August 2016 – Page 109

Super Smash Con has developed into one of the tent pole events in the Smash calendar, alongside other super majors like Genesis and The Big House. Rather than being devoted to a single game, Super Smash Con has become a mecca for all players, gathering them together under one roof to celebrate all things Smash. This convergence of talent and passion was clear to see at Super Smash Con, with fantastic matches happening across all titles.

Melee – 666X Is Thwarted Once Again

Without the Swedes in attendance at Super Smash Con, it seemed that Super Smash Con would end up being a battle between old rivals Hungrybox and Mango. With Hungrybox riding high after his Evo victory and Mango determined to prove himself after his fifth place Evo finish, the two seemed on a collision course to meet in Grand Finals. While this clash would eventually happen in Winners’ and Grand Finals, there were some equally exciting battles happening throughout the bracket.

Mafia, a New England Peach, put on a show, making it all the way to top 12 and outplacing notable Peach player MacD. He beat other big names like MikeHaze and Axe on his way to qualify in Winners’ Side for Top 24, but unfortunately had to combat Hungrybox and then Westballz for his eventual finish. After placing second this year’s Apex and now ninth at Super Smash Con, Mafia is definitely proving a Peach to watch out for. As for other breakout Melee performances, ESAM made quite the run to end up in top 24 and placing higher than he did in his most played game, Smash 4. His Samus was the resident Falco slayer, defeating Westballz in pools 2-1 before then beating Zhu 3-1 to make his way into top 16 Losers’ side. His run finally came to an end as everyone’s favourite red Yoshi aMSa gave him the business with a clean 3-1 victory. Nevertheless, ESAM’s performance has truly cemented himself as a top-level Samus player and he could make further appearances in top 16 for Melee in future tournaments.

Arizona hero Axe was out for blood during top 24, ripping his way through bracket after losing to Mafia in phase 2 pools. His Pikachu was ferocious, taking out players like Abate, Wizzrobe, Shroomed, PewPewU, and MacD before reaching Mew2King in Losers’ Semis. The battle against M2K was a nail-biter, with it going to a game 5 situation after trading games back and forth. It was not all serious though, as Axe and M2K found the time to have a quick breather and dance to the Fountain of Dreams music in game 2. That was one of the great feelings about watching the matches as Super Smash Con – the players were clearly having fun during the course of the event, whether they won or lost.

The final clash between Hungrybox and Mango seemed like a flashback to DreamHack earlier in the year, where Mango decimated his floaty rival after struggling for so long. The missed rest at the end of game 1 of Winners’ Final set the tone for these matches, as Mango held nothing back against his opponent. Hungrybox’s play was not as crisp as usual and Mango made him pay for it dearly, winning Super Smash Con with a swift 3-0 victory in Grands. However, unlike Evo where everyone at the awards ceremony was notably sombre, it was all smiles during the Smash Con presentation. 666X was stopped – for now – and the Mango Nation rejoices once again.

Smash 4 – Do We Call Them Upsets Anymore?

The spirit of Smash 4 spun its roulette wheel again this weekend and decided for yet another shake up. With the sheer number of upsets, close games and nail-biter sets during a typical Smash 4 tournament, I think having no upsets is more of an upset than a top 10 player going into Losers’ before top 24. If you thought Winners’ was dangerous, Losers’ side of top 24 was a minefield, with players like ZeRo, Abadango and Ally all sitting in the lower bracket and waiting to blow any unlucky player to smithereens. Forget learning player matchups, having a good relationship with Lady Luck is the path to victory in Smash 4, as any bracket could spell doom.

In Winners’ Side of Top 24, Fatality’s match versus VoiD will go down as one of the most explosive sets of the tournament–with the momentum violently shifting between both players during each game. Fatality must draw energy from the Smash Con crowd, as he seems to do incredibly well whenever he is playing within its halls. Game 1 went from Fatality almost getting JV3’d, to him snatching victory away from VoiD with one of the rudest Mario cape kills I have ever seen. While VoiD did clutch out the set, the momentum swings in that game show just how wacky Smash 4 can be when a character who can’t kill goes up against a character who can kill by sneezing on you.

Elsewhere in Top 24, MVD was forced to pull out his old main, Duck Hunt Dog, in order to combat ScAtt’s Megaman. The wall of Wild Gunmans and explosive cans were able to take one game off the Blue Bomber, but ScAtt soon fired back with a 3-1 victory against the animal pair. In an equally wild counterpick, the master of Fire Emblem characters Ryo pulled out his Roy against the Japanese Mewtwo master Abadango and actually forced him to switch to Rosalina. The set was close, with Ryo almost winning with the worst swordsman in the game, which quite rightly sent Twitter and would be tier list makers into a frenzy. As seems to be the trend at this big Smash 4 majors, a seldom-seen counterpick can lead to a close set or even a win.

