#super arcade

[ritarepulsorblast]

the lords at ArcadeShock have given me a coupon code! Use code "bignut50" to get a discount on sanwa and seimitsu parts as well as Brook Universal Fighting Boards!!

[indiepulserocks]

This Awesome Album comes out April 12th, 2019... yes Tomorrow, Get it an be amazed ASAP.

Yeah, Just That Good, Awesomely Rockin ! and Chock Full of Vitamins!

[bearzooka]

Rhythm Tengoku Arcade (2007)

Super Arcade // Azusa, CA. 

[ritarepulsorblast]

being gerikuso in the fgc

I don’t know how many of my followers follow me because of fighting game related stuff and i don’t know how many of my followers know how i’m involved in the fgc at all, so here’s my fgc story according to myself:

I live in California, around the LA area. I started getting into fighting games in 2008, my senior year of high school, I was introduced to the daigo parry video through some random youtube crawls. After talking about it with my friends, one of them said his brother plays third strike and i also wanted to play it. I went over to his house and his brother just ruined me in the game. After that, I played third strike arcade mode every single day for fun until Street Fighter 4 came out.

When Street Fighter 4 came out, the only place i knew that had it at the time was Arcade Infinity. Since I didn’t drive at the time, I would only go there maybe once a year if one of my friends was kind enough to drive me.

After Arcade Infinity closed down, I started to watch the Wednesday Night Fights streams on twitch hosted at the Proud Bird, which is around the time I started attending tournaments like Revelations and SCR.

After a few tournaments, Wednesday Night Fights was announced to move to Super Arcade in Walnut, CA.

When this was announced, my friend who was also into fighting games (name was Melon) would drive us to Super Arcade so that he could compete. At the time, I didn’t have my own controller so I would just watch. However, I’ve always loved the arcade atmosphere and I ended up going to Super Arcade pretty much every week to hang out at Wednesday Night Fights.

Eventually, my friend stopped driving to Super Arcade to compete, but I still loved being around there because it was such a chill spot and I bought my first arcade stick (It was a TvC stick that I padhacked to work on 360 and somehow it worked out.) I decided that taking a 2+ hour bus ride to Super Arcade from my house would be worth it because I was in community college at the time and I didn’t really make friends nor did I have a place to hang out besides at my house.

At the time, Aris was still working there. I guess he noticed that I would come to the arcade really early on Wednesdays when no one was even there. We eventually became friends. Mike Ross would also come by very rarely and i’d talk with him sometimes. 

One day, I borrowed my mom’s car to drive to the arcade and was there to play UMvC3, which was relatively new at the time. I wanted to play on the cabinet that they had set up for the game, which had the monitor and built in sticks. Mike Watson walked over and told me “You can use your own stick if you want.” I went to my car to get my stick and then came back to plug my stick into the 360. I said “Thanks” and Mike Watson said “Yeah if you wanna use your own stick just let us know, Melon.” After he said that I was like “....Melon? I’m not Melon.” To which Mike responded with “......Oh shit!” I feel like after that moment, Mike had to specifically remember that I wasn’t Melon.

Eventually, Mike Watson noticed that I would be at the tournament every week, but would always ask other people to drive me back after the tournament ended. He asked where I lived and it turned out that I lived about 7 minutes away from him. I ended up relying on Watson to drive me back home in exchange for helping out around the arcade.

I don’t remember exactly what I did when I first started helping out but I eventually helped set up the consoles and monitors for WNF and did grocery runs for the sodas and snacks. Around this time, Aris resigned from his job at Super Arcade, requiring Watson to spend more hours there. I did what I could to help out.

I did this for about a year, accepting rides home and lunch/dinner as payment. During this time, I met so many people who I would later consider my friends and FGC family. It didn’t matter if they played Street Fighter or Marvel or Injustice or whatever game, I eventually became acquainted with them and they would recognize me probably as the guy who’s always at super. There were a lot of stories that I could tell that came from this time period, but I’ll save that for other text posts.

