Biggest Street Fighter IV Tournament Ever Kicks Off This Month

Street Fighter fans best start honing their mad Dragon Punch skills. The biggest Street Fighter IV tournament ever (and consequently the biggest fighting game competition to ever grace the planet) is calling out any and all challengers later on this month, according to a recent Kotaku article.

Other than obvious bragging rights (”Best Damned Street Fighter IV Player In The World” does have a nice ring to it), the last man or lady standing gets their sweaty, calloused mitts on a Street Fighter IV arcade machine.

Think you’ve got the chops? Then hustle over to one of the 2,419 participating GameStop stores (I told you this tournament was huge) on or before Saturday, February 21 and sign up for Round 1. Hurry though, since each location will be capped at 64 contests. (Side Note: This means you’ll potentially be facing off against 154,815 other fighters. Good luck… you’ll need it.)

Players will thrown down on the Xbox 360, trying to win the best of of five 99 second matches. Any in-game techniques are fair game, including throws and unblockable Focus Attacks, but doing anything that prevents your opponent from seeing the screen is not. (Why do I get the feeling I won’t be allowed to use my patented “play naked and win” strategy?)

The tournament consists of four rounds on four different days, with the first three serving to narrow the competition down to a semi-finalist from each region. The 16 emerging semi-finalists get flown out to California for the final round.

Gaze in wonder, folks. Keep your eyes on the prize...

Here’s a quick breakdown of the schedule:

ROUND 1
When: February 21
Prize: SF4 Headband and Wristbands
(Winner and Runner-Up advance to the next round)

ROUND 2
When: February 28
Prize: SF4 Xbox 360 Custom Controller
(Winner and Runner-Up advance to the next round)

ROUND 3 — SEMI-FINALS
When: March 14
Prize: Free 3-Day Vacation to San Francisco, SF4 Xbox 360 Compatible Arcade Gamepad, Automatic Entry Into EVO Street Fighter IV Tournament In Las Vegas
(Only one winner advances from each region)

ROUND 4 — FINALS
When: April 18
Prize: SF4 Arcade Unit, Well-Deserved Sense Of Accomplishment

The competition is being sponsored by Capcom USA, GameStop, and the EVO Championship Series fighting tournament.

A full version of this tournament’s rules are available at GameStop’s website.