Andrew: My name is Andrew Ziogas. Most people know me as Ziggy. I am one of the founding members of OzHadou – a collection of Australian fighting game players.

Justin: My name is Justin Hogie. I am also one of the founding members of OzHadou, where I'm known as Final Atomic Buster. We have two primary roles within OzHadou, which we both share. We are the administrators for the website and forums (www.ozhadou.net), but we also run an executive role for everything that OzHadou is involved in.

Andrew: The very first OHN was held in Sydney during July 2002. The venue was the former Playtime arcade on George St (near Town Hall), which has since relocated to Blacktown. At the time, Capcom vs SNK 2 had recently been released, and OzHadou had been running local tournaments for the game in Sydney and Melbourne. After some of us travelled from Sydney to Melbourne to compete, we were inspired to find out which city had the best players.

With the help of Mike Abdow (aka Myke www.virtuafighter.com), and the support of Playtime management and staff, we organised the first OHN, featuring the most popular Capcom fighters at the time: Capcom vs SNK 2 (CvS2), Marvel vs Capcom 2 (MvC2) and Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike (3S). The competition was intense, and the crowds were so big that we took over most of the top floor of the arcade. It was a huge success.

Justin: One of the driving forces behind creating OHN was to give a reason for players to travel and compete. A few select players from around the country do visit other locations to play at irregular intervals (Smash Bros players are known for this for example), but it was never a large amount of players. So, we decided that we should hold a National Competition and give them more reason to travel. It has been running strong for 6 years straight now, and it keeps getting bigger and better every year.

Andrew: The name “OzHadou” is derived from the two things we are all about. “Oz” is simply slang for “Australia”, and “Hadou” is taken from the name of Ryu and Ken’s fireball in Street Fighter (hadouken). I remember I was watching the Street Fighter Alpha animated movie (note: I don’t recommend anybody watches that), and they kept talking about the “dark hadou”. This was the inspiration for calling our site OzHadou.

Justin: Although our name comes from Street Fighter and that is our main focus, we welcome all fighting game players no matter what game they play (Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Guilty Gear to name a few other games we've included at OHN over the years.)

Andrew: As an organisation, OzHadou’s primary purpose is to bring Australian fighting game players together. This includes meeting at arcades, having console sessions, or playing online, and covers both casual and tournament play. OzHadou is about players meeting and playing each other, in a spirit of competition and self-improvement. It has also been our goal to raise the awareness about top Australian players, and dispel misunderstandings about what constitutes top-level play.

Justin: So it’s not just a fancy name for a web site; it really is much more than that. And each year we're reminded of this fact by the amazing people we meet and great fun we have at OHN.

Kevin and Andrew, founders of OzHadou.net

Andrew: Over the years we have featured a wide variety of fighting games at OHN. Since Justin and I are Street Fighter players, the Capcom fighters are always featured in some capacity. At last year’s OHN6 we ran official tournaments for 3S, CvS2, MvC2, and the classic titles Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (ST) and Street Fighter Alpha 2 (SFA2).

Since OHN4 we have expanded our game roster to include 3D fighters as well. Tekken is now a mainstay title, and we featured Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection at OHN6. We also had official tournaments for Virtua Fighter 5 and Tekken Tag Tournament. Another example of game diversity was an official tournament for Super Smash Bros Melee for OHN5.

Since our resources are limited, we cannot run official tournaments for every game that people want to play at OHN. To cater to additional games, we provide the community with the chance to run side tournaments (aka DIY Tournaments), where they run tourneys for additional games on their own. Examples at OHN6 included X-Men vs Street Fighter, Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and even Puzzle Fighter HD Remix.

Thanks to this flexible format, many fighting game series have made it into OHN in one form or another over the years. These include Soul Calibur, King of Fighters and the Street Fighter EX series. The official line-up for the next OHN is currently being developed. Expect to see both new and old games returning for OHN7.

