Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (ST) is a game that originated in arcades and captured the hearts of many gamers of the generation. It helped spawned a barrage of different game franchises and established many of the classic philosophies and staples in today’s fighting games. ST gained so much popularity that it was influential in helping create different gaming competitions such as EVO and Super Battle Opera. However, as the years passed by, the game began to lose it’s mainstream popularity and drop out of many competitions that use to carry the game on their circuits. Yet even though many people began to move on to other fighting games, a few guys from Bridgeport, Connecticut started something that would maintain the presence of ST in the competitive scene and keep in relevant in the eyes of many gamers.
Two guys by the names of John and Howard were ones who started the beginning of this revolution. During the time of last year’s Super Battle Opera Qualifiers, the two friends began talks about what they were going to do as practice for the event. And from those talks, an authentic ST Japanese Arcade Cabinet was imported, followed by a second one, and the two began practicing for the event. Along the way, other good friends like Darksydephil (DSP) tagged along and began taking footage of their gatherings and posting it in his you tube channel. A few calls to other friends later and the whole practice sessions grew into something that spawned a huge global following and a website for streaming game play of Super Turbo, www.Don‘tBlowThis.com.
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGz4-9UyWTo&feature=relmfu[/tube]
Over time, the guys evolved and improved upon their website and streaming quality. At the current moment, all the past streams are achieved on their site, showing some matches with other big names in the competitive side of ST, including such names as Chris Doyle and Damdai. The live stream itself is great to watch, there is hardly any skipping or lag that goes on during matches. The way it is set up is having the game itself show up on most of the screen, while in the upper left and right corners we see the faces of the players that are competing on screen. One of the future plans Howard and John look forward to accomplishing is being able to show player’s hands during the course of a live game, so that people watching can see just how one plays ST on such a high level.
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBpSrlhB36Y&feature=relmfu[/tube]
One of the things that was really stressed when talking with the guys from Don’t Blow This.com was the main reasons for only playing Super Turbo. Even though there is a remake of ST, called HD Remix, many of the game’s mechanics from original ST were changed and manipulated to the point where most traditional players feel the balance of ST was lost. Howard and John feel the same way, they believe that Super Turbo is the most balanced fighting game made and that it should have never been given the balance tweaks it received. Arcade Super Turbo was a game that was never given a truly great port outside of the arcades it originated in, so many feel that version of the game is the best out of all.
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mymw5tgbLt4&feature=relmfu[/tube]
The Super Turbo Revolution is something that is happening in a world dominated by sequels, remakes, and new fighting games. It was because a few friends from Connecticut loved a game so much and stick to playing it that now there are tons of people who still know and play ST in a post HD Remix and Street Fighter 4 world. Many people around the world still love to play ST both casually and competitively, and now they have a place where they can go and get check out everything related to Super Turbo. What these guys are doing is awesome, and is much more fruitful and amazing then most of the other fighting game organizations out there. If you ever have the time to spare, and love watching quality Street Fighter gameplay, then head on over to http://www.dontblowthis.com/videos/stream.html for some of the best ST gameplay offered.
“No matter what you want to play, make sure when you play it, you have fun. Don‘t let anyone tell you what can and can‘t play.”
—- Howard
Don’tBlowThis.com
I’m loving the DBT streams, keep it up guys!