Its early evening around my house and the sounds of Battle Rifles and Final Fantasy fight music fill the air. We are a gamer family, I grew up a child of games, in the early 80s. During my 4th or 5th grade sing, we each had to pick something we wanted for Christmas that year that would be incorporated into the last song we would sing of the night. Kids wanting bikes, ponies, sporting equipment and other various stuff kids want. Me, I wanted Defender for my Atari 2600, and I wouldn’t budge on it even though no one but me knew what the hell I was talking about. I have always had video games for as long as I can remember. My uncle had a computer store during my childhood, and I had access to play anything I wanted too as a kid. But I never had anyone really that played games, no one to appreciate them with. As I got older and moved on from my 2600 to a NES my parents would have no part of buying it for me, so I had to scrimp and save for god knows how long delivering papers to buy my NES myself. I wasn’t given a lot of games as my parents were never well to do but they did well enough to hook me up a few times a year, and anything else I had to buy myself. Why am I reminiscing about my gaming past? Well today I was on a hunting trip for bargain bin games around the area and I decided to drag my 8yr old and 4 yr old along so I could use them as excuses for why I spent so much on games heh. Well we struck out all over and I decided to make one last look at GameStop and see if lady luck would smile upon me. She did in a way I didn’t expect.

Up until that point my boys weren’t really interested in the shopping trip, I guess looking through glass cases and security devices just isn’t as fun for them as I thought. Once we hit GameStop it changed, they both tore through that store like a couple little tornados messing with the boxes and yelling “DAD DAD LOOK!” over and over. Which brought a smile to my face cause I could see the sadness on the 2 GameStop guys faces as things everywhere got disturbed, but what really made me happy was seeing their enthusiasm for the same hobby I hold so dear to my heart. Other than my wife and my 1.3 yr old son, everyone plays video games, we have DS’s, PSP’s, Wii, 360, Genesis, SNES, Saturn, PS1and 2 and various other old and newer video games to play. Anyways, I had pretty much forgotten why I came there as I was explaining stuff to my kids about each different game as best I could from what I have read. Watching them be able to touch and look at each box like I was able to as a kid before we needed so much security to protect inventory really touched me, it made me very proud. In the end my 4 yr old of all things wanted a Master Chief action figure (and the Arbiter….and about 50 other Spartan armors too) and my 8 yr old probably brought me 200 bucks in games he wanted (sadly we had to limit it to one game for now heh) He ended up with some Final Fantasy game for his DS (I forget which cause he vanished with it and his DS pretty quickly). Oh….and I never did get myself any games heh.

A lot of people have told me to my face I am a horrible parent for letting my kids play games as much as I do. Or that I have serious issues because I take pride in my kids stories about beating some game or getting some weird achievement. Or that I can talk to my kids and most of theirs and they are not intimidated or afraid of what I will think of them cause deep down I am still the 10 yr old who plays video games too.

I am now a 34 yr old father of 4(might be 5 soon hahaha!) I have a 15 yr old, an 8 yr old, a 4 yr old and a 1.3 yr old. I have the best wife anyone could ask for and I have an amazing job as a groundskeeper on a well to do families estate. And ofcourse, I am a Gamer.

What is it about Street Fighter 2? Why must I own so many copies of it?

I spent a lot of time during the end of my high school and begning of college life in arcades playing Street Fighter 2 (all its versions), so perhaps its just me trying to stay young. But last night I downloaded Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix (long enough name?) That brings my running total of Street Fighter 2 games to 6. (I know its not all of them...I have lost a few over the years I think)
Heres what i own...and still play

SNES:
Street Fighter 2

Genesis:
Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition
Super Street Fighter 2

PS1
Street Fighter 2 collection

XBOX 360
Street Fighter 2 HF
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix

On my Genesis I have 2 sweet 6 button Sega Arcade Sticks so I tend to play on that the most, but I love the online action from the XBOX 360 so I can play my old high school pal (who was in the arcade with me every day) who now lives in California.

