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Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Growing up Gamer.

A little nostalgia story I wrote up for the PA forums...

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One summer, a family friend offered up her timeshare condo on the beach in Seaside, Oregon. My mom thought it'd be groovy to get away for awhile, so she packed up the kids and gear and we hit the beach for a month.

Now if you've never been to Seaside, it's a pretty standard tourist-trap beach resort place, but a bit slower-paced than some other summer spots along the coast. Big open beaches, decent waves, a boardwalk...plenty of fun for all involved. At night, downtown Seaside came alive. Shops, restaurants, street performers...any and everything available to snatch as much tourist money possible in a 6 block radius.

One night, my mom handed us $20 each and a 'don't come back for 2 hours' shoo out the door, and we took off down the boardwalk. Fried food, saltwater taffy, and cheaply-made toys from Taiwan greeted us along our way...until a faint, familiar sound made it's way to our finely-tuned child-consumer ears, and right then, all tourist trappings of Seaside, Oregon paled in comparison. The lights, the bells, the clu-clunk-rings of the pinball machines, the chatter of kids our age revelling in their pixel mastery.

The arcade.

Not just any arcade. A huge, open-air arcade that took over what seemed like entire city block, placed neatly at the very epicenter of ToursitVille, USA. It was glorious, and myself and my brothers each felt a small tear of happiness well up as we took it all in, give or take $60 between us. The world was ours!

We made our way through the establishment, taking in all the sights and sounds, scouting out the game selection as all seasoned arcade professionals SHOULD do:

Change machine - Check.
Soda machine - Check. Ooh sweet they have Jolt! (Jolt was big back in those days...)
Ticket redemption area - Check (Mental note to cruise the skee-ball alley later to collect forgotten tickets.)
Kiddie game area to avoid - Check. (Stupid kids. I got your Whack-a-Mole right here junior.)

Quarters gathered, caffienated beverages in hand, we made our way to the darkest corners of the arcade, where all the good games were stashed away. Operation Wolf, Street Fighter...they had it all, and in some cases, multiples just to keep the clientele happy.

As we meandered towards our destination, my brothers and I hit a wall of like-minded kids, all gawking in the same direction. We could hear whispers of 'Oh man did you SEE that move!?' and 'How did they make it look like real people!' and occassionally, for reasons we had not yet discovered, a huge pubescent roar of "Oooooh maaan!!"

Well dammit. What was the cause of all this? We had to know, and now. Shoving our way through the crowd of kids, we finally made our way close enough to see what all the excitement was about...and it was an experience I'll never forget.

Heads-up fighting. Amazing, realistic graphics. A booming, visceral announcer that called for the termination of the failed opponent, seemingly venting all his personal issues and therapy sessions with a simple "Finish him!!"

And the blood. Oh my my my....the blood.

Mortal Kombat had arrived, and we, three scroungy kids from Washington on some odd gaming god twist of fate, had been there the night of its unveiling.

It was incredible. All these fighters to choose from, and they all looked so real! Amazing moves, special attacks, combos, and the "Oh my GOD DID YOU SEE THAT!?" Fatalities. I had to get in there and play this new game. No, I needed to, like it was destiny or something equally silly at 14 years old.
After much struggling past the rest of the gore-struck kids, I managed to plunk my quarter on the cabinet rail above the controls. I was next in line, and the black kid who was currently manning Player 1 had easily demolished 5 challengers in a row since we'd arrived to watch.

Now, it should be known that our father taught us to play cards at a young age. It was just something we did for fun out camping or hunting, or during long road trips. Pops taught us the art of studying your oppponent...picking up the tell-tale signs of weakness, and how to stop giving ourselves away in the process. This has helped greatly over the years spent facing down quarter-dropping challengers in the arcade too. Silly, i know...but my 20 minute wait watching the other kids play that night was not ill-spent.

