Retro Bar Baking

I had a random start to my night of fun last Saturday. It began with a few calls from some friends about a quirky and cool sounding night at a bar in Central London organised by Hand Baked Arcade – the event of sorts comprised of a bar, DJs playing Drum & Bass and Dub Step, and the deal maker - RETRO GAMES ON FREEPLAY!!! So, it’s safe to say I was interested in going.

Upon my approach I would be lying if the scary image of a sweaty room filled to the brim with hygienically challenged men wearing HMV Retro games T-Shirts to “make a statement” did not come to mind, but to my (relief) delight the place resembled a chic London bar with artificial beams of pixels and fun looking people around the place – #Win.

Upon finding familiar faces the first thing I clocked onto was Street Fighter 2 Turbo running on the SNES projected onto a wall screen – done deal, I made my way over. After over 7 years of not playing this game I felt back at home with that (now competitively) tiny pad and began dragon punching people. I remembered how walking up to a random stranger playing Street Fighter in the arcade and challenging them with your 30>50p to try and kill their winning streak felt. Awesome.

Within minutes of looking around an overwhelming surge of nostalgia filled my mind. It wasn’t just that there were retro games there – no, I have almost every console made and too many games to even attempt playing. Thinking back, I think it was because of the genuine ambiance of the place – nice gamer people who were sociable and a venue that had a relaxed lock in feel to it (possibly helped by the random TV screens and consoles lying around).

It reminded me of being back at uni and ending a session at the student union with some gaming until today became tomorrow; I remembered being 15 and mastering Street Fighter again; I even remembered having to blow into cart to get them to work sometimes, and how I would happily pay full price for Street Fighter 2.1.1.1.1.1.1 Gamma edition; I remembered why I loved and still love games so much even though I no longer have the time to play them (bad times)! Oh and I like drinking too so the bar was nice.

Given that gaming (however much “mainstream” has changed it over the years) has become a bigger industry than film and music how about PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo made friendly and open up a bar somewhere together? A day time “Family zone” filled with Wiis and a bar with two rooms separated by riot doors to stop Xbox/PS fanboys from pulling each other’s hair with some dub step, DnB and Hip-Hop to chill to – be cool I think! How events such as these are niche (or otherwise non-existent) is beyond me! C’mon, even if you aren’t into games that much, admit it – when you see a retro arcade machine in a bar around Old Street or along Brighton beach, you know you turn your head and smile… even just a little… right?

So here is my hat tip to the boys and girls at Hand Baked Arcade for organising such a great night! More to follow right…? They had better make it a regular or I, quite frankly, may cry. You won’t like me when I cry.

Here comes a new challenger

October 2007, out of nowhere, a beautiful anime style video appears on YouTube. An epoch for fans of Street Fighter all over the world had transpired. After over a decade, the long anticipated Street Fighter IV had been announced. It wouldn’t be long before the words “Here comes a new challenger” would disrupt many an epic gladiatorial match against an opponent.

The main question on people’s minds - after all this time, could it make the same impact and evoke the same levels of emotion and passion with its old fan base, and moreover gain the interest of the new casual gamer used to FPS games and air guitars? I think yes, and here is why. The first time I tired Street Fighter IV, I remember sitting down on that arcade cabinet and laying my hands on the joystick set up for the first time in over five years; it felt familiar, comfortable, right – a “welcome home” moment after a long break away.

Thinking back to the days of Street Fighter II The World Warrior, Championship Edition, Hyper/Turbo, Super, Super Hyper Turbo edition, LED Sheep edition (think for a moment, that didn’t happen, but Imagine the possibilities. Super mutton combo anyone?), Street Fighter was such a phenomenon that we would buy each update as though it were an actual new game. In today’s era of download content (DLC), the franchise was so loved that we did not care! We wanted those four bosses playable, or to play it faster and we would pay another £50 for the privilege, yeah! Like Haribo, kids and adults love it so, like a Kellogg’s Crunchy Nutter, it was all worth it for the excitement of playing just ANOTHER game.

“Hadouken!” would soon resonate as fireballs were hurled, sunbursts erupt as a opponent is defeated with a Super Move, and many a male ego destined to be dented as “experts” would be defeated by challengers. This was what Street Fighter was about: a virtual competitive sport where guys could compete with each other without kicking a ball or arguing over who was off-side. Street Fighter IV to me is a clear progression of the series and genre; faithful to its 2D roots, harnessing new technology to complement, not replace a system en route to perfection. Without ‘selling out’ or alienating loyal fans, Street Fighter IV is familiar, yet boldly progressive enough to pull in new gamers. Well done Capcom, you have succeeded against the odds of many critics that believed 2D fighting games were dead. This was the rebirth of a return to innocence, the feeling of excitement unparalled by “next gen” games with groundbreaking graphical wizardry; true arcade gaming was back.

Street Fighter IV successfully delivered that moment of satisfaction as you connected that chain combo and defeated an opponent with an Ultra Combo (it will always be a Super to me) finish. Ten years now feels worth the wait to experience that momentary return to feeling the excitement I did as a fifteen year old boy enthralled by the complex technical simplicity that is Street Fighter. Long live Gouki /Akuma and his raging demons.