TSM ZeRo
Banned via Administration
Welcome everyone to ZeRo's 5th Pro Player spotlight. I am here with Nick Riddle, the master of Zero Suit Samus:
(Nick Riddle, to the left, playing Ally at MLG Columbus).
(Nick Riddle, to the left, playing Ally at MLG Columbus).
ZeRo: Nick, what's good?
Nick Riddle: I am! Obviously! Just trying not to be too hyped for WHOBO right now. How about yourself?
ZeRo: Doing well! Thanks for asking. Now Nick, you're known for being the guy that doesn't have fear to voice out his opinions. Do you get too much hate for this?
Nick Riddle: All of the hate. I feed off of it! Seriously though, I get a lot of hate for not sugar-coating things. One would think people would find it refreshing when a "top player" is blunt about aspects of this game, but they really aren't...It's weird.
ZeRo: I see, I see. Well, being honest is always good. No one is gonna have surprises with you. They know your true nature is right off the bat. Have you gotten enemies, and good friends from this?
Nick Riddle: I think enemies is too strong a word. I know a LOT of people think I'm cocky/have a big head/are a jerk... and they'd be right. What they DON'T know is the fact that I'm like that because being the quiet guy was too boring for me... Plus, when I get people riled up, they're more willing to Money Match me.
Have I gotten friends from it though? Probably. If people want actual advice/critiques, they come to me because they know I won't pull any punches.ZeRo: I always prefer honest opinions, before anything else. My best friend is just like you... Who knows, we could be friends! Anyway, from where do your roots come from?
Nick Riddle: I went to my first Melee tournamenti n 2006. Before that I played with ESAM, and I got Seibrik into it. I randomly stumbled across SWF, and went to SACS. Back then I was the typical "best on my block" sort of guy who thought he was pro. WHen I made it out of pools, I figured I had the tournament in the bag. The I played Noucles... a local Fox main... and he 4-stocked me twice. He linked me to videos of Ken and Azen, and told me to practice. After about a year of losing with Marth, I switch to Link... because as we all know, Link is the most viable tournament character in Melee. To make a long story short, when Brawl came out I compeltely dropped Melee because Link is bad. Mained Marth/Bowser/Zelda for a while... then I tried out ZSS. No joke, but when I first landed d-smash and saw the stun I knew she was goign to be my main. A move that held you in place for THAT long in a game with no combos?! BROKEN!
ZeRo: So you were born as a ZSS main pretty much. Why did you decided to get to the level that you're currently in? The jump from playing at local melee tournaments, and then playing M2K at the Winners Finals of MLG Columbus is quite big.
Nick Riddle: It was probably due to Lambchops/Tommy G. Chops taught me A LOT about the mental game of Smash. Got me a lot better. My turning point was in August of 2009 though. I was really struggling against CO18, a top 2 DDD at the time. I just couldn't beat him. Finally, with some slow adjustments from the amazing Tommy G, something just clicked. I beat him in Winner's Finals of the tournament. I still watch the vids to this day.
ZeRo: Very interesting. Shout outs to Tommy G then, right?
Nick Riddle: The biggest shoutouts to Tommy G. He STILL teaches me small things to this day.
ZeRo: The very best. Moving onto MLG. Tell us, why did you do SO good at Columbus? Considering it was also the biggest MLG of the year too. Everyone went to Columbus.
Nick Riddle: I was just in the zone... I don't know what else to say. That tournament, I was just "kinda the best in the world... I dunno.:"
ZeRo: Awesome to hear. Nick, what is your take on MK's legality in singles and doubles?
Nick Riddle: That's a hard question to ask. I believe that with no arbitrary restrictions MK is unbeatable, so by that definition he is bannable. On the other hand, I find no problem with arbritraty restrictions in this game, so by that logic he should be legal. I wouldn't MIND him banned as it'd make it easier for me, but I cannot give sound reasons as to why he should be banned. I don't think he should be banned, but I like MK banned tournaments because it's easier.
