| TFG Webmaster
| FightersGeneration.com
|
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Greetings! My name is Frank Joseph. I'm the founder, creator and webmaster of The
Fighters Generation website, and manager of TFG's social media profiles (@Fighters_Gen). Many people who visit TFG might not realize this website is managed daily by one person. A passion project that
began around 1999-2000, created by a lifelong fighting game player since the 1980's... Welcome to my website, TFG. The humble beginnings of TFG began in 1996, when I created a gaming website called GameGen. In '98-'99, I began building TFG's website from scratch (during my final years of high school). There
was no systematic algorithm involved in the making of this vast "dream website" for
fighting game fans. Every page you see and visit here on Fighters Generation, a human person (me), personally hand-crafted. Believe it or not, I still manually edit each and every page on The Fighters Generation website. I've done this for 2 decades... because I love fighting games and want the world to appreciate them to the fullest. I hope you enjoy visiting and browsing
The Fighters Generation for many years to come. If you'd like to support TFG, please check out my
Patreon.
As you could imagine, creating and maintaining TFG has required 10's of 1000's of man-hours. My hours. It's been a "labor of love"... 30+ years of playing fighting games... and 20+ years working on this website. Through my lifelong passion and love of fighting
games and martial arts, I'm proud
to have kept this website and community going strong for as long as it has. In case you don't know, I write all of TFG's news articles, game reviews, character overviews, update game/character profiles, and (once again) manage TFG's social media. In addition to
the time I invest into actually playing and practicing fighting games, obviously, this is a ton of work for one person... but 100% worth it. I've met some incredible people along the way, and if you're an old school TFG visitor or supporter, thank you very much. If you're new here: I'm enthralled to see your interest in the greatness of fighting games...
and I hope you find
Fighters Gen to be inspirational, helpful, and entertaining for many years to come. For FGC / business inquiries, email
me or DM on social media.
TFG | Frank Joseph Art by Geoffrey Daigon. 2020. |
My love for arcades
will never die. Seattle '18. |
With the man, Lord Harada. CEO
'17.
|
Meeting Kenny Omega at CEO '17. |
Meeting Xavier
Woods at CEO 2011.
|
The "Art of Fighting" was embedded into my blood at a very young age.
Growing up with these amazing characters and games has inspired me
immeasurably throughout
my lifetime. I'm sure my
timeless infatuation with
fighting games, martial arts, and artwork is made very clear through my years of dedication
to TFG. That said, I want to thank everyone who shares this
passion and has supported this website for all these years (and an extra special thanks to the awesome contributors
who help make this site awesome). Whether you've sent in news, images, information, corrections, donations, created cool TFG banners, or simply visit TFG on a
daily/weekly basis, know that I couldn't have kept this going for all this time without you. Even though I am the lone webmaster around here, this website is something for all of us. Just to be clear: TFG
was created for all fans and players of fighting games, and to ensure that
fighting games are always respected as
"more than just video games"...
and thus, will never die. As your humble host and webmaster, I promise to continue to make TFG awesome for the
fighting game community and keep making it better for years to come. Thank you all.
See, I don't hate Nintendo games. October 2019.
Thanks Futeki. |
Vancouver 2018. Honeymoon
pic! |
Wedding pic.
New York 2018. |
Friends for over a
decade! Frank, Jet & Shelly. 2017. |
Dinner at Bern's Steakhouse with my lovely
wife. Jan.
2018.
|
Still reading? Okay. I'll tell you a bit more. I'm a very introverted person in real
life, but since you've come all this way... and seem to have a pretty good
attention span, I'll try to make your time
worthwhile and tell you a little bit more about myself and my unique
relationship / history with fighting games and martial arts. I'll start from the very beginning, because I've been
playing video games ever since I could walk.
I began confidently using a computer in 1986 (confirmed by my parents), when I was 3 years old.
I timelessly played and loved countless old school 80's classics at home, all thanks to the fact that
my dad happened to be a hardcore "PC guy" back in the day. He hooked me up with lots of rare games and knew how to build a proper 80's gaming PC. Thanks Dad. ;) The first fighting games
I fell in love with were the Commodore & Amiga
versions of International Karate and Yie Ar Kung Fu (and
Barbarian, if you want to count that one). Furthermore, my dad began Karate during his teenage years in the 70's. Just like with computers... his history in Karate eventually contributed to my growing
interest in
martial arts as an 80's kid. Little did I know back then, I would
eventually train in martial arts for 25+ years and even start teaching.
Me (8 years old) with Mom, playin' Street Fighter
2: CE. 1992. |
On that Commodore 128 (in C64 mode). |
Vegas 2014.
Hong Kong. 2010. |
Vegas. Nov 2016.
|
Bruce Lee's Grave.
Seattle. April 2018. |
Devil Modo. 2016. |
TTT2 Arcade. 2017.
Chitown Fair NYC. |
The Legendary
Chinatown Fair New York. 2017. |
NY Chinatown. 2017. |
Vegas Forum Shops. 2017. |
To continue on this nostalgia trip... one of my #1 hobbies as a
kid
was spending time at the thriving ARCADES of the late 80's / early 90's. I would ask my parents to drive me to a local mall, just
so I could camp out at an arcade for a few hours (and maybe check out that food court too).
