How A Fighting Game Community Can Play Out Differently

Based on content originally posted to Instagram on April 5, 2022 and April 6, 2022.

Earlier this month, I saw a documentary about a fighting game community at Game Studio Cube, an arcade in Koenji, Tokyo. For context, Suginami (the Tokyo ward that Koenji is part of) recently commissioned this documentary as part of their efforts to promote tourism. And what’s special about Cube is that, for many years, it’s been a notable location in Tokyo for the Street Fighter III 3rd Strike scene AND the Vampire Savior (Darkstalkers 3) scene! The arcade has expat players too, and even some renown among overseas communities dedicated to these games.

For those who are interested and have ~30 min. to spare, check out the documentary below (alternatively, it can also be found HERE w/a written article detailing more about the arcade and its players).

A lot of the arcade’s notable players share their insights about the games and Cube, and you really get a clear picture of what the culture is like. Through their interviews, you can see that there’s a close-knit bond among the players as well. I suppose that’s thanks to the unique environment a still-surviving arcade provides in 2022. But at the same time, they’re very inviting to newcomers, which is awesome! I also find it really cool how the players will all gather after their sessions to go out for drinks and food, and to simply hang out and talk about anything (not just fighting games).

This is the sort of “ideal” fighting game community I’m sure many wish they could experience. I know I do, as the documentary had me thinking back to my days as a teenager.

See, when I first started high school, I heard there was a video game club. I liked video games, and I liked learning about game development + the industry, so I thought “I gotta check this out!” and went to visit the classroom where the club was held.

(This picture isn't the exact classroom where the club was held, but it looks pretty similar!)

On my first visit, I realized it was more like a group of older kids who made an afterschool club so they could play Street Fighter III 3rd Strike and the Super Smash Bros. Brawl mod “Project M". They weren’t super unfriendly, but they didn’t really pay attention to me when I walked in either. Nor did they try to see why I was there or if I was interested in the games.

That being said, they did let me play some 3rd Strike. And since I had some experience with the game, I thought "yeah, I'll play a few matches."

Even though the buttons on the controller were mapped differently than how I played at home, I somehow won a match (for those who know about 3rd Strike, I did it by spamming one of Hugo’s command grabs 💀)! After checking out the club 2-3 times though, I never went back. What the club had was cool, but it only seemed to be for a close-knit group of friends and no one else.

I guess that one time is my sole in-person experience with a fighting game community. Maybe my life would have been different if the club had been more sociable or open to new members. Maybe I would have gotten deeper into fighting games earlier, or even continued to play video games rather than drifting away from them for years.

I’m satisfied with my current relationship with fighting games, but all in-person fighting game communities really should try to be proactive like Koenji Cube when it comes to interacting with prospective new members (especially younger folks)! And though the majority of today's new fighting game players don't live anywhere near a Koenji Cube of their own, it's nice to see that the actual arcade is still around. Hopefully it stays that way for many years to come — if I’m ever in Tokyo one day, I’ll definitely be paying a visit to Suginami to take in the sights and play some fighting games at Cube.