My Personal History of Fighting Games part 1

As you may know Marvel vs Capcom 3 is getting released on February 15th. Seeing as I (along with many others) have been waiting over 10 years for another installment in this franchise, it's safe to say that I'm a little excited. Which officially marks the very first time I've ever been excited about anything near Valentine's Day. (Seriously fuck that bullshit greeting card holiday! Yes I'm bitter.) It also means that many nostalgic thoughts about the Marvel "vs." series, and really just fighting games in general have been bubbling to the surface. It made me realize that I've played a lot of fighting games. So I thought it might be fun to do my own personal retrospective on my experiences on the fighting game genre.

(Note: This is not going to be a comprehensive article, nor will it be the most in depth. This is more about my personal experiences with the following.)

So let's get on with it.

1) Karate Champ



I bet you thought I was going to say Street Fighter 2 didn't you? While that game was huge, and I will be talking about it later, the fact is this is where my love of the fighting game started.

Thinking back on it know Karate Champ was an amazingly simple game. You had two guys in karate gi's, one in white the other in red, and they would fight using basic punches and kicks. Really this is what fighting genre is all about. From the very first time I saw it at the arcade I was hooked. There were only two problems. One I wasn't able to go to the arcade that often, and two I had absolutely no idea how to play the damn thing. You see unlike modern fighters where you have a stick (or pad) to control your movement and buttons to attack with, Karate Champ had two sticks.

For a reference here's Jean Claude Van Damme playing Ogre.



As a kid I could never figure out how this control scheme was supposed to work. But I did figure out one important thing. Spaz out enough on the sticks, and eventually you will get the jump kick.



And the jump kick, if done right, there is no defense.

Sadly my love affair with Karate Champ was short lived. As I said I didn't get out to the arcade that much, so we didn't get to spend much time together. And the times we were together were usually awkward and often frustrating. Borderlining on infuriating. So we parted as friends, with many good memories, but never really talked again.

For me Karate Champ was were it all started. And you never forget your first.