TSM ZeRo
Banned via Administration
When I was invited to participate in the invitational, I honestly felt that Willy Wonka gave me a golden ticket. It felt so incredibly awesome that I accidentally hit my head while jumping out of the pure excitement. My E3 journey began right after SKTAR 3, where I flew to Mexico for a quick small break.
CT ZeRo took home 1st place at the Smash Invitational
From Mexico to Los Angelas
The night before leaving for Los Angeles, I stayed with Ganzo, the best Brawl Ice Climbers player in Mexico, and with Richi and Hyuga, two of the best Brawl players in Mexico. Special shoutouts to them for their hospitality! I stayed up that night and took a very early flight. On the way to LA it hit me: I'm flying to Los Angeles to play Smash Brothers in a gigantic theater in front of hundreds of thousands of people. I was elated. I didn't want to think of what it could mean to me if I won. I focused more on making my experience enjoyable and focused on everything else instead. I believed that if I had a clear mind, and a relaxed mind, that I'd do better in the competition.
ZeRo took a quick trip to Mexico after SKTAR3
In Los Angeles, I stayed at Sky's house for the days leading up to E3. I want to thank him and his roommates for the hospitality. I competed in two tournaments the weekend before the Invitational, teaming with Larry (DEHF) for every event. I managed to win all doubles with him, but fell short in the singles events. In some way, I felt that I was in the wrong mentality during those events. In some ways, I felt that I 'Couldn't win' (And I know this is not right to think) but then I realized that I was being weak, and that I had to try harder. That, this 'attitude', wasn't the attitude of a champion. Someone who succeeds never gives up and always tries harder. I ended up being much more motivated and ready for the upcoming events after thinking it through.
Tournaments in SoCal can get you ready!
My life has always had this motto: 'Try harder'. Every time something doesn't work, my answer is: Try harder. I never think 'Take it easy', or 'Leave it for another day', it's always: Push myself harder. However, this is the first time I thought to myself that I actually needed to take it easy and enjoy the ride. This is why I was brought to this event. To represent the Latin American community, to enjoy the ride, and to do what I love the most: compete. After thinking about this, I decided to take on the Invitational with a more relaxed mindset and a softer note overall.
E3 - The Start of the Week of a Lifetime
On Monday, the first day of E3, Chibo and I woke up really early to attend the Microsoft conference. This was my first time in E3! Shoutouts to Joe for driving us extremely early in the morning: You're a homie. - Halo had me extremely hyped the whole way, and I really enjoyed the show. I was ecstatic the whole time, reminiscent of a kid trying a brand new delicious candy. The shiny wristbands were a really nice touch - I really liked it.
Who doesn't get excited for Halo?
After the MicroSoft conference, we then headed downtown to check in at the standard - the hotel the Invitational players were staying at. I roomed with Keitaro and Chibo that night. The hotel was very nice, and comfortable. #ThankyouNintendo
I then went on to meet up with JC from NOA and the invitational players at a Korean BBQ. This felt like such a dream, to be with such awesome people in one spot. I was really happy.
KoreanBBQ and Smash players have always had a special relationship
We ate quite a bit, then Scar announced that Twitch was covering the bill. Shoutouts to him and Twitch!
After that Crismas and I went back to the hotel with JC. We had the opportunity to chat with him, and that's when we discovered how hard he's worked to make this happen. If you really want to show appreciation for someone who really cares about Smash Brothers and Nintendo, show him some love in Twitter with the hashtag: #ThankYouJC @JCdotFace
After that we signed some paperwork at the hotel and proceeded to sleep. We had to be at the Nokia Theater by 8 AM or so. I had the chance to sleep around ~1AM. Set up my alarm for 5:30 AM, but ended up sleeping through that and waking up an hour later, at 6:30 AM. I managed to get ready and be downstairs at the lobby around 7:15 AM. In the hotel restaurant I met up with the other Invitational attendees. I quickly ordered a simple breakfast meal but only ate half of it before leaving. On the way out, I bumped into Crismas accidentally and ended up spilling her coffee on my white shirt. A good sign or not? I thought of it was a good one. She apologized to me a lot, but in the end, it was my fault. I didn't mind, actually. We took a cab to the theater with Prog and company, and after a short ride of ~5 minutes, we were at the Nokia Theater. Outside there was a huge line of fans waiting patiently, I went around it, gave out high fives, and thanked everybody for coming. I did my best to hype them up as well! Awesome stuff. It felt so awesome to see so many people excited for the event and it's players. After going around the line, we ended up in the back of the theater where we entered and followed instructions. We managed to get a group shot in!
