The Puerto Rican Smash community is one that has undergone great changes and has built up over time. From its initial steps containing out of the norm formats, and to present day with its appearance at Puerto Rico’s major tournament, it sure has been one heck of a roller coaster. Nonetheless, it has become a region that is recognized by many outside of the island. Let’s take a trip through history which will allow us to see how a scene can develop over time.
A Brief History of Time
The year 2004 marked the first instances of Smash gatherings and informal tournaments on the island. Interestingly enough, singles tournaments were nowhere to be found for most of the year. Puerto Rico had a Team Format fever. Records of these brackets have all been relegated to memories of the Smashers that were present during that era. There was also an informal 10 – stock singles tournament once! These rather out of the norm formats, during the time, would later pave the way to the first attempts of a formal tournament.
By December 2005, Puerto Rico would have its first tournament located at the West side of the island, “R.U.M. and Smash”. As a side note, the venue was located in the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez which in Spanish also has the name of Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez. It's acronym therefore becomes R.U.M. The tournament saw the adoption of the MLG rule-set of the time and featured both formats, Melee Singles and Doubles. Interestingly enough, it was completely run in double elimination pools. R.U.M. and Smash would showcase the skill of HDL, whose Link was a force to be reckoned with. Excel_Zero would also be a part of the series since 2006, growing from his early years as a Fox main, to his evolution as one of the memorable Melee Peach mains of the present. The R.U.M. and Smash tournament series would end up being one of the most notable; running once every academic semester up to it's 7th iteration.
The first R.U.M. and Smash (2005). Teams Hype! From left to right: Maximuspita, Eval, Xyhthyx and HDL.
The scene saw a lot of activity during 2006. Tournaments started cropping up throughout the island. Primarily, it marked the arrival of a lot of players from the Northern coast of Puerto Rico. Additionally, a local radio host would start running his own tournaments. They would be located in huge venues, usually in the biggest convention center on the island. The tournaments were mostly team format based during the initial phases. These would continue on until roughly 2009, Arcadia and Gaming Explosion Fest being the last entries of the series.
The Puerto Rico Convention Center during sun-down. The largest Convention Center in the Caribbean. (Source: Metro PR)
A Test of Skill: EVO 2007
By 2007, the Puerto Rican community wanted to test out how they would fare internationally. As such, some of its players decided to attend EVO. To the surprise of many, two of these competitors ended up in Top 16. Eval ended up taking 9th place, while FoxHater took 13th. This marked a turning point. After the success of its players on an international setting, the community back in Puerto Rico wanted to improve. The following year, and with the release of Brawl, a tournament circuit would be created. The player who tallied more points during that circuit would win a trip to compete at EVO 2008.
Brawling for EVO
With the release of Brawl, and the results of EVO 2007 in everyone's minds, a tournament circuit would begin in March 2008 to determine which player would win a trip for EVO 2008. This circuit had four tournaments, each taking place in either the North, East, South, or West of the island. Brawling for EVO West became the tournament with the most amount of entrants in Puerto Rico's Smash History during that time (88 entrants). In the end, Excel_Zero would be victorious. On an unexpected note, EVO 2008 would end up using items on its standard rule set. For this reason, instead of going to EVO 2008, Excel_Zero went to FAST 1 and took 17th place in Brawl. 2008 also marked a decline in popularity for Melee due to the release of Brawl. The latter's dominance though would be short lived.
Turn of the Decade
The popularity of Smash never wavered. As the years kept on going, the community did as well. In 2010, a group decided to travel to POUND IV and showcase their skill. This was the first time that Lord HDL faced Armada. Game two of the set was incredibly close. His performance against Armada would mark the resurgence of Melee on the island. HDL would also obtain 49th at APEX 2013 with Link! Project M also gained a strong following once it was released. Entry numbers for tournaments would rival those that Melee obtained. After Pound IV though, Puerto Rico's community became but a memory to many. APEX 2014 would put it back on everyone's mind.
International Tournaments (2014-2015)
Apex 2014 and EVO 2014: At APEX 2014, Excel_Zero was able to take tournament sets against PewPewU and Cactuar. The hype was indeed real. These wins would push the community back in Puerto Rico further. Everyone started to train, not just to have a chance of trying to take a jab against Excel_Zero in tournaments, but to someday go to an international tournament themselves. At APEX, the Puerto Rican community also became known to some as the loud one that always has a room up for friendlies. On the other hand, EVO 2014 showcased the skill that Puerto Rico had been honing in team based formats from its inception. HDL and Excel_Zero obtained 9th place in doubles, losing to Tang and SilentSpecter in the winners bracket, and to S2j and Shroomed in the losers bracket.
Door open, flag raised, challenges accepted, no johns.
APEX 2015 and EVO 2015 were amazing experiences for all of those who attended. EVO 2015 was a great run for Puerto Rico's community were four players made it out of the first round of pools. These players were Bubbleman (Ness) and Eking (Mario) for Smash 4. On the flip-side, LK007 (Peach) and Eval (Peach) would represent Puerto Rico in Melee.
First Attack: Puerto Rico's Major Tournament
All of these events, along with the growth of the other fighting game scenes on the island, gave birth to First Attack. It is now one of the biggest fighting game tournaments in Latin America and the Caribbean. The games present at First Attack 2014 were Super Smash Bros Melee, Project M, Ultimate Street Fighter IV, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and BlazBlue: Chronophantasma. Top players from Ultimate Street Fighter IV, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 attended; these include PR Balrog, Justin Wong, Chris G, Flocker, among others. On the Smash side of things, players from the Dominican Republic were in attendance. One of those players, Ray, went on to face Excel_Zero on Grand Finals. He achieved second place with Mario!
This year, the third entry of the series will take place. Melee, Smash 4, and Project M will be the games that highlight the Smash community. Hopes are that this year, more players from around the Americas will compete in the Smash series. On that note, SaSSy who is one of Texas's top R.O.B. players, will be representing the United States. The list also includes UUAA for Melee as well as M3RZ3NARY. However, Puerto Rico is training hard to take that gold medal spot for all three games! There are also rumors that Regi, the Game and Watch that surprised many at EVO 2015, and Wolf, will be representing Mexico. The Dominican Republic is also set to make an appearance this year. Ray is definitely gunning for that top spot in Melee! September 5-6, 2015 marks the dates for First Attack! Be sure to catch the stream by TeamSpooky.
Locuan will be doing commentary at First Attack! Be sure to follow him on Twitter @
Locuan
and talk all things related to Smash and Physics.
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