Vayseth
Smash Master
The following is not just results, it's a tournament report. I'm sure a lot of you are curious about how things work in Japan and I'm going to be kind of detailed in explaining everything that went down so you get an idea of what it's like to have a tournament in Japan. It's completely different. VERRRRY different.
This tournament was held in Osaka prefecture about 20 minutes from the north entertainment district "Umeda." Osaka has a lot of good players and collected people from all over (including Nagoya) for this West Japan Ranking tournament. Unfortunately no one from Tokyo came and only one person attending APEX was in attendance but it was certainly an interesting experience, to say the least.
This tournament was held all day on June 19th while Melee was held all day the following day. I didn't attend the melee tournament nor do I know who went or who won which is why this is just Brawl results.
They had 18 set ups in one room with signs on the TVs clearly marked "Tournament Use" or "For Friendlies" which could easily be flipped over if a station was needed for tournament matches or wasn't needed. Very cool idea. The room didn't feel too big or too small, it was just right.
Cultural note: It's not very common for people to just go over people's houses in Japan to play games. There's a cultural responsibility to bring gifts and stuff so that's why games on console only aren't as big as arcade scenes. That being said, the smash community here also has smashfests but they're not held very often unless they're between friends easily within reach of each other. Therefore, there would be multiple breaks in the tournament allowing for hours of friendlies to be had. It was like a smashfest+tournament. Interesting environment. It really relaxed me and there wasn't as much pressure as I'd feel in a US tournament. That's also because no money was on the line. There was a $5 venue fee but putting money down on yourself to win is considered gambling and very illegal in Japan. No video game tournaments give the winners cash, maybe prizes, but that is also very rare. Winners here receive pride only. There's no monetary gain for being the best at smash like there is in other places. So the environment is much more relaxed and it was fun hanging out with everyone. It's amazing to see that such good players exist and play regularly even if they don't get anything for winning.
The event only had two tournaments, low tier and regular singles. There was just over 50 people in attendance and the numbers went up just a little bit when the main tournament got started.
First thing you all should know is the rules are COMPLETELY different. For low tier the playable characters were:
The tournament was random seeding (we pulled cards which placed us in the bracket randomly), 2 stock, 6 min, 1 match, single elimination and battlefield only. Also, you had to choose your character and stick with it for the entire tournament upon registration (low tier only).
It was a lot of fun but Earth came out on top very easily. His hardest match seemed to be against Smasher, who is from the same city as him. Smasher's Link is insane. However, after a close set with Smasher Earth proceeded to not lose a single stock against Alice to take the top spot. Here are your top 4:
1. Earth (Zelda)
2. Alice (Ganondorf)
3. Smasher (Link)
3. 9B (Luigi)
Now on to the real tournament.
The real tournament rules were nothing like I'd ever experienced before. First we were all broken up into pools but no one was eliminated. The rules for pools were 3 stock, 10 minutes, FD only. 1 match only.
...
What pools did was seed people, but in a strange way. 1st and 2nd seeds got automatically sent to round 3 of the tournament, 3rd and 4th seeds got seeded in the 2nd round and the rest were sent to the first round. Seeing as this was a single elimination tournament, pools mattered, and since you could only play each person once, every single match mattered.
I got last seed. I play DDD and only DDD. After people knew that, they counterpicked me like mad and DDD's worst match ups on FD just get even worse. There was really nothing I could do. I got close a couple times but really I knew I wasn't winning anything under these conditions.
The real tournament started soon after where we were segregated into groups based on our seeding. I played a 4th seed first and the other people in our bracket were behind us waiting for us to finish. It actually went very smoothly.
The actual tournament was best 2/3, single elimination, 3 stock, 10 minutes. Stages you could pick included FD, BF and Smashville ONLY. However, like pools, FD was guaranteed first match. Counter picking system from then on was exactly like ours. Loser picks stage (any stage of the 3 was fine, no restrictions, no bans), winner picks character, loser picks character. However, even if you won the second match, you could be easily taken back to FD no problem.
I played an MK in brackets, did really well on FD but lost. Took him to BF, did well again, but lost. Didn't win a single match the whole tournament. I was surprised because I did really well in friendlies against everyone but when it came time for the tournament, I was just CP'd and forced to play on FD, making things really hard. I learned I need to learn a new character that can perform well on FD because that's the only way you're going to survive in these tournaments.
