Elson's Virtua Fighter Tour (USA 2024)

[INTRODUCTIONS]

Dear Virtua Fighters,

Nice to meet you, my name is Elson Wong, I'm an Australian Chinese who likes to travel, hike beautiful landscapes and sample awesome food from around the world.

I also love meeting people, making conversation and play Virtua Fighter.

A brief history: I have been playing fighting games since I was a kid with my older brother, from performing my first Johnny Cage nut punch to a deadly ninja in yellow winching in painful fashion, to Ryu's three-hit combo with a Hadouken finish, to Kyo Kusanagi's flaming Shiki Orochinagi from a max charge super special, to swinging high with Hoahmaro's Crescent Moon Slash ending with a brutal fatality... The list goes on from the cheeky novelty that is Fighters Megamix on the SEGA Saturn, to a destructive Phoenix Crusher with Paul ("~strongest in the universe!!") from Tekken, to the catchy jazzy tunes swinging it's way to Marvel vs Capcom 2.

Despite experiencing several fighting games, nothing beats the thrill of Virtua Fighter.

After high school I dedicated less time to video games and focused on life - navigating the challenges that come with it. Then in June 2021 I decided to get back into it and experienced for the very first time 'online play' with a fighting game, which happens to be Virtua Fighter Ultimate Showdown. With little understanding of the FGC culture and their expectations on playing the game 'authentically', I had to learn fast. Fast forward to today in July 2024, I'm ready to travel abroad and incorporate my visits with meeting other strong and knowledgeable Virtua Fighters - to have the privilege to play, learn and forge new friendships.

If I were to describe myself as a player: I'm easy-going, bundled with energy and a positive attitude. I enjoy playing people from all skill-levels, but no doubt the ones who are well-versed with the fundamentals, have strong skills, and a good spirit in their approach to playing the game is the ultimate experience for me. In other words, if you are very strong but are a genuinely humble person, we're gonna gel well together.

My simple philosophy with Virtua Fighter: I want to meet with you, play with you and share some memorable exchanges.

Learning from the legendary Mike Abdow, he imparted the following wisdom that I carry with me in every match: "Virtua Fighter, between two players in kind, is like having a deep conversation".


[EXPERIENCE]

For those curious, I've played Virtua Fighter with my brother at a casual-competitive level of play, back when we were kids. Venue: the parent's lounge-room. We played endlessly, to the point where they became treasured memories.

Iterations include: VF1, VF2 & Fighters Megamix (SEGA SATURN), VF3:TB (Dreamcast), VF4/Evolution (PS2) & VF5 Vanilla (X-Box 360).

I had no particular mains or subs. I just generally went for Akira, Sarah, Lau & Lion.

Then I started to take the game a little more seriously with VF: Ultimate Showdown, slowly building my understanding of the game: from fundamentals to more advance techniques, combos & strategies. This occurred between 2021-2024, purely online-play, playing on a semi-regular basis with the VFA (Virtua Fighter Australia) Discord community.

Currently I'm confident with: Pai, Wolf, Shun & Sarah. I love them so much. I am also in the process of working on Goh, Lei Fei, Jeffry and Lion Rafale.

So if I were to describe my current level, I'm good at Virtua Fighter, but I'm nowhere near Japanese-tier power level. Ha ha.

My strength comes from 'online-play', and thus I lack experience in offline play. So please forgive me if I see you in the USA soon and play like an amateur.


[THE PLAN]

In two weeks time I'll be travelling all across the USA to hike amazing trails in some of the best National Parks the country has to offer. When I return from my hikes and visit the big cities the plan is to do some sightseeing in the morning and play Virtua Fighter in the evenings, however I'm flexible to work out a schedule to achieve the best opportunity to play with you.

Here are the cities that I'll be visiting along with the dates:

​

[THE PLAN - IN MORE DETAIL]

Portland, OREGON
(Mode of Transport: HIRED CAR)

Availability
FRI 19th July: Arriving at 6pm, can play till late evening (2am).
SAT 20th July: All day & late evening (till 2am).
SUN 21st July: All day, but must leave Portland by 8:30pm
___________________________________________

Denver, COLORADO
(Mode of Transport: HIRED CAR)

Availability
FRI 26th July: Arriving at 7pm, can play till late evening (2am).
Please keep in mind, I may be a little tired from a 6hr hike via Sky Pond, plus a 2hr drive from Estes Park to Denver.
SAT 27th July: All day & late evening (till 2am).
SUN 28th July: All day & evening. Need to be at accommodation by 9:30pm - catching an early flight to New Jersey next morning.
___________________________________________

Brooklyn, NEW YORK
(Mode of Transport: BY FOOT/PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION)

Availability
FRI 2nd August: All day & late evening (till midnight).
Pending lateness because I may need to wake up early to catch up with the family for the whole day Saturday.
SUN 4th August: All day & late evening (till midnight).
___________________________________________

