The United States of Street Fighter IV
Before I even attempted to get the “No Country for Old Arcades” series off the ground, I made sure to contact the good folks over at Arcade Heroes to pick their brain on the idea. It’s thanks to them that I got this idea in my head that for as much as people love to declare the arcade scene as dead, history has proven that all they really need is just one amazing title to bring everyone back in.
Pong kicked off the 70’s and in the 80’s, Pac-Man proved that arcade games weren’t just a fad. Street Fighter II completely revolutionized the industry at the start of the 90’s and Dance Dance Revolution did the same for this century.
And now, a little over a month after it’s Japanese release, Street Fighter IV has landed in select arcades across North America. From what I’ve seen and heard, it could very well be that one game needed to convince the masses that yes, arcades are very much worth your time. The problem is that it also represents an easily missed opportunity.
The number of people who are turning out for just a chance to get their hands on Street Fighter IV has been mind boggling to say the least. Lines stretching out doors, arcades packed from wall-to-wall and some locations such as Granada Hill’s Family Fun Arcade pledging to stay open for 24 hours some nights just to satiate gamers. This kind of widespread pandemonium is something that, for the most part, has been unheard of for practically decades in America. So imagine for a moment that Street Fighter IV has arrived at an arcade near you. Excited, you grab your belongings, rush for the door and speed like crazy down the highways to your destination. You burst through the door, turn your dead presidents into dirty tokens and make for the machine, only to find this-
Not a very good first impression, is it? To think that we went from full-sized jet ski’s and giant dancing machines to this sad contraption. This is the reality of Street Fighter IV in North America and it paints a fairly accurate portrait of the current state of arcades. The truth is that Street Fighter IV could very well breathe new life into the arcade industry, but few arcades are in any position to take advantage of it. For starters, buying into Street Fighter IV is not only expensive, but must be done so twice as the game is designed for a network setting, meaning you need two boards to support two players. There are plenty of reasons as to why this sort of bizarre arrangement works in Japan (bullying for space is a popular one), but here in the US, it’s simply overkill. And were an operator to attempt to bring it over in it’s full, Taito Viewlix glory, they’d never stand a chance to make their money back on the investment, resulting in a mess like this.
I feel bad laughing at this sort of stuff, but really, it’s all I can do to distract myself from the pain (Oprah calls that empowerment). In all honesty, the operators out there who are bringing Street Fighter IV stateside are true heroes in my books. Especially the crazy ones like NeoGAF’s fubarduck who not only just opened a brand new arcade (Arcade UFO in Austin, TX), but did so with four machines worth of Street Fighter IV. That, my friends, takes balls.
Consider this: there are two universities in California (San Jose and San Francisco State) that currently have Street Fighter IV, but no Golfland’s. What was once the premiere set of arcades for the latest and greatest in the Bay Area have been left behind for, of all things, college arcades. This is deeply troubling not only from a point of heritage, but that a set of college arcades took on the perceived risk of this pricey title, knowing full well how it was going to pan out. The results? Both Sunnyvale and Milpitas Golfland’s were ghost towns this past Saturday night, both of their ludicrously expensive Tekken 6 cabinets remaining empty. Sunnyvale Golfland also has a new virtual roller coaster ride to which I question, if they could afford a crappy virtual roller coaster, what prevented them from importing Street Fighter IV?
It’s clear that for arcade operators who insisted on having Street Fighter IV in their line-up, two things were required: an abundance of cash and creativity. My favorite place on earth, Arcade Infinity, really only has one of those two but bless Ken’s heart, he managed to pull it off. You’d never know it by looking, but AI’s Street Fighter IV machines are a pair of Frankensteins if there ever was one. They began by gutting two of their unused Samba De Amigo machines (Don’t cry for them, but for the Shakato no Tambourine which was converted into a Ghost Squad machine last year) and replacing their worn out projectors with a pair of Toshiba LCD screens. The zombie Samba’s are they joined to a pair of Astro City front panels. The entire beast was then given a fresh coat of paint and the results are something that you’d almost think was dedicated, were it not so over the top.
Coupled with the intense crowds, what we’re seeing with Street Fighter IV is a lot like what we saw during the original Street Fighter II craze. Arcade operators are doing everything and anything possible to get this game at their locations, whether it means converting older machines or crafting entirely new setups to house it. Not to say that these types of scenarios aren’t worth celebrating over, but it’s not as if this is a widespread phenomenon. Street Fighter IV is still quite rare in North America as a popular location tracker shows that they can only be found in the most active pockets of the United States. Considering the number of people that still turn out at these locations even weeks after installation, it’s safe to say that the cost outweighs the risk of the investment at this time, but I doubt many operators want to take the plunge, especially since a console release is a mere six months away.
Take a look at the gallery below of various Street Fighter IV machines across North America. After all these years, is this what it’s come to? The biggest arcade game in a decade and this is the best we can hope for? When I see this, I can’t think of a better reason to support local arcades so that maybe, for the next version of Street Fighter IV (oh, you know it’s coming), things can be a little better.
(Thanks to Scott for the photos, research and top image that made this entry possible. BFF!)
September 9th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
As I understand it you actually have to buy 4 boards from Capcom? Not sure if this is true, but I begged and pleaded with Metreon Tilt to get this instead of T6 and they said that was the case and why the decided to go with T6 instead. :\
It seems strange at first that the colleges here got it before the Golflands or Tilt, but there really is a steady flow of people all day wanting to play fighting games in general at SFSU/SJSU. It’s a little bit more of a sure thing that they would make their money back with that kind of environment already in place.