I've always loved food too, but that's another topic for another day. While my parents
did their usual thing and walked the mall, I would
ecstatically spend hours at particular arcade machines (usually fighting
games). This was an every-weekend kind of thing. I was even friends
with the arcade managers, or they at least knew me from being there every
weekend. I do miss the smell of mall arcades... it's a one-of-a-kind smell. It was inside those
dark, yet cozy arcades where I fell in
love with iconic games such as: Street Fighter 1, Street
Fighter 2, Final Fight, Samurai Shodown, Mortal Kombat,
Virtua Fighter, Tekken, Killer Instinct, and countless
more. Since I
began this obsession at the age of 5 or 6... for a few years I actually had to stand on an upturned milk crate to properly reach the
controls (and manage to see the screen effectively). (That's why it was helpful
to be friends with the arcade managers. They had my back.) ^_^ It was a proud
day for me when I was finally tall enough to stand at an arcade cabinet on my
own and play
until my legs were tired. Good times.
Even as a youngin'... I actually brought solid competition to my local arcades.
I always bought the home ports of said fighting games, so I definitely had the
experience over many other arcade competitors. I didn't mess
around... I was given a certain number of quarters and had to make those
quarters last! It was a proud moment when I could show my parents I still had
plenty of quarters left over when it was time to leave. Also, I damn sure wasn't about to leave the arcade and
have to somehow chase my parents
down to get more quarters (it's not like cell phones existed back then). Young
players of today will never know the struggle. Anyway... at
my local arcades, I become known to rack up some impressive win streaks for a
lil' kid, and found certain joy in sending dudes "3 times my size" back to the token
machine. Years later, I saw kids younger than me, just as passionate
about fighting games, doing the very same thing. Seeing this continuously happen
over the years is nothing but inspiration for me to keep continue
doing what I do.
San Francisco
Nov. 2017. |
NYC. March 2017. |
Aria Las Vegas.
Nov 2016. |
Frank, Jet & Bruce
Lee (wax statue). Hong Kong 2010. |
TEKKEN 7 Collect. 2017.
Day job. |
KOIF '16. Doriya!
|
Vegas. Nov '16. Ramen-ya. |
Best boba
tea in Vegas. 2017.
|
Long Island NY.
Oct 2017. |
Long Island, NY.
Jan. 2017. |
Some folk might think this "video game obsession" is an
unhealthy habit... Well, I also started Karate at the age of 7... which
soon became another lifelong
passion of mine. (Plus, I had to be able to defend myself just in case some bloke decided to pick a fight with me after I
whooped 'em in SF2.) When I was a kid, my dad would occasionally "silently watch" (in his words) from
a distance while I played fighting games at the arcades. He told me he
was concerned a few times
when he began to notice some of these older kids were getting legit
pissed off after I
sent them back to the token machine for the 7th time. Taking their money, man! lmao. Man, the
80's and 90's were so GREAT. Losers didn't get get to complain
on Twitter & Facebook about losing because of netcode (or whatever other reason)... they just had to pay more money to
enjoy that shiny new fighting game everyone was enjoying, or they had to go
home. I miss those days.
Throughout my early gaming career, fighting games were obviously a staple...
but became more than just "games". Fighting
games made me think. They taught me things. Fighting games were
never "one defined experience" like you'd get from an RPG or
Action/Adventure game. I learned early on that your enjoyment and fulfillment
of a fighting game is indubitably up to YOU. In a quality
fighting game, your own skill level, creativity, and choices is what can make the game either
fun, or not fun. Fighting games have only gotten
better with time, and this was in large part due to the ever-increasing level of
complexity, and support from the competitive Fighting Game Community (FGC)! Like many others, I never took a break
from playing (contrary to what those silly game manuals used to recommend). I'm very proud to
be one of the original fighting game players of the late 80's / early 90's. Even now in my 30's... my soul still burns, and
I'll never quit playing the fighting games I love for any reason. As you can see
from the photos, I also have other passions in life such as
traveling, good food, and spending time with my amazing wife. Thanks for
reading and sharing this nostalgia trip with me.
Typical Boba + Art Session. 2017. |
San Fran Palace of Fine Arts. Nov. '17.
|
Mojave Desert. 2016. |
Vegas Mirage 2016. Her eyes
are crazy. |
Ramsay Steak. It's raaaaw. 2016. |
Frank, Shelly
& Jet. Hong Kong 2010. |
Fighting stance with Harada at CEO 2011. |
With my original TKD / Hapkido teacher. Known him 3 decades. |
At my crib (JK). Sexy vampire pic 2012. |
Ron, Shelly Fox & Frank. Serious sexy pic. 2009. |
Thanks
for being part of TFG...
Never Stop Fighting.
Frank Joseph
"Mr. Yagami"
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Patreon and enjoy original TFG content. The website's dedicated server costs over $100 per month out of my pocket ($1,200+ annually). Multiply that by 20 years TFG has been online. Still to this day, I've spent more money than I've earned promoting fighting games over the past 2
decades. It's a labor of love, a lifelong passion, a 24/7 job... and I greatly appreciate your consideration and support to help me keep this going. Long live fighting games!
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