A Hardcore Casual Fighter’s Road: 6th Kyu!

Tekken 6 match between Asuka and Heihachi. Not me, however, since I’m filming…

Tonight was a good night for Tekken 6.

I came to the arcade and found a mob at the two machines, with the recognizable experts deep in play with each other, or with some poor schmucks brave enough to challenge them. The Japanese guy I posted about some time ago is still around, and he seems to NEVER leave the arcade- I heard he was there just after lunch, and here he was- just before MIDNIGHT. Man, what is this guy? Some professional player practicing on us Pinoys so he can go back to Tokyo with mad skills? Or just a salaryman on his vacation passing the time? In any case, he’s freakin’ good, and has racked up hundreds of wins.

Looking around at these hardcore players though, I was kinda bored at their characters. No one had yet pimped out their characters much- the Japanese guy’s Jin had a white shirt and gauntlets with his flame pants and arm/instep guards; a Kuma player had shades, making his fighter look like the polar bear from the old Coke commercials. But aside from that, nothing too flashy. A lot of players, though apparently pretty good, were playing without Data cards, which is kinda wasteful if you ask me. Just shell out for the damn data card, fellas… so your play and credits at least amount up to something you can see. Bah.

Anyway, the play was interesting for a bit, when a girl stepped up and played Nina against a Dragunov player. She won once, but got eliminated after. After that, more play from the expert guys and I was getting antsy. Since there were only two machines, a system was set up (apparently spontaneously by the players) during peak times where those who wanna play line up their cash/data cards on the counter. It’s a pretty nifty system, and I like how it’s so honest and apparently foolproof. I tried to get in a day ago, and got trounced, so I just watched today. After a while I thought, no play today, so I decided to go home.

When I exited, I realized that it was still a bit early, so rush hour crowds still milled about. I went back into the arcade and decided to watch a bit more. Luckily, the crowds at the machines had thinned considerably down to about a couple of guys playing at each machine. I mustered the courage to play… and got trounced by the Polar Bear. Ouch!

I held back until the guy finished his game (lost to Azazel), and when he vacated the machine, it was mine! I sat down and got to play a couple of times. I still freakin’ suck at the single player, damn it. I was about to go when a guy sat down and played Hwoarang. I decided, what the hell. When he was about to lose to the CPU, I challenged with my Asuka. Nicely enough, I beat him… my first WIN.

I played a bit more. Once again, the CPU was creaming me… I should learn their damn patterns. I had just about resigned myself to expending my credits on practice when another player stepped up and challenged me. He used BOB, which distressed me quite a bit. I knew the Fat Bastard was overpowered, and this guy probably was good with him. True enough, first bout I lost. However, I could tell- I could have won that fight! So I challenged him again. This time, my hands seemed a bit more steady, I knew what I needed to do. I had found my frickin’ ZONE. I began to WIN, damn it. So there, I proved it to myself- it’s not the character, it’s the player. The guy didn’t suck with Bob, but he wasn’t an expert yet, and he had weaknesses I could exploit. The game was on, though, and it could go either way.

He won some times, but I won more. Soon, I was able to bump up my pitiful Beginner rank to 6th Kyu. WOOHOO! Plus, a Roulette happened during our play, so I earned quite a bit of gold. From a measly 1,000+ before, I ended the night with about 40,000 gold.

We played till I expended my credits on my cash card, and I shook his hand and told him, “Good Game!” I was indeed happy. It was my first Tekken 6 night where I didn’t suck, I won and I had FUN. THAT was the frickin’ thing. I really didn’t suck. I was fighting guys who were blasted GURUS. I needed to fight guys like me, who knew the game but didn’t spend all their waking hours playing.

And so, my morale and self-esteem are back and I know I can eventually afford the good stuff as long as I keep practicing and playing well with normal opposition. Slowly but surely, the Hardcore Casual Fighter’s road is difficult, but not impossible. And I can see the lovely waypoint on the horizon at last. Sweet!