A short summary of Smash Ottawa Monthly #7

3 weeks ago I went with a couple of friends from our school to a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament.

Heres pretty much how it went down.

First of all the rules are that only a set group of stages are playable, there are no items and each player gets four stocks (lives)

My match record was 2-3. I won 2 sets and lost 3.

The start of the tournament was comprised of friendly matches and pools. I won two sets and lost one in my pool.

The first player I played was a guy that stated this was only he second tournament. Even though this was my first he seemed just as nervous as I was, he wasn't experienced with playing against Yoshi (who I play as my main character) and I used that to my advantage to win. The next player used Fox, who is very fast and very good if the player has good technical skill. He noticed how nervous I was and beat me with at least a 3 life lead of the two out of three matches we played. Next I played a kid who was even more nervous than I was. He played Fox too, but wasn't nearly as good. And I preyed on his nervousness just as the last had on me.

Next were actual brackets. First I played SSF. A captain falcon main from Montreal that destroyed me. That disaster put me in the losers bracket. After that match I talked to PerhapsMan. A top 10 Yoshi main of Ottawa, I asked if we could play some friendlies and that I played as Yoshi too. He told me that he gladly would, but that we were actually matched up in the next bracket.

These matches I had were the most fun I had at the tournament. The first match went to Perhapsman with a one stock lead, the second match I somehow managed to win with two stocks thanks to some tricky and unpredictable moves. At this point I didn't even realize the crowd behind us huddled around the CRT screen. Then I realized that a Yoshi ditto doesn't happen very often, and im putting up a fight against a guy who is top ten. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take the tiebreaker and I lost the third match by one stock. A close set but I don't deny that he bested me. I spent the remainder playing friendlies with Perhapsman and other players.

It was fun and I'm definitely going to tournaments whenever I can now.

https://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/little-mac-is-ruining-super-smash-bros--for-3ds-181455776.html?soc_src=copy


For my first blog post, I'd like to write about the learning curve differences between casual and competitive players of video games. Having a different learning curve is okay, but it can get in the way of journalistic opinion. Especially when your audience (or the audience of gaming journalism in general) is hardcore.

The problem stated in the article is that in the hardcore competitive multiplayer section of the game, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. The game is relatively new, having only been out for a few weeks. A certain character is considered overpowered or unfair in the modes circumstances. "For Glory!" mode is played on a flat stage with no items or stage hazards. Little Mac, the main charcter from the classic 1987 NES game "Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!" is in this installation of the series. Little Mac is fast and powerful, with no ranged attacks. But like a boxer, he is vulnerable to projectiles and is completely useless in the air. This can be a problem to most players, but competitive players can use different strategies and other characters to counter this as they fully and thoroughly understand the games mechanics. This has been stated by virtually all hardcore players of the game in regards to the article.


This begs the question: is the character overpowered, or should some players practice in "For Fun" mode before complaining?