Thoughts After “My” Fighting Game Got a Sequel
[This is something I originally wrote and posted on the Cohost platform, which as of the end of 2024 is going to be shut down. I’ve edited it a bit from the original post. I am posting it here just so it’s still on the internet somewhere.]
I realize there’s many people who have gone through similar experiences. But I am young, and this is my first time witnessing the cycle of a new game begin again.
Street Fighter V was the game I used to jump ship from playing Super Smash Bros. and enter the world of “traditional” fighting games. I watched Youtube videos of matches and instructional content for a year until I finally got a PS4 to play it on. I was in love with it’s rigid structure and clarity, as I was frustrated with how “instinctual” of a game I perceived Smash Bros. to be. I played it online on my own for about a year and a half, then I found my local Fighting Game Community, and that same year I traveled for the first time for a fighting game event. Over the years I got pretty good too. Good enough to get acquainted with some out-of-state high level players, and get a reputation for a guy with potential. For about 6 years straight, I never got tired of finding ways to improve and play matches with anyone willing. SFV was the fighting game equivalent of home to me.
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A good number of fighting games manage to retain a core group of players who still play it, despite a sequel being released. It’s one of the things I love about the community at large: Old games can still thrive. But SFV is different, at least for now. 99% of the player base moved on to SF6, many of them expressing they will never play SFV again. Local, regional, and major tournaments stopped running SFV, save for the odd community-run side tournament here and there. The playerbase is now too small to use the in-game matchmaking, it’s basically required to use discord to find someone to play SFV with. No one is actively practicing the game. I guess I also moved on in a way. I’m not actively practicing it anymore either.
Watching a game I love leave the big stages and the spotlights leaves me with a feeling I can’t quite describe. I knew SFV would never be the same after SF6 released, I knew there would be very few people who would still play it. But it still makes me sad.
At EVO 2023, my good friend Thomas Winkley ran a community tournament for SFV. Despite SF6 only being months old, 60 people entered. One of the benefits of a new game coming out is that almost all of the people left playing the old game are those who really love it. I managed to make top 6, and during that top 6, we had about 10–12 people huddled around a stream setup on the convention floor, talking about and playing a game we all loved. I played my loser’s match, popped off for blocking a mixup mid-match, then had my opponent, Lizardman, popped off on me and ran around the table after hitting me with his signature, “The Lizardman,” to win the match and eliminate me. I guess one pop off must always be balanced by another. I stood up from the chair, and Thomas handed me an EVO Community Medal for taking 5th place.
I almost cried on the spot.
I could’ve played better that day (I think I could’ve won the whole thing actually), but it doesn’t really matter. Street Fighter V still exists, but “My” fighting game is gone. I will likely never put the same time and effort into the game again, and I will likely never travel with the goal of specifically playing this game again. But what’s left is the people who played it. I still religiously attend my locals, to play any fighting game I can get my hands on with close friends. And my heart still yearns to travel toward fighting game events and see friends I only get to see at places like this. The game is, and has always been, just a medium to connect to wonderful people. I am no longer a Street Fighter V player, I am a fighting game player.
