Maryland Fighters: The Documentary (DRAFT)

I love how the fighting game scene is growing in numbers. But think back to the 1990s, when everybody was into fighting games at the time. As the 1990s were drawing to a close, the arcade scene was slowing dying, while the fighting game scene is on life-support. Throughout the years, they have survived on tournaments, ranking battles, and regionals. But in 2007, when Street Fighter IV was announced, the community became stronger, and even though arcades were slowly dying, it kept the arcade scene alive in some states.

            The fighting game scene in Maryland isn’t as strong as New York, California, Nevada, Texas, or Florida, but it is promising. The community here in Maryland is strong, even though it’s underground. Every Wednesday night, a store in Arbutus called Xanadu holds Wednesday Night Xanbats (Fight Night), in which players go to level up their skills on any fighting game or just to play casually. During that time, they held a stream on Justin.tv every week, showing casual matches. We, the players, needed a place to play and level up. Xanadu answered our call.

The arcade scene in Maryland is rare. Some arcades still exist, while others are closed down. One example is the arcade that is in a mall in Greenbelt. It still exists today, but it is sometimes deserted. There was also an arcade located in Annapolis Mall called Tilt. Tilt was one of my favorite arcades of all time. I remember when I saw a fighting game tournament for SvC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom, it was electrifying. But now, it is closed down and turned into an AT&T store. Arcades in Maryland are really hard to find nowadays.

No matter what people say, the fighting game scene is still alive.