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Maou

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"fighters - East Coast vs. West Coast" , posted Wed 12 May 13:41:

So all the talk of Umehara Daigo in the other thread got me watching a bunch of EVO 2009 match videos, where Justin Wong vs. Umehara was of course brilliantly intense. Now I just read about some American East Coast vs. West Coast rivalries and so forth...what does everyone know about the culture these days? I have to admit I didn't even know there was an East Coast scene. Does anybody know? I associate the West Coast scene with SoCal (though I guess there's the Metreon in San Francisco, but I don't know if the pros lurk there), but outside of the superb New York Chinatown Fair, where could the arcade scene in the east even be? Are all the famous non-Japanese players SoCalites?

Meanwhile, how do the legendary KOF-heavy Latin/South American countries stack up? I usually hear about Japan vs. US, but I'm curious to hear if there are champion-caliber fighters from other places...

人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．

[this message was edited by Maou on Wed 12 May 13:43]

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Spoon

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"Re(1):fighters - East Coast vs. West Coast" , posted Wed 12 May 15:36

quote:
So all the talk of Umehara Daigo in the other thread got me watching a bunch of EVO 2009 match videos, where Justin Wong vs. Umehara was of course brilliantly intense. Now I just read about some American East Coast vs. West Coast rivalries and so forth...what does everyone know about the culture these days? I have to admit I didn't even know there was an East Coast scene. Does anybody know? I associate the West Coast scene with SoCal (though I guess there's the Metreon in San Francisco, but I don't know if the pros lurk there), but outside of the superb New York Chinatown Fair, where could the arcade scene in the east even be? Are all the famous non-Japanese players SoCalites?

Meanwhile, how do the legendary KOF-heavy Latin/South American countries stack up? I usually hear about Japan vs. US, but I'm curious to hear if there are champion-caliber fighters from other places...

The biggest center of East Coast in the USA is indeed NYC. However, there is also Toronto and Montreal in Canada, which both have had very competitive scenes in the Capcom games. Some parts of NorCal had a strong scene for many years. I believe Berkeley is considered part of NorCal, though its scene took a blow some years back when the arcade at UC Berkeley closed down.

KOF has a very strong Chinese following. I don't know how well that following has grown since the 90's heydays of SNK, but one thing's for sure: nobody doubts that the very best players of the old KOFs come from China. Because of immigration, the following of KOF made it's way to the major parts of British Columbia, namely the cities of Vancouver, Richmond, and Burnaby. There are still a good many dedicated players today, but not quite the crowds that there used to be.

The best MvC2 player in Canada for a long time was from British Columbia. Some of the old hands on the other games have moved to other places, though.

justicekyo

709th Post

Red Carpet Regular Member

"Re(1):fighters - East Coast vs. West Coast" , posted Thu 13 May 06:29

quote:
So all the talk of Umehara Daigo in the other thread got me watching a bunch of EVO 2009 match videos, where Justin Wong vs. Umehara was of course brilliantly intense. Now I just read about some American East Coast vs. West Coast rivalries and so forth...what does everyone know about the culture these days? I have to admit I didn't even know there was an East Coast scene. Does anybody know? I associate the West Coast scene with SoCal (though I guess there's the Metreon in San Francisco, but I don't know if the pros lurk there), but outside of the superb New York Chinatown Fair, where could the arcade scene in the east even be? Are all the famous non-Japanese players SoCalites?

Meanwhile, how do the legendary KOF-heavy Latin/South American countries stack up? I usually hear about Japan vs. US, but I'm curious to hear if there are champion-caliber fighters from other places...

as one who was in the thick of the "rivalary wars" back in the day and compared to now... it's not what it used to be, it's alot more tame,but there are still some great fights going on from time to time.

ZamIAm

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"Re(2):fighters - East Coast vs. West Coast" , posted Thu 13 May 07:03

quote:
The biggest center of East Coast in the USA is indeed NYC. However, there is also Toronto and Montreal in Canada, which both have had very competitive scenes in the Capcom games. Some parts of NorCal had a strong scene for many years. I believe Berkeley is considered part of NorCal, though its scene took a blow some years back when the arcade at UC Berkeley closed down.

NY is the biggest on the East Coast but I wonder how much of that is skewed by having physical arcades. There's a sizable amount of gatherings down South but I think it gets overlooked both because the lack of true arcades and the sheer fact that it's the South.

Ishmael

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"Re(3):fighters - East Coast vs. West Coast" , posted Fri 14 May 01:12

quote:

NY is the biggest on the East Coast but I wonder how much of that is skewed by having physical arcades. There's a sizable amount of gatherings down South but I think it gets overlooked both because the lack of true arcades and the sheer fact that it's the South.

True, I suspect a lot of the scene stuff is due to having arcades and people who are willing to engage in a bit of self-promotion. I wonder if the on-line component that games have now will help bring players from more distant locations? While on-line will never replace person to person bouts it could make more people interested in playing competitively.