Welcome to Eye-Life. Nobody puts baby in the corner!

Unless one is performing a juggling chain combo, of course.

I love fighting games, and I pretty much assume I always will--barring an extreme change in tastes that lead me in an avant-garde direction where the only thing I will play are non-translated JRPGs. I remember being hooked at the tender age of eleven when Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Mortal Kombat 2 latched onto my imagination and my thumbs like a crocodile.

Now, thanks to a re-igniting of my video gaming ways and a very important someone, my love of the fighting game has returned in full force.

But fierce competition can be a harsh mistress…But…Uh…Not like the kind of mistress with whips and handcuffs.

Allow me to explain.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I go to Ohio University and live in the quaint college town of Athens by myself for the majority of the week. What does this mean, exactly? In the past I have spent a lot of time alone. I don’t live in the dorms, and I go home every weekend to work. So, as one could imagine…My social circle is a bit weak.

Then, along the way I met a girl.

Miss Rachel Jagielski and I actually first began talking and became friends through our love of video games, most notably me approaching her with a conversation about Flower and Street Fighter 2 HD Remix after listening to her give a seven minute speech about the merits of LittleBigPlanet in multiplayer.

Our friendship and subsequent relationship bloomed through our love of video games, which included playing through Metal Gear Solid 4 together and playing a large amount of the aforementioned LittleBigPlanet.

One night at her apartment, shortly after we had professed our feelings to each other, she quaintly suggested playing Street Fighter 4.

Little did I know what was in store.

The competition? Fierce. The concentration? Blistering. The smack talk? Oh, yes, it was indeed on.
Though I prevailed on that particular night (which surprised me as this was a girl who had the entire lore of Street Fighter memorized, and I figured I was in store for my biggest crushing defeat since Bidwell Elementary beat my sixth grade basketball team by fifty points), the spark had been lit. Combo patterns were to be memorized, favorite characters were to be reserved for matches of utmost importance, and the battle for interpersonal bragging rights had been declared.

This fever pitch of the digital dance that are fighting games escalated as we moved our epic battles to Street Fighter 2 HD Remix, where the playing field was much more even as the game mechanics were incredibly familiar with both of us. But, the greatest battles were yet to come.

Valentine’s day fast approached, and I wanted to be sure that I got my lady faire something special. After much debate as to what an appropriate V-Day gift would be, I went with a Playstation Network gift card with which Madam Jagielski purchased Metal Gear Solid and a little title called Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

Oh, it was on.

"Confused? I'm not surprised. I think the Pope might be in there somewhere..."

MvC2 became our go-to game when we wanted a few minutes of gaming without any large commitment due to the fact that we were both always pretty busy (her with school, me with not going to my one class I have this quarter) and the game fit our gaming habits quite nicely. We could pick up and play a few rounds, enjoy our time together, and then progress through our motions, doing all the silly adult things that we all are forced to do.

The battles escalated. Rachel would quickly learn that Jill Valentine is indeed a member of S.T.A.R.S and that Cyclops is a douche, despite having a nice sweep attack. I would learn that Rogue is a force to be reckoned with and that being beaten by a three part hyper combo is humiliation, writ large.

Though, not as humiliating as almost being defeated by a team of three copies of Dan. Right, Miss?

Rachel would begin her revenge, however, with the introduction of Virtua Fighter 5 into our fighting game rotation (a game that she compulsively played for a large amount of time at one point. Thusly, she kind of rocks at the title). Not wanting to shy away from a challenge, and also getting a little bit big-headed over my previous success at pummeling my dear girl, I jumped into Virtua Fighter expecting similar results.

Yeah…No.

"Yeah... I didn't see this screen much. Or at all."

To this day I don’t think I have defeated Rachel in a full match of Virtua Fighter 5, even after spending two hours in the training mode with Wolf and Goh and TRYING as best as I could to learn the dark secrets that would bring me to victory over this force of virtual fists and feet.
The battle is ongoing.

My point in all of this? I had forgotten how much I enjoyed playing games with another person, especially in a genre of games that I truly love. For that, and many other reasons, I am quite grateful to have the girl in my life.

So, thank you.

In my next article I plan on talking about my favorite multiplayer experiences, and how playing with another person can make even the biggest turd in the toilet bowl seem like a grade A title.

Until next time, kids.

Currently Playing: Ratchet and Clank: A Crack In Time, NHL 1995
Currently Listening To: Meiko, Rilo Kiley, Minus The Bear

Will Harrison is graduating in two weeks from Ohio University and is pretty much scared silly. Want to know what else scares him (besides Muppets)? Get a hold of him at wh116508@ohio.edu.