ZeRo: Speaking about MK banned, what are your preparations going on for Whobo?
Nick Riddle: I played a LOT this last weekend. I'm also practicing the Diddy amd ROB infinites. I'm scared of gnes, and ROB is a MU that I never really easily best... so Im hoping to change those two things. THe biggest thing I did, I think, is I changed my mindset on how I approach matches. Instead of playing to win, and freaking out every single time I'm losing, I'm going into matches to do my best. If I win, then it worked out. If I lose, I'll do better next time. Sirlin purists, don't judge.
ZeRo: Very good mentality right here. Hopefully you do well at the tournament! This is personal question I want to ask you, why is your gamertag, "Nick Riddle"?
Nick Riddle: I was in 9th grade and I had installed Maple Story. I had dial-up at the time, and Maple Story ran amazingly on it. I picked a random first name, and Riddle sounded cool at the end of it. I promise it wasn't a Harry Potter reference. I have never been bigi nto Harry Potter, despite owning the books... I just didn't want people on the Internet to know my name, and I thought stereotypical 10th grade names like, "DarkAvenger" or some other stupid name would be, well, stupid.
ZeRo: I didn't really expect that kind of story! Funny, regardless. We all know you and Salem have a pretty big rivalry, what do you have to say about getting 2-0'ed at Apex?
Nick Riddle: What he did caught me off guard, even though I had seen it before. Playing a playstyle that unique is hard to cope with the first time. It also doesn't help that my ZSS experience is very limited, while his wi-fi exp. probably helped a lot. With all of those excuses, I still lost 2-0. I just hope people realize that him beating me doesn't instantly make him better than me, it makes him better at the ditto. I look forward to playing him again to see if it was a fluke or not... To be honest, being the best ZSS for so long was so frustrating... because there wasn't much to learn from other people. I hope he doesn't fade into nothingness as people learn his style, because it would just prove the idea in my mind that mine is the best ZSS style.
ZeRo: The confidence! I like that. Anyway Nick, getting ready for Apex?
Nick Riddle: Not yet. I focus one tournament at a time. I'll get ready for Apex after WHOBO. Gotta brush up on that MK MU again.
ZeRo: Who do you plan on teaming with for Apex?
Nick Riddle: Shaky. Anybody else I team with at this point I have to hardcore carry. Shaky's the only person right now who doesn't make me do that... plus we're broken.
ZeRo: I see. Shaky is such an awesome player. I used to play Ness in tournaments back in 2008. D3 Wasn' fun...Anyway, if you had to give advice to up an coming ZSS players, wanting to succeed in the tournament scene, just like how you do, what would you tell them?
Nick Riddle: If you want legit advice, learn your spacing well, learn when to d-smash, learn your item game, and learn to recover. Those are the 4 mains steps to ZSS. If you want my honest opinion, play somebody else. Maining ZSS kills your basics for the rest of the characters because she's SO different from the rest of the cast.
ZeRo: Any chances of you giving private lessons?
Nick Riddle: I wouldn't charge people to learn from me, I'm not the best teacher... but I do randomly have streams up where I sit in Brawl's training room and help anybody who's in there... If you want so much help that you're willing to pay, just ask me and I'll try my best for free.
ZeRo: Where can your fans contact you?
Facebook , Youtube
This channel is mostly Let's Plays, but there are some Brawl vids too...
That's about it.
ZeRo: Earthbound love, yay! Now, to wrap things up, any shoutouts?
Nick Riddle: Random shoutouts time!Shoutouts to my girlfriend, LoliLovesRain for not getting angry when I practice for hours on end and ignore her. Shoutouts to ESAM for being amazing practice and destroying everybody. Shoutouts to Tommy G for being the best sensei. Shoutouts to Shaky for shaking it up.
In my opinion, one of the games that best shows Nick Riddle's skill and mastery of ZSS, is game 2 of his set vs Ally at MLG Columbus. Here's the video .
![[FBC] Papa Mink](/data/avatars/l/166/166410.jpg?1363023093){kind=avatar}