Let's keep this short and sweet , kay?

My name: From the manga one piece, great manga series and pretty good anime at that. However don't ever watch the dubbed version.EVER.

Location: London, Newham and that's the most specific I'll be. Never heard of Newham? That's where the 2012 Olympics are gonna be bitches!
You lot are totally not bitches...

About me: Gamer and anime watcher, pretty good at college and enjoys sports too.

Favourite current game : Team fortress 2 PC

Favourite current movie : Slumdog millionaire

Which football team do I support : Liverpool

Age: 17

Am I ugly : No

Fat?: Nope

How long have I been trolling the internet : 3 years

Why did I join DESTRUCTOID? : Community and Jim sterling

Are there any questions I missed?: Yes but I don't remember

Well that's the short introduction hope you know little more about especially with the untimely vague responses and utterly useless questions that were posted. Thanks for reading and sorry about not writing much but short and sweet , right?

First let me just say that this blog is not about how emulators will destroy the video game corporation by blah blah blah. I don't mean the issue is insignificant since it's clearly the main issue when it comes to emulators but this is not about that so don't be so offended that I haven't dedicated a blog too it.

I want to address an issue that has been niggling at the back of my mind for a long time regarding emulators. Many of you like me have probably played downloaded or even uploaded emulators or ROMs. They're mostly great right? Allowing you to play almost every game made , allowing you to explore exceptional titles all for the price of your labor. You know? A few clicks here and there.

Recently I have been using Snes9x a version of a SNES emulator which allowed me to play SNES titles. But before this I was highly against doing this so , many of my friends used to play them and I always use to bad mouth the use of them. But alas I gave into the temptation ( Hypocritical bitch , I know) and Since my SNES was locked away in the dark basement somewhere with missing wires and a button less joy pad (SFII anger) it was an obvious choice for me, to revisit my memories of my early childhood and to try pin down the root of my love affair with video games.

Then it all started my love for ROMs, I started to download games that I had long to played, wanted to buy in the future or games that I had played in the past. I had a great time playing so many video games available to me, being able to download them for free and not having to waste a penny. But then it hit me, I didn’t seem to appreciate even one of these games after the initial wow factor or the sense of nostalgia had faded. Every time I would get a game over in something like Castlevania I would just turn it off and move on another game without even giving it a second thought. I played Battletoads for a few seconds it didn’t keep my interest and straight into the recycle bin. Every game I would play would give me a minor thrill and I was done with it not appreciating its brilliance and rejecting it even for smaller problems that I would usually ignore

The only time I opted to play game properly was for the sense of satisfaction of being able to say I had completed the game but even the difficulty of these games would cause me to not bother. I even abused the system saving the game every few seconds so if I had failed avoid an obstacle or enemy I would just replay, that single moment until I had succeeded and totally had ignored the basic gameplay mechanics. I even speeded up battles in Chrono trigger! All because these options were available to me and the publishers hadn’t taken money from me , so why did I have to play it properly?

What cause me to write this article is that when I had got Super Mario Bros 3 for the virtual console I seemed to play it for hours an enjoyed myself immensely but only a few days before after one or two deaths on an emulator of SMB3 and BOOM it was destroyed into a million pieces of virtual trash. Only owning on the Wii since it was a gift. A very much appreciated gift

My problem was the sense that I could play any video game with ease and that I didn't have to deal with something that bugged me or my behaviour was due to the fact I didn't have spend any money and therefore didn't appreciate it. What do you think about it? Do you share my opinion? Or have you never faced this before? Give your views in the comment section and share your different experiences.

Of course controls also suck but I do have a dual arcade stick so not much of a problem there for me.

A few weeks after writing this article I brought a SNES and a Dreamcast and most of the emulators that I had ignored , now own a special place in my heart on their respective consoles.

Lets clear this up, if you’re looking for someone who's gonna bash street fighter due to some issue I may have with the gameplay, graphics or whatever you came to the wrong place buddy.
I'm a gamer, like many of you and consider myself to be a pretty good one at that not amazing but good in my own right, oh and experienced too. But street fighter reminded me of something, something buried in the dark trenches of my soul. A recent inadequacy I’ve been having when it came to fighting games, that no matter how much I enjoyed or how many hours I spent concocting tactics , the wall that didn't allow me to enjoy fighting games of today.


a wall that separates the manliest of men

Fighting games of recent have always been a letdown for me, the bright side use to be you and one mate or a couple test your skills at each other and see how who's the best at knocking the crap out of the others .But that's just half the fun, the trash talk surrounding it, the gloating for the winner the tension as gamers pride are put on the line and just the basic joy you got out of the moment, whether you’re the winner or loser. Fighting games have always been the best games to play with friends in my opinion.

But now with the introduction of online play (the wall and everything after) , leaderboards and all that other things can you really consider yourself good anymore. You can't be the best among your mates or the legend in your area, why? Cos there's someone ready to kick your ass online and prove how miserable you really are at the game. Another problem? Gamers have always been a lazy bunch, so now that they don't have to get off their ass and face you mano e mano. They can just play by simply connecting through the internet not matter how far away you are, so the tension the gloating and all them special qualities seem to have disappeared. So even if fighting games may not have dropped in quality this generation they still have been lacking that special quality they use to have.

These fears I've been having with the recent generation of fighting games have been highlighted by street fighter IV. With its record sales, everyone seems to own a copy and everyone wants to play you to prove their worth but guess where they want to play you...online. It looks like fighting games seem to have lost their glory with first the death of the arcades and now local play although not that prominent it seems to be suffering as well.

So you know what? Screw Xbox live! You want to play me? Gonna have to come to my house my buddy otherwise I’m not playin’. Or better yet I won’t buy the game then publishers like Capcom will learn to push forward the old glory days of these games. So what if its sold 2 million copies in a week? They’ll definitely listen to an individual who ranting on the internet about how they should alter the whole generation of fighting games by a solution not even considered by the person who came up with the initial matter. Right?RIGHT?!

P.S my first blog and I haven’t even introduced myself on Destructoid , this was kind of a rushed article since I want to publish it while this was still on my mind. Thanks for reading!

P.S P.S this was very rushed and not proof read so ignore the lack of depth in every area possible and criticise every point of my article so I will improve.

I hate seth