After about a year, Watson decided to let me behind the counter and handle selling snacks and drinks and eventually I ended up taking tournament entries and running brackets. A few months after, my parents bought me a car to use for school. I didn’t have to rely on Watson to drive me anymore, but I still went to Super Arcade every week. At that point it was pretty much my second home. I was also getting some experience in dealing with different kinds of people and doing minor maintenance on arcade machines. I eventually got paid regularly.

Unfortunately, after a while, Super Arcade had to close down due to disagreements with the landlord. Watson found a place in Azusa that works out pretty well, which is where the situation of Super Arcade stands now.

There’s a ton of details that I didn’t go over, but maybe i’ll mention them in another text post if anyone wants to know.

Thanks for reading, I think about this stuff a lot.

[ritarepulsorblast]

super arcade public hearing

you guys dont know how disappointed i am in the two Avila commissioners on the city of azusa planning committee.

Jack Lee was the only one making sense and making valid points. Avilas were just “we dont like that location” “reasons stated in the application”

[ritarepulsorblast]

If you live in or around the LA area and love arcades

There will be a public hearing at the Azusa City Hall for Super Arcade. Message me for details if you want to come and show your support.

[ritarepulsorblast]

[s-tevebusceme]

“To the City of Azusa, it’s Planning Committee, and all of its citizens, and members of the FGC:

On Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 the Asuza Planning Committee voted 3-1 against granting Mike Watson and Super Arcade a minor use permit to open his arcade on a particular plot the city wishes to be leased for retail purposes. The main concerns were its noncompliance with city planning and concerns over quality of life for the surrounding neighborhood. The decision stings for us in the fighting game community. This is a community that transcends racial, geographic, and economic borders. Of course, the council’s responsibility is to the City of Azusa. And respectfully, the council didn’t live up to that responsibility due to a lack of pertinent information and firsthand experience.

My name is Shanley and I am not a citizen of Azusa nor do I speak for Mike Watson. He’s a very honest, principled man. I’ve had a few interactions with him and I’ve seen firsthand the kind of business Super Arcade is. On the surface, it’s a place where people pay to play video games. At the core of it, it’s an important institution for a burgeoning community. Every day, more and more people join the ranks of the fighting game community. Every year the major tournaments obliterate attendance and viewership records from the year before. The prize money is getting closer to a point where the top players can actually make an entire living out of being the best. In fact, entire countries like Taiwan and Singapore have lauded their fighting game players for being among the best in the world. Before its closing, Super Arcade played host to players traveling from all over the world to a tiny city called called Walnut. And with arcades dying out, Super Arcade was a mecca of types for many. I personally met people who took long road trips just to play on the classic arcade machines. But what does that mean for Azusa?

From what it sounds like, Azusa has run up against a certain limit for variances and minor use establishments under its current plan. I can only assume that the plan is there to improve the city by generating tax revenue and generally bettering the lives of its citizens. Super Arcade can help do those things.

At face value, an arcade doesn’t seem like the most solid choice. But what exactly are you holding out for? If I had a retail business I wouldn’t want to open in a place where there are vagrants and public urination and little to no foot traffic. All of those things will definitely improve immediately upon Super Arcade opening its doors. There is precedent in other cities across the world that light and foot traffic cuts down on vagrancy all the time. What’s more, Super Arcade already has a built-in patronage made up of reputable individuals from all walks of life. White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, lawyers, accountants, doctors, writers, actors, programmers—all with a strong sense of community that needs Mike Watson’s arcade to get back up and running. The strength of that community will only add to the strength of Azusa’s community. It makes the plaza instantly more appealing to potential retailers. A pharmacy would do well for any needs gamers may have, a game store would do well, a Chipotle or In-N-Out would make a killing on a weekly basis.

The fighting game community is no different from the community of Azusa. It’s just normal people who share a common bond. And letting it open AS SOON AS POSSIBLE has real potential upside for the city. I started this petition to do what I could to make this happen. Watson shouldn’t fight this fight alone.”

Please help out by reblogging, sharing, and signing this petition. Its not much but we’re hoping that if the planning committee sees how much the people love this community they will come to their senses and agree to let us be a part of THEIR community and get Super Arcade up and running again. Thank you so much!