Let me start by stating the obvious.   I love Capcom.   Now, I'm sure that comes as no surprise after the blatant title I chose for this writing, but I feel that simply stating that affection is not enough.   I love Capcom, and I want to explain why .  

            Don't get me wrong.   I don't love Capcom in the same way that I love Valve or Rockstar, but I most definitely devote a special spot in my heart as a gamer for the company that brought me Bionic Commando, is about to bring me Super Street Fighter IV, and promises to bring me Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in the future.   Capcom means something to me, and every time I hear that some little piece of news is coming from the company, I get a excited and hopeful.   Interestingly enough, however, I wasn't always so affectionate to the company that created Mike Hagger, Ryu, and Rad Spencer.

            For years as a gamer, I only thought of Capcom as just another Japanese game company.   They made Street Fighter II, and a number of other fighting games I was only vaguely familiar with, if even that.   I loved me some Street Fighter (even though I wasn't necessarily good), but that was pretty much the extent of my relationship with Capcom.  

            Somewhere along the way, in the year leading up to the release of Street Fighter IV, my relationship with the company changed.  Games such as Bionic Commando: Rearmed and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix opened my eyes to the new initiative Capcom had undertaken with downloadable games.   Classic favorites, of which the company has in spades, were making their way back into the lives of gamers in new and exciting ways. Resident Evil 5 came out, and even though it wasn't necessarily the survivial horror game of old, it still was a hell of a lot of fun.   Capcom had begun to find its way onto my radar as a company that meant more to me than just another name.   Then Street Fighter IV came out.

            My life as a gamer changed forever.   I found a fighting game that somehow rekindled my passion for fighting games, a feeling long dormant.   I fell right back into playing as Zangief, and actually became fairly passable online for a brief window of time.   Regardless of the ass-kickings I received against other skilled players, Street Fighter IV had stolen my heart as the best fighting game I had ever played.  

            Following the launch of Street Fighter, Capcom continued to treat me to wonderful new experiences.   The next generation debut of Bionic Commando sucked me in and left me wishing that the game had been more successful.   Flock came out and surprised me with it's clever art style and interesting gameplay.   Eventually, after the extremely awesome Dark Void Zero, Dark Void came out and let me live out my fantasies of being the Rocketeer (yes, I actually liked Dark Void, despite its problems).   Final Fight Double Impact reminded me that Capcom has a phenomenal stable of classic arcade favorites and is willing to bring them back to gamers with a loving attention to detail that should cause other developers to take notice (here's hoping for a Saturday Night Slam Master's re-release).

            Now Capcom is positioned to continue making my life as a gamer even more enjoyable.   I'm sitting next to the copy of Monster Hunter Tri I received from Gamefly today, hoping to immerse myself in a world beloved by Japanese gamers for years.   In the next couple of months Lost Planet 2 and Dead Rising 2 are going to offer gamers experiences unlike any other games out there.   Finally, as I mentioned in the beginning, next year's slate of Capcom games is already looking promising due to the announcement of both Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2.  

            Rarely do I find myself completely smitten with a game company, aside from the afore-mentioned greats like Valve and Rockstar, but Capcom has solidly cemented themselves as a company that I not only admire, but would gladly consider one of my favorites if they keep this trend going in the future.  

            Why do I love Capcom?   As reflected in list of games mentioned throughout this "love letter," I occasionally find myself loving games that may not be considered runaway successes by popular gamer sentiment. Sure, games like the new Bionic Commando and Dark Void may have their share of problems.   Sure, they may not have sold as many copies as the next successful FPS on the market will.  

            That being said, I love Capcom because they donn't choose to simply make the next successful FPS.   They choose to do something different.   There are very few games out there like Bionic Commando and Dark Void.   Whereas most game companies tread in familiar and safe territory, Capcom is willing to publish a game that shakes things up.   I can play a dozen very competent first-person shooters, all released in the last 18 months, but I can only play one game that captures the feeling of being everyone's favorite passive-aggressive bionic, Nathan "Rad" Spencer.   I play games because I want to have experiences unavailable anywhere else.   Capcom is willing to bring that, willing to experiment with what makes gaming unique.   Games like Dark Void are a risk, and I'm happy that Capcom is willing to take them.  

            At the same time, Capcom is also capable of taking gamers back to our roots, back to the games that made many of us gamers in the first place.   With games like Final Fight Double Impact, and even Street Fighter IV, Capcom is taking us places that we hold dear in our gaming hearts.   Back to "quartering up" in front of a Street Fighter arcade cabinet, back to sitting on the floor of our parents' living room playing Bionic Commando, back to the very reasons we are passionately devoted to the medium of video games today.    
 
           Capcom represents why I love being a gamer.   They are devoted to both lovingly remembering where we came from, and boldly innovating where we are going.   Thanks Capcom, I only wish more video game companies were as passionate about the artform as you are.

Okay, so all of the talk about Street Fighter IV got me hooked, and being a poor college student, I searched for a few games to trade towards a PS3 copy of the game.  However, before I get into that, some backstory.

I, like most of us, played me some Street Fighter back in the day, most extensively my Game Boy copy of Street Fighter 2 (which was fairly impressive considering the system it was on).  Not being able to afford a home console during the 16-bit era, I was forced to only play other friend's consoles, and I read every magazine strategy guide that I could get my hands on for the load of SF releases over the years.  There was just something about the characters, the simple yet completely nuanced gameplay, and the great graphics that spoke to me.  I was even a big fan as a young child of the Jean-Claude Van Damme Street Fighter movie, which looking back may be one of the totally best and totally worst movies ever made (there are so many things wrong with it that it becomes endearing, kinda like a dog with three legs, one eye and no tail. I mean, how can you really hate something that has so many limitations?)  So needless to say Street Fighter is a part of my childhood.  However, when I got totally into gaming during the Playstation era, I grew away from the SF series, and when I returned to it, the AI always made me mad.  Somewhere in my transition to the world of 3D gaming, I lost my love of fighting in the streets.

Now, a little bit older and no doubt very little wiser, I chose to return to the series that has both caused me great amounts of love and great amounts of fury.  Realizing that three games would give me an extra 10 at Gamestop, I looked through my collection, and chose the following three: Army of Two, COD 4, and MK vs DCU, and got me a copy for 8 bucks.  To tell you the truth, I will never miss those games now that I have played the Messiah of Fighting Games.  Yes, I have said it, Street  Fighter IV is the best fighting game I have ever played.  I have never played another fighting game that has connected with me more than Street Fighter 4.  Between the amazing art style, the instantly familiar and yet totally fresh feeling gameplay, and the soundtrack that really shines ("Indestructible" will never get out of my head ), this game is the total package.  This is what the sequel to a classic series should be.  I picked up the controller, chose Zangief, and was immediately throwing spinning piledrivers, lariats, and flying powerbombs with familiar ease.  Yes, I get my ass removed, shined up, packaged, and handed back to me by nearly everyone online, but after years of leaving my Street Fighting aside, I'm slowly getting back into practice.  I was one of the people that loved MK vs DCU, but this game has made me wanna ask, MK who?  Okay, seriously though, I still love me some MK vs DCU and will continue to play it with my buddy who will never fail to represent the fatality, but for me "HADOKEN!" will forever mean more than "FINISH HIM!" ever will.