Before the Invitational - the players and the Chu Dat pose
After the photo we had the chance to meet with awesome people. We saw Reggie walking from afar as we went down stairs This picture basically sums it up:
Ken and ZeRo pose outside Sakurai and Reggie's room
The Draft - 5th Seed was Destiny
We then had the chance to play Smash 4 for a bit - to try the characters. I tried almost every character once, surprisingly, and the only two characters I didn't use were Samus and Megaman. I would have tried them if I had a bit more time. The character I liked the most at that point was Zero Suit Samus. She had the mobility, the recovery, and the power I was looking for. Plus, I had a 'feeling' with her. I felt that I had to pick her.
We did the draft order selection, and I kid you not in this part: The people that went before me in the draft got really high numbers because they picked up the papers near the top of the pile. I decided to go for a paper near the bottom, and when I touched one of them, I thought 'Not this one'. In my mind, there was a 'golden' paper I had to pick. It felt like my mind was leading me to a specific piece of paper. I went for it, and ended up getting number 5. I was relieved. I set my mind on picking up Zero Suit Samus as a priority pick, then Donkey Kong (Did very well with him) and then Fox or Greninja, if it came down to it. I ended up being able to pick up Zero Suit Samus. The reason I stayed silent when everyone asked me what character I wanted to pick, was because I didn't want to help my competition. I felt that being vocal here would put me at a disadvantage.
We were then given a bit more time to practice the characters we chose in the draft. I ended up being able to win almost every FFA game I played, except for 1 or 2 games where I ended up taking 2nd place. I paid close attention to my score and others after every game to keep track of everyone's performance. I even kept notes in a notepad to help me remember every possible detail. I tried very hard while winning, since I wanted to learn and push myself as much as possible with the limited access I had to the game.
After a bit, we were asked to participate in rehearsal where we had the chance to wave at the man who 'created us': Masahiro Sakurai. I was so nervous when I saw him. And I should be, right? I've been hearing about him ever since I started to learn about Super Smash Brothers and now he's in front of me. I really wanted to run up to him, hug him, and thank him, but I obviously controlled my excitement. After a successful rehearsal where they explained to us the whole process, we had lunch and played the game a tiny bit more. Again, I did very well in the matches. One interesting piece of information - I didn't know Zero Suit Samus' Final Smash when I picked her. I didn't have the chance to obtain the Smash Ball when I played with her for the first time. I was very glad to learn that she has a very powerful Final Smash that if used correctly, allows for several KO's and edge guards.
ZeRo played Zero Suit Samus - turned out to be the right choice!
Here's a quick rundown of what I think of some of the characters I played/ Remember the most. Keep in mind, this from a single game of experience:
During lunch we had the chance to talk to some Nintendo employees and Zelda Williams. Everyone was awesome, to be honest. I cannot disclose what was said what due to respect to the people I talked to, however, let me tell you: Nintendo has some of the most awesome employees ever!
We were eventually escorted to the back stage, where we had access to a big TV that was broadcasting the stream to us. We had a big couch area with seats and drinks while we waited for our time to appear on the show. When the countdown was announced, we were screaming. We did a group hug and hype time. Mr. Masahiro Sakurai actually took a picture of us during that moment and tweeted it. Here's the pic (I'm in the middle of the circle):
Sakurai took a photo of the Invitational players getting hyped!
The Smash Invitational Tournament Begins
I was getting chills with the crowd going wild!. That's when I realized how much I wanted to win. This tournament meant so much not only to me, but for my country, friends, and the community. I really, really wanted to win the Nintendo Invitational tournament. I remember closing both of my fists with a lot of strength to be mentally ready to play. I told myself to stay focused only on the game, to play very cautiously, and to calculate in order to win.
