Breda Brawl: Reflections of a contestant

Now, I must admit, I haven’t always been as interested in the Smash Bros franchise as I am today. Back in the days of the original on the Nintendo 64, I would play on occasion at a friend’s house, never really figuring out the controls or any combos; I would just play around with a character or two and generally have a good time, but probably lose majority of matches. I just wasn’t into it.
Melee was a very different experience, however. On the Gamecube, the game felt much more fluent; the controls, the characters, the speed; Melee really sucked me into the franchise for good. Eventually I found a tight group of “hardcore” Smash Bros players at my school, and we would play for hours on end, week after week. There were about three of us at the time, and whichever one beat the others felt like the king of smash. We would watch combo videos and laugh, thinking we could take on any of these “pros”, anytime, anywhere. Nobody ever came around to prove us wrong.

…and then came Brawl, and what a difference it made. It looked amazing, felt great, introduced old Nintendo favorites… and most importantly for me, it evened the playing field. I was always one of the worst players in the group, never winning more than a couple matches every now and then. With Brawl though, I could finally deal some real damage. Eventually, the three of us parted for college and I met a new group of Smash fans: the students at the International Game Architecture and Design course in Breda. For me, this was my test of skill. This was a whole new group of people I had never seen before, I couldn’t begin to predict the levels at which they much fight. I quickly came to realize that the three of us weren’t as good as we originally thought, and slowly, but surely, I climbed up the ranks at IGAD. After a short while, I was finally one of the better players; I wasn’t scared of losing anymore. On the contrary, I could walk up to the machine and see looks of distress as the powerful PK Thunder entered the arena.

Well, wasn’t that sentimental? Now, why am I giving you all this back-story? Well, that’s because recently, on the 17^th of May, in the city of Breda, an actual Brawl tournament was held. I had never participated in one, not even in the days of Melee, nor had either of my past Smashing partners. I just had to join and see where I stood in the greater picture of the game. Maybe my tricks worked on the other students, but perhaps that was just because I was familiar with their play styles; maybe just familiar with their regular characters? I needed to see for myself whether or not I was comparable to the tournament regulars; whether or not I was actually skilled.

So, when the day of the tournament finally came around, one of my old friends from the days of Melee and myself departed for the event, uncertain of what to expect from the other participants. A number of students from IGAD joined the fray as well; we were all curious where we stood. The other contestants quickly walked in the doors, speaking of things such as their seeding ranks and their tournament stats, requesting special placement in the randomized matchups… it was intimidating to say the least. The anticipation grew with the end of each round. There were only a few consoles available, so a contestant might have had to wait an hour before their matchup was scheduled. The one thing which really knocked me off balance was seeing the top ranked player from IGAD being beaten in the first round. It came as a shock to everyone from the course, and we didn’t want to see what the tournament had in store for the rest of us.

When it was finally my turn to take the controller and enter the ring, I had a fairly decent matchup, myself as Ness, and my opponent as Lucas. Both similar fighting styles, and I was obviously very familiar with it. My opponent had me slightly worried at first, but I quickly realized I could make short work of him. I slowly sank back more comfortably into my chair, and pretty much started playing on autopilot. I was actually at a real tournament, and in the zone. When the final match of the set ended in a meteor smash from yours truly, I got to walk away with a great sense of achievement; I came to a tournament, and made it through the first round. It might sound stupid, but hey, after all that tension and build up, it was relaxing as ever to be walking away victorious.

My next match was against a tournament veteran who had been boasting his rankings before the tournament had started, and obviously it was intimidating. When I sat down in that chair though, I just told myself to relax and get in the zone again; he was just another random player and I could beat him too. He chose Snake, a powerful character; it proved fatal for him. In that first match I dominated, he went down pretty hard, but I did take quite a bit of damage. It had me shaken up, but I was confident. I had to take a breather right afterward to actually realize, I had just done it again. Only one more win and this guy was out of the tournament and I was one step closer to the final.

We went back to the character select screen and while I waited for him to press start I noticed him changing his character. To my great disappointment, his cursor scrolled over Meta Knight, and he quickly selected him and went to the stage selection screen. Right then I knew I was done for. I knew I couldn’t just sit back and enjoy the ride anymore. He had me shaken up, and I really took a beating for it in that second match. I used all the wrong moves at all the wrong times, and he just kept me from getting back to that platform. We then went into the third match of the set, both with a win. Winner of this match would continue on; the pressure was on. Same match-up as round two, unfortunately, but this time I knew my mistakes. The match began quite similar to the previous, I lost a life quite quickly, and it was looking grim on my next already. Somewhere in the middle of the match, however, things turned around, and I was getting sweet spots here and there, he was flying all over the place. In the end though, I just couldn’t recover with him edge guarding like a madman, and I eventually fell and lost the third match, pushing me out of the singles tournament for good.

It wasn’t just me who was out in the second round though, my friend who tagged along also lost in round two to the massive hammer and reach of King Dedede. His ROB was no match for this tournament veteran in action.

We stayed to witness the rest of the tournament, and saw the progression towards the finals. Some matches were highly one-sided, others were neck-and-neck. In the end, however, truly the two best of the day were matched up in the final. These three matches had to be three of the most exciting matches I have ever witnessed, and every second had the entire room on the edge of their seat.

The team tournament was held shortly after, and unfortunately my team’s performance isn’t even worth mentioning. It was fun, but by no means as exciting as the singles tournament.

In the end I have to admit, it was a very exciting experience, and a great environment. I hope to participate in more tournaments should they come along. I highly encourage any Smash fans to participate, especially if you think you’re any good at the game. Joining in one of these bad boys would be an eye-opener for any “hardcore” brawler.

Additionally, here are the pictures for the Super Smash Brothers Brawl tournament