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Crackfiend | Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 11:09AM 
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It’s been 3 weeks since my last “weekly” mailbag, and the holiday season has treated me a little too well, but I’ve not forgotten about some of you fellow readers! For this mailbag, we've gone a little bit international with a read from the Cayman Islands, and another one from London! Thank you guys from all over the world who are reading and participating in the mailbag!
Games overshadowed or out-of-date?
Hey Crackfiend,
In light of SF4's success, as well as the pure, dripping hype that is SSF4's impending arrival, are there any games, new or old, that you think may be/are being overlooked in everyone's rush to get into the latest and greatest?
Sofa King, Cayman Islands
I do think that certain games are being overlooked, such as Capcom vs SNK 2 and Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike. They all have their own fundamentals, sophistication, mechanics, and intricacies. However, I think because of Street Fighter 4, these games will regain a chance to shine in the future. Street Fighter 4 has brought back the more casual fans and has also re-educated the fans about the basics of how to play the game. Although Street Fighter 4 has brought back the simplicity that’s made it so popular, I think it doesn’t provide the different avenues to personalize the fighting styles to a person as much as the games mentioned earlier. I’m hoping that in the near future, some of these oldies, but goodies, could be showcased again. Capcom vs SNK 2 was one of the most hype matches of NCR, so I have hope for the future.
What kind of culture are we?
Hello,
Can you tell me whether Street Fighter IV is a national culture or sub culture? Also, could you please tell all the different cultural influences that Street Fighter IV has? I really need and look forward to your reply.
JJ, London
I believe that the Street Fighter scene is a sub-culture of the video game culture. I wouldn’t say Street Fighter IV is a culture, because it merely is only a product without its consumers. With that said, I don’t know ALL the cultural influences that Street Fighter has, but I do know that it’s been impactful to the hip hop culture (choreography dancing, MC’s, hip hop music). You still see dance crews perform the Shoto’s signature move, hadoken (Check out Jabbawockeez perform this at 2:12). Or there are anonymous players within our community who are inspired to produce beats and be lyrical with Street Fighter analogies, such as Lil Shoto. There are probably many other influences that Street Fighter has had, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you all of them, only the ones I am familiar with.
Reader Comments (7)
Good point on the specific impact to the hip hop culture. Lupe Fiasco references street fighter in a few different songs and the resident capcom rapper MegaRan has a line about chun-li and cammy bumpin they big la-de-da-dee's in one of his songs :) plus I've heard 'yoga flame' and 'PERFECT!' samples in a few different songs.
I'm trying to remember the name of the tracks by Lupe, but I can't remember them right now. You shoulda seen a couple of cyphurs in the bay, I was watching my homeboys just spitting to some beatboxing. They had nasty flows using street fighter reference, it was really awesome.
@Crackfiend Can't forget about the Bay's own Del using many references as well especially on the album Both Sides To The Brain. "Leave your chest scarred like Sagat." "Hit em with a sonic boom."
Definitely it's a subculture of the video game culture that branches out to music, hip-hop culture, art, etc. The fanbase is made up of any different kinds of people that they incorporate it into their hobbies and talents such as covering music or drawing pictures.
I honestly hope we can see ports of past games especially those that have been played during NCR. Although they are Capcom games you must apply different disciplines and strategies to each one. Also they have their own nuances and charm. From an animation standpoint 3D may be the trend but 2D will always have a charm that 3D can never take on.
Great questions great answers.
i would say SF being a 'sub-culture' of video game culture just goes without saying- but the things you guys are mentioning are even bigger than that. Those are examples of how Street Fighter has become so well known over the years that it's seeped into POP culture- just because all those other things- hip hop references, tv/movie references etc are totally separate from video games (or more specifically they don't fit under 'video game subculture').
The community itself I would say is a niche community within 'video game culture', but the creative content of the street fighter games/movies etc definitely infiltrated pop-culture on a larger scale a long time ago.
I started playing fighting games when sf4 came out, to prep for it I bought sf2hdr and now that ssf4 is coming out with sf3 characters (maybe) I actually found a copy of sf3 and have been playing it more and more. I've actually found a lot of people who want to get better so i started a weekly casual meet up in Olympia, WA and last week we spent hours playing sf3 and it was WAY more hype than any sf4 match we had going on. So sure maybe for some people the older games are being over looked in the process of getting the newest greatest game but for some it's actually bringing us back =)
I think the most overlooked fighting game that deserves cred has to be Last Blade 2. Best fighting game SNK ever made, hands down.
I would love to see CvS2 and 3S get wider recognition, too...I wonder what kind of nightmare the licensing issues would be with CvS2?
Also, isn't it perhaps because you see SF infuence in hip-hop, etc, because the SF arcade scene has always been the strongest in big citys--especially on the coasts. Those places were the ones that really embraced SF in a community kind of way, and so it seems natural that other aspects of that culture would reference it.
Guys... please hammer Crackfiends email with more questions for next week! This guy knows a ton about SF strategy too so those questions im sure will go over real well
crackfiend@iplaywinner.com