At least we are lucky enough to have it in NorCal at a couple locations. I just hope the frenzy continues even after the console release.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
@haunts: Originally, yeah, you had to buy four boards, though I believe that was only for pre-orders. Operators should be able to get away with buying then in single units, but you still need to buy at least two for versus play.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
SJSU got two more machines if you didn’t hear.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
“To think that we went from full-sized jet ski’s and giant dancing machines to this sad contraption.”
Frankenstein cabinets are nothing new. Tambourine games have been used all the time for big screens of fighting games. It’s just that Capcom’s Vewlix cabinets suck too much and cost too much to buy.
Most of these are actually really great setups. FFA has 42″ HD screens, a great sound-system with subwoofers, etc. Most other arcades have done things similarly (Chinatown Fair, Arcade Infinity, and Hawaiian Brian’s) and are all amazing setups.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
@Edg3: I did! It sort of compounds the whole, “Why doesn’t Golfland have it yet” issue, doesn’t it? :(
@Id: Thanks for the comment. I don’t mean to mock these arcades, it’s just that were this still the golden days of the arcades, this wouldn’t have been an issue. Everyone would have the fanciest of the fancy and I wish that were still the case. A frankenstein is still a frankenstein ;)
September 10th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Wow, I just assumed SVGL would get it first, but I see how wrong I am. Time to go to SJSU!
September 10th, 2008 at 12:58 am
Nice article, Jared.
How did I not hear that Arcade Infinity had Street Fighter IV?! I thought the only SoCal location was that arcade up in Walnut. Well, I guess I’m making a trip to Arcade Infinity this week.
Does anyone know what the crowds have been like at AI? I may make a trip up midday if it means avoiding crazy lines.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:56 am
Great feature - and a nice perspective.
Glad you also researched the piece compared to other writers.
We think arcade is worth better coverage than we have been getting.
All the best, Editor
http://www.thestingerreport.com
September 10th, 2008 at 8:14 am
@Jared Rea:
Thanks for the reply. I worked on the FFA setup so I got a little offended, lol.
If this were the golden age of SFII, we would have gotten 16 machines like arcades in Japan are doing. In fact when you buy the SFIV boards, it comes with a hub that connects 16 boards together. But to think that anyone would do this in an American arcade where a board alone is $7000 is ridiculous.
Surprisingly, even though we’ve got our current setup, we’ve had a bunch of people ask if we’re going to put them in those old blue Capcom standup cabinets (the kind you used to play Sf2 or Neo Geo games in).
In America there is no standard for SF4 machines (as you’ve written about in the article). I haven’t heard of a single American arcade who’s even wanted to get Vewlix cabinets. The screens are too small, they aren’t built for games like SF4 (the controls aren’t centered, there’s two of them on one cabinet). They’re Japanese sticks (which isn’t a big deal for some arcades, but at FFA few people prefer Japanese sticks). And they definitely aren’t worth the price ($3000 I think?). With a customized cabinet we can make things the way that we prefer it. We can put in better HDTVs than the Vewlix’s, we can center our own control panels, we can make the cabinets sit-down or stand-up style, we have the freedom to make it the way that our customers want.
Hopefully SFIV will breathe in new life into the arcade scene, but it’s still not everyone’s cup of tea. Fortunately, there’s still BlazBlue and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom coming out this year (And both about 1/2 the price of one SFIV board). With three kick-ass new fighting games all coming out so soon I think you’ll start seeing a lot more crowded arcades. Oh, and we still would prefer to Frankenstein our own BlazBlue and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom setups too (we’ve actually already got plans for them).
September 10th, 2008 at 8:56 am
http://www.wickedretarded.com/~crapmame/074-compFinalJoysticks.jpg
September 10th, 2008 at 10:06 am
@Id: Wow, thanks for the insight. Yeah, this year looks really great. I’m hoping that Aksys can manage to get BlazBlue in enough arcades for it to gain some traction.
@Adam Robezzoli: The lines are relatively nuts, of course. I hadn’t seen that many people crowded around a game at AI since the heyday of Beatmania IIDX. We’re talking like, 2001-2002. Though I bet it’d be relatively dead during the day time, as AI usually is.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
jared, I am so sorry this has nothing to do with street fighter 4. But in the interest of science, and our longstanding friendship, you have to watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flKIpif87Lg
September 12th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Jared, I hear where you’re coming from on all this, but fact of the matter is, janky ghetto-rigged SFIV is better than no SFIV.
And can you really blame operators for resorting to Mickey Mouse-ing their setups? At $12,000(ish!) for two boards, very very few operators are willing to take the plunge. My bro and I were planning to set up a new spot around SFIV until we found out CapCom was forcing you to buy four pcbs (if you wanted to preorder), and now two at a time? With a console release in February 2009? No thanks.
Then we were planning it around KoFXII, only to be shot down by SNK’s announcement recently that they’re planning to release the game on consoles as early as MARCH of 2009. Yikes. Even though it costs less than half of what SFIV costs, we cannot justify purchasing it with such a small lead time before it hits the home consoles.
We’re now shooting to open around the time Tatsunoko vs Capcom and/or Blazblue (the US version) hit. But who knows how that is going to work out.
It’s hard enough to get by without the publishers destroying your ability to recoup investment by releasing home versions so quickly.. particularly in an era where the home hardware is more than capable of producing virtually arcade-perfect ports.
Excellet article, see you on GAF
September 12th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
@kazuo: Thanks for the comment. I completely agree: ghetto rigged SF4 is definitely better than nothing. It’s just saddens me to see it’s the only option. Viewlix sucking or no, I wish both arcades and Capcom USA were in a better position to do more.
I heard the news today about KOFXII and I’m pretty skeptical. We’ll have to see what kind of shape it’s in come TGS. I’ll be shocked if it’s playable.
All of this discussion has spurred some pretty interesting thoughts … so expect a crazier entry sometime in the future ;)