My brothers and I both whispered back and forth, picking up the special attack joystick movements and button combinations, each of us focusing on a particular character or two that caught our interests. I happened to like the ninja twins - Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Similar play styles, but distinctly different timing and combinations. Our Player 1 foe had only been using Liu Kang, and to noted great effect. How do we stop that fireball-flying kick combination!? His opponents left the area, shaking their heads in disbelief and slight awe at his prowess. He was also the first and ONLY player in the joint to pull off this Fatality move at the end of battle, and it was a sight to behold as Liu busted out the spin kick-uppercuts of death.

Finally, it was my turn to get in there and give it a try. The first round I knew would be a wash, as I got comfortable with the controls and attacks. Black kid who kicked ass with Liu Kang (who I later found out preferred to be called Jesse), smirked and shot me a sideways glance as he deftly whipped my ass in Round 1. But during that round, I got the stick movements down pat, and learned a Scorpion move by accident that no one else up to that point had pulled off. It was so fast that, at first, I didn't know what had happened - one swipe back and blip! Scorpion had disappeared, only to reappear on the other side of the screen and earn me a face full of bicycle kick to end the first round.

Hmm...

Round 2....FIGHT!!

Jesse had gotten into a habit of predictable pattern, and I knew his opening moves would fireball-fireball-flying kick-bicycle kick, so I blocked the fireballs and, instead of blocking the kick, I whipped Scorpion's spear...thing...at Liu.

'Get over heeerre!!' Well goddamn, it worked! Blam! Uppercut!

Jesse was shaken. He'd never seen that before, and didn't know how to recover. Round 2 was mine.

Round 3...the tie-breaker.

Jesse had obviously learned from his previous mistakes, and his predicted opening pattern no longer existed. He started diving straight into me when I tried throwing my Spear, getting over it for a deft foot in the face-sweep-uppercut devastating pop-up combo. It seemed that in a matter of seconds, I would be another notch on Jesse's belt of arcade victims, but then...inspiration.

What if I tried that vanishing move that I found accidentally during the first round? What exactly does that do? Jesse jumped in, thinking that my joystick movements were tapping up another Spear, but no no....Shadowpunch! Gasps from the crowd behind us - it really WAS a special attack...and check THIS shit out - I can do it in the air too!

Jesse was sweating now. The final round of what could be the end of his Mortal Kombat reign that night, and this dumbass kid just learned a move that he'd never seen in battle.

35 seconds left in the round, and we each had roughly half-health left. Jesse's constant barrage of air and range attacks were slowly beating me down, so it was time to get creative. Spear ----> got him! Sweep - Uppercut- Shadowpunch - Shadowpunch YES!!

And then, just as I was feverishly trying to wind up another Shadowpunch, the screen went dark, Liu Kang was standing there in a daze, and I heard it ...."FINISH HIM!!"

It happened so fast, that my fumbling confusion in the middle of my newly-found Combo of Whupass presented the icing on the cake. My eyes wide open, the jaws behind me slack in awe as we watched Scorpion take off his mask to reveal that face of death and 'holy shit he just spit fire on Liu!!

I only managed to pull it off that one time that night, but Jesse, giving me a chuck on the shoulder and a "man that was awesome!', put his quarters on the deck to get back in and play. I wasn't about to tell anyone that it was a total accident, choosing instead to use my time in the rotation that night to play with all the other characters to see what could be done.

Even so, for that 3.5 minutes standing there amidst my arcade brethren, I was a gaming god, taking my turn in opening the treasure chest of new, fresh, pixelated violence that lay before us, beckoning our quarters.

Jesse and I became good friends after that night, spending whatever free time and what little money we had at the arcade, waiting patiently for our next round of Mortal Kombat. Even now, years later and barely keeping in touch, we still happily go back to that summer and the first time we saw Scorpion's skull barbecue Liu Kang.

Flawless victory.
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Location: Seattle, Washington, United States

I'm old. I'm only 30, but some days I feel *old*. I have a beautiful 6 year old daugher. A nice life. A loving family. A gorgeous girlfriend. Yep, pretty boring. But dammit I'm here to write about it and you can't stop me!

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