Street Fighter Bar Fights Megapost!!!

Last night was an amazing night as I was at Street Fighter Bar Fights inside Jake's at Pasadena along with nearly 300 other crazy people to witness some amazing Street Fighter IV action among SoCal's best players. SoCal SF4 ambassador Ryan "Gootecks" Guiterrez put this whole event together spreading the word out to the community to come to this special event. Dogface from the Dogface Show was MCing the event and I chatted with him for a small conversation before the thing got started. The place was really packed and at max capacity as long it felt like an oven being inside watching all the madness in the main area, but it was hella worth it. As I thought A.I. Ranbat 2.1 was the best time I had in relation to Street Fighter IV, SF Bar Fights easily tops that as it was full of HYPE!!!

There will be a DVD of this whole event out sometime next month, but here's some YouTube footage and results from the amazing night.

Sanchez (M. Bison) defeats Bebop (Vega) 3-2. This first match definitely set the tone for the rest of the night as two of the hypest people I met put up an entertaining match. Later on, I was hanging out with them and Luka (The hypest man I met u could hear him everywhere) to spread the hype even further. During the Kai vs. Gootecks match, I had some first hit bets with Sanchez and that was fun stuff.

Keno (Balrog) & his mystery partner Fuson (Guile) (aka Team Video 94) defeated Dae (Chun-Li) & Bustabust (Abel) 3-2 (Team Denijin Arcade)

This team match was also hella fun as Dae took off his shirt as expected and played the whole match like that. Bustabust has the best Abel I seen personally as Fuson has currently the best Guile I seen too. Keno's Balrog was pretty much on last night as he had a 20+ win streak earlier at casuals and stayed that way during the match. In the end, Keno also took his shirt off and hugged Dae for a good game.

Another awesome highlight of the night was a random game called Roseball. This game is pretty simple as one Rose starts it up with a Soul Spark and other Rose reflects, so on. Watch this video above to see this awesomeness and as Kai said, "It is the greatest game ever!!"

Bobino defeats Ken I 3-2 in a Rufus mirror match. This one also went to the wire as it was full of Messiah Kicks and dive kicks.

Gootecks (Balrog) defeats Kai (El Fuerte) 3-0. As people like me, Sanchez, and Bebop were screaming "Teach me the infinite Kai!!!" Kai's Fuerte put up a good show and it is always fun to see an awesome Fuerte player in action even though Gootecks pretty much was in control. As mentioned earlier, me and Sanchez were at first hit bets and let's just say always bet on Balrog. As u can tell from this video, the HYPE is starting to go to epic proportions.

Paul "SoMuchDamage" (Sagat) defeats Mike Ross (E. Honda) 3-1. Another entertaining match as Paul's Sagat is one of the most patient and old-school style Sagats I have seen & u all know Mike Ross is the best Honda player in the West Coast. Obviously the Honda/Sagat matchup is not good for Honda obviously, but Mike did what he could. Sanchez, Bebop, and Luka (the tall dude raising his hands in the pic above) were obviously rooting for Paul and u would hear "Mike, go back to Marvel" or random Sour Skittles comments during the match. Next time, I should bring buy some Sour Skittles from a vending machine to make things more interesting if that joke is still relevant (HYPE has entered its peak at this point).

The main event of the night: Combofiend (Balrog, Viper) defeats Edma (Ken, Balrog) 5-2. This lived up the hype as these two guys are at a league of their own. Edma (pic of him above) has indeed the sickest Ken out now doing amazing link combos to EX hurricane kicks while Combofiend (pic of him below) does have the best Balrog now despite SoCal being known for the Balrog army these days in the SF4 scene. Edma did perfect Combo once during the match and the place went nuts.

And that was Street Fighter Bar Fights in a nutshell. It was such an amazing night and lived up to the hype. It was nice hanging out with the community chatting up a bit with players like Mike Ross, Sanchez, Bebop, Luka, Keno, Bobino, and other new faces that showed up. Thanks again to Gootecks for making this event happen and I'm looking forward to Bar Fights #2 soon.

Seriously, if u live in SoCal and love SF4 a lot, u should of came to Street Fighter Bar Fights. U missed out!!! It was just too HYPE!!!

UPDATE - This post has now better footage courtesy of YouTube user striderzer0 showcasing the HYPE up close and personal.

A new feature added to G Unit Ver1's World...

As u can see on the right side with the links to reviews and various lists, I added a new feature to this blog, which is not really original called "Top 10 Songs I'm Blasting." Basically, this may substitute for the music roundup blog posts, but it is pretty much a typical top 10 list of my favorite songs currently. As expected, the list currently features some hype songs that make me go nuts whether driving or whatever else. I blame that one fateful night if those know what I mean why I started to enter this club music phase (Also the Power Party Mix at noon on Power 106).

My Obligatory Top 10 Soundtracks for Video Games...

Lately, I have been feeling like I should blog more even though Twitter has pretty much taken over. So I might as well do another obligatory top 10 list in relation to games, which is for my favorite game soundtracks for now (Keep in mind - Mostly recent stuff, no RPGs, and licensed stuff, sorry - plus this list could change anyway).

10) Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

Even though I'm not that good at 3rd Strike, this game is still a crowd favorite even though SF4 is out. The music for the Street Fighter games underwent a new direction with 3rd Strike being more hip-hop, which is something that's worth it. Certain standouts from the soundtrack are Elena's theme, "Beats in My Head," and Ken/Alex's theme "Jazzy NYC 99."

9) WipeOut HD

Okay, maybe we are starting to get a theme going with the hip-hop/electronica, but I love the soundtrack for WipeOut HD. It fits the futuristic theme and makes u want to blast the sounds way up. Even though custom soundtracks are more preferrable to this game for more electronica music, the base soundtrack alone is still worth listening to while racing at breakneck speeds.

8) Super Smash Bros. Brawl

What happens when a soundtrack gets the ultimate Nintendo fan service treatment, you get Super Smash Bros. Brawl. A great mix of new and old tracks from Nintendo games of the past and the present. Even the third-party franchises, Metal Gear and Sonic, had a great selection of tracks in this game. Then again, if you're a serious player, you are probably sick of the Final Destination theme since that stage gets played a lot in tournament-level events. Despite whether or not the fans love or hate Brawl because of the gameplay changes, it is still an amazing package and the soundtrack is one of the reasons why its amazing.

7) Bionic Commando Rearmed

BCR's soundtrack is arugably the greatest example of how a remake should be done. The remixed tracks just sound amazing from the theme song or the albatross theme at the end of the game. It has the sense of both old and new for the fans of the original game on the NES. I just hope Grin will deliver on the 3D Bionic Commando soundtrack as well when the game is out next month.

6) Super Mario Galaxy

Once again, another example of a soundtrack consisting a bit of the old and the new making it special. If u remember, Super Mario Galaxy is my favorite game of 2007 despite the stiff competition from Halo 3, COD4, and Mass Effect, because the game is that damn good. The soundtrack is the main reasons why SMG is such a special game with the orchestral tunes at Battlerock and Gusty Garden to the nostalgic remixes of the Airship theme from SMB3 and the Bowser theme from Mario 64. Every song this game offers just puts a smile on your face because it is that special and epic.

5) Street Fighter IV

Love or hate the intro song, "The Next Door" by Exile or "Indestructible," Street Fighter IV's soundtrack is still another great mix of the old and new from the remixed character themes to the some of the other stages' music. Personally, its the character themes that make the soundtrack special and #5 on the list even though they rarely get played (only in single player rival battles and online lobbies).

4) Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion

I still think the Tekken franchise offers the greatest soundtracks for fighting games and Bloodline Rebellion is another example of that. There is lots of variety contained in this soundtrack within the stages from the Electric Fountain theme of techno reminding u of Maximum Tune, to the random yodeling stage of awesomeness, which is the Hidden Retreat.

3) Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune (franchise)

Alright, I'm counting the entire Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune franchise as one spot in my top 10 because Yuzo Koshiro is too awesome and this is just an example of his greatness with his music. Maximum Tune 3 DX does contain some new songs, but also contains the soundtracks of the previous 3 games, which is cool hearing stuff like "This is My Destiny," "Blue Blazes," "Get You Cornered," and more. This soundtrack is too good that I sometimes blast it while driving in my car because its actually relaxing music for me to drive to that I don't need to change track on my iPod that much. Even though it feels like driving electronica music, it is also randomly club music in some way as well, which is crazy.

2) Rez / Rez HD

I finally showed this off to friends last night (Even though I showed them area 1) and yeah, they don't get the awesomeness that is Rez, aka agruably my favorite game of this decade. I already put up a video of the greatest level in all of gaming, area 5 in previous posts, so might as well post the video for the second greatest level in all of gaming, area 4. If u played Rez before, Area 4's song just keeps building and building to the main event, aka the boss battle, which is one of many reasons why Rez is awesome in so many ways. I just wished I can show off these areas to more people because even though it is still trippy stuff, it is one of the greatest games ever among the hardcore crowd.

 

1) Streets of Rage 2

So my favorite gaming soundtrack for now is Streets of Rage 2 because it is just filled with memorable tunes from beginning to end with "Go Straight," the greatest song in all of gaming, "Dreamer," and the hype fest that is "Expander." I just love this game too much I guess as u just want to blast the music loud while beating up fools and perhaps even dance to it at a club, which is the case in the video below. (Skip to 4 minutes for "Dreamer") Quite simply, Yuzo Koshiro is still my favorite video game composer and SoR2 is a showcase of his greatest work and WMMT is most of his recent stuff.

Okay, this post is getting long. Might as well end it here. More obligatory top 10 lists coming soon.

UPDATE - Honorable Mention: The Mortal Kombat movie theme song!!

Okay, it is in this clip that YouTube user TheSwitcher made featuring the awesomely bad movie, Mortal Kombat Annhilation (Hey, it was cool when I was young). This video is actually the movie in ten minutes in case u have never seen this thing called a movie (Actually the first movie was pretty good).

Plugging something special about the SF4 scene again.