Oh, yeah, and one more thing. Yes, they had the rule where if there's a time out the person in the air longest loses, not stock or percent. Honestly, I never saw a time out so I never saw that come into play but they play 10 minute matches as well. They're given much more time but I didn't see camping as a viable strategy. See? When money's not on the line people tend to actually play and not camp. You have to realize before some of you guys go thinking these rules are awesome and that you should use them REMEMBER: Japanese people don't play for money. They CAN'T play for money. Their rules are made around this fact and if someone were to run out time (which I seriously doubt) they have rules for that but because there's nothing to gain for winning besides pride, they can have these types of rules. I don't think they'd work in the states, at all. I'm actually also fairly confident that unless the Japanese practice American rules, they're going to be shocked when they go to APEX in August.
Anyway, I had to bug out early but I said goodbye to the host 9B (pronounced Q-Bee, like Kyuubi from Naruto) who said he'd invite me to a smash fest if there was one and the tournament next month. Until then, I've got to learn someone who can perform well on FD because otherwise I don't think I'll win. These rules seriously change the tiers IMO and I've got to find another way to win. However, 9B hooked me up with the results:
1. Nagahari (Diddy, Falco)
2. Kuroan (Snake)
3. Miyacchi (ICs)
4. Isotaku (DDD, ???)
The ICs player was in my pool and he was alright but I don't think he's anywhere near lain's level. I don't know what lain could do under these rule sets where you could be guaranteed FD every set, possibly even go back to FD twice. I think any ICs player, Diddy player, Falco player and possibly even Snake/MK could do super well with these rules. I'm looking forward to the next one, now that I have experience, hopefully I can learn and do better next time.
If you have any questions about the Japanese scene that weren't answered here, I can try my best to answer them. I'll try to make it to the other tournaments they have before APEX to try and hype that tournament up as much as possible. I'm not sure how Japanese players will do under US rules, but I do know they are definitely good. M2K-level? I don't know. I saw some amazing stuff and one of the staff told me Tokyo > Osaka and most of the players going to APEX are coming from Tokyo. I'd love to see them in action one day.
Anyway, expect more from the Japanese scene soon!
This tournament was held in Osaka prefecture about 20 minutes from the north entertainment district "Umeda." Osaka has a lot of good players and collected people from all over (including Nagoya) for this West Japan Ranking tournament. Unfortunately no one from Tokyo came and only one person attending APEX was in attendance but it was certainly an interesting experience, to say the least.
This tournament was held all day on June 19th while Melee was held all day the following day. I didn't attend the melee tournament nor do I know who went or who won which is why this is just Brawl results.
They had 18 set ups in one room with signs on the TVs clearly marked "Tournament Use" or "For Friendlies" which could easily be flipped over if a station was needed for tournament matches or wasn't needed. Very cool idea. The room didn't feel too big or too small, it was just right.
Cultural note: It's not very common for people to just go over people's houses in Japan to play games. There's a cultural responsibility to bring gifts and stuff so that's why games on console only aren't as big as arcade scenes. That being said, the smash community here also has smashfests but they're not held very often unless they're between friends easily within reach of each other. Therefore, there would be multiple breaks in the tournament allowing for hours of friendlies to be had. It was like a smashfest+tournament. Interesting environment. It really relaxed me and there wasn't as much pressure as I'd feel in a US tournament. That's also because no money was on the line. There was a $5 venue fee but putting money down on yourself to win is considered gambling and very illegal in Japan. No video game tournaments give the winners cash, maybe prizes, but that is also very rare. Winners here receive pride only. There's no monetary gain for being the best at smash like there is in other places. So the environment is much more relaxed and it was fun hanging out with everyone. It's amazing to see that such good players exist and play regularly even if they don't get anything for winning.
The event only had two tournaments, low tier and regular singles. There was just over 50 people in attendance and the numbers went up just a little bit when the main tournament got started.
First thing you all should know is the rules are COMPLETELY different. For low tier the playable characters were:
- Mario
- Luigi
- Bowser
- Yoshi
- Link
- Zelda
- Ganondorf
- Samus
- Falcon
- PT
- Jigglypuff
- Ness
- Lucas
- Sonic
The tournament was random seeding (we pulled cards which placed us in the bracket randomly), 2 stock, 6 min, 1 match, single elimination and battlefield only. Also, you had to choose your character and stick with it for the entire tournament upon registration (low tier only).
