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Rising Ever Upward: Smash Wii U in New York State




Discussing the state of New York's Super Smash Bros for Wii U scene is something of a complicated matter. Because of the state's sheer size, it's developed multiple scenes independent of each other, each with their own notable players and tournaments.

New York City and Long Island
Though New York City and Long Island have their own separate scenes, they have a large enough overlap that they share a PR. They're also home to several of Smash Wii U's strongest players, including Jason "ANTi" Bates, Samuel "Dabuz" Buzby and Eric "Mr. E" Weber, as well as Will "DKwill" Walsh, Carlos "Raptor" Vanegas, Vinnie Cannino and John "John Numbers" Goldberg.


Overall, NYC and Long Island are quite stacked in comparison to other regions; even their less notable players are high-level threats. Though he doesn't travel much, Jon "dekillsage" Coello has proven himself as a name to look out for, placing 7th at Combo Breaker 2017. Ricardo "Sinji" Mathison is another established name within the region and the best Pac-Man main in the United States. The region is also home to Jonathan "Venia" Grullion, the best Greninja main in the United States and one of the best in the world, as well as Jake "Frozen" Somma, who, while perhaps better known for his Mewtwo in Project M, is quite skilled with Corrin.

Not only do NYC and Long Island share a PR, they share many of their tournaments as well. Nebulous Gaming and Xenozero Gaming each host their own weeklies in New York City, while AON hosts Long Island's main weekly. New York City also has two monthlies, one hosted by Xenozero Gaming, the other by Smash Attack.

Westchester
Just north of New York City and at the southernmost end of the Hudson Valley, Westchester's Smash Wii U scene, while somewhat small, has a large overlap with the NYC and Mid-Hudson scenes. Many of its players regularly attend Mid-Hudson and NYC events, and its events often attract players from these regions.

Westchester has three main tournaments: Undiscovered Realms' Smashed Out Mondays and Undiscovered Smash weeklies and the bi-weekly MollyWhop tournament series. The region is also home to Defend the North, one of the largest fighting game majors in the northeastern United States.


Though not as visible as their neighbors to the south, Westchester has a few notable players of their own. Daniel "DK Dan" Padulo has consistently dominated within the region and holds a few wins over out-of-region threat, including Mr. E. Other strong players within the region include Tyler "Ice" Long, Jake "Jaku" Gomez and Vincent "King" Marchione, formerly known as Mr. L. Though Ice lacks out-of-region results due to an inability to travel, Jaku and King both performed decently well at Glitch 3, with the former beating MD/VA's Troy "Puppeh" Wells in singles bracket before finishing at 25th, and the latter placing 13th in the mid-tiers bracket.

Mid-Hudson Valley
Though it's rather young compared to other scenes, the Mid-Hudson Smash Wii U scene is both strong and dedicated. Prior to Smash Wii U's release, the Mid-Hudson region lacked a proper Smash scene of its own, with most of its players relying on events in neighboring regions.

The Mid-Hudson Valley's two main tournaments are Equilibrium Gaming's weeklies and Requiem Gaming's bi-weeklies. Both of these tournament series began in response to the region's previous weekly series, run by ESE Gaming, would be put on indefinite hiatus. The region is also home to a monthly tournament series held at Dragon's Den, a game store in the region.


The Mid-Hudson Valley is home to several strong players. Some, such as Rees "Oatmeal" De Tar and Zachary "Opana" Strenkert are fairly well-known outside of the region. Oatmeal has taken sets off both Mr. E and New England's Alexander "Pugwest" Martins and placed 25th at Shine 2017. Meanwhile, Opana is largely considered to be one of the best Ganondorf mains in the world. Though not as well-known outside of the Mid-Hudson Valley, Eric "Arch" Jaroszko and OFY have also been dominant forces within the region, both topping PRs at various points. The region is also home to Joe "Joe Silly" Ciliberto and Jefferson "LaZy" De La Rosa, two up-and-coming players who rose up the ranks in a rather short span of time, with the latter making his debut at 2nd.

Capital Region
Consisting of Albany, Troy, Schenectady, and their shared metropolitan area, the Capital Region is home to a strong, if small scene. Most notably, it's home to Rasheen "Dark Wizzy" Rose, who's not only one of the top Mario mains in the United States but completely undefeated in his home region, ranked 0 on the region's latest power ranking.


Aside from Dark Wizzy, the region has several other notable players, including Michael "Omega Tyrant" Oliver, who's taken sets off Oatmeal in the past, as well as Robbie "Grunk" Deeb, who rose from 7th to 1st on the PR in the span of a few months, taking the spot previously held by Dark Wizzy. Though he lacks out-of-region results, Caleb "PrimeFighter" Tollicent has performed well within the region, as has Marcel Suncin.

