King Funk
Int. Croc. Alligator
Link to original post: [drupal=5353]Japan's SSB64 scene: one of the smash world's hidden wonders[/drupal]
Hey guys,
I’m a Danish smash player and I’ve just come back from a 5-week trip to Japan and here’s to sum it up in a single word: fantastic. I went there because I study business/Japanese in Copenhagen Business School and felt like I needed some real experience with the language. From my very large experience with languages (I speak 5-6 of them), it’s extremely difficult to learn one if you aren’t exposed to it in your everyday life. It’s also difficult as a foreigner to motivate yourself into learning a language which has almost no practical use in your own country as almost no one speaks it. The amount of work you need to do in order to work around that problem is absolutely overwhelming. While it is rewarding, I recommend to anyone who ever wants to learn a language to go the actual country once in a while.
As you may or may not know, I’m mainly a Smash 64 and Melee player. I started out with Brawl in 2008, but ever since I moved to Denmark, I switched to Melee because everyone played it there. Smash 64 is a very accessible game online (all you really need is a decent internet connection) and I’ve been playing with many European and American players almost every day ever since 2009, so it is by far my best game. I attended Apex 2012 and managed to score a 7th place in what was a rather stacked Smash 64 side-event (full bracket with lots of good players).
Now, to get to the core of this post, last Saturday I went to a very rare event that not many people outside from few in the Smash 64 community have heard of. It was a Japanese national Smash 64 tournament held in Tokyo. It attracted a total of around 150 players. One hundred and fifty freaking players. I was told before that those tournaments, held once a year, were actually quite large but I had to see it with my eyes to believe it. And boy was I amazed. Seeing that many people gather up to play a game that’s already about 14 years old and virtually dead in the USA/Europe (at least the offline scene) was a heart-warming and exhilarating experience.
The Japanese use a format and ruleset that are very controversial for western standards:
- Pools -> single elimination bracket
- Every set is best of 1 (only the final is best of 3)
- Dreamland only
- 4 stocks
- Only 1 character can be used for the whole tournament
It’s an unforgiving ruleset for a very unforgiving game. In a game that has punish mechanics that easily rival the likes of UMvC3 and SSF2T (many 0-death combos, very simple edgeguarding/gimping, simple hitconfirms, no tap DI), combined with completely random seeding, you get an event where you cannot afford to do any mistake. You can lose in the blink of an eye.
For those of you who wanted to know how I did, I did awful. I didn’t even make it out of pools. However don’t be too alarmed. I am almost exclusively an online 64 player and I use an Xbox360 USB controller. I had the misfortune of forgetting to bring my Hori pad (an alternative controller that can be used on the N64 console) which got me to top 8 at Apex. I was struggling really hard with the regular N64 controller, which I never really used much before (shoutouts to the Japanese player who kindly lent me his =D). My neutral game was severely hindered due to my lack of control and proficiency with it and I got hit much more than I should have. No warmup at all and the version differences didn’t really help either. That’s what I deserve for being a fake smasher, I guess. Enough johns though, what this all really means is that the Japanese players are too good to be defeated by me with a regular N64 controller. While I’m not even sure I would have beat most of the players in my pool had I brought my Hori pad, I’m quite sure I would have put up a much better fight.
The average level in Japan is off the charts. You’ll never find such a large group of 64 players with such proficiency at the game anywhere else. The character variety was surprisingly high. Every single character was represented and I can attest to the fact that I’ve seen impressive play with all 12 members of the cast. Character loyalty is very strong in Japan and was most likely reinforced by the rule in which you can only use one character for the entire event. They are very good at the neutral game, but what really sets them in a different category from us is their consistency with their combos and edgeguarding. They also know almost all the more tricky and situational combos which most average American and European players don’t, which are quite vital in order to increase one’s chances of winning.
As for how the event unfolded, it was done in a very structured manner. One TV was assigned to each and every pool and they were done on time. After that, each round the bracket matches were all played at the exact same time. The TO’s told all players to go on the stage select screen and press start at the same time, which was probably to prevent them from knowing each other’s results (sometimes knowing who you have to play after you win can distract you). You couldn’t really play many friendlies due to how they wanted to put as much focus as possible on the tournament. However, let me tell you something: the Japanese know how to hype stuff up. As this event is only done once a year, there was a real celebratory mood in the room. Speeches were often held by the TO’s and some of the players. Once the bracket got to the top 8 phase, everyone took their chairs and sat in a very orderly fashion in front of two large projector screens to watch the finals. They had someone commentate with a microphone. From my elementary knowledge of Japanese and the crowd reactions, I could tell that he was keeping everyone entertained with his fast-paced commentary riddled with jokes and hilariously exaggerated exclamations.
