When I approached Jaleel I said, "Hey, why not write me up something about yourself and tell people who you are?" After getting the restraining order lifted against me, the Focus Attack boss presented me with this...
Hey all! My name is Jaleel Beck - the undisputed Final Boss of Focusattack.com, an arcade parts e-store dedicated to the fighting game community. Final Boss, you ask? Just try pitting against my Guile in SSF4!
Actually, don't bother with that. My Street Fighter battle points currently rank below most teenagers’ SAT scores.
Risking the chance I'll get pegged as starting life when 8-track cassettes were all the rage, I fondly recall the first time watching Street Fighter II played at the Dorney Park Amusements arcade in Pennsylvania. That magical time was the early 1990s, when kids were starting to grow out of Menudo (don't ask) and clothes stopped representing all the primary colours in the spectrum. Street Fighter II - Capcom's flagship arcade title - arguably brought players to feed more quarters into its slot than most laundry mats. You may remember the lines forming around that arcade cabinet, full of players committed to beating that 8-year old runny-nosed Japanese kid. We all do.
What you may not realize or recall is that the fighting game scene endured for many years after Street Fighter II. In fact, it continues to this day, and stronger than ever. The arcade era saw various iterations of Street Fighter, plus competitive one-on-one titles such as Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Mortal Kombat and the Marvel vs. Capcom series. Each built its own niche in the scene, but shared a common thread: they fostered a tightly bound, fundamentally ambitious community of highly competitive players. When the rest of the world turned its back on the genre in the early 2000s, one could assume that the fighting game community simply went deep underground. That's not really true. Those that loved fighting games kept playing them, analyzing them, and exploiting the very mechanics of the programming and frame animation to win their matches. Players met in the remaining arcades, large halls or friends' houses to play on makeshift controllers with parts imported from Japan. Each year, those same players would gather in one of the longest-running and nationally televised video game tournament events in the country - Evolution Championship, or EVO for short. E-Games are now paying thousands of dollars to the best players in the state, country and the world. In other words, the fighting game scene hasn't left the building. In fact, it's recently added a few hi-rise apartments and a Wal-Mart. None of us saw that coming.
If the community is spreading far and wide, then how do you enter it?
The rise of the internet - lolcats and all - has made accessing the fighting game community easier than ever. The most popular site covering fighting game news, various game-play learning materials, events and the largest community is Shoryuken.com. There are plenty of other popular sites as well, such as iplaywinner.com, eventhubs.com, neoempire.com, SDTekken.com (Tekken and joystick preview/review), 8wayrun.com (Soul Calibur), and Testyourmight.com (Mortal Kombat). This is just a smattering of the many sites you can visit and get involved. Best of all, it's not too difficult to find tournaments nearby. Just check out shoryuken.com event's section, or search SF4Answers.com's visual event map for tournaments in your city.
Street Fighter 4 - Capcom's most recent continuation of the series - is a highly acclaimed title that brings something to both new and veteran players. With first person 3D shooters currently dominating the video game world, that is one helluva feat. Thanks to Street Fighter 4's accessible yet technically flexible game play mechanics, increasingly new players have found interest in fighting games.
Now, until we start throwing Hadokens with a souped-up Kinect, an arcade-style joystick is most fighting gamer’s tool of choice. This is essentially where Focusattack.com comes in. We carry - and continue to add - many of the parts you need to build your joystick from scratch, or customize what you already have. There, you'll find authentic Japanese arcade push-buttons, joysticks, ball tops, bat-tops and plenty more. We also carry fighting game-themed apparel and merchandise to customize yourself. All of your purchases come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, super-fast order fulfillment, and a friendly staff that will personally answer your questions within 24 hours or less. You might even get a message from me. Isn't that special?
Building or modifying a joystick is somewhat akin to building a computer; there are lots of ways to do it. There is also plenty of fun and creativity involved once you see the parts for yourself. If you're interested, head over to some of the sites (and their corresponding forums) that I mentioned above, and scour YouTube for modding tutorials for existing and custom joysticks. Even better, like our Focus Attack Face book page http://on.fb.me/eQEDNz, follow us on Twitter (http://bit.ly/gmbXAM), or peep our YouTube Channel.
Looks like that undefeated Japanese kid has finally stepped down. His mom is calling.
Want to feel the wrath of my Guile in Super Street Fighter 4? Don't say I didn't warn you. Look me up on Xbox Live as "JmanDMC". I promise not to rage quit. 
*
*"Dude rage" - quits all day long or cries about lag.
Guys, head on over to
focusattack.com. Trust me, you will not be disappointed. They have the track record to prove it. Looking to spice up your stick, or thought about changing that stock look? Hit these guys up.
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First Look: Capcom Arcade (iPhone)
Reviewer: _skitzo_Date: 04/11/10