Grand Rapids Fighting Game Community

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

October 18, 2009 By G-Boobie Leave a Comment

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.

Filed Under: Casuals, Events, RanBat

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

October 11, 2009 By G-Boobie Leave a Comment

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.

Filed Under: Casuals, Events, GRFGC, News, Results, Tournaments

GRAPSF 5: The Wrath of Haypultone

October 4, 2009 By Slappy Leave a Comment

Hotsauce hosts a mean party! Friday night he was kind enough to invite us into his home for casuals, and it was a complete success. There were four TVs running SFIV at the same time, with enough tournament sticks to go around. Cake Farts prepared more hot meat than we could handle, and after a quick beer-run I was all settled into to ruin my next-day.

There were about 15 people by my count, and what none of us realized at the time however, was that we had just signed up for a seminar in game balance courtesy of Haypultone. Now we all feel a little bit worse about ourselves for playing such overpowered characters…

Not to be outdone, Smurf did the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in a match, and then showed some really excellent coaching skills by telling Hotsauce how to destroy my Zangief with just four words.

Lots of new people showed up, it’s nice to see the group growing and growing! Also we all got to see a catfight, which makes the party successful by most anyone’s standards.

Thanks for hosting, and I am definitely looking forward to your next one!

Filed Under: Casuals, Events

SUPER Street Fighter IV

September 28, 2009 By Slappy Leave a Comment

Two characters for Super Street Fighter IV (Juri and T.Hawk) were leaked today on jv247.com (news and larger images).

There is supposed to be a trailer for it shown here later, and a big reveal here.

The site is quoted as saying (translated):

The mysterious website that recently appeared on the japanese portal of Capcom does effectively hide Super Street Fighter IV. An anonymous source just sent us the visuals of the game. Few informations were leaked, but we know that there will be at least two more characters : T. Hawk and Juri, a character that was created especially for that occasion. We know nothing yet of the format the game will be released (DLC or full game), nor do we know what consoles it will be on. It’s easy to speculate that it will be at least on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The firsts screenshots are available here. Rendezvous this evening at Game Evening for the live diffusion of the first trailer.

Super Street Fighter IV

Super Street Fighter IV

Juri close-up

Juri close-up

Juri kneeing Bison

Juri kneeing Bison

Juri kicking Bison

Juri kicking Bison

Juri split-kick

Juri split-kick

T. Hawk rising at El Fuerte

T. Hawk rising at El Fuerte

T.Hawk diving at El Fuerte

T.Hawk diving at El Fuerte

T. Hawk vs El Fuerte

T. Hawk vs El Fuerte

T.Hawk kicking El Fuerte

T.Hawk kicking El Fuerte


Famitsu scans are in confirming DeeJay!

DeeJay THawk page

DeeJay THawk page

Juri page 1

Juri page 1

Juri page 2

Juri page 2


Ono has officially announced this now. Highlights include:

  • Disk (not DL) but less than full-price
  • Spring 2010 release
  • 8 characters added
  • New stages
  • Bonus stages
  • Juri and T.Hawk gameplay seen in background of the interview
  • Better online!
  • Video here, article here.


There is a ton more info and pictures at the Famitsu website here.

Juri art

Juri art

T.Hawk art

T.Hawk art


Filed Under: Industry, News

GRAPSF Casuals 09/26/09: GrandLan strikes back!

September 27, 2009 By Slappy Leave a Comment

I arrived at GrandLan Saturday afternoon with a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. There were storm clouds over the downtown area and lightning licked at the rooftops. My worst fears were confirmed when I entered the darkened building to find that all of their x-boxes were out of order for re-wiring.

They taunted us by declaring it was our fault and that we should call ahead next time before assuming they still offered the use of PCs and x-boxes as advertised, then spit in our faces and charged us full price. HoldySnausages had just beaten me there and so I ordered him to take everyone hostage while I sprung into action. I roared and punched out their front window in anger as I headed to my car.

I raced down narrow side streets in my ’99 Mazda Protege as if the devil himself were not far behind me.  I screeched into my driveway and barely managed to place my vehicle in park before throwing the door open and sprinting to the house. Grabbing my x-box I dashed back to my car and peeled out of the driveway killing a small family of pedestrians instantly. I would mourn them later but for now there was no time.

Two cigarettes and one heart attack later and I was downtown again. My phone was ringing off the hook as confused GrapSF members arrived only to fall into GrandLan’s sinister trap. I double-parked in front of a fire hydrant while blocking in a police car and raced back to the dark heart of the cursed gaming center.

By then Dutch0, Haypultone, and newcomer Aaron were waiting along with HoldySnausages. We attached the mess of wires to the disgusting orifice on the one tiny television we were allowed to use and fired up my x-box for what may be the last time.

