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It may seem crazy to think of now, but there was a time when the American video game market was dominated by arcade games.  Any of you over the age of 30 should remember the days when games would debut in the arcades, and then have inferior versions ported to home consoles.  For me, this era was one of equal parts wonder and frustration; wonder, because of the parade of new, innovative titles hitting arcade cabinets every month, and frustration, because of my lack of money to spend on them.  It was during these halcyon days that I experienced one of my fondest and most memorable gaming moments to date.

Among other insignificant events (the collapse of the Soviet Union, the beginning of the Gulf War, Pee Wee Herman’s arrest), 1991 saw the release of Street Fighter II in the arcades.  The now classic 2D fighter was a huge improvement over older fighting games like Karate Champ and the original Street Fighter (or Fighting Street, as I knew it), and would mark the beginning of the “golden age” of fighting games.  

My first experience with the game came at age 15 in an arcade in Sea Isle City, NJ.  My family had been vacationing in Sea Isle for many years, and it functioned as my summer home-away-from-home for two weeks every year.  The biggest arcade in town was right on the boardwalk, about 20 blocks from our house.  On our first day of vacation, my friend, whom I brought to the shore every year, and I took the long walk to the “Boardwalk Casino” to check out the new games.  It didn’t take long to find SFII, what with the 60 or so people crowded around the cabinet.  Everyone wanted a shot at the game, but there were already people getting so good at it that no one could dethrone them, making for a lot of frustrated challengers and a few happy champions.  After hanging out for an hour or so, my buddy and I had to head back for dinner, but we both knew that we’d be back that night, quarters in hand, ready to challenge the throne.  As we ate dinner, neither of us could stop talking about the “huge” selection of playable characters (8 was a lot back then) and the crazy moves we were bound to pull off upon our return.  Pretty much immediately following dinner, we both hightailed it back to the arcade with stacks of coins and confidence, ready to take on whichever World Warrior dared to face us.  

Of course, when we got back, the line had dissipated and there were only 3 or 4 people around the machine.  What’s worse, the guy playing the game was playing single player mode, trying to beat some crazy Mike Tyson look-alike.  This was not exactly what we were hoping for.  The guy playing was being a real prick, too, not letting anyone jump in to challenge him and generally acting like an arrogant jackass.  Being too young to do anything about it, we backed off and played whatever else was available.  Of course, SFII was still on our minds, and it wasn’t long before we noticed that the crowd was beginning to re-assemble around the cabinet.  We went to check it out and found that a different player had taken over and was now facing some crazy Spaniard with a hockey mask and Wolverine claws.  He was consistently getting trounced by the mini-boss, and after a few rounds, he called it quits, letting someone else take over.  We watched five or six people failed to beat Vega before someone finally stopped him, advancing to the fight against Sagat.  Sagat delivered a few beatdowns of his own before finally being beaten by a guy two spots in front of me in line.  He didn’t last long against M. Bison, and dropped out quickly.  The guy directly in front of me had quite a few quarters to work with, but after a dozen or so tries, he too walked away.  Then it was my turn. 

Now, remember, this is literally the first time I ever touched the game in any capacity, and I had the opportunity to be the first guy in the arcade (that I knew of, anyway) to beat it..  I picked the freakiest looking dude I could find in Blanka, and began my first attempt at beating M. Bison.

Bison attacked furiously, and I ….well, I held down and pressed heavy punch over and over for two full rounds.  Bison just kept flying right into my electrical field, and while his hits would hurt me, they weren’t doing nearly as much damage as my shocks were to him.  Eventually, Bison fell, and I was the conquering hero.  Quite by luck, mind you, but a conquering hero nonetheless.  

There were a few cheers when I won, but most people just looked confused and a little let down by seeing this awesome game beaten by what was essentially a glitch.  I shrugged, entered my initials and walked away, feeling a strange mixture of pride, embarrassment and bewilderment.  Maybe not my proudest gaming moment, but one of my strangest and most memorable, to be sure.

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