You know'em.

You hate the ones you disagree with. You're sometimes embarassed by the ones who who have the same tastes as you. Sometimes you're one yourself.

I'm past the "I will obtain it no matter what the cost!" stage. I imported games during the 16-bit era, even scoured through Akihabara in 93 and 94. I got Ranma, Flying Warriors, Battle Blaze and Dead Dance for the Super Famicom. I picked up the Art of Fighting 2 and Samurai Shodown in all their Japanese glory for my Neo Geo. I bought the US versions of Samurai Showdown 2 and the King of Fighters 94 brand new for $180 each plus shipping and handling. I had a Neo Geo AES for crying out loud!

I have ascended past petty superiority complexes. I no long view Tekken as a "cheap VF knockoff." I do not view Capcom fighters as lacking in personality and presentation. I no longer deride Mortal Kombat games for their broken engines and imbalances. A game now is something to be enjoyed, both its highs and lows, recognizing that personal taste and your enjoyment of it far outweighs its "superiority" or "inferiority" in play.

Today, I reaffirmed myself as a Sega and a fighter fanboy. Today I bought Virtua Fighter 5, even though I do not have a console to play it on. I will be dropping it off at my friend's house this weekend where he will hold onto it until such time I do have the requisite console. As soon as I can locate a stick, I will have one. It might be a few months at the earliest befeore I can take VF5 home and enjoy it whenever I want to. I might start replaying VF4: Evolution in the mean time. I will be hanging out at the friend's house a little bit more. But that's fine.

This goes one step beyond a fighting "affecionado" like most of my friends know me to be. If I was smart, I would've waited until I got the system; picked up the game new or used, but cheap. But no; this could not wait. It was emotional, irrational, and lacked any real sense to it, but I did it anyhow.

Because for all my high-and-mighty attitude, I am a fanboy ;)