Each week, I will discuss a major sporting event using video games and gaming culture as a point of comparison. Games color and shape the way we see the world. So do sports. By viewing sporting events through a specific gaming lense, my intention is to combine these interests in a way that hopefully sheds light on each.
Secondary goal: To make strange, often ill-fitting connections that may or may not cause you to chuckle or ponder deep existential queries or recall that time you played Final Fantasy VII for 18 hours straight and had to use a cane for three weeks after. Follow along if you wish. And I welcome your responses or alternate takes on the weeks' topic.
Special thanks to community member T. McReynolds for the inadvertant suggestion.
Super Fighting Mega All-Stars of Distictive Glory
Last weekend saw the National Pasttime's National League end a fourteen-year-long drought against their American League opponents with a 3-1 victory. Though many sports' all-star games are considered feeble exhibitions, this one counts: The winner's representative team will have home field advantage in the World Series. Even with the added importance, ratings and interest remained relatively low.
In the world of video games, such mash-ups are becoming increasingly common. Two or more disparate groups will come together in combat, mortal or otherwise, and the people will cheer. Or jeer. Recent and well-known examples include the Vs. Capcom series, with Marvel Vs. Capcom making a much ballyhooed comeback and, against all odds, Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom getting the greenlight to come stateside. And Super Smash Bros., almost originally unreleased in the West, has been a staple of multiplayer tournaments on campuses and GameStops nationwide.
But there have been others. Can you name the game each screenshot, and its all-star cast, comes from? Some are easy. Others... well, the Internet makes everything easy, I guess. Except making a souffle. But that's for another time.
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B.
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E.
F.
G.
Answers after the jump.