The top 8 matches of the event were some of the most exciting matches I have ever witnessed in Smash 64. The results ended up being:
1st - Jousuke (Samus)
2nd - Kikoushi (Kirby)
3rd and 4th - S (Fox) and Hitoshio (Pikachu)
5th to 8th - Fukuokaken (Pikachu), Orion (Pikachu), Ruoka Danchon (C. Falcon) and TKG (Kirby)
Some of you might know Jousuke from the videos that Malva/Isai posted a few years ago (2009 Japanese National tournament). He has easily the best Samus in the world. For those of you that don’t play Smash 64 too much and wonder how a bottom tier (worst character on the American tier list) won this event, you have to see Jousuke to believe what this man can do with her. Smash 64 is also a relatively balanced game, especially the Japanese version. All characters are viable, it just so happens that some are much easier to use than others. Don’t underestimate the other players in that top 8. They’re all brilliant players who in my opinion could cause trouble to the likes of Isai and SuPeRbOoMfAn.
The best part of the event was not the event itself though. It was the after-party organized by the TO’s. After leaving the venue, we all went to a cozy traditional Japanese restaurant/sake bar. We had an all-you-can-eat buffet and as many drinks as we wanted, and it only cost about 40 dollars. The players literally brought all their TV’s and N64 setups to the dinner tables so we could eat, drink and play smash at the same time all night until 5 AM . This was easily one of the most wonderful experiences I ever had in my life. I got to play a ton of friendlies with Jousuke, S, Prince (the famous combo video maker) and a huge variety of players. The atmosphere was amazing and a lot of people actually were watching me play there. During that night, I was finally starting to unrust, to get the hang of the normal N64 controller and I was having some really good games with some of the better players. I also took the opportunity to practice my Japanese skills, and it proved to be a great learning experience.
My favorite moment was when I explained to S (the Fox player) how I used my Falcon up-b setups. In Europe and America I’m known for being that weird guy who uses Falcon Dive (Falcon’s up-b) in many other ways than just as a combo finisher (to catch people shielding on a platform/near the edge, to techchase, to use in frame traps, to outrange grabs, etc.). So when I explained him how I used that move, he picked Falcon and started using all my own tricks against me (and very well too). It was a strange but very rewarding feeling. It felt to me like a sign that he approved of my uses for up-b and recognized its potential in many situations. Japanese players in general were very nice and funny, they loved to call me/shout “CRAZY DENMARK!” whenever I did something witty/silly ingame.
I left the restaurant with a huge smile of my face, knowing that I wanted and would definitely try to come back to Japan next year, to be able to relive this experience once again.
I absolutely recommend this event to all 64 players but also to all smash players in general. I never even dreamed there’d be such a big, healthy and fun-loving community for such an old game, so after witnessing it myself, I really felt like I needed to share it all with you guys.
On a final note, I would like to announce that I’m going to start a donation fund to get 3 top Japanese 64 players to come to Apex 2013 (Jousuke, Kikoushi and S who got 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively at the event). A 4th player is planning to come but he doesn’t need any money to do so. Japan has come a very long way ever since the Isai videos from 2006. I’m quite sure that those three guys would give our best players a run for their money and would provide us all with some amazing matches to enjoy. I’m going to write out the thread for it in the next few days and I hope people will want to help make the magic happen.
Anyway guys, peace out! Hope you enjoyed this tale!
Julius aka “King Funk”, your favorite crazy European Falcon. =D
Hey guys,
I’m a Danish smash player and I’ve just come back from a 5-week trip to Japan and here’s to sum it up in a single word: fantastic. I went there because I study business/Japanese in Copenhagen Business School and felt like I needed some real experience with the language. From my very large experience with languages (I speak 5-6 of them), it’s extremely difficult to learn one if you aren’t exposed to it in your everyday life. It’s also difficult as a foreigner to motivate yourself into learning a language which has almost no practical use in your own country as almost no one speaks it. The amount of work you need to do in order to work around that problem is absolutely overwhelming. While it is rewarding, I recommend to anyone who ever wants to learn a language to go the actual country once in a while.
As you may or may not know, I’m mainly a Smash 64 and Melee player. I started out with Brawl in 2008, but ever since I moved to Denmark, I switched to Melee because everyone played it there. Smash 64 is a very accessible game online (all you really need is a decent internet connection) and I’ve been playing with many European and American players almost every day ever since 2009, so it is by far my best game. I attended Apex 2012 and managed to score a 7th place in what was a rather stacked Smash 64 side-event (full bracket with lots of good players).
