This and the following year mark a new age of Fighting games. Old series classics such as Street Fighter, Tekken, and Mortal Kombat are getting new iterations in their line with modern graphics and more content. Because of this, I decided to get into the whole genre myself. 

I've always enjoyed the narrative side of video games. Whether it's from the nuance adventures of small titles like A Space for the Unbound or the cabalistic lore of huge ones like Elden Ring, nothing beats the satisfaction of experiencing a well-written and packaged interactive experience of video games. They are the type of entertainment that lingers in my head and fuels my creative drive for the years to come. Memories of virtual worlds that I've immersed upon still remain vivid in my mind to this day. But there's another sub-genre of games that I've sunk a lot of time into—too much than I'd like to admit—and that is competitive games. I think if you ask a random video game player whether or not they've played a competitive game, a majority of them would say yes. I mean, what's not to love about them? The exhilaration of dominating other people and improving your mechanical skill is a feeling that a love of people seeks. I was no different. I have clocked countless hours in shooters and MOBA games and have invested quite a bit of money on them as well. 

However, recently, I found the state of these games' gameplay stale. And with not a lot of people to play with, the experience no longer jived with me. The Fighting game genre resolved this problem and reinvigorated my love for the competitive genre. No longer do I have to rely on pesky teammates to win a round. Instead, I'll be improving my own skill at the game and reaching new heights with people who do the same. I always enjoy trying new things, so this is a welcomed addition to things I ephemerally obsess over. 

With that said, I opted to go all in and get myself a new controller. Fighting games' peripherals are amazing! The amount of customizability and culture around arcade sticks are awe-inspiring. So, as soon as I got my desired hardware, I went straight to the drawing board and worked on a design.

I went for the SallyBox for several reasons. First (1), it was the only one available at the time, prominent lever less controllers like the Snackbox Micro and Mpress were sold out (It's interesting how vigorous the market for these controllers is). Second (2), it used a Raspberry Pi microcontroller which, as a software developer, I'm more comfortable of tinkering with instead of the proprietary offerings from branded ones. Third (3), it has two up buttons which pandered to my experience as a PC gamer. So far, after using the product for a week, I can confidently say that the SallyBox have more than exceeded my expectations. It has a good weight, apt size, and a lot more customizability than I expected. What I loved the most was the ability to upload a bitmap splash image on the mini-LCD screen. I felt that it added a lot of my personality to the controller.

I endowed the device with an art of Juri. After trying out all the characters in Street Fighter, I found that her kit fit my speedy aggressive play style the most. It's satisfying to leave other players dumbfounded with overloading decisions after I launch a barrage of attacks in their direction.