Brooklyn's Next Level Fight Circuit is one of the most prestigious weekly tournament series in the wrestling community and, as a result, provides a great opportunity for New York City's best players to promote themselves and their region every Wednesday. At a previous event yesterday, two rivals mentioned what is known as the "east coast" style where, with both players sitting on the sideline, their match ended in a draw.
Michael “MasterMike” Flores and Sanford “Santhrax” Kelly met in the missing NLBC brackets Street Fighter V tournament, determined not to be eliminated from the competition. They use the best defensive characters— F.A.N.G and Poison, respectively — and the fight is slowly drawn away until both players are seated in the game. With the last drop of Poison's whip, Santhrax, which is already dying, has reduced MasterMike's life to a small explosion. It would only take one pure hit or a super block to get the game to end, but that's not what happened. No, they just wait until the race is over. Event broadcaster Victor “Spooky” Fontanez summarized every moment of the comment with the words: “East Coast!”
While the fighting game community may look like a single interactive group thanks to social media and online gaming, things were not always the same. On the days when games like Street Fighter III: Strike 3
This fact was most obvious when we compared the west and east coast. While Southern California people may have learned to "slow down" from veteran publicist Alex Valle, the incident in New York City was dominated by the slow, direct play of its legends, actors such as Eddie Lee, Arturo "Sabin" Sanchez, and finally Justin Wong. These sharp distinctions are not the same today, but they do arise from time to time, especially when one has been able to win a major event with the best protection strategies or, as was the last matchup yesterday, both players decided to fade.
Is there one style more legitimate than another? Not really! Aside from how some parts of the fighting game community are weak in terms of projectile-heavy or last-ditch tactics, the only thing that's really important is to win. Playing defense can be boring for some, but many still find joy in the way players seem to see a few steps ahead of their opponent in any given game. There is a beauty to be found in the small nuances that set up strategic strategies other than, say, getting a human face and hitting them on the pulp, and we have the east coast to thank for carrying that brush all these years.
