LaughingHyena interviews fighting game players

and it looks like I'm up.
But before I put up the interview, do me a favor. If you're a fighting game player as well (wether its Street Fighter, Tekken, Soulcailbur,...whatever) check out his site here:

http://laughinghyena.weebly.com/index.html

The guy not only makes custom fight arcade sticks, but he offers up Street Fighter lessons and even has basics and tips right there on the site.
Check him out. ;) Couldn't hurt.


Now on to the interview:


Name Bill Krops

Player Name Bill Fn Jersey

Age 27

Location
Corvallis, OR (currently) *from Bayonne, NJ*

Accomplishments
3rd place during the first round of the Gamestop Tournament (Feb 9 2009 Bayonne NJ)
*not bad considering I only played the game 20 minutes prior. Lol*
(I haven’t competed since because I moved to Oregon afterwards. No tourneys where I’m at.)

How long have you been playing fighters?

Been playing fighters since I first played Street Fighter in a local pizza parlor way back in 1991

What is your favorite fighting game?

King of Fighters ’97 is still my all time favorite fighting game. Nothing has come close to matching it since in my opinion.

Stick or Pad?

I grew up on pads. Especially the Sega ones. (Saturn and Genesis pads were tops) But with the lack of great pads nowadays, I’mma have to switch to stick as soon as I get some loot.

What kind of player are you; reckless, smart, turtle, aggressive?

I play different games different ways. Capcom games I’m usually more aggressive. While SNK games I’m a little more reserved. But in any fighting game, I tend to switch up my style to adapt to my opponent. Also, having a hard time being really aggressive in SF4. It has more an old school SNK pace to it with Capcom mechanics.

How good to do you consider yourself of a player?

In most 2D fighting games, I’d like to think I’m pretty good. Above average.But SF4, I’m not THAT good at. I’m good enough to hold my own, but still need to get used to a lot of things. It’s a totally different beast.

How far do you see yourself going in competitive playing?

As soon as I move to Cali, I’ll find out. Lol. I could see myself making top 8 in tourneys in time. But mostly, I’m looking forward to heading my own tournaments in the near future. Possibly right after PAX.

Who is your favorite character from any fighting game?

OOooooo. That’s a tough one. On the spot I’d have to say Leona Heidern from the KoF series. You can play her any style and I think she’s fun to use.

Who is your least favorite character from any fighter?

That’s another tough one. I’ve come across a great many broken characters along the way. As well as totally annoying ones too. Lol. GOT IT! Sophia from Toshinden 1 & 2. Her voice just totally annoyed the living hell outta me.

What fighting game are you currently playing?

Right now, SF4.Still waiting for the arrival of the new King of Fighters

How many hours do you play or practice?

Lately, not many. I’ve become more a casual gamer. I’m not as motivated as I used to be. I’m starting to think that may be due to location since there’s no following around here. Its just me. Not people to play against. I prefer live gameplay over online.

How do you train?

Well, I can tell you how I used to train. A friend of mine that I used to play against all through high school is better than me in most games. And how he’d play against me is if a move worked, he’d keep doing it until I learned a way around it. Wether the move was broken or not. Lol. So that definitely taught me a few things in all games. As a result, I’m hard to corner, throw, or (in SoulCalibur’s case) ring out. Lol. Nowadays, I go online. Really all I can do.

How often do you attend tourneys?

I don’t unfortunately. I hope to attend a few in Seattle and Portland in the next few months though.

What event would you like to go to showcase your skills?

I’m hoping there’ll be a tournament at PAX. But what’d I really like to do is attend those RanBats (Ranked Battles) over at Arcade Infinity in Southern California.

What players who do you look up to?

There are a lot.

Justin Wong (for obvious reasons)
Poongko ( I LOVE his aggressive style)
DarksydePhil (don’t care If he runs his mouth, he’s damn good)
Long Island Joe
The Empire Arcadia crew
Mike Ross
Most of the guy over at Arcade Infinity/Denjin Arcade
Gootecks
Starslay3r/Ciji (because her determination to be a top SF4 player is just inspiring and admirable)
The list goes on and on. There’s a LOT of good players out there.

Do you feel that fighting games players have to work harder to earn the respect of other genre gamers?

I think within the genre, fighting game players have a respect for each other regardless. At least the hardcore ones do. As for fighting games getting respect in the gamer community as a whole, I think that’s been tough the past ten years or so. Mostly due to the First Person Shooter craze. But with most FPS games dumbing down and fighting games only getting better, that could certainly change. Just might take awhile.

With Street Fighter 4 out and with the upcoming fighting games that are coming out (KOF, BlazBlue, MVC2 (rerelease), Tatsunoko Vs Capco are fighting games making a comeback and bringing life into the Fighting Era as it was back in the early 90's?

This year, YES! It definitely is.The problem is keeping that momentum though. We get all these awesome games in one year, but than how long til more come out?Most fighting games aren’t known for coming out on a yearly basis. Except for maybe KoF back in the day. The way is usually a few years. In Capcom’s case of Street Fighter, almost decades. With the exceptions of the side games like Alpha, Rival Schools, EX, and other games.If more companies step up and give it a go, we may possibly see more life in the genre. I just don’t know what the odds are. Its not easy to make a successful fighting game. Its really easy to make a bad one though.

What player that you know that you think that has that the skills, passion and desire to make to the top?

I can’t really answer that, because I haven’t played anyone that good in awhile. No one that I know personally anyway.But I guess if I really REALLY wanted it bad enough, I could train myself to be a top player. But it really is a LOT of work to get there.

What player who you would like to have the opportunity to play against?

There’s a few.

DarksydePhil
Free1Up
ProdigyX
Justin Wong (just to see how well I’d do. Lol)
StarSlay3r

Theres a bunch of dudes on the xbox forums I’d like to play, but I’d rather play them in person. MrSuplex, Himoura, etc…. there’s a lot. I’d have to dig through the forums to find them all.

What player who you would like to take you under their wing?

Rather than a particular player, there’s two groups I’d rather learn from.
Empire Arcadia (NYC)
The crew over at Arcade Infinity (SoCal)

If you would pick a fighting game that you would like to see in the main circuit, what fighting game would that be?

Street Fighter 4 would be great in a main circuit. It has the following and everyone know how to play Street Fighter. It’d make for some pretty interesting matches

Where do you see fighting games going?

Fighting games will never die out. There’s ALWAYS a demand for them. Unfortunately, I don’t see them maintaining there current popularity very long. People just aren’t that patient these days. They get bored quickly. Thus leaving the hardcore fighters in there element. Which isn’t a bad thing mind you? But it makes it that much harder for companies to WANT to make fighting games.Both overall, fighting games will always have spurts of mass popularity. I just don’t think the genre can maintain it is all.

For all intents and purposes though, I hope I’m proven wrong.