Grand Rapids Fighting Game Community

Michigan Masters December 12 2009 Results: We Came, We Saw, We Conquered, and We Came Again

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005GRAPSF.com rolled out in force this past weekend to show the rest of the state that we’re more than just a collection of incredibly pretty faces and smooth, toned abdominal muscles. Our first field trip to our first major tournament was done with more than a little trepidation: would we earn the respect of the hardened, grim veterans of Detroit and Ann Arbor? Or would we slink back home like whipped dogs, moaning from the beating we’d just paid money to experience, consoled only by our harems of beautiful and exotic concubines?

Our concubines will have to live without the moaning and wild consolation sex, because GRAPSF.com represented very well indeed. In fact, we boasted players in top eight in two games, and five players in the top fifteen in Street Fighter IV. Even better, Drohouse turned heads with his fucking horrifying Zangief, breaking his way into the exhibition match that capped the evening. Only the finest digital pugilism was on display in that event, so congratulations for Dro are in order.

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Many of these people will fail out before tasting glory. We were not among them.

The final placement for GRAPSF.com personnel are as follows:

Street Fighter IV:

Dro: 4th

Hotsauce: 9th

Slappy/Holdy/G-Boobie: 13th

Smurftac0s/Chauncy: 17th

Cakefarts/OctopusOnFire (Ben): 25th

Cuban Ace: 49th

Street Fighter 3: Third Strike:

G-Boobie: 5th

Chauncy: 7th

Tekken 6

Todd Bujack: 9th

Highlights include Dro being called a scrub for winning a match, Chauncy actually bringing Haagen Daz ice cream and Pringles, Hotsauce running some homeless dude over on the way to the tournament and messing up his tire, myself actually pulling off Oro’s grab super art in Third Strike not once, but TWICE in a row on Ghetto on the Rise, the utter worthlessness of the ’employee’ running the counter in the school commissary, being annoyed by a laundry incapable Asberger’s sufferer for an hour while helping to run the brackets, and all the great new folks we played. These tournaments are more than just competition: they’re a meeting of like minded people, enthusiastically doing what they love together as a community.  It proves how much fun these games can be at the highest level, and I for one can’t wait for the next one.

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Gaze ye upon the face of Holdy and DESPAIR.

Our regular ULX meetings and GRAPSF.com Ranbats will continue starting this next Saturday at the usual time. We’re taking a break for Christmas weekend, and possibly New Years. Details as they develop.

Congratulations to everyone who participated, and extra special thanks to AaronS who organized the tournament. Spending your own time and money to make sure that the people who love these games have a place and event to call their own is the finest thing a person can do for the community, and he deserves all of our thanks for making his first major something to remember.

(more video to come but I have to get to ULX now – Slappy)

Cody, Guy, and Adon Confirmed For Super Street Fighter IV: Ibuki Teased

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Today Famitsu revealed three new additions to the Super Street Fighter IV roster: Guy and Cody from Final Fight, and Adon, from Street Fighter the first and the Alpha series. Expect to see all three wrecking fools in mind boggling 3D when the game releases this spring.

Counting the three previously confirmed characters (newcomer Juri plus T. Hawk and Deejay of SFII fame), six of the rumored ‘eight to ten’ characters have now been revealed. If rumors and Seth Kilian can be trusted, that leaves between two and four remaining characters to be announced… All of which should be Dudley from Street Fighter III. I’ll even tell you how it fits into the fiction: the car in the already revealed bonus stages? The one you beat up for ‘points’? That belonged to Dudley’s dad, and now you have to pay. Search your feelings: you know it to be true.

Note also that Guy is punching a kunai out of the air in his upper right hand screenshot: the kind of kunai that a certain less than totally dressed ninja girl from Street Fighter III has been known to toss around. The caption for the picture asks, “Who’s kunai is that?” Not Ryu’s, that’s for fucking certain. I’ll leave it at that and let you draw your own conclusions.

Pics below.

Guy SSIV

Adon SSIV

GRAPSF Meetup, November 14th 2009: Teledildonics Represents, The Return of MrBaggs, and Singe Owns 3S

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GRAPSF ULX meetups are full of good folk, good play, and whiny emo children. Two out of three is pretty good.

