As part of the first group of Japanese players to travel to the US, Suinoko has been active in the Smash scene for years. As a result, he's seen firsthand how scene interactions have changed over time. He currently resides in Kagoshima, Kyushu where he refines his Super Smash Bros. for Wii U play online. Thanks to his veteran status and English language skills, I was able to pick his brain on the dynamics of international Smash competition.
Hi Suinoko! Thanks for speaking with me. If I remember correctly, you first came to the US for Apex 2010, which was when the US and Japanese scenes started interacting. What would you say were the main things driving international competition in Smash? How important were these first steps (like Apex and SRT) for the amount of traveling players do now?
When we went to Apex 2010, we just wanted to know how high the level of foreign Smash scenes were, and test the level of ours in America. I think all competitive players, including pros, also have this primordial motivation to play to win. The most important thing are the players who represent the level of scene, like M2K and Ally in 2010 or Zero, Ally, Leo and so on today. When we see them playing in streams and videos, we are impressed by them and want to play them.
It's taken longer for US players to start coming to big Japanese events, but now organizations like MVG are making it easier than before. Do you think this has changed the way people play? Back in the Brawl days, a lot of the people I talked to tried to generalize about "Japanese" or "American" play styles. It seems like most of these generalizations don't hold, but I was wondering if you've noticed people picking up new tricks abroad.
I don't know about it much, but I think we could get more information in the Brawl days because we had the SNS "Smacom," similar to Smashboards. Now all of us use Twitter mainly.
We've also seen the American Smash scene migrating to new platforms (to Twitter and Reddit, and sadly for us away from Smashboards). In a way this makes getting in touch with people easier, but saving information becomes harder.
It is harder to get information from Twitter than Smacom. I think this is the first problem. Besides that, we don't have enough promoters. We need more promoters to get information, translate and spread it. But I know this is so hard for them.
A lot of American tournaments do everything on Smash.gg, but Japan still mostly uses Challonge for brackets and Kokucheese for registration. Do you know why this is?
It's because of the language barrier and the system of pools. Almost all foreign tournaments adopt best-of-2 pools, but we use the best-of-1 round robin format in Japan. I think it is easier for TOs to use Challonge for round robins. Also, the language barrier is a very serious problem. We spent lots of time teaching EVO registration to those who can't understand English.
That makes sense. Is there a way that American TOs could make registration easier for international players?
Maybe. Once Umebura used Smash.gg, but they use Challonge now. I don't know why lol.
Would you mind if I ask you some questions about your character now? You played Diddy Kong in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as well. Were you planning on maining him before Smash Wii U, or did you just like how he played?
I didn't choose to continue Diddy. At first I wanted to use Pac-Man or Bowser Jr., but Diddy is the easiest for me.
Well, it seems like a good choice now lol. What would you say is your primary form of practice? Does that change going into a major event?
I mainly play online by using Sumamate, the Japanese ladder site. I live in Kagoshima prefecture, too far from Tokyo and Osaka, so I need to practice online. There are many players and characters on Sumamate, so I can learn character matchups there.
There are tons of strong players on Sumamate. I've also seen you enter Tamisuma [an online tournament series] and do quite well. But in any case, I have to go to bed now. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk.
OK, no problem! Good night(^-^)/
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Did you enjoy this interview? If so, consider following Suinoko on Twitter to keep up with his travels. Also, don't forget to tune in to SHI Gaming's (Japanese) or MVG League's (English) Twitch channels this weekend for Umebura Japan Major!
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