Thanksgiving had to be my favorite holiday growing up. Aside from the mountains of delicious food my humongous family would cook up every year, it also gave me the opportunity to meet up with cousins I hadn’t seen at all throughout the year, laugh it up, and beat their asses in video games. While fighters weren’t always on the docket (Mario Kart 64, Mario Party, and Mario Lemieux Hockey were perennial favorites), the sense of competition and camaraderie were not unlike what I regularly experienced with my second family in my go-to genre.
Fortunately, I have a ton to be thankful for these days as well. Fighting games are more popular than they have ever been thanks to developers like Capcom, Arc System Works, NetherRealm Studios, and Iron Galaxy Studios, who refuse to let the genre go without new representatives every year. It’s also, without a doubt, thanks to the competitive community that soldiered on through the dark ages, playing classics and continuing to build hype for this amazing group of video games.
Even though we may scream our heads off, talk shit, and break controllers, those outbursts are just the visible representation of our passion for fighting games.
That’s why, today, we here at Shoryuken have a ton of people to thank–too many to list, in fact. First off, we want to thank the aforementioned studios (not to mention countless others) who continue to provide us new fighters to mess around with. We also want to thank the tournament organizers and streamers who continue to put on events, even though at times they can be the most thankless job in the community. A special shoutout is also reserved for folks like Super Arcade’s Mike Watson and Next Level’s Henry Cen, who still provide local venues for folks to get offline and gather with like-minded fans of the genre.
But, most of all, Shoryuken wants to thank you, the people who continue to visit our website. We would quite literally not be here without the constant support of the community.
Now it’s your turn; what are you thankful for? Maybe Ultra Street Fighter IV gave your favorite character some much-needed buffs? Or perhaps BlazBlue: Chronophantasma finally made your dream of playing as a beautiful, scarf-wielding dancer a reality? You may even want to provide your own shoutout to community members in the comments below. Anything goes, as long as it’s respectful of course.
We may not be perfect, but the fighting game community has provided me with more happy memories than any of my other interests, and I personally thank each and every one of you for keeping the genre alive. Happy Thanksgiving–grab a heaping serving of stuffing for me.