In the shark-infested waters of Losers’ Bracket, a match that could have quite easily been Grand Finals was playing out between ZeRo and Ally, who are both in contention for world number 1 at any given moment. Once known for his stone cold composure and ability to quickly download his opponent, ZeRo was put on tilt after game 2 and, after Ally sent his Diddy careering into the abyss in game 3, he made the incredibly questionable decision to switch to Cloud in game 4. While Cloud is infamous as a counterpick character, the combination of Ally’s momentum, ZeRo’s frustration, and tournament inexperience with this character sent Ally onwards in the bracket and sent ZeRo out at 13^th place, the lowest ever tournament placing for him in Smash 4. Unfortunately for Ally, he was physically unable to win the tournament as he had to catch a flight to Rio in order to play in the eGames, so he would have to cut his tournament life short. He did eventually go out at fifth to VoiD and just made it to the airport with 11 minutes to spare. At least he’ll be coming back from Rio with a gold medal in his luggage.

For all the talk of inconsistency, the top four of SSC was made up of the usual suspects like VoiD, Dabuz and Mr. R. The main talk of the top 4 was Nairo, a player who hasn’t seen a top 8 since Low Tier City back in June where he took second. When Nairo does show up, he is usually going to end up taking first or second and that was clearly the case this weekend, as his Zero Suit Samus was looking unstoppable. When played on point, ZSS can usually win but if the player is off, she really struggles–made fairly evident by the fact that not since Low Tier City 4 has a ZSS placed within top 8 of a major. The final fight between Dabuz and Nairo was a clinic, with Nairo showing just how devastating Zero Suit can be when she is able to set the pace of the match. Dabuz’ Olimar did put in some serious work this tournament and actually put Dabuz on the board in Grand Finals but it was too little, too late once the ZSS train had picked up speed. This victory for Nairo really puts him back in contention in the top five and will hopefully give him the confidence to continue competing at the level he can really achieve.

64 – The Homecoming

64 has been undergoing quite the renaissance over the past year, with tournament numbers growing and players coming out of the woodwork to play the grandfather of the Smash series. Super Smash Con acted as somewhat of a homecoming for this section of the Smash community, with players coming from Japan, Canada, Mexico and Peru to show the world their dedication and skill. The 64 combo contest acted as the perfect opener, with players like Prince displaying just how wacky combos in 64 can be, due to the massive amount of hitstun on moves. From Falcon playing pinball with stage hazards to DK bouncing opponents of the walls of Hyrule Castle, the creativity on show during this combo event was a sight to behold and I hope this type of exhibition event becomes standard fare at any major where 64 features.

With the combo contest acting as a suitable warm up, the stage was set for the main event and as someone who is not super familiar with the intricacies of 64, I have to say I was hooked by the top 8 of the tournament. The commentators did a fantastic job of hooking newer players into the finer details of 64 and despite of a couple of slow individual games, the competition was great to watch. Seeing Isai having fun playing the whole cast and doing well for it, the ease of a player can be zero to deathed, the speed at which players get shield broken–it made for some intense watching no matter your affinity with 64. As for the actual result, SuPeRbOoMfAn continued his dominance of 64 in North America, beating Wizzrobe in a set which did show how some matchups in 64 can lead to slower paced games.

64 is set to make its next big appearance at Shine 2016 so I encourage anyone who was at all interested during this tournament to tune in during Shine. If you are interested in getting into 64, make sure to check out TheSmashWriter on Twitter, who has a plethora of resources and writing all about 64, its players and the game itself should you wish to join in the community. It is slowly gaining momentum so watch out for more 64 action in the near future.

Brawl – One Last Hurrah on the Horizon

Brawl has always been divisive on a competitive level and that tradition continued at Super Smash Con, just based off spectator and social media reaction during the event. While some were intrigued watching characters like Snake and Diddy face off due to the interesting interactions with items, others were turned off whenever Ice Climbers or Meta Knight took to the stage and were reminded of just how dominating these two characters were in Brawl. Unfortunately, that seems to be Brawl’s fate at the moment as the majority of Brawl’s upper echelon have moved onto Smash 4 and unlike 64, there has been no great desire to give Brawl that shot in the arm as Smash 4 has captivated the modern audience.

However, as announced during Super Smash Con, CLASH Tournaments is going to give Brawl a devoted two day tournament for those still looking for some Brawl action. It could be the start of a brand new chapter in Brawl’s life or it could act as a last hurrah for this troubled entry in the franchise.

Source: smash.gg

The King of Fighters XIV’s release is coming up fast–if you “burn to fight” with SNK’s new brawler, you’ll enjoy these combo exhibition videos featuring members of the playable cast of the currently available PSN demo, prepared by the COMBONAUTS. While these combos are intended to be more showy than practical, always good to see what these fighters are capable of!

Sylvie, Iori, Mai, Nelson, and King of Dinosaurs all get exhibition videos of their own, and the COMBONAUTS have also prepared four more videos of mixed fighters. You can access the full list on YouTube for all nine combo videos here.