GRAPSF ULX meetups are full of good folk, good play, and whiny emo children. Two out of three is pretty good.

GRAPSF returned to ULX after a three week sabbatical this Saturday… getting the Monty Python reference out of the way, “and there was much rejoicing”. Four new faces made their first appearance at a GRAPSF meetup: Phildo (TELEDILDONICS REPRESENT!), SwiftyMcQuik, Randall Son, and… Fred. Jolly Pirate Nickname to follow shortly. All four were great fun to have around and made excellent sports. Please make them welcome, folks.

Ranbat 1.3 was another exciting installment that had Slappy taking first with his fucking evil Zangief. There was a great match between Cuban Ace and Haypultone that came straight down to the wire, with HPT’s brutal Sagat finally grounding Cuban’s impressive Vega. Randall Son made an excellent first impression, taking fifth overall with his Chun Li, while Singe makes his first top eight appearance at number four after running through the gauntlet of Sagats with Ryu and Gouken. I suffered this week, taking second to last place: I guess I need to practice a bit!

The final results for 1.3 are as follows:

1) Slappy (8)

2) Haypultone (7)

3) SmurfTac0s (6)

4) Singe (5)

5) Randall Son (4)

6) Tru Talon (3)

7) Cuban Ace (2)

8 ) HotSauce! (1)

The exhibition match in Third Strike, featuring Singe’s Ken and MrBaggs’ (who finally returned to the fold!) deceptively evil Sean was a blast to watch, with MrBaggs’ giving Singe some trouble, though Singe finally came out on top. MrBaggs took his frustration out on ALL COMERS in Blazblue, using Ragna to great effect. My Arakune and Taokaka weren’t up to the task, which pretty much describes everyone who attempted to take him out. Singe, not to be outdone, stomped everyone is Third Strike, showing that low forward into super is still a bitch to deal with even ten years later. Tekken 6 was sampled and ultimately rejected on grounds that real games don’t have panda bears or boxing kangaroos in them. I thought I heard some people playing MvC2, but it might have been my imagination. All in all, it was a great time.

Our next meetup is next Saturday at ULX, starting at the usual time. The season is well underway, with seven more installments to go (ending on January 2nd). It’s still anyone’s game: practice your execution, drink cough syrup, jog naked late at night…whatever you have to do, because it’s only going to get crazier from here on out.

GRAPSF Meetup, October 24th 2009: Ranbat 1.2, HotSauce and Cake Farts Rock Hard, and Yet Another Godless Red Devil Steps Into the Ring

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HotSauce and Cake Farts hosted the GRAPSF community on Saturday October 24th, and outdid themselves. Excellent food and drink were provided, four HD setups let everyone play at anytime, and some horrible tequila ensured that my tournament match versus Holden went in my favor. Thanks again guys: your generosity is both appreciated and delightful.

The GRAPSF Ranbat 1.2 tournament lasted three minutes short of fucking forever, because I didn’t bring my laptop and the delightful Tio Tournament organizer contained within, but we made due with primitive pen and paper. Dro616, our newest Zangief, did extremely well for himself losing only to Tru Talon and alcohol. The finals were held round robin style, with HotSauce making his first place debut. The final placement for 1.2 is as follows:

1)Hotsauce

2) Tru Talon

3) SmurfTac0s

4) G-Boobie

5) Slappy

6) Dro616

7) Holden

8 ) Octopus On Fire

See the Ranbat section on the sidebar for current overall standings.

October 17 2009 GRAPSF Meet Up: Ranbat 1.1 Results, Singe Parries Everything, and Slappy Makes Gief More Terrifying Somehow (except to underage girls)

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The West Michigan GRAPSF Ranbat season kicked off with a bang this weekend at ULX. It took a while, due to obligations other than pugilism by digital proxy, but by the end of the night we had a very successful first run.

The results for the evening are as follows:

1st)SmurfTac0s

2nd) Slappy

3rd) G-Boobie

4th) Haypultone

5th) Tru Talon

6th) Holden

7th) HotSauce

8th) Octopus On Fire

Which leaves the Ranbat points at:

Smurftac0s (8)

Slappy(7)

G-Boobie (6)

Haypultone (5)

Tru Talon (4)

Holden (3)

HotSauce (2)

Octopus On Fire (1)

The next Ranbat tourney will be the week after next: ULX will be hosting a Call of Duty tournament this upcoming Saturday, which means we’ll be playing somewhere else (to be announced soon).