The fighting game scene is still pretty strong and perhaps the strongest it has been in a while with the console release of Street Fighter IV. I might as well plug something amazing about the scene again with this trailer for a documentary called I Got Next. Yes, this is real stuff and it is indeed a beautiful thing. This documentary features Final Round XII and Sinstation Fight Club along with the players like Justin Wong, Gootecks, Combofiend, Mike Ross, and many more. If you're really serious about SF4 like I'm trying to be, this is just an example of how beautiful the fighting game scene is and it will never die.

Anyway, here's the main highlight from last month's Final Round XII. The HYPE is everywhere!!!

Didn't realize this thing is already a year old...

So this blog is already a year old... and it will still roll on for more.

And apparently, I'm 22 in about a hour... So yeah.

Okay, I'll end this post with a song...

Music Video Roundup for 3/25/09

First off the gaming stuff - My thoughts of Nintendo's GDC '09 Keynote are on my Twitter, so read that. I'm also still considering typing up a Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty review even though I beaten it on Saturday. If I'm not reviewing it, here's the short version: Buy it at the discounted 10 bucks and its worth it if you're never played any of the other games in the franchise like me. Also, I traded in Skate 2 and some Wii accessories for Buzz Quiz TV and apparently I can dominate at some categories, but suck at everything else (Doesn't matter, it is a worthy purchase anyway).

Okay off to the music...

First up is "Love, Sex, & Magic" by Ciara featuring Justin Timberlake. These two make a great duo together and it shows in this video.

Keri Hilson featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo: "Knock You Down"

Pretty straightforward video considering the song...

Arcade Infinity Ranbat 2.1 Madness!!!!

Yesterday was a long day being at Arcade Infinity for the Ranbat 2.1 tournament. There were so many people in one place that the tourney was capped at 64 entrants and lasted 12 freaking hours ending at 1:20 am on Monday (Craziness indeed). As a special intro to the Ranbat, the hosts Sanchez and Shoo did some special introductions with the first time entrants like me (See video) asking us random questions and I think I answered wrong (could of picked a better cartoon). The picture above is from Gootecks's Twitpic (see if u can spot me there) as I had a great pleasure to meet that man, aka the SoCal SF4 ambassador and chatted with him for a bit. Anyway, I at least won my first match, which was my goal for the tournament (better than going 2 and out on Tekken 6 BR). My first match was against some average Viper player and the first round was the first double K.O. of the day. I never felt the tournament atmosphere had some kind of rush, but it was intense. Then I lost to Bebop, aka the best Vega player in SoCal as I rarely fight awesome Vegas, so I didn't know how to play the matchup. After Bebop sent me to Losers, I lost to Moval's Blanka in a fun yet close match. Unfortunately, Blanka's Ultra was too much for me in the end. I finished tied for 33rd out of 64, but I was there for the rest of the tournament and the hype was everywhere.

There were so many awesome close matches and funny "hype" moments from Sanchez "Hulk Smashing" the 1P machine breaking the strong punch button for a bit after doing Bison's Nightmare Booster Ultra during Rufus's EX Messiah Kick (played by Bobino) to a little kid by the name of Private Link winning a Losers Bracket match beating an average Zangief player by his Ken, but in one match he did I think EX Hadouken to Ultra and the place went crazy. I hope these moments were on tape as there was an awesome setup for direct feed footage on YouTube as well as commentary by Sanchez and Shoo during Top 8. Gootecks was also handing out posters throughout the day for Street Fighter Bar Fights on April 5 at Pasadena showcasing key fights among SoCal's best players. 

The MVPs of the tournament to me are Slinkun, a Guile player from out of town, and Kyrojenix's Viper, an A.I. regular and has improved (The best Viper player in SoCal I personally have seen). In the end, at 1:20 in the morning, Mike Ross, the best Honda player in the country, won the tournament beating Ronstoppable's Balrog (The OG SF4 Balrog of SoCal). Keno's Balrog finished 3rd and Bobino's Rufus finished 4th. Funny note about Mike Ross, I played him at his old game, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and he perfected me, but I didn't mind it. Despite all the claims he stopped MvC2 seriously for SF4, he's still got it. The character selection was basically charge character heavy with lots of Blankas, Bisons, Balrogs, and some Guiles and Vegas. El Fuerte was only played once, since Kai, the best Fuerte player in SoCal, wasn't there. Basically, the whole roster was playable at least. The Tekken community also showed up in numbers from Rickstah's Dhalsim, who was tearing it up for a bit, MYK's Sagat who finished 9th, and others like Rip, True!, and Chojin. Despite the tournament lasting as long as it did due to the big turnout, it was arguably the best time I had regarding Street Fighter IV. It just feels good to be the premier arcade at SoCal playing and hanging with the best SoCal SF4 players like Mike Ross and Keno (cool dudes). I hope I can make it for the next Ranbat, but that day was pretty hype!!!

Even though videos of Top 8 will be posted soon with commentary by Sanchez and Shoo, the hosts of the tournament, here's one match earlier in Winners Bracket with Kyrojenix's Viper and Jack's Sagat. Too bad the cheering was left out, oh well.