My hands were shaking , my stomach hurt, and I felt a pressure off the charts, but even then, I kept onto my goal: Win the invitational. When I was finally called, I was actually jumping a bit to get excited and hyped - I was ready to go. My pool was the hardest pool in the game, with PPMD, KDJ and DJ Nintendo all in the same FFA with me. I told myself that I had to play as good as possible in order to advance, and to be very smart. A lot of people told me that PPMD was doing excellent in FFA's, to the extent of even not losing a single stock during them. My goal was to stay away from him as much as possible and to target him whenever I could. I ended up being very patient with item play: Correctly using dash attack grabbing (Grabbing items with a dash attack), Z Catching, and counting the hits on a Smash Ball to be the last one hitting it. It all paid off and I managed to grab several of them in a row and secure myself as the winner of the first round.
I was extremely pumped and happy that I survived the most stacked pool of the tournament. While waiting for the next rounds, I couldn't think of anything else but my strategy mid-game. That's why you don't see me smiling much, I couldn't relax, I was in competition mode. The next round was very scary, I had to face Amsa who was very difficult during my matches vs. him earlier on. He was very smart and patient, and had great control of Olimar. He even found out a way to go underneath the stage and camp in sudden death to almost guarantee his win during them. Since there are bombs falling from the sky towards the stage, whoever stays in the stage is going to get hit by them eventually.
Round 1: DJNintendo, ZeRo, KoreanDJ, and PPMD
I managed to play every stage in the demo, and the stage I found to be the most disruptive and difficult was Wily Castle. The boss around the stage was called the Yellow Devil and was very powerful. The Yellow Devil was hard to deal with, often ruining the flow and movement of characters with his own hazards.
I noticed my good friends Mew2King and Armada in the background while I was playing. They both had a ZSS cartel up and smiled at me. With their support, I felt a lot less nervous and much more ready to go. I really want to thank them for their support, it really helped me.
The next round was in Aeroflight (Or the planes stage). I decided to camp underneath the platforms to put ZSS's strong aerial game to an efficient use. I ended up taking a solid lead and holding it for the rest of the match.
Round 2: Amsa, Rapture, ZeRo, and KoreanDJ
The Finals - A Fan Vote to Survive
After that round I made it to the finals. I was ecstatic. I only had to win one more round to make it to the Grand Finals. I really wanted to make it there and be a part of the ceremony with a grand entrance and with robes. I was so nervous going into the final FFA as a result. Hungrybox played fantastic that match, with incredible spacing and solid grabs, giving him a solid lead for the whole match. At some point, I had a second place lead, but I was at a very high percent for the last 50 seconds.
I tried to run away to survive, since that would guarantee my second place, but AmSa hunted me down in time. The KO created a tie between us. We then had to go to the fan favorite. I was very afraid here, since AmSa is a very popular personality in the Smash community and such a nice guy. I told myself that I had to do something here, I can't just stand there and watch. I started jumping and screaming at people to hype them up and support me - and it worked! Armada and Mew2King also helped me from the crowd, both of these things helped me barely win the fan vote where I managed to advance to the finals. I jumped out of excitement and relief, knowing that was such a close call. I hugged AmSa because I knew it was very close and that he really wanted it as well. Before this event we talked a lot and we like the same shows and characters, such as Kirino, Oreimo and Hunter X Hunter. It was very hard for me to, in a way, eliminate him from the tournament. I decided that since that happened, I had to win in order to honor him. This gave me extra strength during finals.
The Finals: ZeRo, AmSa, Hungrybox, and Lilo
The Grand Finals - Zero vs. Hungrybox
After that round, Hungrybox and I went to the back stage and the staff explained us the whole deal with the robes and stuff. We were both incredibly hype. As I was walking down the stairs towards the stage, I felt incredible excitement, happiness, and adrenaline. Now that I think about it, I was ready to fight at that point. Literally.
I greeted Hungrybox on stage and we jumped right into the game. I was so nervous, my hands were shaking, my vision was blurry, and I was so afraid. I managed to take on an early lead but Hungrybox came back strong with a solid shield game. I really wanted to grab him the whole time, but I was so afraid of that failing and making me lose that I stuck to the same strategy. I executed better than earlier. It actually worked, until the final stock. We both struggled KO'ing each other, so the clock ran quite a bit.
Hungrybox took a lead during the last minute and I realized I didn't have enough to KO him in time to win. I had to come up with an idea, I thought of spiking him or something like that. But I then remembered that sudden deaths were played out, so I decided to play very defensively and survive until then. I barely managed to do so after jumping off the stage while drifting away in the last seconds. As we moved to Sudden Death, I remembered watching Hungrybox shield a lot in his Sudden Death match vs Neha, and he also did the same vs. me during our Finals match.
