While the Bay Area isn’t particularly known for holding major fighting game tournaments, many local businesses hold their tournaments, known as “locals”, like the Euphnet Cyber Cafe in Sunnyvale. The venue has been holding tournaments for many major fighting games such as Street Fighter, Tekken, and Super Smash Bros since 2019. While the Fighting Game Community (FGC) peaked in the 2000s, loyal fans remain supportive and enthusiastic.
The FGC, which began as a disjointed collection of underground tournaments at arcades in the late ’90s, has become a multinational competitive community full of passionate and dedicated fans willing to practice their favorite games for hours on end. They compete against other players online hoping to immortalize themselves in the stages of major tournaments like Evolution, CEO, and Combo Breaker. However, locals are a way to interact with fellow community members and learn from one another. Despite the competitive nature of playing in a bracket, the experience of playing with someone face-to-face is exciting and relieving to know that the person you’re playing against, no matter how good they are as a player, is still human. In some ways, Locals are a sanctuary for community members to speak with others who share their same niche interests.
Fighting games (FGs) are hard. Without a doubt, this genre of games is one of the hardest to get into because of the decades of terminology, technique, and legacy skills players need to learn to improve at the competitive level. If you ask anyone outside the community what “footsies,” “Blue Roman Cancel,” “EWGF,” or even what “5MP, 5MP~HP > KK > 623P” means, they would probably think you’re speaking a different language.
Because of all the years of built-up knowledge, newer people just entering the FGC feel as if they’re burdened with needing to learn all of these terms and knowledge all at once, leading to them being nervous about interacting with veteran players. But players at Euphnet are pushing back on that stigma so that newer players are welcomed in their community and can learn with others. One of these players, Brian Bo, has been playing FGs since 2013 and started competing in 2018. “Don’t worry about how you play or your lack of knowledge,” Bo said. “People here will help you out because, at the end of the day, we want the scene to grow.”
With companies such as Capcom creating newer control schemes to make it easier for new players to get into FGs, now is a great time to dive into FGC. Another competitor at the tournament, Julio Fuentes, has been playing FGs since 2007 and is considered one of the top Street Fighter competitors in the bracket. “You might go to your first event and feel awkward, but everyone is just like you,” he said. “Feeling anxious is the best part–my heart rate still goes up, and I still get nervous,” Fuentes added.
The atmosphere of the tournament is quite electric. The main room is full of competitors lined up in rows full of monitors as they play sets throughout the night. For the lucky few whose gameplay is being live-streamed, they’re staged in the middle of the venue for everyone to see. At the center, two arcade-style cabinets face against each other, each side of the room being dimly lit, creating an air of fierce intensity between the two competitors. As competitors start dropping, players rush to the tournament officials to report their glorious victories or shocking defeats.
But what makes FGs so appealing? Is it the exhilarating combos? The terrific defensive plays? Many of the players at Euphnet expressed that it’s the community that keeps them engaged and coming to tournaments. “Fighting Games is probably one of the few games where to get better you have to come out here a lot and interact with people,” Bo said.
Another reason why people are so passionate about fighting games is from connections with their childhood. One of the Tournament Officials, Joe Flores, entered the scene near its conception in the 1990s. One of his first memories of fighting games was at a liquor store with his grandfather. There was a dark room full of arcade cabinets for Karate Champ, however, he was still too young to grasp the concept of fighting games. It wasn’t until 1991 with the release of Street Fighter II that Flores entered the FGC. “Seeing the Street Fighter II arcade really excited me,” Flores said. Street Fighter II was the advent of the FGC as the revolutionary six-button layout and input system allowed for more responsive controls and special moves.
Being with the FGC since its inception, Flores has been a tournament official since 1999 and has seen some shifts in the community to make it more accessible for newer players. “The organizers are more strict when it comes to being polite,” he said. “Back in the ‘90s, you got a lot of people talking trash behind your back at the arcade all the time.”People from multiple different walks of life were playing games like Street Fighter because of how popular it was which led to clashes between multiple communities. But now, the FGC has carved out its own identity which allows for better regulation when it comes to community standards. “We are trying to be more welcoming and inviting now,” Flores concluded.
With shifts in the community allowing for better community interaction, and with the new generations of fighting games coming out with Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Mortal Kombat 1, and Guilty Gear: Strive being released around the past three years, now is a better time than ever to experiment with the scene and play Fighting Games. Currently, tournaments at Euphnet are being streamed on twitch.tv/CapsuleEntertainment. Hit the Streets!