Boston, MASSACHUSETTS
(Mode of Transport: HIRED CAR)

Availability
SAT 10th August: Anytime after 6pm, can play till late evening (2am).
SUN 11th August: All day. Need to be at accommodation by 8:00pm - catching an early flight to Austin next morning.
___________________________________________

Austin, TEXAS
Mode of Transport: [TBC]

Availability
WED 14th August: [TBC]
___________________________________________

St. Louis, MISSOURI
(Mode of Transport: BY FOOT/PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION)

THU 15th August: Anytime after 5pm, can play till late evening (2am).
FRI 16th August: All day & late evening (till 2am).
SAT 17th August: All day & evening. Need to be at accommodation by 9:30pm - catching an early flight to Seattle next morning.
___________________________________________

Seattle, WASHINGTON
(Mode of Transport: BY FOOT/PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION)

SUN 18th August: Anytime from noon to late evening (till 2am).
MON 19th August: All day & late evening (till midnight). Catching an early flight next morning to fly back to Australia - home sweet home!


[PROTOCOL]

Interested in meeting up and playing with me in the given available dates and time? Even if it's just for an hour or two, at a local VF hangout spot, or even at your home or residence, I'd appreciate the time spent playing with you! Let's try and get something organised.

You can reply here or send me a message via:

Twitter/X: @Darkspeeds
Discord: elsonwong

Keep in mind, I have already been in touch with some of the amazing and lovely folks in the USA chapter of the VF community several months ago to have something organised in advance, including:

Chanchai, Dark Nova, Bushido & KDQ crew, Tenguman, St. Louis VF community (Akai, StlTm, Paul68kdmd), and East Coast VF community (Haya, BXJacky, VFNumbers, Setsu, Tricky).

I've been approached by some of the folks (mentioned above) recently and they've been kind to make arrangements for my arrival at their city. I'll post updates here on the timing of those events when confirmed - that way we can still work something out that is outside the timings of those events.

Regarding logistics, I'm happy to find my way to the desired venue (I'll either drive with the car that I've hired from the airport, take an UBER or use public transport).


[SPECIAL THANKS]

To the VF USA community, whom I've become friends with & have been in touch via social media these past few years and talked about this long awaited tour!

(An extra special mention to Chanchai, Yohan (aka VFNumbers) & Tenguman for the limited but memorable matches. I enjoyed the in-depth and long discussions of VF we had, as well as the discoveries we've made from the exchanges. I genuinely thank you for your time, patience and understanding. In addition, shoutout to BXJacky for the laughs, and to Haya and Akai for continuing the livestreams and passion to promoting VF - it's inspiring).

To the VF global players who I also had the pleasure of interacting with, spanning from Europe, South America and Asia. Shoutouts to HKSeptember, Jimmy & Havoc (HK/TWN), BloodyRoseVF & Kanoppio (ITA). And also to PazWolf from Japan who is very strong & a huge influence to convince me to use Wolf. To this day, I have no regrets!

And of course, to my mates back home in Australia, from the VFA community: Mike, Ji Hoon, EddieKage, Toto & Luke.

(An extra special mention to Mike who has consistently made himself available to play with me online these past three years. He is not only a master of the game but is a super humble guy and well respected member of the VF community as a whole. To Ji Hoon for pushing me to the limits with his killer Vanessa and Sarah! To EddieKage who gave me all those early first year matches - fun times, you also toughened me up and gave much needed encouragement to improve my game. And to Toto, who finally gave online VF a go this year, was able to give me alot of matches with new characters to enjoy and learn from.)

Thank you all, and to the names whom I've missed, my sincerest apologies. I'm sure I'll meet you one day!

​

"The sky is the limit to what you can achieve in Virtua Fighter, let's play soon!"

~ Elson Wong​

 

Sounds good Akai! We'll continue to work out the details!

So far the COLORADO chapter is set with dates and a venue!



https://twitter.com/ColoradoVFTO/status/1808132798781272221

Very cool! Many thanks to Bushido & the CVF team! I'm super excited.

In addition, Yohan has connected me with a VF member from the BOSTON chapter, and we are already in discussions of getting something concrete down for dates and venue during my visit there. Also super excited about the prospect!

There are also talks with Chanchai to get something organised via Portland - I didn't even know the EVO 2024 was happening on those dates!



Nevertheless Akai, we will be in touch for the ST. LOUIS chapter!

 

Flying off on Tuesday! I got time to make some new promo art! X )


[Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Darkspeeds/status/1812238866545512756]




[Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Darkspeeds/status/1812249711337976265]

 

I'll be missing you for EVO unfortunately but I hope you have an incredible weekend with Chanchai! I wish we could talk more - between Chanchai's globe-hopping and this trip you're taking, I'm quite inspired to travel more specifically for VF. If I hate online play and love VF, there's really no other option.

I'm happy to see you'll be coming back to the West Coast at the end of your trip. I'll definitely make the drive up to Seattle if you'll be playing while in the city.