Casual matches began awkwardly as the staff of GrandLan decided that each member of their card game would sit in the lap of someone who was there to play Street Fighter, and that somehow a folding table belonged up my asshole. The locals (part of the conspiracy no doubt) then assigned the area between the players and the screen as the designated pathway to the back of the store, which they visited often for no reason. Somewhere in a back room, the staff set fire to a bag of popcorn in either an attempt to smoke us out, or a bizarre sacrifice.

Just then a chorus of angels could be heard and a light pierced the dark smokey room as MegaTplStrength burst through the door with Mabin, D-Money and CakeFarts not far behind. Having sensed an evil presence on this side of the city, something inside him told him to bring his PS3, a crucifix, and holy water as backup.

The staff of GrandLan recoiled and hissed at the prospect of us having another setup, but they regrouped quickly and decided we couldn’t use any more of their TVs. Defeated, MegaTplStrength declared that he would leave his old life behind and would be known as hotsauce from this day forward. When CakeFarts heard the news his fists clenched and he began to glow. Just when we thought his aura would destroy us all he flew straight up through the roof and rocketed across the sky towards the flat-screen TV back at his place.

When he returned we hardened our resolve to find some semblance of normalcy despite the dark will of GrandLan trying to destroy us. We had one x-box setup and, on the opposite side of the building (divide and conquer), a PS3 setup. It was Mabin, D-Money, hotsauce, CakeFarts, Haypultone, HoldySnausages, Dutch0 (who brought:), Aaron, and myself (am I forgetting anyone?). Two other newcomers showed up briefly but then quickly ran away, vomiting in horror at the chaos our meet-up had spiraled into.

G-Boobie, Mr. Baggs, Tru Talon, SmurfTac0s, and Cuban Ace were nowhere to be seen, I presume the staff of GrandLan had them murdered just hours before we were supposed to meet in an attempt to prevent the RanBat that G-Boobie was organizing.

The main highlight of the day, was getting to play at all considering an unknown enemy was pulling strings behind the scenes to stop us…

The second highlight of the day as I remember it, was the revelation that the new challenger Aaron had been sent by someone or something, to kill us using Abel. No one made it out unscathed. I thought I was doing well with Dhalsim for a moment but then he just switched back to using Abel and violated  me in a way that I cannot bear to talk about. He continued to pile up the bodies of anyone who approached a stick or pad.

Also newsworthy is:

  • CakeFarts’ (who attended the last session but did not play) debut in the ring with Cammy.
  • GrandLan’s copy of Street Fighter is hosed, so we should always provide our own from now on.
  • If anyone’s curious, the new wiring setup at GrandLan consists of all the x-boxes being behind the counter, and we only have a USB port by each TV to plug controllers into (apparently latency and inconvenience = good – Keeping track of who they hand games out to in case one goes missing = bad).
  • RanBats didn’t happen this time as planned, but G-Boobie will hopefully start them soon, and once they pick up steam we’ll have a backup in place for when he can’t be there.
  • HoldySnausages’ huge tattoo of Ken’s Shoryuken.

HOLDY

Thanks to all who made the trip. It was not our best gathering but hey, it makes all the other ones seem a lot better by contrast!

I ended up staying till midnight (my hands hurt) and wondering why we don’t all  stay later. It gets a lot busier later; we could order pizza and generally draw in more casuals. It could be perhaps, that I have no life.


Filed Under: Casuals, Events

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

September 14, 2009 By G-Boobie 5 Comments

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

Filed Under: Casuals, Events, Results, Tournaments

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

August 30, 2009 By G-Boobie Leave a Comment

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.

Filed Under: Casuals, Events

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

August 21, 2009 By G-Boobie 1 Comment

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.

Filed Under: Casuals, Events

About

July 26, 2009 By Slappy 1 Comment

We’re a group of fighting game players based in Grand Rapids MI, but with members from all over West Michigan. It started as a Street Fighter group, but we play any and all fighting games.

As a group we purchased our own consoles and lagless monitors, hold local and regional level tournaments, and have a competition team sponsored by GrandLan.

Stop by and play a few rounds!

Filed Under: GRFGC, News

GrapSF.com goes live!

July 26, 2009 By Slappy 3 Comments

I’ve been thinking about starting a group to get the local Street Fighter scene going for a while now. After chatting with another local (Tru Talon) on Xbox-Live last night I decided to go ahead and do it.

I looked at meetup.com first and decided there is no reason to pay that much, so I reserved this domain and put this site up on my server.

That’s how GrapSF.com was born!

Filed Under: GRFGC, News

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