The King of the Iron First Tournament

On Mondays and Wednesdays I’ve got two classes each an hour in length with an hour between them. The two rooms they’re in are nearly straight north and south of each other, and on the midpoint between them is the HUB. The HUB has a fairly decent arcade, and it’s become a recent hobby of mine to stop in between classes to play for either $2 or until 3:15, whichever comes first. This is how it all started.

One of the main games I play is Tekken 5, King of the Iron Fist Tournament, it’s a 1 on 1 fighting game where mastery of the character, reflexes, and timing all come into play. First person to reach 3 victories wins. You can play against the computer, but it’s much for fun playing against another human. I consider myself quite good, easily good enough to beat the average player, and I’ve found that there are many here who serve not only as apt opponents, but some are far beyond me.

That’s not why this is interesting though. I just had to lie that out so you’d understand the next part.

The time is 2:38; I’m playing as Hworang a Tae Kwon Do Master who has a mastery of kicking based martial arts. I’m challenged by a heavyset Korean student who chooses Akuma, whose style looks most similar to Shaolin form Kung-Fu.

The fight is extremely fast, and also extremely close. During round 3 (Max 2 : Anonymous Kid 1) two of his friends show up, and a crowd slowly begins to form. I won our first set of matches, but I won it 3:2, and the last fight was extremely close. He immediately challenges me to a rematch, another spectator appears. I stick with Hwoarang, who is the only character I know well. He switches to Kuma, who is in actuality a bear and uses a form that’s not based on any real world martial arts. This time the score ends at 2:3, another very close set. It also makes us tied. This time I dispense another 50 cents and retry. I maintain my faith in Hworang. He switches to a character named Brian Fury who uses a form of martial arts which is essentially the American Krab-Maga. Immediately after round 4 (Max 2 : Korean Kid 2) a third heavyset person, my challenger and I being the first two, places a quarter on the lip of the screen.

For those not familiar with arcade etiquette, a quarter on the lip of the screen denotes that you have the next opening.

In the end I miss-time a combo which the manual calls “Hunting Hawk” and in another very close match go down. I step back, say good game, and meld into the spectators.

The new challenger steps in and the match intensifies even further. He’s a clear superior to the person who beat me. This makes him the oppressor, and the Korean kid an underdog. Everyone loves the underdog. While he never did manage to triumph he did come quite close several times, and that’s just as good for the crowd.

This experience has changed this part of my schedule from hobby to ritual. I plan to go there at that general time whenever possible, I’ll stick to my $2 limit and have no intention of ditching class, but the King of the Iron Fist Tournament is no longer a battle between fictional characters, but between me and the collective nerds of the HUB game room.