I realized that Kirby lacks a true approach and has a good grab game, and my spacing loses to good shielding habits. I realized he had to go for a shield grab in this position, I didn't second guessed myself and risked it all in a dash grab... that missed, at this point in time, my heart literally stopped working for a split second, but since he jumped to the platform, I didn't get punished to my fortune. He then went down and ran at me, to where I met him with a dash grab that connected this time around. I told myself to slowly press up and finish this. I was remembering that SKTAR 2 ending vs. ADHD where a critical simple error cost me an important match. I learned from that mistake that I have to take things slowly when time is running out and to keep precise under pressure. That memory and experience helped at this point in time. It is good that I take everything as an experience and learn.
Reggie hugs ZeRo
Everyone had an awesome time at the Invitational!
Victory
When I won Sudden Death, I jumped, I screamed, I felt like I accomplished my dream. Winning the Invitational in front of hundreds of thousands meant I had positioned myself as the first Smash 4 champion. I slapped myself to make sure that it wasn't a dream - thankfully it wasn't. I was so happy and relieved to know that.
ZeRo stands alone as the first Smash Wii U Champion!
ZeRo ran the gauntlet!
I was incredibly happy when I received the gigantic trophy (that is incredibly heavy). To me, it felt that the 10 years of me going to events and working my hardest had accomplished something. Right afterwards, I got swarmed by interviews from all over the world. National and international TV channels, websites, news papers, product advertisements, and so on, they all wanted to talk to me. I really enjoyed all of it, and there is more to come, which makes me really happy. My win meant so much for Chile, Latin America, and the media. I'm being mentioned everywhere in Latin America, it's crazy. I really love it. It's an honor.
All the Invitational players wearing robes
I set on to build connections and make the best out of my current position. I have been to several events, parties, interviews, and meetings ever since winning. I've only slept 2 hours since the Invitational and I keep going strong, My motto has always been efficiency and hard work, and that's what I'm doing right now. Smash Brothers is currently my career, my job, and my passion. It's what I love to do. I chose this over a conventional college route because this is what makes me happy. I'm very happy that this happened to me, since it will help me be a lot closer of solidifying my career as a professional gamer. I couldn't be more thankful that all of this happened.
Reggie, Hungrybox, ZeRo, PPMD, and Prog pose for a picture
I saw the excitement and happiness from Nintendo employees that participated in putting the event on. I think that Smash will achieve incredible things in the upcoming years and this is just the beginning. I'm working to make our scene bigger for all of us and solidify our game as not just a competitive community, but an eSport.
'ZeRo' Suit Samus takes on Pac-Man!
The Feel of the Game
Before I close out this blog, I'd like to talk about the feel of the game. Smash Wii U is very different from Brawl, and quite different from Melee. Why? Because this is a whole new Smash game. This game encourages a whole new set of option coverage, decision making, combos, and direction. It takes a different set of skills to be proficient at. It maintains the Smash mechanics we're all used to, but with different ways to go about them. Movement options are a bit faster than Brawl, but slower in other areas. It's just different, but overall, I love the feel it gave me. It feels REALLY good! If you asked me if you should get this game, I'd simply tell you: Go, now. Go get a Wii U and pre order/get this game ASAP. I really like Smash Wii U - I'll play and stream it as much as possible when it comes out. Both versions! Make sure to tune in when that happens, I cannot wait!
ZeRo and Charles
I want to thank
Everyone who has supported me, I wouldn't be where I am without your support: My mom, my dad, my aunt, my family, friends from Chile and the USA, Vex, Mark and my fans. Love you all!
I'd also like to give a big shoutout to my pro team CLASH Tournaments and you can click here to follow them on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. A big thank you to our great sponsors and partners - Astro Gaming, Envy Gaming, SmashBoards, Brokentier, Apex Series, and Linode. Wouldn't be here without your great support!
PS: I'll be doing a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) in r/SmashBros today at 7PM PST. Come ask me anything you'd like about Smash 4, characters, match ups, mechanics and much more! Anytihng ,really. I'll answer with as much detail (And honesty!) as possible. Please subscribe to me on Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube! And to hear more give me a follow on Twitter!
This is what a once in a lifetime moment looks like! Congratulations to CT ZERO!
