In the early hours of March 29, a accidental fire related to the kitchen in Westminster, California, claimed the life of Reynalda Lynn Nguyen, 63. Her husband, Thao Nguyen, survived for two weeks in critical condition before also dying on April 13. They leave behind two children, Anthony and Alexandria Kristen Nguyen, who they are acceptance of donations so that they can afford to bury their parents.
You may not know the Nguyens by name, but if you are familiar with fighting games, you may be aware of their legacy. They were the creators of the Joystick Multi Arcade System, or MAS in short, a monumental piece of hardware that helped transform the way we play fighting games. As the United States moved away from recreation rooms in favor of home consoles, Nguyen-sized arcade sticks supported the competitive wrestling gaming community in an increasingly indifferent gaming culture.
While today anyone with a couple of hundred dollars can grab a decent arcade stick from companies like Mad Catz, Razer or Qanba, this was not the case for American players in the ‘90s and early years. And even if you had the time and money to import a driver from Japan, what you received would be far from what you were used to in the arcades, both in terms of the parts used and the overall caliber of the construction. Back then, American gamers were even more comfortable with the usual elongated bat-top joysticks in the west (long before the proliferation of now standard Japanese-style ball caps) and early manufacturers were still figuring out how produce quality drivers for the mass market.
This is what made MAS so special to fighting game players in the United States. The family’s massive, heavy multisystem controllers (these beauties were meant to be installed on floors or tables, not in human vaults) almost perfectly reproduced the American arcade experience, allowing players to practice at home and, when the scene began to happen exclusively on consoles, participate in prestigious tournaments like the Evolution Championship Series without resorting to playing on a humble Dreamcast or PlayStation pad. It was a revolutionary concept at the time that paved the way for the widely produced arcade bars we know today and the modern competition of fighting games in general.
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“I joke that at the time, it looked like you were going to the secret blacksmith who forges your weapon when you are introduced to the fighting game community,” said Timberline Studio designer and designer Nathaniel Chapman Kotaku by private message. “Reynalda used to look behind her children while Thao worked. Thao dear to talk to you while working and, in my experience, a lot of what he talked about was the shit the other drivers had. He was obsessed with quality; he soldered everything by hand and had several consoles running next to his workstation to test the tickets before returning your stick to you. “
After learning of the passing of Thao and Reynalda Lynn, social media was flooded with now bittersweet memories of the impact the Nguyens had on fighting games in both casual games and serious competitions. Many were from people still involved in the fighting game community, but they have also established themselves as game developers.
“If you didn’t get a MAS stick, where would it be? Would he continue to play fighting games? “Fighting game legend Justin Wong said his Twitch stream while collecting money for the Nguyen family earlier this week. He too mentioned who used a MAS during his famous party of Evo 2004 with Daigo Umehara, who has since become one of the most important moments in the history of fighting games.
“Thank you for helping to shape our community,” dit Mark Julio, a full member of the fighting game community who helped Mad Catz enter the arcade paddle market around the launch of Street Fighter IV in 2009.
“Thao and Lynn are absolute legends of the fighting game community,” long-time competitor Scott “Saber” Bender he wrote on Twitter.
“[Thao’s] the passion for creating perfect fighting sticks for arcades in the 90s is how the first fighting game community was able to train at home, “added Alex Valle, a Southern California tournament organizer and veteran of the fighting game, Alex Valle, who added referred to Thao as “the original FGC blacksmith.”
Patrick Miller, another former who currently works a League of Legends fighting game at Riot Games, he wrote that MAS arcade sticks “defined a first era of home fighting games.”
Supergiant Games creative director Greg Kasavin left a particularly poignant comment the family donations page. “When I first came in contact with [the Nguyens’] work, I was just an unfortunate teenager who could never wait to explain to a normal person how significant a MAS Systems stick was, ”the Hades said the writer. “They are still some of the best things I have ever paid for. I remember thinking that Thao and Lynn were real artists, creating these genuine pieces of the arcade experience that people like me could have at home. ”
A common feeling among those who remember the dead is the hope that Thao and Reynalda Lynn would understand the importance of their work for the various people who formed (and still form) the fighting game community. As Justin Wong pointed out, he might not even be present if a MAS controller hadn’t facilitated his transition from competition to the home console. Thao, Reynalda Lynn and the small business they cultivated in Southern California touched so many lives that their memory will live on in the hearts of wrestling game players and the passion of the competitive community forever.
Thank you, Thao and Reynalda Lynn, for every push of a button, for every pop-off, for every salty setback of the last two decades. Rest in peace.
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