Round 1 Win at GameStop’s Street Fighter IV National Tournament

This past Saturday (February 21, 2009), GameStop and Capcom held the first official Street Fighter IV National Tournament in the U.S. With over 2,400 GameStop locations around the country, it’s the largest Street Fighter IV tournament to date, and possibly the largest Street Fighter tournament ever.

Street Fighter IV National Tournament Details

Round 1 store winners will advance to a series of Round 2 District Tournaments on Feb. 28; winners of these competitions will advance to the Round 3 Regional Finals, which will take place on March 14. The top 16 Regional finalists will advance to the championship event, to be held on April 18 in San Francisco. Finalists will battle the competition in a series of matches on Street Fighter IV until one player is left standing. The Grand Prize winner will receive an authentic Japanese-style Street Fighter arcade machine. All 16 finalists will receive MadCatz official Street Fighter IV FightPads and FightSticks, and will qualify for the quarter finals stage of the EVO Championship Series world finals, the premiere fighting championship series for video gamers being held July 17-19 in Las Vegas.

(Street Fighter IV wristband and headband – Round 1 Prizes)

I showed up at the San Mateo GameStop store in Hillsdale Mall and gave my shot at earning a ticket into Round 2. The place was packed. I hadn’t been to a tournament in years, and forgot how fun it was to compete. The excitement and adrenaline of near losses really gets the heart pumping!

The favorite of choice was definitely Sagat, and it’s not surprising since he’s considered the top character in the game. I went with Ryu instead of Chun Li because I found out you’re not allowed to switch characters during the tournament. Bogus rule I think, since character choice really depends on who you’re playing against.

The only other complaint I have is the fact that we’re stuck using Xbox 360 pads on default button settings. With barely any practice time in default mode, I ended up hitting kick a lot when I needed a punch to come out. Also, as I’m sure you know, it’s extremely difficult to pull off Super/Ultra combos and EX dash cancels on a pad.

With all that said, I made it to the finals and earned my way into the Round 2 regional tournament in San Jose, CA. I don’t expect to win there, considering the amount of extremely talented Street Fighter players in the Bay Area. Half the people that show up at San Jose will probably be past EVO competitors, and one of them will most likely win the entire tournament.

Big thumbs up to GameStop and Capcom for doing such a great job in reviving the old Street Fighter scene.

Hadouken!!!

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