I really cant put my finger on it though, I always end up buying something with a Street Fighter 2 name for whatever system I play. I never played any Street Fighter 3, and im not really interested in Street Fighter 4. I did play the Street Fighter Alpha series but I never owned it, just borrowed it from friends or played at thier house.

Anyone else here hopelessly addicted to Street Fighter 2 like me?

So I was reading the Bad Ass of the Month Club article at work today. Segata Sanshiro was the bad ass of all bad ass Advertising icons, but it got me thinking about other pretty cool ad icons (I have a lot of free time at work to think about stuff heh). Then I was thinking about how much fun it would be to take all the various Ad icons over the years and put them in a King of Fighters style fighting game. Think about how awesome it would be to have a team of Mr. Whipple, The Kool-Aid man and Segata Sanshiro on a team fighting The Brawny Guy, Mr. Clean and Ronald McDonald. So I spent the Day contemplating a list of cool Ad Icons. Who would work in a 2-D style fighter. ((Of course, I apologize upfront if someone else thought of this before, I have not seen anything like it, and it helped pass the time at work heh.))

I came up with the start of a list of famous or amusing Ad Icons that would be awesome to see in a 2-D fighter.


Segata Sanshiro - The man needs no real introduction. He is the top dog of bad ass ad icons. He is shrouded in mystery as to his origins and his fighting style is even more mysterious. No one has yet to find out the fighting style that has throws that cause people to explode.


Kool-Aid Man - I don't think there's a single man woman or child around today who doesn't know who the Kool-Aid Man is. For years he has been smashing through walls of houses, alleys, and schools bringing refreshment to the current youth. I cant imagine anyone tougher than the Kool-Aid Man with over 30 years of wandering the land and smashing walls.


Mr. Whipple - A rather unassuming grocery store worker, Mr. Whipple has honed his own brand of fighting using the items he so desperately tried to protect from "squeezing". He has amazingly keen senses, and a secret dark side that he himself cannot resist squeezing the Charmin.


Terry Tate - The office linebacker is here to dispense his own awesome brand of justice. He is ripped from head to toe and ready to throw down. Armed with Linebacker Skills and more one liners than any single person should use.


The Brawny Guy - This is a mans man. Someone every guy should aspire to be. Dressed in plaid flannels and ready to conquer the great outdoors....with paper towels. Some say he's as tough as Chuck Norris. Only one way to find out. During the selection for the tournament there was a discussion over which Brawny Guy would represent. The older mustached Brawny Man was chosen, but you never know if his younger replacement will show up.


Pillsbury Doughboy - This tiny tough guy shows an exterior of lovability, but inside he burns with the fury of a thousand ultimate fighters. His dough body can expand and contract making him able to take on many different sizes for many different situations.


Mr. Clean - The original ladies man, this guy has been in thousands of housewives homes over the years. He is fast and agile for his big guy frame, and ready to show the world he means business and is here to clean up the competition.


The King - The real master of stealth and subterfuge. There is no place on this planet The King cannot go, and no situation The King cant handle. Will his sneaky style and quick wits match up well here? Only time will tell.


Ronald McDonald - Another old Icon who has brought nothing but pain and misery to Americans health over the years. His remorseless style has been softened as of late with his parent company introducing "healthier" alternatives. But deep down we see the evil potential of him to go far here.

I have been kicking around more ideas for this list like Tony the Tiger and The Michelin Man, but not sure what else would be fun. I even thought that making The Green Giant and his little hellspawn Sprout as a boss would be amusing. There's so many Ad Icons over the years the list could almost be endless. Aunt Jemima vs. Mrs. Butterworth (gotta have the female presence) or any of the other competing icons. So who would you add to the list of Ad Icons if they were to make a 2-D fighter based off them?

*All the little Ad Icons are owned by thier respective companies*