Back in the Arcade Ages Sopes and I used to play doubles on X-Men vs. Street Fighter. Because the game had team assist (you’re really playing as two characters and can switch between them) he would play one character and I would play as the other. Switching between characters was a little dangerous, because the exchange wasn’t always so graceful. “Hey Sopes, SOPES. SOOOOOPES! PUT ME IN BROOOO!” Sometimes our opponents saw the switch coming.

It was fun though, being invested in the game in a different way. Sopes would often take over and save our team, being the much stronger player of the two of us. We would often go to the arcade after school or if we had the same lunch, but other times we would “train” separately.

Going to Sega’s large arcade, Playdium, we would never play doubles. Playdium had a larger variety of players and skill levels than our local arcade so it was a chance to see how we matched up individually against other players. I remember watching Sopes play against the Wolverine-Magneto teams there one night. Sopes had picked Dhalsim and another character. His bewildered opponents were furious that a joke character like Dhalsim dared to touch their precious Magneto with his Yoga Fire.

At first I thought Sopes was crazy to pick Dhalsim, but it was obvious watching how his opponents reacted how brilliant his strategy was. You don’t expect a skilled player to pick a joke character. No one does. Few know how to react to a joke character’s moves or combos. My whole life I’ve marveled at Sopes’s strategy. Preached to others the wisdom of using all characters instead of just one. So I asked him this morning for clarification on his fighting creedo. About the true meaning behind using the joke character. He said, “You always get a kick out of winning with joke characters … it never gets old.”

Oh.