Image Credit: Polygon.com, Sakurai, ZeRo
CT ZeRo took home 1st place at the Smash Invitational
From Mexico to Los Angelas
The night before leaving for Los Angeles, I stayed with Ganzo, the best Brawl Ice Climbers player in Mexico, and with Richi and Hyuga, two of the best Brawl players in Mexico. Special shoutouts to them for their hospitality! I stayed up that night and took a very early flight. On the way to LA it hit me: I'm flying to Los Angeles to play Smash Brothers in a gigantic theater in front of hundreds of thousands of people. I was elated. I didn't want to think of what it could mean to me if I won. I focused more on making my experience enjoyable and focused on everything else instead. I believed that if I had a clear mind, and a relaxed mind, that I'd do better in the competition.
ZeRo took a quick trip to Mexico after SKTAR3
Tournaments in SoCal can get you ready!
My life has always had this motto: 'Try harder'. Every time something doesn't work, my answer is: Try harder. I never think 'Take it easy', or 'Leave it for another day', it's always: Push myself harder. However, this is the first time I thought to myself that I actually needed to take it easy and enjoy the ride. This is why I was brought to this event. To represent the Latin American community, to enjoy the ride, and to do what I love the most: compete. After thinking about this, I decided to take on the Invitational with a more relaxed mindset and a softer note overall.
E3 - The Start of the Week of a Lifetime
On Monday, the first day of E3, Chibo and I woke up really early to attend the Microsoft conference. This was my first time in E3! Shoutouts to Joe for driving us extremely early in the morning: You're a homie. - Halo had me extremely hyped the whole way, and I really enjoyed the show. I was ecstatic the whole time, reminiscent of a kid trying a brand new delicious candy. The shiny wristbands were a really nice touch - I really liked it.
Who doesn't get excited for Halo?
After the MicroSoft conference, we then headed downtown to check in at the standard - the hotel the Invitational players were staying at. I roomed with Keitaro and Chibo that night. The hotel was very nice, and comfortable. #ThankyouNintendo
I then went on to meet up with JC from NOA and the invitational players at a Korean BBQ. This felt like such a dream, to be with such awesome people in one spot. I was really happy.
KoreanBBQ and Smash players have always had a special relationship
We ate quite a bit, then Scar announced that Twitch was covering the bill. Shoutouts to him and Twitch!
After that Crismas and I went back to the hotel with JC. We had the opportunity to chat with him, and that's when we discovered how hard he's worked to make this happen. If you really want to show appreciation for someone who really cares about Smash Brothers and Nintendo, show him some love in Twitter with the hashtag: #ThankYouJC @JCdotFace
After that we signed some paperwork at the hotel and proceeded to sleep. We had to be at the Nokia Theater by 8 AM or so. I had the chance to sleep around ~1AM. Set up my alarm for 5:30 AM, but ended up sleeping through that and waking up an hour later, at 6:30 AM. I managed to get ready and be downstairs at the lobby around 7:15 AM. In the hotel restaurant I met up with the other Invitational attendees. I quickly ordered a simple breakfast meal but only ate half of it before leaving. On the way out, I bumped into Crismas accidentally and ended up spilling her coffee on my white shirt. A good sign or not? I thought of it was a good one. She apologized to me a lot, but in the end, it was my fault. I didn't mind, actually. We took a cab to the theater with Prog and company, and after a short ride of ~5 minutes, we were at the Nokia Theater. Outside there was a huge line of fans waiting patiently, I went around it, gave out high fives, and thanked everybody for coming. I did my best to hype them up as well! Awesome stuff. It felt so awesome to see so many people excited for the event and it's players. After going around the line, we ended up in the back of the theater where we entered and followed instructions. We managed to get a group shot in!
Before the Invitational - the players and the Chu Dat pose
After the photo we had the chance to meet with awesome people. We saw Reggie walking from afar as we went down stairs This picture basically sums it up:
Ken and ZeRo pose outside Sakurai and Reggie's room
The Draft - 5th Seed was Destiny
We then had the chance to play Smash 4 for a bit - to try the characters. I tried almost every character once, surprisingly, and the only two characters I didn't use were Samus and Megaman. I would have tried them if I had a bit more time. The character I liked the most at that point was Zero Suit Samus. She had the mobility, the recovery, and the power I was looking for. Plus, I had a 'feeling' with her. I felt that I had to pick her.
