In winter 2014, the prominent UK smasher Vincent "BrTarolg" Tam was looking forward to a few weeks of 85°F weather in one of the furthest places in the world from home: Singapore, an island-city-state in Southeast Asia.
Although the small region was well-known among the fighting game community (Singapore’s RΛZΞR Xian had won EVO 2013 and Dreamhack 2015 in Street Fighter IV), BrTarolg would struggle to find fellow Super Smash Bros. competitors. Nintendo had never supported the island region, forcing any Singaporean fans to import its products at extra cost as their friends celebrated the attention of Microsoft and Sony.
Few had grown up on Nintendo consoles, never mind the Smash Bros. series. Competitive tournaments and training sessions were unheard of. Besides, the city had long rid itself of most of its CRTs, and they were very rare among the HDTVs.
It would take a chance encounter, between like-minded people sharing common interests, to form the close friendships that would become the core of what today is a stubbornly-thriving Singaporean smash community. For "SmashG", the initial spark would come from an unlikely source: David "Lock" Fu, a Super Smash Bros. Melee Samus player from MD/VA, USA.
From Scratch
As Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U began to release worldwide during the latter half of 2014, Lock had arrived in Singapore for his work. He was ready and well-equipped to compete with the Singaporean scene... only to find that it didn’t exist.
Despite his disappointment, a small glimmer of hope presented itself in a free-for-all Smash 3DS “Smash Run” tournament hosted by a local Facebook Streetpass group. There, Lock met Valterria who invited him to a small Smash Wii U launch event held at Playnation (a gaming center), where he would meet Jonne “Lyonaris” Lyonne, among others.
Although they would later become key figures in the scene to come, during that launch event’s dinner the small group still fretted over the unreasonable difficulty in Singapore of pooling together the equipment, venue, or players needed to host even minor smash events. They had all seen the recent post on the Streetpass group by BrTarolg searching for events, and regretted that BrTarolg wouldn’t find anything resembling the instant reception he’d get in the USA or Europe.
However, once Lock reached home he realized that his apartment was perfectly suitable for an event! Having brought a full Melee setup in his luggage, including a lagless gaming monitor, as well as having two other TVs in his apartment, all Lock needed were the consoles to complete the holy tri-setup trinity (granting him the ability to summon BRTarolg).
Inspired by the awesome events hosted by MD/VA’s Sypherphoenix, Lock went the extra mile to try and capture the culture that had made Sypherphoenix’s fests so remarkable to him:
“For 8 years this guy held...weekly meetups at his place and it was always super fun because you got to meet and chat with everyone about the game, learning about it together, and also hang out/eat. It's probably one of my favorite smash events, still - I try to visit.
Even though I was completely outmatched by Max and friends - like, constantly getting four-stocked - they'd keep playing and also explain a lot of things if I showed interest or otherwise just had fun, they said it was just fun to play given the mechanics of Melee. So it was a great experience for newer players, like I was at the time. And I wanted my meetup to have that sort of environment too, since everyone was very new in SG”
Let the Games Begin
Lock had tagged nearly everyone he’d befriended at the earlier Streetpass events, even encouraging some privately that it’d be worth the effort. For such an unprecedented gathering, it was a success: about 17 unique participants, including BRTarolg, attended, and the comments afterwards were extremely positive.
Lock knew however, that things were not to last. He wouldn’t be in Singapore forever, and would have to leave so soon that hosting another fest was unlikely. There would be no time to turn the smoke he started into a steady flame.
When everyone left that night, Lyonaris stayed back to talk to Lock. “As a kid who had no one to (play) Smash (with), I wanted to find people like that, to Smash with," he chuckled. Unlike Lock, Lyonaris didn’t have an active community at home to return to - but after being part of the success that just unfolded before him, he wanted to create one. He used the opportunity to question Lock about the inner-workings of the US communities.
A week later, Lyonaris hosted his very own Smashfest at the event room of his condominium (and the second ever in Singapore), drawing even more attendees than the first and exposing Singaporeans to their first ever high pressure event: a large crew battle.
Encouraged by the success of the second fest, Lock gifted his gaming monitor to Lyonaris. Although easy to obtain in the U.S., the brand of lagless monitor had been nearly twice the price in Singapore. Overwhelmed by gratitude for Lock’s part in starting a scene, Lyonaris told Lock that he could return any time - Singapore would always be ready to serve as a second home for him. Unbeknownst to Lyonaris, the small scene they had all started was not only going to grow from that point onwards, it was also going to change the lives of many young Singaporeans.
The Community
Today, the SmashG group has at least ten monitors and supporting equipment, and continues to host dual Melee/Smash4 events, including smashfests, monthlies, and even regional majors. Its events have drawn the attention of top regional threats from SE Asia, including the Philippines and Hongkong - and even Twitch | Crimson Blur and Twitch | D1 have once made inquiries into the scene.
But despite its growth, the community has not forgotten the culture of friendship and welcome that started it all.
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For a bonus round, here is one of the questions in an interview with Tsuko G, a French Melee TO who is visiting for his studies:
Rayofcannon: After being to one Smashfest and a local major, how's your experience with the [SmashG] community so far?
Tsuko G: You’re just plain awesome. I absolutely have nothing else to say about you guys. I’ve been greeted like we’ve known each other forever, and I definitely forgot the change of scenery from France. You have nice places, nice people, nice setups. Just keep on it and aim big.
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