Andrew: The OzHadou forums feature over 1,000 members, and while posting activity is mild at best, many of the people actively play at least one fighting game. Since the closure of Playtime, the Sydney CBD has not been very accommodating towards the fighting game community. The arcades that remain either fail to stock the latest games, don’t service or price their machines in a reasonable manner, or fail to recognise fighting game tournaments as part of their business plan. This has forced the community to take matters into its own hands.

One community solution can be found at Good Games on George St, Sydney (www.goodgames.com.au). Some of the players have invested in their own arcade cabinets and fighting game boards, and installed them inside the Good Games store. This has been the last bastion for arcade Street Fighter players in Sydney. The Tekken community still has reasonable arcade support in Sydney, and other cities have some small arcade presence, but overall it is hard right now to find an arcade with the right games, decent service and sufficient competition. I am hoping that the impending release of Street Fighter IV will help to change this.

Meanwhile most of the community is forced to play at home using consoles or emulators. Thanks to GGPO (ggpo.net) lag-free online gaming for fighters is finally a reality, and this is starting to develop a significant Australian online community for games such as SFA2. This was the reason we added SFA2 into the OHN6 line-up, and going forward I believe that online play will form the bulk of activity outside of gatherings like OHN. This because the arcades are failing to deliver a satisfactory experience, and since players are spread out, travelling a long way to find machines broken or removed, or no players around, is turning people away from the arcade scene.

Andrew: Each year we strive to make the next OHN the best in the series. I believe we have succeeded by trying different venues and tournament formats, as well as being flexible with our selection of games. The release list for arcade fighting games over in 2008 is very impressive. The next generation of fighters will feature HD graphics, and rely on HD displays to be fully appreciated. Our short-term objective is to take OHN into the next generation age by adopting quality HD fighting games into our official line-up.

Justin: In essence, we will continue to make OHN the premiere national fighting game championships in the country.

Justin: I personally consider Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (ST) to be the best one right now. My reason for this is purely because it is the oldest game we run competitions on. If we were to judge a game by age though, we could go back to Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting - but as good as that game is, ST has been played much more. Being the oldest game currently used in competitions, also means that it has stood up to more play testing than any other game around. Although Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike (3S) may be more popular right now, you just can’t beat nearly 15 years of heavy play testing by the top players. The fact that it is still played today by many players is testament to its lasting and great gameplay.

3S should get a mention just because of how long that game has managed to last. Due to its parry engine, a lot of otherwise lower tiered characters end up still being competitive at high level play. The biggest critique of that game by pure SF fans though is that it doesn’t share the standard SF style gameplay of controlling space. However, this just means it’s different and, as has been proven, doesn’t negatively affect how competitive it is.

Andrew: As a player I’m biased towards what I like to play right now. ST is currently my favourite arcade fighter because I’m enjoying playing at the moment. The game is fast paced and well balanced, rewarding knowledge and skill without being too hard for new players to get into.

As a spectator I’m biased towards what I like to watch. 3S would be my pick for best spectator game at present. The pace of 3S is very well designed, making it easy to follow the action without taking too long to resolve a match. The engine also allows for some spectacular combos and comebacks. The 3S community is very passionate and competitive, so the atmosphere for 3S is always exciting.

As a tournament director, I can be far more objective. From a tournament organization point of view, the best arcade fighter is the one that has the largest active community. If there are many players, then there is a better chance of having some highly skilled players amongst the ranks. If there are large scenes around the country, there is a better chance that inter-city competition will be close and intense. When many of these people make the effort to travel to tournaments, what you get is a large crowd cheering for their personal favourite players, and big hype surrounding inter-city showdowns (e.g. Sydney vs Melbourne, Sydney vs Brisbane, etc). This is what makes for the most memorable and inspiring fighting game tournament. Games that have achieved this sort of atmosphere in recent years include 3S and Tekken 5. I can’t say whether these are “good” fighting games or not, as I don’t play them myself, but the players demonstrate intense support for them, and that is what it takes to turn a gathering of fans into an intense competition.

