Hello Gentlemen! I know one or two of you enjoy abit of the slap-fu to akiranomics, so if you play beat em ups, 2D or 3D and also live in the UK, then may I turn your attention to rankingbattles-uk.
Now, the point I want to mention is that this site currently caters for primarily for the London scene which has over the last few years moved to hosting and recording their own Ranking Battles (RanBat) like those seen in the U.S, Japan, Australia etc. and the results show as the standard of play is pretty great.
Now there is talk of a northern event, most likely manchester, to accomodate those who don't wish to travel darrn sarf for a slap fix. So, if you'd like to see this happen, to attend and participate/watch etc then you can either take yourself to the site in the above link and say so or mention it here and i'll copy and link the posts over there myself. ideally they want to know who would realistically attend and what titles you'd like to ruck on (old and new). 
This is a great oppotunity to re-start something of the competitive arcade of days gone by and build a greater community catering to the north.
Maybe then we'll see a The Grim North vs The Soft Sarf grudge matches!!! Regional kick-off ahoy!
Ta.
Probably not something I'd go to for competition (I still can't best button mashers). I'd be more interested in spectating if the competition was set up right though
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Outside of the obvious SFIII Third Strike you probably should have KOF98 one of the Alpha/Zero series and probably one of the other Capcom games (Darkstalkers maybe). There's some OK stuff starting to filter through on Atomiswave now too.
Rules wise I think you would have to cater for the specialists and all round players too. You know a 100m sprinter class and a Decathalon but in beatemup terms. Technical mastery of one character in one game is something, but being able to adapt to different systems and characters should sort the men out from the boys.
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"Anyone who's played Namco's Cyber Sled and wished, however remotely, for a home version will be the first to figure it out:... - Tim Rogers
That's something else Madbury, i hope people that don't play or play but not competitively come down to spectatae like you say, but also maybe have a few games themselves outside the comp for laughs & giggles with other similar folk.
A good spread of different people would make it more welcoming and ultimately fun, that way people will enjoy getting into the scene abit more.
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Alan Moore - i worship thee!
Agreed. I think the biggest barrier to me is finding people to play against. I've got the kit - DC arcade sticks, arcade cab, MVS, CPS2, but I just can't get my friends interested in giving me a game. Playing against AI is ok for a bit of training and practice, but it can't come close to playing against a real opponent.
I think the sort of thing you are proposing has real value in this respect.
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"Anyone who's played Namco's Cyber Sled and wished, however remotely, for a home version will be the first to figure it out:... - Tim Rogers