From: skillian@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu (Seth James Killian)
Subject: Re: SF2 around the globe!
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 21:17:23 GMT



   While these may not be exactly exotic, I get around a little:
   A LOT of arcades in NYC and some of New Jersey
   San Francisco
   Los Angeles
   Orlando
   Tampa Bay
   Montana (Billings actually, but the state has about as many people as
   my High School so...)
   Nasssau (the Bahamas)
   Rio 

	Orlando, Tampa, Montana:  they sucked.  In general they could not
	combo in a game type situation and the guys in Montana were angry 
	no throws (aka: no good).  Tampa and Orlando were not really so bad
	I guess, they were just tick happy and no one could counter.  I had
	a lot of fun watching them gape at my counters (I wished you could
	have been there Ming, sniff sniff :)).  On a side note, when someone
	new (a non regular) comes into your arcade, do you automatically 
	assume he sucks?  I think I usually do.  I also know this is a mistake.
	Anyhow, no great stuff here although they wanted me to stick around
	until someone named "Tama" came in.  The local SF2 demiGod I guess.
	Didn't get a chance to play him unfortunately.  They even said that
	he was one of the original play testers for the game, but how many
	times have we heard that before?

	NYC and New Jersey:  Much better competition here, although looking
	back, we (UIUC) are still better.  My first time through was during
	the first week that TCE had been released so it was like Christmas!
	New moves, new characters... Wow!  I got trashed pretty bad by a
	couple of guys who had figured out the strong torpedo throw routine.
	Very scary, almost made me lose faith in this great game.  Anyway,
	I've been back twice since (I fly a lot on the weekends) and they 
	have improved, although from what I saw (which was quite a bit) they
	are generally a big bunch of Bison freaks.  They ARE very good with
	him, but since he is not too difficult to master, there are a TON of
	"master Bisons", very boring to watch in general.  I was actually able
	to beat a few of them with Guile (yeah. Guile.  I won a match with
	Guile and just keep your comments to yourself) but about the same level
	of competition I had come to expect from the Big City Boys (ie. good,
	but not too good).

	San Francisco and L.A.:
	These had the best competition of any big city type atmosphere I had
	seen as yet.  Very high level of play in general, but they seemed to 
	have undue difficulty with "Evil Blanka", I think Blanka abilities 
	tend to stagnate in some places where the masters write him off as a
	character for newbies and move on to Guile.  They were stunned that
	I could beat their master type Guiles with Blanka.  Anyways, these
	guys wanted me to play someone named "Tomo", what is it with these 
	names, are they a cross sountry family or some sort of secret inter
	national SF2 dojo?  Very weird.  Again, he did not come in before I
	had to take off.  People everywhere seem to be overtly hostile ablout
	losing to someone they do not know.  (New thread: The psychology and
	ethics behind SF2?)
	
	Rio:
	What can I say, they blew big Streetfighting balls.
	
	Nassau:
	As my first international SF2 experience, it was interesting.  But also
	very weird.  The Bahamian locals all seemed to have some sort of 
	Dhalsim fettish.  I wondered how that evolved?  Anyhow, they were the
	best group of Dhalsim users I have ever seen.  Very impressive.  I could
	win, but this was pre-UIUC and all I could do was cheese with Blanka.
	  
	Only semi-effective.  I want to take my Dhalsim back there to bone up.
	Cool bunch of guys.
	
	The Homeland:
	The Chicago downtown area and burbs.  I live in the Oak Park, rigth
	outside of the city.  Good spot to go from city arcades to burbs way 
	out there.  In the big burbs arcades, like Galaxyworld on north avenue,
	there tends to be a network of "good ole' boys" who do not lose.  They
	were good, but they are no throws.  No anything actually.  Bisons torp
	is cheap, Hondas hands, Chun Lis kick, no biting or noogying allowed
	either.  A very sheltered little SF2 haven.  Well, I could whip their
	tails, but they made it abundantly clear I was not welcome there and
	got the manager to toss me out for breaking "house rules".  Oh well,
	their loss.  It was also sort of satisfying to be thrown out for being
	too good for them (thats how I like to look at it).  Incidentally, they
	all play Guile and will hit you once or twice and "hide out" for the 
	rest of the round.  Fun?  I guess they think so.  The city arcades tend
	to vary greatly, both in terms of ability and styles.  I wanted to go
	to the UIC arcade, but I was too young (!?) and they would not let me
	in unaccompanied.  Now that I'm a big boy though, I look forward to
	some potential challenges from some of the posters here (X-man?).  For
	a good no holds barred SF2 match, I used to go to China town.  Then
	I saw a guy get knifed for beating a gang member.  Not a lot of fun.  I
	have friends in China town, but it seems like the gangs are getting 
	nastier (Why doesn't the Chinese mafia keep them in check? :)).  I'm
	always looking for a new challenge, so feel free to look me up if yout
	in town and are looking to get whipped.  Again, I live in Oak Park, and 	may be listed under Killian-Endicott.  The phone book also seems to    
	I have my own line and that the number is 383-6504.  This is not my
	number.  Don't be fooled.
	
		 
		Seth "AT&T are a big bunch of fascists" Killian
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