Before this, I had absolutely no clue on any fighting games, occasionally after school I would sneak to the arcades and spend a few dollars on mvc2. But all I knew was to mash as hard as I could and hope I would have some spectular skill be activated.
2 years ago I was introduced to Street Fighter 4 by my facilitators in my school. As usual, having no idea of how to play the game, I just took the controller and mashed. I lost, and I lost hard to everyone in class. Especially my facilitators, who were much more experienced than I was. Most of the time, losing continually would make a person think that it would be just a waste of time.
I was ready to just quit and go find something else that would interest me. That is until one day, my close friend opened the command list and told me to try every move. It was hard at first, accidentally jumping when I wanted to do motions for the fireball. Staring at the controller wondering why I could never do the link from mp to another mp with ryu.
But what made me want to put in the effort to learn that game, was doing ultras. In SF4, that was the highlight for me, whenever I could end a match with an ultra, it made my day. Coincidentally, I had picked up smoking awhile before engaging myself in SF4. Street fighter 4 made me smoke less, when my friends went to smoke, I would tell them, "hang on, let me try this combo I saw from youtube".
Although it didn't help me quit, it delayed me and made me think before lighting up.
On my final year in school, we held a mini course tournament among ourselves and our facilitators. It was the first time I actually competed for anything concerning games, and I finished the tournament as the champion. It made me realize that age plays no matter in the world of gaming.I won my facilitators on that day as well. (OH YEA!!!) Age doesn't determine the results, it was the effort and the experience.
Playing Street Fighter has let me meet people that I would never have crossed paths with. I got to play with Xian, my country's top sf player. (It was a quick and swift victory for him. Ha!) I got to meet people from other walks of life, and I would normally keep to myself but because of my love for street fighter I came out of my shell and made some awesome friends.
All these past experiences were great, but the one experience I would never forget was when my wife was having our first child. Every night she would sit beside me and watch me battle for pp and bp online. To the point where, whenever we wanted our baby to move or respond to us while he was still in her stomach, all I had to do was to turn on any sf videos from YouTube. He would always be active whenever I played sf videos.
To others it may just be a video game, but to me, it is and will always be more than just a learning experience. Whenever I feel like I can't achieve something, there will always be someone who tells me...
SHOR-YU-KEN!!!
(Oh I'm from Singapore, but I hope if I do by some stroke of luck get picked, want you guys to know I don't mind paying for any shipment billing or stuff)
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