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What We Need... Belfast Street Fighter Championships
It's obvious really. Too much time and energy in this country is wasted on politics, on sectarianism and on mindless thuggery and petty crime. The solution?
I think Belfast needs a healthy dose of competitive violence; not the kind where you go out and throw hard, heavy objects at your neighbours and/or the police. Belfast should have a Street Fighter tournament for all us 20-something old fogeys who whiled away many an hour beating the crap out of each other on our old Super Nintendos and Sega Mega Drives. In fact, I spent most of my year in Upper 6th form challenging all-comers at Street Fighter II Turbo in the common room.
If you're too old or too young to remember, Street Fighter was one of the most important video games of its time (which I suppose encompassed most of the 1990s) and it's long-past time Belfast recognised that.
What would it take? 32 people and a SNES or two? I'm salivating at the prospect. I've dreamed of it for a long time, but only tonight did I realise that there is precedent. Apparently between 2002 and 2004, Belfast's Film Festival included an "International" Pong tournament and in the USA, competitive tournaments built around Street Fighter (and similar) series seem to be quite well-established.
Imagine a 32-man Street Fighter 2 Turbo marathon in Belfast. Dare we dream? OK, maybe it won't solve any of the ingrained societal problems I mentioned, but it'd be damn good fun.
While on the topic I'd just like to settle an age-old debate as well. The best version of Street Fighter 2 ever was SF2:Turbo (or Hyper Fighting for readers across the pond).