We did the draft order selection, and I kid you not in this part: The people that went before me in the draft got really high numbers because they picked up the papers near the top of the pile. I decided to go for a paper near the bottom, and when I touched one of them, I thought 'Not this one'. In my mind, there was a 'golden' paper I had to pick. It felt like my mind was leading me to a specific piece of paper. I went for it, and ended up getting number 5. I was relieved. I set my mind on picking up Zero Suit Samus as a priority pick, then Donkey Kong (Did very well with him) and then Fox or Greninja, if it came down to it. I ended up being able to pick up Zero Suit Samus. The reason I stayed silent when everyone asked me what character I wanted to pick, was because I didn't want to help my competition. I felt that being vocal here would put me at a disadvantage.
We were then given a bit more time to practice the characters we chose in the draft. I ended up being able to win almost every FFA game I played, except for 1 or 2 games where I ended up taking 2nd place. I paid close attention to my score and others after every game to keep track of everyone's performance. I even kept notes in a notepad to help me remember every possible detail. I tried very hard while winning, since I wanted to learn and push myself as much as possible with the limited access I had to the game.
After a bit, we were asked to participate in rehearsal where we had the chance to wave at the man who 'created us': Masahiro Sakurai. I was so nervous when I saw him. And I should be, right? I've been hearing about him ever since I started to learn about Super Smash Brothers and now he's in front of me. I really wanted to run up to him, hug him, and thank him, but I obviously controlled my excitement. After a successful rehearsal where they explained to us the whole process, we had lunch and played the game a tiny bit more. Again, I did very well in the matches. One interesting piece of information - I didn't know Zero Suit Samus' Final Smash when I picked her. I didn't have the chance to obtain the Smash Ball when I played with her for the first time. I was very glad to learn that she has a very powerful Final Smash that if used correctly, allows for several KO's and edge guards.
ZeRo played Zero Suit Samus - turned out to be the right choice!
Here's a quick rundown of what I think of some of the characters I played/ Remember the most. Keep in mind, this from a single game of experience:
- Zero Suit Samus: Very fast, decent kill power, quick aerials and excellent recovery. Powerful frame traps, good grab setups and a great character design!
- Villager: Very slow smash moves, weak aerials and strange moveset. I felt that I didn't have enough time to properly use this character, so decided to move on.
- Donkey Kong: Extremely powerful spike, powerful attacks, and surprisingly, pretty fast. Donkey Kong seems kinda strong. I put him as my 2nd pick.
- Marth: Very different from previous Smash games, because of this, I discarded him right away from my picks since I didn't want to deal with adapting to a character so much.
- Zelda: Very weak hits in general, and hard to connect as well - strange style.
- Fox: Laser game is very different, his Up Tilt is a great combo tool and his up smash is much weaker - Fox can Side B into Up B, he doesn't fall into freefall after using it.
During lunch we had the chance to talk to some Nintendo employees and Zelda Williams. Everyone was awesome, to be honest. I cannot disclose what was said what due to respect to the people I talked to, however, let me tell you: Nintendo has some of the most awesome employees ever!
We were eventually escorted to the back stage, where we had access to a big TV that was broadcasting the stream to us. We had a big couch area with seats and drinks while we waited for our time to appear on the show. When the countdown was announced, we were screaming. We did a group hug and hype time. Mr. Masahiro Sakurai actually took a picture of us during that moment and tweeted it. Here's the pic (I'm in the middle of the circle):
Sakurai took a photo of the Invitational players getting hyped!
The Smash Invitational Tournament Begins
I was getting chills with the crowd going wild!. That's when I realized how much I wanted to win. This tournament meant so much not only to me, but for my country, friends, and the community. I really, really wanted to win the Nintendo Invitational tournament. I remember closing both of my fists with a lot of strength to be mentally ready to play. I told myself to stay focused only on the game, to play very cautiously, and to calculate in order to win.
