I believe it was the early fall of 2003, while in college, that I had first sat down, and played my first Vampire game. Prior to this, I had come from the Jersey Shore(yes, THAT one). Where no fighting game scene had existed, and it was only my brother and old memories of arcade crowds(far and few from where i am from) that had piqued my interests in fighting games/street fighter.
It was the start of my second year in college, and the penn state crew was at its largest and yet most infantile state. 2003 feels like not to long ago, but videos were scarce. Before torrents, there was really only direct downloading from sites, morpheus/kazaa, and the newly popular DCC(i forget what it stood for, but there were mad crackdowns on it by the end of Q1 2004 ). Anyway, I was initially a mvc2 player at that time. It was my 'gateway game.' morrigan/bb/felicia seemed like such interesting characters, you'd think that the game they came from would be just as charming. The first time playing Vampire Chronicles was overwhelmingly fun(despite what people say). At that time we didn't know what we were doing, but the way that each character did ANYTHING was just cute/amusing/entertaining.
Eventually, I found my way to kaillera & mame, where at the time there was a small scene of about 6-10 people. scattered of course (all over the world) mostly play Vampire Savior. Its interesting thinking about it now, but even with the little flow of information between the US and japan, Vampire Savior was the primary Vampire game being played. Vampire Hunter(Darkstalkers 2) and Vampire savior 2 got their runs every now and then, but Vampire Savior was always the home-base among Vampire Games. So, its also to these people whom I initially owe credit to for the first draft of the SRK Vampire Savior Wiki(the pseudonyms of which i can remember: SoldierZero, princesschibibobo, GeorgeWBush, cbyer, jmin, tetsu, dragonangel, assclown, d'nyce). There were alot of habits/skills that just developed from playing people all the time(i'm sure much in the same way the hotspot scenes develop) that you don't learn from just watching match videos.
And there's something you can tell, by just playing the game, that there was definitely more potential in it than to be just a cult following game (i.e. bloody roar). I had decided, this scene needs to develop. I can start it, despite my technical skills (because I knew i was no Justin Wong, I sadly have a ceiling to how well I can play at any fighting game). I could spearhead knowledge for the game, but inevitably geniuses would rise above, and I'd be a mediocre, knowledgeable player. I can live with that.
Contemplating what creates continuing interest in a scene, I had broken down a simple list:
-a game with depth/quality/substance
-a consistent place for players to play
-a centralized location of information on which new players could reference to, and veteran players could build upon.
-regular tournaments (in any interval of time) to maintain interest.
The game speaks for itself, and kailllera was/is a good jumping point for players to begin playing vampire, before introducing it to their local scene.
So obviously to start, Vampire Savior had no centralized location of information. Which seems very obvious, but in my opinion many persons see the way American interest in the Vampire Scene has grown, but don't recognize the roots of why. Others will look at game X, and say 'why is this beautiful game abandoned from play?' Sometimes the best approach to resolving a problem/question is to break down, isolating issues into smaller more manegable/traceable pieces. I knew giving just straight up strategies/methods right off the bat would actually shoo away certain new players. As a gateway, the first thing players look for when picking up a fighter are, "what combos/gimmicks can I do?"
So my first steps toward initiating a scene was to scour for information already out, and gauge whether it was legitimate, led to something legitimate, or a pro-tip(aka not useful & blatantly obvious). There were a sizeable amount of guides on Gamefaqs (though only a handful had gems of information). SRK had B-izm and Jchesnor/john choi(apologies, i am getting confused thinking about it on which one was pro VS, or if they're both the same person). There were a handful of threads actually explaining the mechanics of various VS characters.
Around this time, I had also found someone's giant cache of Vampire savior footage on Direct Connect(the bit-torrent at that time). This is the cache that had superplay/skillsmith videos, as well as a slew of japanese VS matches. For what was available, this was an information treasure trove, and subsequently became the base of the original VS thread.
Spring of 2004 came and went. During and after this time, I had elaborated on additional general strategies as well as a few character strategies. People took the time to look and I think there were definitely people dabbling with the game because of the thread. Kaillera had quite a few notable players come and go. From the start, I knew realistically, nothing happens instantly; and pushing for people to play only comes off as being desperate. If the thread died (and this may be conceited, but I believed that that thread was something of a lifeline for interest in VS) then so be it. I continued updating it from matches I played, japanese videos I saw. Spring of 2005, my scene held a tourney, Vampire Savior included. The NEC of 06' I ran what I think was their first Vampire Savior tourney with the Kaillera crew. Fall of 2005 actually, FMJaguar asked me, "you still want to keep writing about Darkstalkers? SRK is going to start its own wiki."
Spring of 2006 was also my 8th semester in college. I was nearing the end of my educational career, and most of the original crew at Penn state had graduated and moved on. Furthermore, the local arcade had closed, decreasing the chances of maintaining a pool of fighter' players. (Fmj moved to Vegas around this time ) I think on and off for that year I worked on the VS wiki. That NEC I had run Vampire again. & at the last two East Coast Championships I had run Vampire. Then I graduated.
Early 2007, ggpo came out. Vampire Savior was Ponder's Xmas gift that year, or the year after(or maybe even 2006 he added it, I forget). The Vampire thread was still kickin. I was aloof (sorry ^_^;
. For a short while, after VS was first released on GGPO I had run Vampire Ranking Battles(VamBats). And I've attended every other NEC. (And Evo East)Honestly, I find having a professional job, a social life, a dedicated physical activity, and performing at some decent level in ONE [fighting] game difficult. I don't know if i'm slow or normal. But in my time aloof between the real world and the internet, the US Vampire scene has remained resilient. Different from when things had started, youtube and live streaming has become the king of internet media for this generation of fighting game persons(the japanese are so proactive!). The Japanese host regular tournaments(of both Vampire Savior & Vampire Hunter), and upload them. They even have a 'Cup' for Darkstalkers.
This is where I end [for now].
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