Today as I picked up the incredible Street Fighter Anniversary Arcade stick at my local EB Games I thought, "fifteen years?" It's been fifteen years since my first experience with Street Fighter at my local Wal-mart. It wasn't even the most memorable moment because that one particular time my Mom didn't have any change on her so I was forced to sit and gaze at what looked like a really awesome version of Yie Ar Kung Fu. That Summer on a trip to Gatlinburg I opened an Electronic Gaming Monthly and to my surprise there was a feature on an arcade game ready to take the US by storm, the sequel to "that game I almost played at a Wal-mart," Street Fighter II: The World Warrior.

I can remember being mesmerized by the amazing artwork for some of the most brilliantly designed characters I had ever seen. Next to each character's profile was a brief description of the character's motivations in the tournament. I spent the majority of the five hour car ride researching "moves," profiles, and the history for each character. Hoping for the life of me that this Gatlinburg place had at least one arcade with a SF II machine. Normally Gatlinburg would've been a boring, nightmare for an eleven year old kid, lucky for my brother and I there were arcades on nearly every corner, and yes most had at least one SF II machine. And the love affair began.

From tournaments with many friends to even my parents at one point, there was much fun to be had with this game. Even today one of my friends still uses SF II to settle "who's driving?" disputes with his roommates when they leave the house. It's still so awesome, I'm wrappin this entry up now because I have to play some more. Anyway, Street Fighter II is still a game that many of us hold in high regards as one of the greatest games of all time.