The Saturn 5 Arcade at the Coastland Center Mall in Naples hosted its first video game tournament on Sept. 14.
At the far-end of the arcade, a huge projector screen flanked by massive speakers stood prepared for a “Street Fighter II” gaming tournament.
Saturn 5 Naples manager, Mark Wallace, said the competition was modeled to include vintage arcade games, like “Streetfighter,” in the world of competitive video gaming. The tournament was streamed on the video gaming platform, Twitch.
“It’ll follow down the bracket until there’s 1st and 2nd place to go head-to-head for the grand prize,” Wallace said.
The players competed for the grand prize of a Pandora’s Box 6, which is a gaming console containing more than 1,500 arcade games.
"This might be a staple grand prize for us, but it was picked to go along with the theme, today, of Capcom Streetfighter," Wallace said.
In the final round, two muscled and tough-looking characters named Sagat and Zangief battled for the championship. The characters were played by a man named Joe and his opponent, Ken Bibbee.
After winning two of three rounds, Zangief—played by Bibbee—was announced the winner.
“Joe and I had played a few practice rounds and I figured out his move, his groove so I was able to use Zangief and win that way,” Bibbee said.
Bibbee also said he was looking forward to bringing home the Pandora's Box 6 so his children could play some of the arcade games he had grown up playing.
Wallace said he wants to continue hosting tournaments in the same location. Next month he’s considering more old-school favorites.
"So far, it's either going to “Pacman” or “Tetris” head-to-head for the best score," Wallace said.
