Since the introduction of Street Fighter IV to our consoles, online street fighting has become a phenomenon, with groups and teams forming across the world and rivalries and factions are breaking out. Players hold grudges for weeks after a bad loss and others gloat on the social networks about their triumphs. Ireland is no longer without its chance to send some top players into the big bad world of the SF series and the @rcade catches up with one of the developers of www.streetfighter.ie
How did streetfighter.ie come about?
Our community really started properly with the creation of the Fighting Game forum on Boards (which was a struggle to get implemented in the first place). There were always quite a lot of players in Ireland, but this forum provided us with a hub where we could discuss the game and organise meet-ups etc. As the community developed a central website was the next logical step. The domain was actually registered many months ago, but its only recently we began to develop it.
Who is involved with the site?
In terms of the site development we currently have three main people. PPC, Orim and myself (Jim). We have many other members who contribute to the site through feedback, article ideas etc. In terms of our actual community on our forums it’s actually hard to say, but I would say we have close to 100 players involved in our scene in some way.
Do Irish Street Fighters measure up to international competition?
Unfortunately Ireland is on the back foot in terms of the international community. This is mostly because our fighting scene has only really developed properly since the release of Street Fighter IV, but before that an offline scene didn’t really exist in Ireland with the exception of Belfast who had a small Street Fighter III scene. In most other countries a proper scene has existed since the days of Street Fighter III and in most cases going all the way back to Street Fighter II. This isn’t to say we don’t have competitive players though. 15 of us recently went over to Cannes for the World Game Cup, one of the biggest Fighting Game tournaments in Europe with players from the US and Japan. Two of our best players, Cobelcog and Blag reached the top 16 and top 32 respectively in Street Fighter IV and earned a good name for themselves in the international community. We’ve certainly improved a lot from our humble beginnings though!
What are you most looking forward to about Super Street Fighter IV?
Mostly the new characters and balance changes. New stages, music, online modes etc are all well and good, but it’s the characters and how they interact with each other is the heart of the game. I’ve muddled around with a few new characters already but I think Cody is for me! So I’m just looking forward to learning Cody and relearning my old main character Cammy.
Can you tell us a little about the tournament you planned for the launch?
The tournament we’re having for the launch of Super is a new characters only tournament with a couple of prizes given to us by Capcom for the winners (a Super Street Fighter IV T shirt and a copy of the game). Apart from the tournament we’ll be running casual matches all day where anyone can sit down play the game, and it’s all absolutely free!
Do you have a personal favourite from the Street Fighter series?
If I’m honest Street Fighter IV is the first fighting game I’ve properly played and properly understood and looking back now I wish I played the previous games properly in their prime. However I probably have to say my favourite version of the Street Fighter series is Super Street Fighter II on the SNES whose cartridge is currently gathering dust in my mother’s attic! In terms of character my favourite is probably Cammy for her speed and agility and one of two more assets which may or may not be obvious!
The @rcade tagged along to the gaming tournament held by streetfighter.ie and despite the weather outside, a big crowd of eager Street Fighters showed up to prove their skills. Anxiously we took our turn against a player who was championing Dudley… needless to say mentally practicing Juri’s moves and special combos did not work out as planned, our opponent pummeled us into a perfect submission. Thankfully we were able to put our shameful defeat down to our first attempt but decided to leave the game at that and to take on the role of overly enthusiastic spectator! The guys at streetfighter.ie should be commended for running a very successful and fun tournament and we look forward to attending their future events.
To find out more about upcoming tournaments and events planned, please check out www.streetfighter.ie for more information.
