Nick Adams Games Blog

Only a competitive hardcore fighting gaming event could get away with being called the ‘Battle Of Destiny’. A dramatic name like that is reinforced by the actual tournament games they’ve picked out: ‘Capcom versus SNK 2: Millionaire Fighting 2001′, ‘Streetfighter III: Third Strike’, ‘Tekken 5: Dark Ressurection’ and ‘Hyper Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition’.

This attracted lots of hardcore gamers from across Europe, a lot of them wearing self referencing fighting game T-Shirts and carrying their own custom modded arcade sticks with all sorts of colours, buttons and artwork that they used for their tournament games.

The actual area was in the Rocket Centre, the metropolitan University student building. Reinforcing the negative videogame stereotype, most of the rooms were very dark with the display screens being a helpful source of light to navigate your way through the building.

Before each tournament match, the players go through something of a ritual which is akin to martial artists bowing to each other before battle. They go to the options screen, and make sure that their opponent has set all the controls and configurations to their preference. Its almost like a digital shaking of the hands and chanting something along the lines of “may the best man win”.

The really interesting thing about this event was the hype surrounding the grand finals. All of the machines were shut off and we were asked to leave the premises for half an hour. I thought that all of the staff were having a syncronised break, but when we were allowed back into the hall it now resembled a cinema theatre with lots of chairs laid out in long rows, and a grand huge screen displaying the final rounds of the competition, with a beefy sound system to match.

The level of energy and excitement in the room was incredible. Because everyone there was competing or at least knows of Streetfighter and its fighting game kin, the entire crowd would react collectively to someone performing a string of special moves or interesting playing styles.

It was an incredible experience, and I have never seen so many people in a single room who are so into their fighting games than at this event. If you’re a big fan of fighting games, I would definitely recommend it. I know that I’ll definitely be going along to their next event.