My hands were shaking , my stomach hurt, and I felt a pressure off the charts, but even then, I kept onto my goal: Win the invitational. When I was finally called, I was actually jumping a bit to get excited and hyped - I was ready to go. My pool was the hardest pool in the game, with PPMD, KDJ and DJ Nintendo all in the same FFA with me. I told myself that I had to play as good as possible in order to advance, and to be very smart. A lot of people told me that PPMD was doing excellent in FFA's, to the extent of even not losing a single stock during them. My goal was to stay away from him as much as possible and to target him whenever I could. I ended up being very patient with item play: Correctly using dash attack grabbing (Grabbing items with a dash attack), Z Catching, and counting the hits on a Smash Ball to be the last one hitting it. It all paid off and I managed to grab several of them in a row and secure myself as the winner of the first round.
I was extremely pumped and happy that I survived the most stacked pool of the tournament. While waiting for the next rounds, I couldn't think of anything else but my strategy mid-game. That's why you don't see me smiling much, I couldn't relax, I was in competition mode. The next round was very scary, I had to face Amsa who was very difficult during my matches vs. him earlier on. He was very smart and patient, and had great control of Olimar. He even found out a way to go underneath the stage and camp in sudden death to almost guarantee his win during them. Since there are bombs falling from the sky towards the stage, whoever stays in the stage is going to get hit by them eventually.
Round 1: DJNintendo, ZeRo, KoreanDJ, and PPMD
I managed to play every stage in the demo, and the stage I found to be the most disruptive and difficult was Wily Castle. The boss around the stage was called the Yellow Devil and was very powerful. The Yellow Devil was hard to deal with, often ruining the flow and movement of characters with his own hazards.
I noticed my good friends Mew2King and Armada in the background while I was playing. They both had a ZSS cartel up and smiled at me. With their support, I felt a lot less nervous and much more ready to go. I really want to thank them for their support, it really helped me.
The next round was in Aeroflight (Or the planes stage). I decided to camp underneath the platforms to put ZSS's strong aerial game to an efficient use. I ended up taking a solid lead and holding it for the rest of the match.
Round 2: Amsa, Rapture, ZeRo, and KoreanDJ
The Finals - A Fan Vote to Survive
After that round I made it to the finals. I was ecstatic. I only had to win one more round to make it to the Grand Finals. I really wanted to make it there and be a part of the ceremony with a grand entrance and with robes. I was so nervous going into the final FFA as a result. Hungrybox played fantastic that match, with incredible spacing and solid grabs, giving him a solid lead for the whole match. At some point, I had a second place lead, but I was at a very high percent for the last 50 seconds.
I tried to run away to survive, since that would guarantee my second place, but AmSa hunted me down in time. The KO created a tie between us. We then had to go to the fan favorite. I was very afraid here, since AmSa is a very popular personality in the Smash community and such a nice guy. I told myself that I had to do something here, I can't just stand there and watch. I started jumping and screaming at people to hype them up and support me - and it worked! Armada and Mew2King also helped me from the crowd, both of these things helped me barely win the fan vote where I managed to advance to the finals. I jumped out of excitement and relief, knowing that was such a close call. I hugged AmSa because I knew it was very close and that he really wanted it as well. Before this event we talked a lot and we like the same shows and characters, such as Kirino, Oreimo and Hunter X Hunter. It was very hard for me to, in a way, eliminate him from the tournament. I decided that since that happened, I had to win in order to honor him. This gave me extra strength during finals.
The Finals: ZeRo, AmSa, Hungrybox, and Lilo
The Grand Finals - Zero vs. Hungrybox
After that round, Hungrybox and I went to the back stage and the staff explained us the whole deal with the robes and stuff. We were both incredibly hype. As I was walking down the stairs towards the stage, I felt incredible excitement, happiness, and adrenaline. Now that I think about it, I was ready to fight at that point. Literally.
I greeted Hungrybox on stage and we jumped right into the game. I was so nervous, my hands were shaking, my vision was blurry, and I was so afraid. I managed to take on an early lead but Hungrybox came back strong with a solid shield game. I really wanted to grab him the whole time, but I was so afraid of that failing and making me lose that I stuck to the same strategy. I executed better than earlier. It actually worked, until the final stock. We both struggled KO'ing each other, so the clock ran quite a bit.
Hungrybox took a lead during the last minute and I realized I didn't have enough to KO him in time to win. I had to come up with an idea, I thought of spiking him or something like that. But I then remembered that sudden deaths were played out, so I decided to play very defensively and survive until then. I barely managed to do so after jumping off the stage while drifting away in the last seconds. As we moved to Sudden Death, I remembered watching Hungrybox shield a lot in his Sudden Death match vs Neha, and he also did the same vs. me during our Finals match.
