He also had a small liquor store a block from his house where we would go and play Street Fighter 2, fueled by jumbo packs of Mambas and Gatorade. He played as Ken. I played as Guile (which strikes me as weirdly patriotic looking back. Or maybe I just liked his haircut). Another friend of ours loved Blanka. I bet you could do a study linking personality to the character picked in Street Fighter 2.
I haven't played SF2 in years now, but it will always be the game that reminds me of adolescence. That feeling of freedom. Leaving the house on your own with 5 dollars in quarters jangling in your pocket. Riding your bike a little farther than you are allowed. The sickly sweet taste of processed sugars.
Now that I'm older, however, I like a little classier of a game. Something that still has the turmoil of a Street Fighter 2, but with a little spiritual depth. That's why I play Bible Fight over at Adult Swim, where Biblical characters go head to head in combat. Jesus sends loaves and fishes. Moses calls a toad hailstorm. Noah induces a stampede of animals. This is the game for the contemplative man.