It was a lot of fun but Earth came out on top very easily. His hardest match seemed to be against Smasher, who is from the same city as him. Smasher's Link is insane. However, after a close set with Smasher Earth proceeded to not lose a single stock against Alice to take the top spot. Here are your top 4:
1. Earth (Zelda)
2. Alice (Ganondorf)
3. Smasher (Link)
3. 9B (Luigi)
Now on to the real tournament.
The real tournament rules were nothing like I'd ever experienced before. First we were all broken up into pools but no one was eliminated. The rules for pools were 3 stock, 10 minutes, FD only. 1 match only.
...
What pools did was seed people, but in a strange way. 1st and 2nd seeds got automatically sent to round 3 of the tournament, 3rd and 4th seeds got seeded in the 2nd round and the rest were sent to the first round. Seeing as this was a single elimination tournament, pools mattered, and since you could only play each person once, every single match mattered.
I got last seed. I play DDD and only DDD. After people knew that, they counterpicked me like mad and DDD's worst match ups on FD just get even worse. There was really nothing I could do. I got close a couple times but really I knew I wasn't winning anything under these conditions.
The real tournament started soon after where we were segregated into groups based on our seeding. I played a 4th seed first and the other people in our bracket were behind us waiting for us to finish. It actually went very smoothly.
The actual tournament was best 2/3, single elimination, 3 stock, 10 minutes. Stages you could pick included FD, BF and Smashville ONLY. However, like pools, FD was guaranteed first match. Counter picking system from then on was exactly like ours. Loser picks stage (any stage of the 3 was fine, no restrictions, no bans), winner picks character, loser picks character. However, even if you won the second match, you could be easily taken back to FD no problem.
I played an MK in brackets, did really well on FD but lost. Took him to BF, did well again, but lost. Didn't win a single match the whole tournament. I was surprised because I did really well in friendlies against everyone but when it came time for the tournament, I was just CP'd and forced to play on FD, making things really hard. I learned I need to learn a new character that can perform well on FD because that's the only way you're going to survive in these tournaments.
Oh, yeah, and one more thing. Yes, they had the rule where if there's a time out the person in the air longest loses, not stock or percent. Honestly, I never saw a time out so I never saw that come into play but they play 10 minute matches as well. They're given much more time but I didn't see camping as a viable strategy. See? When money's not on the line people tend to actually play and not camp. You have to realize before some of you guys go thinking these rules are awesome and that you should use them REMEMBER: Japanese people don't play for money. They CAN'T play for money. Their rules are made around this fact and if someone were to run out time (which I seriously doubt) they have rules for that but because there's nothing to gain for winning besides pride, they can have these types of rules. I don't think they'd work in the states, at all. I'm actually also fairly confident that unless the Japanese practice American rules, they're going to be shocked when they go to APEX in August.
Anyway, I had to bug out early but I said goodbye to the host 9B (pronounced Q-Bee, like Kyuubi from Naruto) who said he'd invite me to a smash fest if there was one and the tournament next month. Until then, I've got to learn someone who can perform well on FD because otherwise I don't think I'll win. These rules seriously change the tiers IMO and I've got to find another way to win. However, 9B hooked me up with the results:
1. Nagahari (Diddy, Falco)
2. Kuroan (Snake)
3. Miyacchi (ICs)
4. Isotaku (DDD, ???)
The ICs player was in my pool and he was alright but I don't think he's anywhere near lain's level. I don't know what lain could do under these rule sets where you could be guaranteed FD every set, possibly even go back to FD twice. I think any ICs player, Diddy player, Falco player and possibly even Snake/MK could do super well with these rules. I'm looking forward to the next one, now that I have experience, hopefully I can learn and do better next time.
If you have any questions about the Japanese scene that weren't answered here, I can try my best to answer them. I'll try to make it to the other tournaments they have before APEX to try and hype that tournament up as much as possible. I'm not sure how Japanese players will do under US rules, but I do know they are definitely good. M2K-level? I don't know. I saw some amazing stuff and one of the staff told me Tokyo > Osaka and most of the players going to APEX are coming from Tokyo. I'd love to see them in action one day.
Anyway, expect more from the Japanese scene soon!