The Capital Region has two main tournament series for Smash Wii U. Flipside Gaming runs a weekly tournament series called Flipside Smash, which usually brings in about 15 to 20 entrants. Meanwhile Schenectady Smash runs a bi-weekly series called Massive Smash Mondays with an average of 25 to 30 players per tournament.

Upstate New York

Centered around Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse, the Upstate New York Smash Wii U scene is second only to New York City and Long Island in terms of both its size and the strength of its players. The Upstate scene is also spread out than others in New York, with some of its tournaments only attracting players from certain areas within the region.

Despite the region's size, it has surprisingly few tournaments. The region's Smash it Out monthlies, hosted by A Gamer's Nostalgia and Smash the Roc, are among the few events that attract players from throughout the region. The region also has two bi-weeklies: SyrSmash in Syracuse, and Let's Build the Road in Buffalo.


Most notably, Upstate New York is home to Kyle "K.I.D. Goggles" Flournoy, a high-level Sonic main with wins over Mr. E and Vinnie, as well as top 16 placings at both Pound 2016 and EGLX. Alongside K.I.D Goggles, the Upstate New York scene has players like Sanford "San" Johnson, an Ike main with 9th place finishes at both GOML 2016 and Canada Cup 2016 under his belt. Other strong players within the region include Dominic "Dom" Di Risio, Zander "iModerz" Cardona, and Hunter "Draxsel" Gallagher. Dom, while unable to travel outside of the region, has been a dominant force within it, with wins over every other player on the Upstate PR. iModerz and Draxsel, on the other hand, have strong out-of region results. iModerz placed 5th at Winter Brawl 11, while Draxsel took a set off DKwill at Pound 2016.
 
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Comments

love this article. glad to see my boys and my region getting recognition. CAPITAL REGION & SCHENECTADY!!!!!
 
Does anyone have any info on the Rochester tournaments? I've been looking as I will be near there over the summer and can't find any info like times and venue.
 
love this article. glad to see my boys and my region getting recognition. CAPITAL REGION & SCHENECTADY!!!!!
I never see any representation for our area, Capital District is such a small community. But glad to see it in here, never knew of flip side or the Schenectady bi-weekly till now
 
As someone from upstate NY I gotta say Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse are not upstate. They should be called like Western NY or maybe Great Lakes region not upstate.
 
Its crazy this article came up. Me and my circle of friends have been talking about joining up with the buffalo scene. Ive only heard of a few areas that host tourneys tho. Anyone from buffalo or wny with some tourney info plz let me know.
 
Its crazy this article came up. Me and my circle of friends have been talking about joining up with the buffalo scene. Ive only heard of a few areas that host tourneys tho. Anyone from buffalo or wny with some tourney info plz let me know.
Hey, I'm Zambo and I TO most of the buffalo smash 4 events. Every Wednesday we have free smash4 tournaments at GameOn Lan
https://www.facebook.com/gameonLAN/
Bracket starts at 8 but people usually show up at 5 or 6
We have two biweeklies as well.
There's Let's Build The Road which is run by Brackkles tournaments that features melee and smash 4
https://www.facebook.com/BrackklesTournaments/
The other one is a new Biweekly run by 716Smash that features smash 4 at GameOn
https://www.facebook.com/716-Smash-1870816853170736/
The next event run by Brackkles will be the Rustbelt classic which is Saturday July 1st
https://www.facebook.com/events/260208961121295/?ti=cl
The next event run by 716Smash will be on Friday July 7th
https://www.facebook.com/events/785260261641086/?ti=cl

If you have any questions, message me on here or DM me on Twitter @Zambosmash
 
Hey, I'm Zambo and I TO most of the buffalo smash 4 events. Every Wednesday we have free smash4 tournaments at GameOn Lan
https://www.facebook.com/gameonLAN/
Bracket starts at 8 but people usually show up at 5 or 6
We have two biweeklies as well.
There's Let's Build The Road which is run by Brackkles tournaments that features melee and smash 4
https://www.facebook.com/BrackklesTournaments/
The other one is a new Biweekly run by 716Smash that features smash 4 at GameOn
https://www.facebook.com/716-Smash-1870816853170736/
The next event run by Brackkles will be the Rustbelt classic which is Saturday July 1st
https://www.facebook.com/events/260208961121295/?ti=cl
The next event run by 716Smash will be on Friday July 7th
https://www.facebook.com/events/785260261641086/?ti=cl

If you have any questions, message me on here or DM me on Twitter @Zambosmash
Thanks alot. A few of my buddies went up to gameon on Wednesday and liked it. I'll definitely stop by
 
I think there's more noteworthy stuff you could have mentioned about me beyond the Oatmeal wins, like making bracket at KTAR XVIII and XIX, and having winning records on every non-Wizzy CR player, most of which are quite dominant. Marcel also deserved more than just a name mention, such as being CR's #2 player from Summer 2015 to Spring 2016, and having some OoR results like winning the last big ESE during the past Winter.
 
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