Highlights from this last Saturday include Slappy upping his Zangief game enough to take the semi-final win from yours truly, in a one sided match that left my Blanka wondering just what the Hell happened. Also pondered was the size of Gief’s testicles, which poor Blanka could feel crushed against his face every ten seconds or so. It’s hardly conclusive evidence, but if Blanka’s face is to be believed, a certain Russian wrestler has been on steroids for quite some time. Singe blew all our minds by parrying Remy’s multiple projectile super “Light of Justice” in third strike, not once, but twice in regular play. His Ken did terrible things to everyone, losing only to my Remy (despite the ridiculous parry crap) and Urien (Go Die, indeed). Making this even more impressive is the fact that Singe had just switched from pad warrior to using a stick THAT NIGHT.

The final match of the evening was between Slappy and Smurftac0s, who picked Sakura to play against Slappy’s Godless Red Devil. Smurf pulled it off too, defeating Slappy in a close and fun match that had the place jumping. Smurf is a beast, and remains the guy to beat at GRAPSF.com.

We had some technical difficulties with Haypultone’s HAVA recording device, so there’s no footage of this weeks’ play. We should have it figured out by our next meeting, so look forward to HD quality footage of things going forward.

ULX GRAPSF Meetup: October 10, 2009. Living on the BIG Screen

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ULX, the new official home of Grand Rapids Street Fighter, put on one Hell of a show for us today, folks. Friendly and helpful staff, excellent equipment, and actual couches instead of, you know, folding chairs, really made an impression on us. Free pizza didn’t hurt either. All future GRAPSF events (unless otherwise noted), will be located at ULX. They’re a great place of business and we want to patronize them as much as possible (even if the eyeliner and teenage angst quotient is higher than the legal limit. We can forgive).

Casual matches and coaching sessions went swimmingly, but the real event was the second GRAPSF community tournament. While the competition and friendly smack talk went a long way towards the tournament’s success, I think we can all agree that it was the enormous projection television (and accompanying 100 MegaShock sound system) that made it truly epic. My favorite match of the night was the grudge match between Slappy’s Cold, Inhuman Zangief and my peace loving and cuddly jungle dwelling Blanka which came right down to the last round of the last match and made the place go crazy. Cuban Ace made it out after a prolonged absence and brought a mean, mean Vega with him. HoldySnausages and Crip2nite made the rounds with their devastating shotos, and my young ward Singe came out to play for the first time since… Well, the first time. Fancy that.

Bracket

SmurfTac0s took first place with his very lifelike Mike Tyson from Japan, having overcome The Artist Formerly Known As MegaTPlusStrength And Now Known As HotSauce (hereafter referred to as TAFKAMTPSANKAH) and his Godless and perverse Sagat. TAFKAMTPSNKAH has only recently switched over from padwarrior to arcade stick, and impressed everyone with his growing execution and ability. I myself took third, losing to TAFKAMTPSANKAH in a close and exciting match between his Godless and possibly fascist Sagat and my Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Blanka.

And now, some business. Meet ups are going to be weekly from here on out. Saturdays at ULX, starting at 2 PM and lasting until whenever. An all day pass is ten dollars, but if you can only make it for an hour or two, it’s two dollars an hour. I myself think that’s a steal, considering that you get to play on the BIG SCREEN, which if my calculations are correct, is only three inches smaller than God Himself.

To provide some incentive for showing up, the first GRAPSF Ranbat season will start this upcoming Saturday, and will take place every Saturday thereafter until the end of December. Check out the thread in the forums for more info, but the more events you attend, the more likely you are to win and score points. And the three overall winners at the end of the season have some excellent prizes coming their way, courtesy of Planet G-Boobie.

We will also be hosting  a monthly cash prize tournament with a ten dollar buy in. More info on that as it develops.

Thanks to everyone who showed up for a great time, and thanks again to ULX for making us feel so welcome. See everyone Saturday, and remember: bring your friends, bring your hype, and leave your eyeliner at home.

