"Super Smash Bros. Melee: Me vs the best player in the world (Ken)
by Twitchtastic on 07.27.2007 6 comments
45 days ago (or more, I can't remember things like that.), I flew from Sydney to Melbourne for "Comrades 2", the biggest Smash Bros. Melee tournament I'd ever seen in my life. I had just started playing competitively a few weeks after I got here in Sydney (about 2 and a half months before Comrades), scored 9'th out of 27 in my first tournament.
The big thing about Comrades 2 is besides being all of Australia and New Zealand (a whopping two players, but they were good), Ken was going to be there. The Ken, the guy whose videos of ridiculous Marth **** are plastered all over youtube, striking fear into every other Smasher's heart that he just might not be that great after all.
The night before the tournament, the Sydney crew is practicing against each other and the Kiwis, when Jaz (best sydney player) predicts: "You know what Ken's going to do? Pick Game & Watch. Then when he gets back home in America, he's going to say 'My G&W, arrow sign, (">"), pwned, a country. Two of them'.
He was right.
Next morning, the tournament starts. First round and I'm facing one of the better Sydney players, I've got about a 40% chance of winning. Except not everyone had registered so the matchups get reshuffled. Guess who I get to face my first two rounds (we used some twisted version of the Swiss system where you play two rounds and they both count. No best 'ofs.) Ken. And guess who he picked. Game and Watch.
In caes you don't play Melee, G&W is considered one of the worst characters in the game.
But not in the hands of a master. When Smash is played by a master.. recovery is an illusion. When you are hit, it becomes just like those other fighting games -- you know, the ones where you memorized the right buttons to mash and the other guy goes and takes a smoke because he knows he can't do anything until you're done killing him and the next round starts. Smash is the same way, just a lot faster and more reading (predicting) involved. I pick my Falco, one of my best characters and considered by all to be in the "Top Tier" of playable characters.
He did things I didn't know where possible. The match starts and for 10 seconds it's nothing but mindgames, jumping and wavedashing each of us looking for an opening. I short-hop laser and rush in.. to find my self grabbed. And thrown in the air. And f#$&ing caught before I hit the ground. 5 times. Then I get tossed up again.. this time I'm thrown far enough away that I could jump out of the combo.
Not against a master.
Ken simply jumps and presses A, his parachute blasting me off the stage. I mash my second jump, start my third jump, and meet G&W's forward-air just as I land on the stage, blasting me to oblivion.
He comboed me 0 to death with Game and Watch.
The end result? He won of course. My pride was stolen. To my credit, I did manage to kill him twice out of four lives each of our matches, and each time without getting hit too much. Both times however, was when I used a trick to get out of the chain-throw: fast-falling and teching the ground. If he had been reacting perfectly though, it wouldn't have worked. Nothing works against a master.
The Tournament moved on, my score crippled.
Ever since then I've been playing Smash, practicing. Vowing to become as good as he is at Melee in Brawl, and I'm ready for the next Smash Bros. release so I too, can **** the **** out of everyone I play.. and make thousands in the process."
Who (from Sydney) wrote this btw? I found it online, it's a good read lol.