Specializing in underrated “brawler” characters, Scott “SaBrE” Bender has been an active contributor to the fighting game community since the very beginning of SRK – moderating the forums and running tournaments in his home state of Arizona. His most recent claim to fame was putting SF4 Sakura on the map in spectacular fashion at Evo2k9.
Maj: How long have you been playing fighting games at tournament level?
SaBrE: While I played competitive Street Fighter since 1991 with WW, my strong SF connection was with the Alpha series. A2 and A3 brought me back to Capcom fighters after I stopped playing them back when SSF2 came out in arcades. I felt burned on SSF2 so I just kept playing MK, KI, primal rage, NBA Jam. I played Super Turbo for a short while. But SF2 just kinda died to me cuz of SSF2’s horrible speed.
When I first met Cigarbob and others through SNES XBAND, playing KI with them, I learned they still thrived on Capcom fighters. I pretty much credit Dogface and Cigarbob, 100% for bringing me back to Street Fighter. And this was when Alpha 2 was hot, so I started to love the game.
When A3 came out, I absolutely fell in love with the series even more. I know Alpha 3 has a very strong love/hate polarizing effect on the community, but I embraced the game. I was obsessed with Alpha 3. Played it non-stop, and got very good with V-Akuma. The cast of characters grew on me. I had an affinity towards the roster. And I started playing the Alpha-only style characters, especially Cody.
There’s something about the Alpha characters that just resonated with me. Much more than the SF2 characters did. And I love SF2. But Alpha was more special to me.
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