The light of fifty arcade screens brings a dim low light setting as the sound of a heavy metal causes my head to pulsate in pain. The noise of one hundred different sounds from gun shots to techno beats to grunting and death throes permeates the stagnant air. Time has no place in this reality as the lights and sounds remain constant even as the sun rises to high noon and sets to dawn.
The only sound you can clearly make out is the clear sound of hundreds of plastic buttons being pressed. A crowd of 15 to 20 men gather in a space no bigger then 15 square feet, observing a big screen tv where two men are sitting together, feverishly drumming their fingers across four buttons while rolling their joysticks in quarter circles.
Not from the actual tournament, but this gives you an idea what AI looks like with ranbats underway.
“Last game!” an employee announces. He makes it clear that the tournament is about to start, so casual play is over. He points towards the back wall of this small cave we all call an arcade, where a second, smaller machine with the same game is located. “If you wanna keep going, go over there!”
David Broweleit, age 19, finishes his 15th straight win and leaves the cabinet as everyone waits for the workers to reset the machine to tournament rules: two rounds, 99 second time limit, free play entry. The tournament itself was best two out of three, double elimination rules. Friends cheer friends on and taunt each other in the spirit of friendly competition. This isn't just any tournament. This is a ranked battle at Arcade Infinity.
Established 10 years ago by Ken Tai, Arcade Infinity, or AI, hasn't changed too much in Rowland Heights, California despite enduring the death of arcades in the mid-nineties. It has remained a competitive arcade home to unique, Japanese arcade games, from music/rhythm games like Guitar Freaks complete with faux plastic guitars, to an entire stable of staple Japanese style, sit down arcade games.
Arcade Infinity's use of the iconic 'infinity' symbol stands the test of time.
AI is a hot spot for fight game competition as players with all manner of unique pseudonyms, both new and famous, step onto the proving grounds to show their skill on weekly and monthly ladders.
David, or Dacidbro, is relatively new to this SoCal scene. He's made his skill apparent though, as he's played games like tonight's Blazblue: Continuum Shift while he was still living up north. He's only been coming to AI for 2 weeks now since hearing about it from his friend “BangCamaro”.
“The competition here is great, especially with Bang,” Dacidbro says, mentioning the character he plays: a flashy ninja with a long scarf and a giant nail hanging off of his back, Bang Shishigami. Dacidbro has a great attitude as a player but is understandably confident. “Hopefully I'll win. I want to use the prize money to see my girlfriend who's still up north.”
Mike Zaimont on the other hand is a seasoned veteran both of AI and fighting games in general. Better known as Mike Z, this 28-year-old man of small build has been going to AI for four years and played games as far back as Super Street Fighter Turbo II from 1995. This relatively small man betrays the sense of skill and knowledge he holds, especially since every character he specializes in is typically the large grappler archetype character.
“The competition here is pretty good. Some of the best play here too.” Mike says. Not only is he one of the best here in AI, he's been to one of the biggest tournaments in the United States: Evolution. “Compared to here [AI], the skill ceiling there brings out the best in people. The people I've played at Evo never make the mistakes I sometimes see here.”
Tonight on Blazblue, this meant he was playing Iron Tager, a giant cyborg who towers over the rest of the cast. Mike Z is known for controlling the match to his favor until he puts his opponent right where he wants them: straight into his character's hand so he can grab them with his signature move: a pile driver from a mile high in the sky.
The tournament started at 3 p.m. and picked up at a relatively slow pace. Matches took up to 10 minutes at a time to finish due to being best two out of three. Games would stretch on if both players won one match each and went to the tie breaking 3rd game. But around the 6 p.m. mark, the matches got interesting. Players would consistently pull out hat tricks that amazed the observing crowd.
Feats of technical skill, executing special attacks with such expert timing that they'd interrupt their opponent mid-strike with a fantastic and often times explosive attack. Rolling the joystick in half circles while pressing a button sounds easy on paper, but is difficult under pressure from a human opponent. Two players locked in a battle of wits and skill. A game of execution, concentration, and consistency. One mistake could cost you money.
During his games, Dacidbro nods whenever his character gets hit by his opponent. It's his positive attitude at work. “I respect my opponent for taking advantage of the opportunity and my mistake.” Dacidbro had some exceptionally tough matches, eventually playing two in a row due to being in the loser's bracket. But he finally lost just one game shy of the semi-finals.
His opponent, a tall bushy haired Asian man in glasses, played as Litchi, a staff wielding character feared for her exceptionally long combos and damage potential. For every combo Litchi dropped however, Davidbro returned from the health deficit in spades.
It came down to the wire, but an unfortunately mistake on Dacidbro's part cost him the game, and he bowed out with a hearty handshake with his visibly, mentally fatigued opponent.
Meanwhile, Mike Z returned from a mysterious hiatus. Due to him winning all his matches thus far, he had gone out to eat in order to wait for his turn two and half hours after his last win.
All of his games, Mike Z masterfully predicted what his opponent was going to do and countered them. If they wanted to jump backwards, Mike Z grabbed them out of the air. If they wanted to push him away, he absorbed the impact and used his signature move known as the Genesic Emerald Tager Buster.
Once again I witnessed another match that came down to the wire. Mike was playing against someone who specialized in a character known as Carl Clover. In addition to playing as a small boy, he had intermediate control of his robot partner, effectively a game of two against one.
Despite Carl winning two matches he had to win an additional match because of his position in the loser's bracket. Finally the tournament came to it's match point. Final game and each player had won one round each in the final game. This final round would be the decider.
After wrestling with the problem of two characters against one for three whole games, Mike Z came out on top after a close match with each character with less then 25 percent of their health left. Disabling the robot partner several times in the game, Mike Z seized an opportunity on a helpless, airborne Carl to grab him for Mike Z's patented clincher: Tager Buster!
8:35 p.m. and the air is still electric with the excitement of seeing so many close matches. The tournament may be over but the players and the fans are still excited. Fans want their chance to play while players are simply eager to enjoy the atmosphere to it's fullest
“Yogurtland Mike Z! Yogurtland!” one of the commentators shouts. Why should the winner treat everyone to Yogurtland? Let alone the sarcasm they carried on. “If you play Tager then you're automatically mean.” the other replies. At least the people of AI will continue playing well into the night with whatever quarters they have left.
Pictures from GameSetWatch and Teppelin. Arcade Infinity front photo taken personally by myself. Match videos provided by youtube via Arcade Infinity's channel.
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