Organisers and volunteers at OzHadou Nationals 5

Andrew: As mentioned previously, there are a few competing forces at work. On the one hand 2008 looks like being a big year for arcade fighting games. Tekken 6 has just come out, and Street Fighter IV is on the way. KOFXII is in the works as well. New games are very important, as they help to keep the scene fresh, and modern graphics are needed to catch the eyes of new players.

Justin: Those modern graphics also make the games feel fresh and new instead of old and dated.

Andrew: Right. And at the same time we are faced with the reality that arcades themselves are not doing so well. The few arcades that are left do not service their customers very well, and are generally not supportive of tournaments being held on their premises.

Justin: I think the fighting game community has already started to evolve (if its not already there). Because arcades aren’t as sustainable as they used to be, fighting game players have been forced to find other ways of keeping their games alive. One of the best ways this has happened in recent times is through online play via consoles and PC. Consoles still have a little more work to get the lag issues sorted, but GGPO.net on the PC is easily the best implementation of online fighting games to date. It’s created by the guys that founded www.shoryuken.com, so we can be sure they know what fighting game players want. It hides lag in an impressive and near seamless way so you don’t have to change the way you play to compensate for the lag.

Andrew: Overall I think that players are going to start adopting online play more and more. The convenience and cost tends to be better, especially since many players don’t live close to an arcade these days. So long as the lag is kept under control, as it is with GGPO, then online gaming for fighters will become an increasingly important part of the community in the future.

Justin: However, with this said, online play will never be able to take the place of a social gathering like regular tournaments or our OHNs. There’s just something so different from being able to walk into an arcade or venue and see your friends playing together having a good time. Of course online, especially GGPO.net, is enjoyable and works very well, but you’ll find that all players who have experienced an offline arcade atmosphere will agree that a tournament gathering like OHN is far better and more preferred than online at home.

Justin: I’d like to believe that OHN will be around, whether run by myself and/or Andrew or anyone else for that matter, until the community doesn’t want it anymore. OHN has always been about the players, and if the players still want it, then it will still be run.

Andrew: I hope that OHN will still be running 10 years from now. I also hope that Street Fighter IV isn’t still the “newest Street Fighter game” in 2018. People thought the fighting genre was on the way out, but this year we see a lot of companies investing a significant amount into developing new fighting games, with many getting an arcade release. This time last year I wouldn’t have thought this would happen, so I guess there’s no reason why OHN can’t keep thriving in the future.

Justin: Now that we have some new High Definition titles coming out soon (Super Street Fighter 2: Turbo HD Remix, Street Fighter 4, Tekken 6, Soul Calibur 4 etc), this can only help pique the interest of the players again (old and new). I’d like to think that this is a sign of a new trend in more fighting games coming out over the next 10 (or even more) years, and in turn more OHNs.

Andrew: Ultimately it is all about the players. So long as people are willing to come together to play and compete, then OHN will have a place within the Australian gaming scene.

Andrew: Personally I think the greatest legacy of OHN is that the community has become self-sustaining. In the beginning, Justin and I were responsible for almost every bit of tournament activity in the country. We were making long trips to Sydney on a regular basis just to run monthly arcade tournaments for Capcom fighting games. These days we focus almost exclusively on OHN and other large-scale events, and the local scenes have reached a point where they look after themselves. Players (including OzHadou staff) organise local gatherings and tournaments, which are independent of Justin and myself. It is great that the community has been inspired to keep playing, growing and improving, and I hope this continues to be the case in the future.

Justin: Like I mentioned earlier, OzHadou isn’t just a web site, it’s a social community of fighting game players who play competitively. The OzHadou Nationals can be considered in a similar way in that it’s not just an event, but it’s the people that make up the event. Without these people, the event wouldn’t just cease to exist but not have any purpose to exist. So I guess the legacy is that these players continue to play and stay competitive. Over time, how they find themselves may differ, but the idea of getting together and playing games together will still be the same. That could be the legacy - to continue the social network of players and keep playing.