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The story
A thread reminiscing about the ’90s fighting game boom popped up on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyou G” (Anything Goes Live Commentary) board. The thread’s creator, apparently too young to have experienced it firsthand, wrote “I wish I’d been there for it” — which prompted a flood of hair-raising stories from users who actually haunted the arcades back then: beat someone with a cheap infinite combo and an ashtray would come flying at you, losers would spit on you, or your whole cabinet would get shoved against the wall with you still in the seat. Others pushed back, though, insisting “there was no such boom” or that it was “just a thing among teenage boys” — showing just how differently that era’s fever is remembered depending on generation and region.
What people said
There was that genuinely insane game, Gundam vs. Gundam EXTREME.
If anything, that's what breathed life back into it. Right before 'nettai' (arcade online matchmaking, a pun on 'net taisen') showed up, the scene was on its last legs.
That's pretty much the core of it. Today's kids don't have that respect (fear) for their opponent — the idea that talking trash gets you smacked.
They literally ran a TV program covering Street Fighter Zero 3 tournaments. The Hiroshima tournament segment even had the comedy duo Saruganseki on location.
From Street Fighter II onward — Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, Art of Fighting, KOF, Vampire (Darkstalkers) — those were all huge.
Where I grew up, the rule was: if the guy currently playing had stacked coins on the machine, your turn wouldn't come until he'd used them all. Looking back, the arcades that didn't crack down on that were pretty awful too.
Pretty rare case, but I've seen them inside restaurants and even inside swimming pool facilities.
Pools seem pretty plausible actually — public bathhouses and hot springs often had MVS cabinets set up too.
There was a period where getting the other player's consent before challenging them was actually considered good manners.
You could just buy cigarettes and alcohol from vending machines, and a pack ran about 250 to 300 yen.
During the '90s fighting game boom it would've been more like 200 yen. Seven Stars didn't hit 250 yen until around 2000.
My usual brand was 220 yen.
Starting with Virtua Fighter 3 you could set a player name, so people used their nearest station + character name — it was fun being able to share info on who the strong players were that way.
Happened to me once in elementary school — got interrupted by a kid around my own age.
Arcades back then were pretty lawless, so honestly I was too scared to even go near one.
Yeah, that's the kind of bias the place carried. Where I lived, even middle and high schoolers showed zero mercy to us elementary school kids — it was rough. There was a kid at the neighboring elementary school, who I later ended up at the same junior high with, who actually carried a knife. Smart guy though — he's a cardiac surgeon now.
Great way to kill time while your laundry ran.
I wonder how many times Shinseisha (publisher of Gamest magazine, notorious for controversial rankings that made angry readers joke about bombing their office) 'got bombed.'
Background and Key Points
The ’90s fighting game boom is generally regarded as having kicked off with Capcom’s “Street Fighter II,” with SNK’s “Fatal Fury,” “Samurai Shodown,” and “KOF” series, along with Sega’s “Virtua Fighter,” driving its popularity from there. Arcades were also places where the gap in skill between players translated directly into real-world social tension. While the thread gathered stories like “ashtrays came flying” and “the guy I beat spat on me,” some commenters also pushed back with “there was no such boom” — suggesting the intensity of the experience varied widely depending on where you lived, your age, and how often you actually went to arcades. Unlike today’s online matches, the tension that came from playing face-to-face, along with unique etiquette like “get the other player’s consent before challenging them,” may be hard for younger generations to fully grasp.
※This article is composed as an excerpt/summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyou G) thread “I Wish I’d Experienced the ’90s Fighting Game Boom…😭“.
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