The Street Fighter Days

Every time I go on certain websites there have been banners for the Street Fighter IV game.

Each time I see that logo I am reminded of the launch of Street Fighter II in 1992.

That Summer, my friends and I would play the game at the chip shops on Caroline Street in Cardiff City Centre. It was kind of a war zone down there if you were a kid as there were gangs of thugs who would be there, too. We often managed to talk our way out of trouble in those places but the threats always seemed to be there.

We couldn't wait until it came out on the Super Nintendo - and it did in October of that year.

For £64.99!

I still think this was the biggest video game con ever. They marked up the price an extra twenty pounds because it was going to sell tons of copies.

My friend and I tried cleaning cars to get the funds for it but the only customer we had was his step-father.

I eventually cut a deal and got my Father to buy it and I pay him back in monthly installments. I had Christmas tips coming in from my paper-round so I knew I would have been able to pay up the debt.

I became the only kid in class with the game and I had the ultimate idea.

The S.F.A.

The S.F.A stood for the Street Fighter Association and it was a league I started promoting (eat your heart out, Mr. McMahon!) where I ran main events with all my friends.

The initial show was called Halloween Hysteria and it took place at my house in the October half-term of '92. I had bought a trophy from a shop in town with 'S.F.A Champion' written on it and the winner of a knock-out tournament would become the first S.F.A champ.

We even had contracts and certain guys were the heels and faces although I didn't know those insider terms back then and used 'fan favourite' or 'rulebreaker'.

I was the Hulk Hogan-type hero of the 'promotion' and called myself 'The Real Welshman' playing on Hogan's 'Real American' moniker. I was the favourite to win the initial tournament as I was the only one with the game at that time.

The favourite got knocked out in round one!

Yes, I did all the work thinking I would be the champion at the end and I was defeated by one of my best friends, Gareth. He went on to win the tourney.

We had other events - A regular weekly (well, it was meant to be weekly) show called Saturday Morning Shocker as well as another big show called Christmas Clash.

The league died a slow death in 1993 despite my effort to host a WrestleMania type show at the local youth club hall in the Spring. It was meant to have been called Star War.

I don't even remember who the S.F.A champion was when we stopped, all I know is that trophy is still on the desk in my bedroom and it was one of the first things my friend, Michael asked about when we got back in touch after fourteen years recently.

I bet there are some crazy teenage wrestling fans doing similar things with the video games of today. In years from now, they too will look back and laugh.