#stachkunas

Dear "So & So" at ST-Germain, I recently received a promotional poster that was handed out through a local liquor vender.

#9 Samurai Showdown.

Once upon a time Pizza Huts had "sit-in" restaurants and weren't just a rigorous take-out/delivery campaign. There was one n the next town over and whoever the 'rents didn't feel like cooking we'd suggest Pizza. Quick and easy. The real draw wasn't the food. This "fine" establishment had a few arcade machines, one of which was a SNK 4 game cabinet. (Neo Geo 4 Slot MVS). We'd get three large pies for the whole family and and a pitcher of Coke and one of Diet Coke. That would feed all six of us. As much as two young boys could love pizza we ate until we were full. My youngest brother and I were always done first. Now came the hard part, asking my old man for a few dollars to play the arcade machine. My father was always stingy with coin for Arcade Machines thinking it was a waste but he indulged his youngest two none the less. The waitresses would break the bills down for us and then you'd hear the familiar drop of a quarter into the slotted coin box. It was on! Samurai Showdown had been selected and we went at each other feverishly. The game had this wonderful feature Street Fighter II didn't, a coup de grâce. When your opponent is on the verge of defeat a well calculated heavy attack would slice their jugular vein causing swords to drop from their hands or occasionally a torso would be hacked in twain. The carnage was awesome. We would fight bitterly choosing from brave warriors selected from romanticized historical Japan and memorizing super moves (little did I know then how much the Shimabara Rebellion would affect my life).

My Brother (@Micha_Luv) and I recently had a tweet-off (#bestfightinggame) (#top10) (#ithasbegun) over which fighting games rule the virtual roost. We had so much fun doing it. I decided that although Twitter was a good forum for the battle forcing us to constrain our answers to 140 characters I'd like to go into more detail about my reasons and anecdotes to follow for the list. Gimme some time but... With out further ado... #10 Battle Arena Toshinden.

We had a SNES, there was no need for a new system. The Playstaion was on the scene but there were only a handful of decent games, and most of the more impressive titles were ports like MK3. A friend of ours received a PS1 as a gift for X-Mas and my little brother and I found ourselves, sooner or later over his house tryin out the new software with sleek controllers. First we tried out WWF: In Your House, a kind-of fighting/wrestling hybrid that was interesting but not entertaining for very long. Next came Battle Arena Toshinden. I was skeptical at first. The only other real 3D fighting game that made any waves before that was Virtual Fighter on the Sega Saturn, a system that seemed doomed from the get go with a paltry library and steep price tag.

This game was different, first off is the weapons were a cool addition and added an element to the 3D combat hitherto lacking. The dodge button added a level of depth to combat that strategies for 2D games were out the window. Ingenious. We fell in love. My brother and I went home that night and schemed to trade all of our SNES stuff in for a Playstaion and Battle Arena Toshinden. I traded in a custom made arcade stick, a Capcom Fighter Pad (from the coupon on the back of the instruction manual of SSFII), two SNES controllers, and about three dozen games. I traded in every game save one. Samurai Showdown. Some gamers say it was the day my soul was sold. I lament the loss of the controllers, still, but I've since gained a gigantic SNES library, many of which are on the list.

I did two modifications of the maps supplied within the Kindle™ edition appendix of LotR. The first I did for my son, The back story was Dain Ironfoot, after ascending the title of King Under the Mountain he had the map copied on the hide of a Uruk and then framed in gold with many inlet gems and set in place where the Arkenstone was held before being buried with Thorin Oakenshield.

The second I did for a close friend, Hex, and has a story as well. During the battle of Azanulbizar (3rd Age 2799) the orcs had taken the map from Thrór's body before tossing his quarters to the crows. Azog hastily had them copy the map on the hide of a skinned dwarf before he was slain by Dain Ironfoot. Dain was able to salvage the original map and return it to Thráin II, now the rightful heir. The copied map was lost during the ensuing battle. Its history is a bit hazy. Goblins keep little records and have even less use for script outside of measurement, but the map itself was found on the crushed body of Bolg, Azog's son, after the Battle of Five Armies (3rd Age 2941). Because of its morbid nature, inked in blood on the tanned dwarfish hide, the map was burned with the unnumbered dead of the war.

"It was the green hat that gave us away!" -Jamie Madrox Whenever I wear my Twiztid hat people always ask what happened to it. My usual response is I was shot in the head with a gamma ray. Sometimes it is a photon ray. I have also responded it was a experimental military drill using real lasers. Those are the short versions and entirely untrue. I can't remember exactly which show I picked it up at, but I fell in love with it instantly. It had to have been between 2000-2002. It was one of the many Psychopathic shows I attended. I wore the hat nearly everywhere. It became my Kitchen hat at work and was in my backpack all the time.* it is no secret I used to get intoxicated at night with my brothers after getting out of work. I would come home every night and hang my hoodie (a samurai essential) on the door jam by the closet in my hallway. One night I carelessly hung my hat on the downstairs light in said hallway. My younger brother switched on the hallway light and proceeded to walk into the bathroom. I was in the kitchen and was the first to smell it. The bulb had been burning a hole right through the hat. We rushed out and it was too late. It smoked as the light flicked off and a puff of smoke wafted up from my beautiful green Twiztid hat. I was pretty upset at first but after a while it grew on me again. Because of its battle wound I began to wear it everywhere. I didn't care how dirty it got or how soaked it became in the rain. It went with me everywhere.