GRAPSF Tournament Number 1, September 12, 2009: It’s a White Castle Story

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On September 12, 2009, GRAPSF held it’s first official Street Fighter 4 tournament at the home of GRAPSF Lord and Fell Mastermind Slappy. Thanks are in order here, because not only did Slappy invite the community into his home for an evening of excellent digital pugilism, but he grilled enough food to feed an army and opened up an excellent cross section of his impressive fighting game collection for play. The Dreamcast had Marvel vs. Capcom and Third Strike running, while the Saturn boasted Cyber Bots. Even the original Street Fighter was available , with a prize of two hundred dollars going to the player who could successfully perform three shoryukens in a row. The prize went unclaimed, and it’s likely to stay that way.

There was an hour or so of casual play before the tournament officially started, which gave everyone a chance to engage in a few casual matches and warm up. The Professor, as mysterious as always, was generous enough to provide two 15th Anniversary Street Fighter pads as prizes for the winners, while Slappy offered up a third. With everyone registered and happily fed, the tournament was free to proceed.

Highlights include Mabin’s girlfriend, the devilishly cunning Danielle, connecting Sakura’s combo into Ultra in her matches against MrBaggs and SmurfTac0s respectively. While her reign of terror was halted in both cases, it was a lot of fun to watch. The Professor fought a Blanka mirror match with yours truly, which he won with his superior knowledge of zoning, footsies, and the power of the Wild. Still, it came down to the wire and was one of the most entertaining matches I’ve fought in a long time. Slappy’s Geif was unstoppable as always, and SmurfTac0s rolled over his opponents with relentless abuse of the Focus system and incredibly tight execution. The grand finals came down to Slappy and his Godless Red Demon in winners versus Chauncy “TRU” Talon’s formidable Sagat. It was a tense and entertaining match, which resulted in a win for Slappy and communist professional wrestlers the world over.

The top eight places are as follows, from first to last: Slappy, Chauncy, SmurfTac0s, The Professor, MrBaggs, myself, Mabin, and MegaTPlusStrength. Congratulations to the winners, and to everyone who played: it was great fun, and I look forward to the next installment one month from now.

Casual matches were played afterward. MrBaggs demonstrated a powerfully amusing Sean in Third Strike, while SmurfTac0s and myself played a barrage of matches in Street Fighter 4. The only win I managed to scrape out of him was with Claw versus his Dictator. We were as confused as you probably are right now, and we both vowed to never speak of it again. After this post, anyway. Chauncy failed repeatedly in his bid to conquer Dragon’s Lair, and the Professor demonstrated his mastery of the Versus games yet again, this time playing the CPU for the amusement of myself and Slappy. Haypultone, who was noticeably absent from the day’s events, was outed as playing online during the tournament. This earned a number of cheerful jeers and outright mockery. When all the games were done and people began to drift home, a general feeling of community and well being was in the air. It was a very successful day for everyone.

Tournaments will be held monthly from now on, and everyone is invited to participate. Casuals and coaching sessions will still be held biweekly: check the calendar for more information. Our next meet up is at GrandLan on September 26th at one PM. It’s bound to be a good time, and I hope to see everyone there. Bring your stick, bring your friends, and bring your hype.

Chauncy Talon w/ 2nd place prize

Chauncy Talon w/ 2nd place prize

Smurf Tacos w/ 3rd place prize

Smurf Tacos w/ 3rd place prize

Mr Baggs w/ 5th place prize

Mr Baggs w/ 5th place prize

Mr. Baggs, Professor

Mr. Baggs, Professor

Smurf, Mabin, Danielle

Smurf, Mabin, Danielle

Mr. Baggs, Professor

Mr. Baggs, Professor

Mabin, Danielle, Smurf

Mabin, Danielle, Smurf

August 29th 2009 GRAPSF Casuals Battle Report: GrandLan didn’t know what hit it.

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Attendance more than doubled this week. If we can keep that kind of momentum going, we’ll take the fighting game world by storm in no time. Match vids are posted below: take the time to check them out.

