Trying to explain to your girlfriend why you're spending over $300 to check out the world's best compete in Street Fighter is something that I wouldn't recommend, and yeah, I'm speaking from experience here. I'm located in the southern part of Japan, so taking the bullet train to Tokyo takes a little under three hours, but it's a smooth ride the whole way and I was able to take a quick nap before getting off at Tokyo station and heading towards JCB Hall, where this year's Super Battle Opera (also known as Tougeki) was being held.

For the past seven years, the very best fighting game players have gathered in Tokyo to duke it out for pure bragging rights. Yeah, Daigo Umehara collected a cool seven grand for winning the recent Evolution 2009 tournament in Street Fighter 4, but that doesn't roll here in Japan; dealing out prize money is considered gambling and thus, everyone is playing for the right to call themselves the best.

 I got to JCB Hall at 8am to check out the last minute qualifying matches, and I happened to run into fellow gamers Osaka (a well-known Japanese Soulcailbur player) and Arturo Sanchez, who you may know better as Sabin online. Now, Sabin and I go way back, and we've known each other for a good 10 years so it was good to see the guy again. He's in Japan almost every year but because he only goes to Tokyo we don't get to meet up that often. The prize money that he gets from winning tournaments in America basically pays for his trips to Japan, where he enters the hyperbolic chamber known as the Japanese arcade to power up before heading back to the east coast to own some fools.

After checking in with reception, I grabbed my media badge and headed into the backstage arena where all of the players are chilling and playing casual games. I reach the restricted area and one of the staff members opens the door for me, and who should walk out but two of the most famous Street Fighter players ever, Nuki and Daigo, whose team name for SBO was Umenuki. They were heading for the event area for their matches, and after setting down my baggage I quickly followed them. I was really surprised by the setup this year; they had stadium seating for all and a ton of staff manning the cameras and capture equipment, so it looks like there will be a lot of awesome footage coming out of the tournament this year.