| TFG Webmaster
| FightersGeneration.com
|
|
Greetings! My name is Frank Joseph (AKA "Frank Yagami" or
"Mr. Yagami"). I'm the founder, creator and webmaster of The
Fighters Generation website, and
admin of TFG's social media profiles (@Fighters_Gen). Many people who visit TFG might not realize this
site is managed by one person. A passion project that
began around 1999-2000, created by a lifelong fighting game player... Welcome to my website, TFG. The humble beginnings
of this website began
as early 1996, when I began creation of a universal gaming website called
GameGen (Game Generation). In '98-'99, I began building TFG from scratch (during my final years of high
school, actually). There
was no AI, systematic algorithms, or social media influencing available to use
back then to help me create this vast "dream website" for
fighting game fans. Over the course of 25+ years, I put 10's of 1000's of hours into
creating and updating this website... because I love fighting games and wanted the world to
fully appreciate them.
I hope you all enjoy visiting and browsing
The Fighters Generation for many decades to come. If you'd like to support TFG
and the community, check out our Patreon.
As you could imagine, creating and maintaining TFG has required tens of
thousands of hours. My hours. It's been a "labor of love"... 30+ years of playing fighting games... and 25+ 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 TFG's news articles, game reviews, character overviews, update
game & character profiles, and manage TFG's social media. In addition to
the time I invest into actually playing and competing in fighting games,
keeping all of this going is a ton of work for one person... (but 100% worth
it). I've met some incredible folks along the way, and if you're an old school TFG visitor or supporter,
or a friend, thank you. If you're new here: I'm excited to see your interest in the greatness of fighting games...
and I hope you find
Fighters Gen to be entertaining, helpful, and inspiring for many years to come. For FGC
creation / business inquiries, email
me or DM on social media.
SoulCalibur 2 Neon Tournament -
December 2024
|
MVC2 Neon Tournament - August 2024 |
TTT2 Neon Tournament - November 2024
|
SoulCalibur 2 Neon Tournament - August 2024 |
Tekken 8 Neon Tournament - November 2024
|
SoulCalibur 2 Neon Tournament - November 2024 |
SoulCalibur 2 Neon Tournament - July 2024 |
SoulCalibur 2 Neon Tournament - June 2024 |
Iceland / Norway. August 2023 |
Geiranger, Norway. August 2023 |
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 website awesome). Whether you've sent me 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 it going this long without
your help. Even though I am the lone webmaster around here, this website is something for all of us.
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
|
Devil Modo. 2016
|
KOIF '16. Doriya! |
Long Island NY.
Oct 2017
|
Long Island, NY.
Jan. 2017 |
Vegas. Nov '16. Ramen-ya. |
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 beginning, because I've been
playing video games ever since I could walk.
I began using a computer in 1986 (confirmed by my parents) when I was 3 years old.
Thanks to my dad being a hardcore "PC guy" back in the day, I was able
to play some of the very first fighting games on PC at an early age, including: Commodore & Amiga
versions of International Karate, Yie Ar Kung Fu,
and Barbarian (to name a few). My father also began Karate during his teenage years in the
70s. Just like with computers... his history in Karate and introducing me to
Bruce Lee movies heavily contributed to my interest in
martial arts as an 80s kid. Little did I know back then, I would
eventually train in martial arts for 30 years of my life (teaching for 20+) and
even meet my wife through martial arts.
Boba + Art Session with
Nicole, Shelly & Jet. 2017 |
San Fran Palace of Fine Arts. Nov.
2017
|
Mojave Desert. 2016 |
Vegas Mirage 2016. Her eyes
are crazy. |
Ramsay Steak.
It's raaaaw. 2016 |
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 |
To continue on this nostalgia trip... one of my favorite things to do as a
kid
was spend many hours at the thriving ARCADES of the 80s and 90s. Back in
the day, my parents would drive me to shopping malls... where I would spend
countless hours at arcades playing the most influential fighting games of the
time. This was an every-weekend kind of thing. I was even friends
with the arcade managers. 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. As a little kid, I even 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.) ^_^ 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 brought solid competition to my local arcades.
I always picked up the home ports of fighting games, so I had plenty of trained 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! Haha! It was always a proud moment for me when I could show my parents
that I still had
plenty of quarters / tokens left over when it was time to leave (more reason to
go back to the arcade). Also, I damn sure wasn't about to leave the arcade and
have to chase my parents
down to get more quarters (no cell phones back then). Young
players of today will never know this struggle. All this to say... I became known
at my local arcades to rack up impressive win streaks (especially for a kid in
the 90s, sending kids "two times my size" back to the token
machine. Many years later, I saw kids younger than me doing the exact same
thing... keeping the tradition alive. Seeing this continuously happen
over the years is a beautiful thing.
Frank, Jet & Bruce
Lee (wax statue). Hong Kong 2010 |
TTT2 Arcade. 2017.
Chitown Fair NYC |
The Legendary
Chinatown Fair New York |
NY Chinatown. 2017 |
Vegas Forum Shops. 2017 |
San Francisco
Nov. 2017 |
NYC. March 2017 |
Aria Las Vegas.
Nov 2016 |
Best boba
tea in Vegas.
2017 |
TEKKEN 7 Collect. 2017
The old day job.
Teaching class. |
While some news anchors in the 90s claimed that the "video game obsession"
was an "unhealthy habit"... I was also doing Karate /
TaeKwonDo since the age of 7... which became another lifelong
passion of mine. Also worth noting, I had to be able to defend myself in case some bloke decided to pick a fight with me after I
whooped 'em in SF2 or X-Men vs. Street Fighter. When I was a kid, my dad would occasionally "silently watch" (in his words) from
a distance while I played fighting games at certain 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 or 8th time. "Stop
taking their money, son!"
LOL. Man, the 90s were truly GREAT. "Losers" didn't get get to complain
on Twitter & Facebook... all they could do was put more quarters in
and attempt to get better so that they could enjoy that badass new fighting game
arcade cabinet that had a huge crowd around it, for longer. I miss those days.
Honest gaming. Get good!
Fighting
games always made me think. They taught me things. Fighting games were
never "one defined experience" like you'd get from a certain
type of RPG or Action / Adventure game. I learned early on that your enjoyment and fulfillment
of a fighting game is 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 really took a break
from playing (contrary to what those beloved SNES / Genesis game manuals used to recommend).
I started playing fighting games at arcades and I never quit. My soul still burns, and
I'll always have a passion for fighting games. Other passions in life?
Traveling... good food... and most of all, spending time with my
beautiful wife and daughter. Thanks for
reading my content and sharing this nostalgia trip with me! Please
consider supporting my content and The Fighters Generation
website through Patreon.
With my original TKD / Hapkido teacher. Known him 3 decades |
Vancouver 2018. Honeymoon
pic! |
Wedding pic.
New York 2018 |
Friends for over a
decade! Frank, Jet & Shelly. 2017 |
Dinner at Bern's Steakhouse! The best
steakhouse.
|
Frank, Shelly
& Jet. Hong Kong 2010 |
Ron, Shelly Fox & Frank. OG friends. 2009 |
Fighting stance with Harada at CEO 2011 |
At my crib (JK). Sexy vampire pic 2012 |
Switch and DMC5!
October 2019.
Thanks Futeki |
Thanks
for being part of TFG...
Never Stop Fighting.
Frank Joseph
"Mr. Yagami"
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or directly through PayPal (donate button link below). You can also become a monthly supporter on
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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