Blast from the Past 2: King of Fighters

Almost everyone that has touched a console has played Streetfighter, but I was a bigger fan of King of Fighters made by the developer SNK.

The first time I came in contact with the game was when I was 17, when King of Fighters '95 was released for the European market on the Playstation. I was hooked, by the fighting style, the art work and the characters. The game contained characters from two previous fighting games Fatal Fury and the Art of Fighting but the story line was the thing that blew me away.

The first game of the series KOF '94, centres on a black arms dealer called Rugal Bernstein, who hosts a tournament to lure fighters in his trap to kill them and turn them in stone statues to add to his collection of defeated martial artists. You can play with the veterans of the previous franchises like Andy and Terry Bogard but also a new array of fresh fighters like Kyo Kusanagi. 

My most favoured fighter would be Iori Yagami introduced in KOF '94. He is part of one of the clans that helped the Kusanagi clan seal the demon Orochi from the world. Jealous of the power the Kusanagi clan hold, the Yagami clan made a pact with the demon for ultimate power. But this power comes at a price as their heirs all die young. Iori is the tragic rival of Kyo, obsessed with destroying him. 

Iori Yagami

I like playing with Iori, he is seen as one of the most powerful characters in the game, albeit a bit crazy as his additional curse is - 'The Riot of the Blood', which makes him become faster, more powerful, wilder, and tends to attack anyone near him indiscriminately. Who doesn't love an insane bastard like him. ;) His voice is done by Kunihiko Yasui, and it can melt butter. 

The earlier versions had some hilarious text while in Japanese it sounds all awesome, in English it's cringe worthy. As you can see in the vid above during the cut scenes.

After a long silence since 2010 a new King of Fighters is coming to the PS4. What makes this game different is that it is the first full 3D version of the KOF franchise. While I am totally in love with 2D, I am willing to give it a chance. 

I'm a Vinylphile and not ashamed for it.

People would suspect that in the digital era playing vinyl (records) would completely die out, but the business is actually booming. There are plans to produce new vinyl presses and the call for more technicians is on rise.

Being a 1980's kid I've lived through the development of sound storage. The cassette was developed by Philips (a Dutch company ;) ) in 1963 but I was there when the compact disc was invented in 1982 by Philips (damn those Dutch again) and Sony and of course the digital version, the MP3 in 1994.

Almost every household had a hi-fi system with a record player at home. My grandmother had a portable version and she would often ask me if I wanted plays some records together with her. She had a lot of Dutch ballads but also the more progressive pop music like the Beatles and Doe Maar. Not bad for an old lady.

I have cd's and a mp3-player but in the comfort of my own home I prefer listening to my records. I love the crackling noise before the song starts, it makes me feel nostalgic for the times that I spent at my grandmother's house. This lingering feeling of lost childhood. 

Human After All - Daft Punk 2005

Even when I didn't have a record player at home, I kept purchasing records. Some at gigs or just if I saw something interesting at a second hand store. Because I was determined to buy a record player again. Well I finally bought one last year. It has a built-in speaker, so it is not that top notch but it does have great sound. One day I hope to own a better one, that is the next goal.

The type of music I listen too varies a lot. My collection contains oldies like Dion, Bob Dylan and ELO but also a lot of new stuff like Daft Punk and Electric Six. I am also a big fan of soundtrack records with Good Morning, Vietnam and the War of the Worlds being my favourites ones. 

Good morning, Vietnam

I buy old and new records and there a few good record stores in Belfast where you can find some gems. Head Belfast has a huge range of new records and has a lot of great goodies during Record Store Day. Good Vibrations was the best in town but closed down last year after the owner decided it was time for him to retire. But we still have some left in town like Sick Records, Octopus's Garden and Belfast Underground. Another source for me would be Amazon and Ebay. 

Yesterday I went to the annual record fair in the Oh Yea Centre and managed to snag up some new (old) goodies: More American Graffiti (1979) and Electric Light Orchestra - A New World Record (1976) for £5 all together. So collecting records doesn't always have to be expensive, you just need to be lucky on the quality. 

More American Graffiti - ELO - Oh Yea Centre record fair '16

And then you have the picture discs that make collecting even more fun. I was lucky enough to obtain two during the last Record Store Day. I listen to them, so these won't be framed.

Star Wars - The Force Awakens

Metal Gear Solid - The Phantom Pain - Mike Oldfield

I'm pretty proud of the collection I've built up these few years and hope to add some more in the future.