The other poor fools at GrandLan had no idea what to make of us this week, folks. The level of excitement (and volume) was well over the proverbial eleven, and the Grapsf.com scene completely took the place over. At the height of the evening, there were three Street Fighter 4 set ups running alongside one set each of BlazBlue and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. With that level of digital violence being committed over and over, it’s no wonder we attracted a crowd of curious spectators.

Match highlights include Slappy putting the hurt on anything that got within striking distance of his brutal and Godless Zangief, Hapyutone showing off an impressive Sagat with his custom built arcade stick stand/TV dinner tray hybrid, and a mysterious gentleman known only as “the Professor” emerging from New York’s Chinatown Fair to rape everyone in sight at Marvel vs. Capcom 2, including yours truly. Not even my super team of “Phoenix Sun Akuma, Banana Ken and the “Michigan Wolverine” Iron Man”, to quote Chauncy Talon, could make an impact . Hopefully we’ll see more of the Professor, if only because he’s the only guy who can consistently beat Chauncy “Banana Ken” Talon at his own game. It’s Mahvel, Bay-bee. No autographs, please.

MrBaggs showed the rest of us up at BlazBlue, using Ragna and the occasional Jin (with Ice Car in tow), losing only to my Arakune’s secret “mash buttons until you pass out” technique. My Taokaka simply wasn’t up to the task: she’s apparently allergic to ridiculously sized magical swords. This is unfortunate, since that’s what MrBaggs had to offer her. No catnip, no rubber mice. Only pain.

At one point I looked up to see no less than four people playing Sagat at once, which is exactly like a recurring nightmare I have.

The best thing about these meet ups isn’t just playing the games we love face to face with other people: it’s the sense of community and learning that comes along with it. For example, I learned that playing the darkly mysterious Professor in MvC2 inevitably leads to serious rape. That’s an important thing to know. Something else I learned though, is how to trigger individual supers and specials in that game, because after he’d pounded me for the forty fifth time, the Professor took time out of playing to help me learn to play it better. That’s something that a real community does for it’s members, and I for one am grateful to be a member of just such a community.

The next meeting is September 12th at the fortress of  Grapsf.com overlord Slappy who has graciously opened his home to us. Bring something to share, bring your A game, and bring your hype.

Post-Battle Report: G-Rap SF Casuals at GrandLan, August 15th 2009

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Our first public gathering took place on August 15th, 2009, at GrandLan in downtown Grand Rapids, and was a success by anyone’s measure. Matches were played, rivalries were formed, and Dan Hibiki signed more autographs in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 that this author is personally comfortable with… especially considering that my Magneto didn’t actually want one, let alone ten. Thanks Chauncy, but remember in the future: no means no, even for eight by ten glossies.

The assembled crew included Slappy, Chauncy Talon, MrBaggs, Singe, G-Boobie (that’s me), and even a few casual players drawn in by the sound of pure, uncut hype. Street Fighter IV was the game of the day, but Singe laid down the law in King of Fighters XII, Chauncy signed autographs and beat people up in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and MrBaggs showed us how to play Blazblue. In Street Fighter, Slappy showed me the terrible power of a Zangief in the hands of someone who knows how to use him, while Chauncy’s Sagat learned the power of the wild courtesy of my Blanka. And Singe? Singe proved that he is, indeed, the proto shoto by picking one in every game he touched… Even Marvel.

The best part of the day was putting a stick in the hands of someone who showed up to play WoW, but was compelled to play Marvel with us, presumably based on the difference between our relative volume levels. “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”. Chauncy, Singe, and MrBaggs did an excellent job showing our new friend the ropes, and hopefully we’ll see him at future events as a result. That’s true passion for the game, and I salute you guys for it.

Our next event is scheduled for one PM on August 29th, at GrandLan in downtown GR. Bring your stick, bring your hype, and most importantly, bring your friends. We want this community to flourish. Games are all on 360 at GrandLan, so if you need to borrow a stick, we can work something out.  Games on the 2D menu include Street Fighter IV, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, King of Fighters XII, and Blazblue, but let us not forget our friend the third dimension: there will be Virtua Fighter 5 and Soul Calibur 4 to satisfy participants with a desire for eight way run. It’s fun, it’s free (I’ll be handling the hourly rate for anyone who can’t cover it this week), and it’s only getting bigger.