Zissou
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madmrbacon.bsky.social
Zissou
@madmrbacon.bsky.social
610 followers 170 following 73 posts
I make fighting game video essays. Waiting for the resurrection of Marvel 3. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pressbuttonwin Web: https://www.pressbuttonwin.com/ Press Button Win on Bluesky: @pressbuttonwin.bsky.social
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"...learning to play fighting games is also learning how to learn fighting games, and that’s one of the things I think is incredibly valuable about this particular activity and must be preserved."
"Having more recently-new players explain stuff is often more useful because their memory of what they struggled with is a bit fresher, and they’ll walk through details that veteran players wouldn’t necessarily think to explain."
"Being in a hotel ballroom full of people watching the same video game and yelling when some hype shit happens is a life-affirming experience."
"...I find the entire practice of organized local fighting game play an act of sacred devotion, and the people who volunteer their time to help maintain this practice are performing meaningful service for the communities they love." (2/2)
"Fighting game locals, to me, are the core of what makes this genre special and beautiful and perfect and unique... (1/2)
"Do not leave your needs to the mercy of others’ generosity. Speak up and advocate for yourself.
"Much of our lives has been reduced to home life and economic life, with civic and community institutions generally being eroded over time and few replacements growing to fill those voids. Going to a place to do a thing you like to do matters."
"It is my firmly held belief that the emotions and experiences that serve as the foundation of our communities, the ones that have enabled this genre to live far longer than it should have, are rooted in the in-person experience."
"And if you go 0-2, you make two people really happy they didn’t go 0-2! Simply by entering a tournament and losing, you can increase the net happiness in the world. Isn’t that cool?"
On the value of playing the whole cast (at least a bit):

"You paid for the whole game, so you might as well play it."
"Being able to recognize your true wackness in retrospect is a key step towards recognizing it in the moment and intervening."
Reposted by Zissou
Because I want my work to be available to everyone, it's offered on itchio as a pay-what-you-want download with a suggested donation of $19.99. Includes both PDF and EPUB for use with your preferred e-reader.

All profits go to my local fighting game community organizing work.

Please share!
"Even if you think the Gs weren’t that G, say GGs."
Also the illustrations are cute as hell
"If you find yourself frequently getting mad about fighting games and having a bad time, please, put the Ranked Mode down."
This whole section of the book is hitting tbh

"Perhaps the biggest sin that Ranked Modes commit, however, is that they make you feel like you got worse as a player when you lose, even though losing is how you get better as a player."
Nice to hear talk about the real pitfalls of over-reliance on ranked matchmaking as the sole way to engage with a game
"You do not have to have all the answers to a problem before your next session, but if you don’t have anything new, then you can’t expect anything to go differently."
"You can’t always end on a W against another player, but you can always end on a lesson that might help you get a future W."
"I have not found another game genre that allows you to learn another human being’s physical and mental quirks and habits in real-time quite so intimately, and it’s a big part of why I find these games uniquely fascinating."
The gospel

"...in order to ensure reliable connection quality for netplay, you must be on a wired connection."
Useful stuff aside, this book is a vibe

"I actually went to visit the MAS Systems home base to get my stick fixed once. The daughter of the family was like eight or something and was reading the Microsoft Encarta entries about horses out loud to me while I waited."
Will continue with random quotes just to keep track of stuff for fun—

"As long as you’re pressing buttons and having a good time, that time is not wasted."
Enjoying this so far!

"Once you become even remotely competent in fighting games, you will feel like you could learn to do anything in the world that you’re willing to put in the work for."
FROM MASHER TO MASTER 2 IS OUT!

If you want to get into fighting games but don't know where to begin, this book will guide your journey.

Featuring art by @koh.money and a foreword by Gerald Lee of Core-A Gaming!

patrickmiller.itch.io/from-masher-...