Fighting for fun

Muscat: FRANCIS Albert Del Rio, Mohammed Nimery and Ahmed are from different countries but there is something common between them. They are part of the Fighting Game Community (FGC) in the Sultanate.

Lockdown provided a perfect opportunity for these video gamers to indulge in fun in games

like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros, Tekken, Marvel vs Capcom and Soulcalibur.

The community is on the same level as other e-sports gaming communities such as Counter Strike, League of Legends and Dota. LoL and Dota are based on the Multiplayer Battle Area or MOBA community while Counter Strike is based on the competitive First Person Shooter (FPS) community.

Today, the Fighting Game genre is growing more than ever and has been attracting newer players on both the casual and competitive scene. The FGC is one of the oldest communities to date since it started around the time when Street Fighter II was popular.

A Philipino management graduate, Francis was introduced into gaming in 2017 by Marissa Pontillo, his Zumba instructor mom.

The next year saw him providing commentary for FGC tournaments. Today, he is a veteran gamer. Francis, who is also a dancer and choreographer, performed well in gameplay where the commentators praised his level of the game.

“I have been posting various gameplay highlights on Twitter mostly Street Fighter V and the community shares the same passion and dedication to what myself and everyone else does. I have been improving myself as a player or fighter that there are more things I can do just like my love for dancing.”

He is confident about the forthcoming Capcom Pro Tour tournaments, the online tournaments that are part of the long running Street Fighter V competitions for 2020.

Mohammed Nimery, popularly known as ‘MachoorTV,’ claims himself to be one of the highest ranked players in the region and the world.

Known as the content creator for Street Fighter V, this Sudani expanded his horizon reaching out to other communities outside the Sultanate.

He started creating Street Fighter content on Twitter, YouTube and live streaming on Twitch. With the focus on funny and ‘Meme’ videos, his Street Fighter compilations quickly became a rage within the worldwide Street Fighter community.

The lockdown provided him an opportunity to launch a weekly online tournament called ‘The Halal Colosseum’ where 8 players face off against each other in a league of Street Fighters to see whoever gets the most points and is crowned the King of the Coliseum.

The tournament was streamed every week through his Twitch channel.

Ahmed who lives in Al Buraimi has ‘Vergil’ as his FGC name. Tekken is his primary fighting game focus and is basically a ‘Kazuya Mishima.’ As a kid he started playing since 2017 and slowly developed a liking towards the fighting game.

“Being a part of a community which is so experienced and highly skilled, I was able to learn more, train harder and achieve greater skills than ever before.”