I realized that Kirby lacks a true approach and has a good grab game, and my spacing loses to good shielding habits. I realized he had to go for a shield grab in this position, I didn't second guessed myself and risked it all in a dash grab... that missed, at this point in time, my heart literally stopped working for a split second, but since he jumped to the platform, I didn't get punished to my fortune. He then went down and ran at me, to where I met him with a dash grab that connected this time around. I told myself to slowly press up and finish this. I was remembering that SKTAR 2 ending vs. ADHD where a critical simple error cost me an important match. I learned from that mistake that I have to take things slowly when time is running out and to keep precise under pressure. That memory and experience helped at this point in time. It is good that I take everything as an experience and learn.
Reggie hugs ZeRo
Everyone had an awesome time at the Invitational!
Victory
When I won Sudden Death, I jumped, I screamed, I felt like I accomplished my dream. Winning the Invitational in front of hundreds of thousands meant I had positioned myself as the first Smash 4 champion. I slapped myself to make sure that it wasn't a dream - thankfully it wasn't. I was so happy and relieved to know that.
ZeRo stands alone as the first Smash Wii U Champion!
ZeRo ran the gauntlet!
I was incredibly happy when I received the gigantic trophy (that is incredibly heavy). To me, it felt that the 10 years of me going to events and working my hardest had accomplished something. Right afterwards, I got swarmed by interviews from all over the world. National and international TV channels, websites, news papers, product advertisements, and so on, they all wanted to talk to me. I really enjoyed all of it, and there is more to come, which makes me really happy. My win meant so much for Chile, Latin America, and the media. I'm being mentioned everywhere in Latin America, it's crazy. I really love it. It's an honor.
All the Invitational players wearing robes
I set on to build connections and make the best out of my current position. I have been to several events, parties, interviews, and meetings ever since winning. I've only slept 2 hours since the Invitational and I keep going strong, My motto has always been efficiency and hard work, and that's what I'm doing right now. Smash Brothers is currently my career, my job, and my passion. It's what I love to do. I chose this over a conventional college route because this is what makes me happy. I'm very happy that this happened to me, since it will help me be a lot closer of solidifying my career as a professional gamer. I couldn't be more thankful that all of this happened.
Reggie, Hungrybox, ZeRo, PPMD, and Prog pose for a picture
I saw the excitement and happiness from Nintendo employees that participated in putting the event on. I think that Smash will achieve incredible things in the upcoming years and this is just the beginning. I'm working to make our scene bigger for all of us and solidify our game as not just a competitive community, but an eSport.
'ZeRo' Suit Samus takes on Pac-Man!
The Feel of the Game
Before I close out this blog, I'd like to talk about the feel of the game. Smash Wii U is very different from Brawl, and quite different from Melee. Why? Because this is a whole new Smash game. This game encourages a whole new set of option coverage, decision making, combos, and direction. It takes a different set of skills to be proficient at. It maintains the Smash mechanics we're all used to, but with different ways to go about them. Movement options are a bit faster than Brawl, but slower in other areas. It's just different, but overall, I love the feel it gave me. It feels REALLY good! If you asked me if you should get this game, I'd simply tell you: Go, now. Go get a Wii U and pre order/get this game ASAP. I really like Smash Wii U - I'll play and stream it as much as possible when it comes out. Both versions! Make sure to tune in when that happens, I cannot wait!
ZeRo and Charles
I want to thank
Everyone who has supported me, I wouldn't be where I am without your support: My mom, my dad, my aunt, my family, friends from Chile and the USA, Vex, Mark and my fans. Love you all!
I'd also like to give a big shoutout to my pro team CLASH Tournaments and you can click here to follow them on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. A big thank you to our great sponsors and partners - Astro Gaming, Envy Gaming, SmashBoards, Brokentier, Apex Series, and Linode. Wouldn't be here without your great support!
PS: I'll be doing a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) in r/SmashBros today at 7PM PST. Come ask me anything you'd like about Smash 4, characters, match ups, mechanics and much more! Anytihng ,really. I'll answer with as much detail (And honesty!) as possible. Please subscribe to me on Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube! And to hear more give me a follow on Twitter!
This is what a once in a lifetime moment looks like! Congratulations to CT ZERO!
Last edited:
