Cobrevolution
Smash Master
Certain things have contributed to Smash 64’s online growth over the past few months, such as Isai’s Tuesday night stream sessions and Apex’s startling and record-breaking attendance. This past week, however, gave birth to a new incentive for competition: actual online rankings.
Previously, using "Kaillera" has been the option for netplay with emulated games since the early 2000s, but the constant issues have often deterred people from playing - and at times, rightly so. Lagouts, poor servers, game quality issues, and desynchs can make playing Smash 64 online unenjoyable, to say the least. Despite existing for as long as it has, interest did not peak until around 2005, when players started pouring in as the program was updated with more frequency. Naturally, as the population increased, so did the competition, and with it, the birth of online events.
Where Would Isai Rank Online?
Online Rankings Launch
Online tournaments have been run in the past, often taking anywhere from two to four weeks to complete. Generally, once people are knocked into the loser’s bracket, they start to lose interest and motivation to continue. The venue is the comfort of their own homes, and they can simply decline to play bracket matches if they so desire. This leads to stagnant online events whose interest levels die down quite quickly. To compare, Nova’s Japanese Style Tournament took a little over two weeks to finish, and sHEERmADNESS’s Timed Tournament still hasn’t crowned a victor, despite it being active for well over a month.
The new rankings system introduced by Karajan fixes the lost interest issue. With a dynamic tier and point system, you are constantly in a state of competition – and upon reaching a period of inactivity, you find that your level drops. The system itself is styled after a similar Japanese system, found here, which Karajan learned about during his trip to Japan.
After being active for merely a week, there have already been over 70 matches played. Console-exclusive players like Stranded, Studstill, bowl, and Karajan himself have joined the rankings, and even lured some retired players like Sensei and Fireblaster out of their cozy non-competitive states.
Super Smash Sundays Comes to the East Coast
Coming on the heels of this system is the second installment of the East Coast’s Super Smash Sundays, hosted at Yestercades in Red Bank. Generally, players who compete online tend to lack a scene close to their homes. The Red Bank tournaments attract a lot of locals, but not too many online players.
Super Smash Sundays recently launched on the East Coast at Yestercades in Red Bank, NJ.
However, the new rankings have spurred a desire for some of the players to come out to this week’s Smash Sunday to test their might. Top players like Mew2King, KeroKeroppi, and Stranded will be attending. Karajan will be running the Smash 64 section of the event to take some of the stress off chain-ace, and will be driving all the way from New Hampshire to do so. Other notable attendees include Studstill, Zedz, Breakthrough, and Bloodpeach.
Live tournaments like Super Smash Sundays are independent of Karajan’s online ranking system. Instead, live tournaments are factored into Smashboards’ rankings, as well as the Smash 64 ELO Ratings.
Cobrevolution is the resident salty Samus main of the 64 community. Questions and comments can be directed to his twitter, @cobrevolution.
Previously, using "Kaillera" has been the option for netplay with emulated games since the early 2000s, but the constant issues have often deterred people from playing - and at times, rightly so. Lagouts, poor servers, game quality issues, and desynchs can make playing Smash 64 online unenjoyable, to say the least. Despite existing for as long as it has, interest did not peak until around 2005, when players started pouring in as the program was updated with more frequency. Naturally, as the population increased, so did the competition, and with it, the birth of online events.
Where Would Isai Rank Online?
Online Rankings Launch
Online tournaments have been run in the past, often taking anywhere from two to four weeks to complete. Generally, once people are knocked into the loser’s bracket, they start to lose interest and motivation to continue. The venue is the comfort of their own homes, and they can simply decline to play bracket matches if they so desire. This leads to stagnant online events whose interest levels die down quite quickly. To compare, Nova’s Japanese Style Tournament took a little over two weeks to finish, and sHEERmADNESS’s Timed Tournament still hasn’t crowned a victor, despite it being active for well over a month.
The new rankings system introduced by Karajan fixes the lost interest issue. With a dynamic tier and point system, you are constantly in a state of competition – and upon reaching a period of inactivity, you find that your level drops. The system itself is styled after a similar Japanese system, found here, which Karajan learned about during his trip to Japan.
After being active for merely a week, there have already been over 70 matches played. Console-exclusive players like Stranded, Studstill, bowl, and Karajan himself have joined the rankings, and even lured some retired players like Sensei and Fireblaster out of their cozy non-competitive states.
Super Smash Sundays Comes to the East Coast
Coming on the heels of this system is the second installment of the East Coast’s Super Smash Sundays, hosted at Yestercades in Red Bank. Generally, players who compete online tend to lack a scene close to their homes. The Red Bank tournaments attract a lot of locals, but not too many online players.
Super Smash Sundays recently launched on the East Coast at Yestercades in Red Bank, NJ.
However, the new rankings have spurred a desire for some of the players to come out to this week’s Smash Sunday to test their might. Top players like Mew2King, KeroKeroppi, and Stranded will be attending. Karajan will be running the Smash 64 section of the event to take some of the stress off chain-ace, and will be driving all the way from New Hampshire to do so. Other notable attendees include Studstill, Zedz, Breakthrough, and Bloodpeach.
Live tournaments like Super Smash Sundays are independent of Karajan’s online ranking system. Instead, live tournaments are factored into Smashboards’ rankings, as well as the Smash 64 ELO Ratings.
Cobrevolution is the resident salty Samus main of the 64 community. Questions and comments can be directed to his twitter, @cobrevolution.
