games. I'll give you a hint: Guilty Gear and Virtua Fighter are the only games that have it.