Now, to get to the core of this post, last Saturday I went to a very rare event that not many people outside from few in the Smash 64 community have heard of. It was a Japanese national Smash 64 tournament held in Tokyo. It attracted a total of around 150 players. One hundred and fifty freaking players. I was told before that those tournaments, held once a year, were actually quite large but I had to see it with my eyes to believe it. And boy was I amazed. Seeing that many people gather up to play a game that’s already about 14 years old and virtually dead in the USA/Europe (at least the offline scene) was a heart-warming and exhilarating experience.
The Japanese use a format and ruleset that are very controversial for western standards:
- Pools -> single elimination bracket
- Every set is best of 1 (only the final is best of 3)
- Dreamland only
- 4 stocks
- Only 1 character can be used for the whole tournament
It’s an unforgiving ruleset for a very unforgiving game. In a game that has punish mechanics that easily rival the likes of UMvC3 and SSF2T (many 0-death combos, very simple edgeguarding/gimping, simple hitconfirms, no tap DI), combined with completely random seeding, you get an event where you cannot afford to do any mistake. You can lose in the blink of an eye.
For those of you who wanted to know how I did, I did awful. I didn’t even make it out of pools. However don’t be too alarmed. I am almost exclusively an online 64 player and I use an Xbox360 USB controller. I had the misfortune of forgetting to bring my Hori pad (an alternative controller that can be used on the N64 console) which got me to top 8 at Apex. I was struggling really hard with the regular N64 controller, which I never really used much before (shoutouts to the Japanese player who kindly lent me his =D). My neutral game was severely hindered due to my lack of control and proficiency with it and I got hit much more than I should have. No warmup at all and the version differences didn’t really help either. That’s what I deserve for being a fake smasher, I guess. Enough johns though, what this all really means is that the Japanese players are too good to be defeated by me with a regular N64 controller. While I’m not even sure I would have beat most of the players in my pool had I brought my Hori pad, I’m quite sure I would have put up a much better fight.
The average level in Japan is off the charts. You’ll never find such a large group of 64 players with such proficiency at the game anywhere else. The character variety was surprisingly high. Every single character was represented and I can attest to the fact that I’ve seen impressive play with all 12 members of the cast. Character loyalty is very strong in Japan and was most likely reinforced by the rule in which you can only use one character for the entire event. They are very good at the neutral game, but what really sets them in a different category from us is their consistency with their combos and edgeguarding. They also know almost all the more tricky and situational combos which most average American and European players don’t, which are quite vital in order to increase one’s chances of winning.
As for how the event unfolded, it was done in a very structured manner. One TV was assigned to each and every pool and they were done on time. After that, each round the bracket matches were all played at the exact same time. The TO’s told all players to go on the stage select screen and press start at the same time, which was probably to prevent them from knowing each other’s results (sometimes knowing who you have to play after you win can distract you). You couldn’t really play many friendlies due to how they wanted to put as much focus as possible on the tournament. However, let me tell you something: the Japanese know how to hype stuff up. As this event is only done once a year, there was a real celebratory mood in the room. Speeches were often held by the TO’s and some of the players. Once the bracket got to the top 8 phase, everyone took their chairs and sat in a very orderly fashion in front of two large projector screens to watch the finals. They had someone commentate with a microphone. From my elementary knowledge of Japanese and the crowd reactions, I could tell that he was keeping everyone entertained with his fast-paced commentary riddled with jokes and hilariously exaggerated exclamations.
The top 8 matches of the event were some of the most exciting matches I have ever witnessed in Smash 64. The results ended up being:
1st - Jousuke (Samus)
2nd - Kikoushi (Kirby)
3rd and 4th - S (Fox) and Hitoshio (Pikachu)
5th to 8th - Fukuokaken (Pikachu), Orion (Pikachu), Ruoka Danchon (C. Falcon) and TKG (Kirby)
Some of you might know Jousuke from the videos that Malva/Isai posted a few years ago (2009 Japanese National tournament). He has easily the best Samus in the world. For those of you that don’t play Smash 64 too much and wonder how a bottom tier (worst character on the American tier list) won this event, you have to see Jousuke to believe what this man can do with her. Smash 64 is also a relatively balanced game, especially the Japanese version. All characters are viable, it just so happens that some are much easier to use than others. Don’t underestimate the other players in that top 8. They’re all brilliant players who in my opinion could cause trouble to the likes of Isai and SuPeRbOoMfAn.
The best part of the event was not the event itself though. It was the after-party organized by the TO’s. After leaving the venue, we all went to a cozy traditional Japanese restaurant/sake bar. We had an all-you-can-eat buffet and as many drinks as we wanted, and it only cost about 40 dollars. The players literally brought all their TV’s and N64 setups to the dinner tables so we could eat, drink and play smash at the same time all night until 5 AM . This was easily one of the most wonderful experiences I ever had in my life. I got to play a ton of friendlies with Jousuke, S, Prince (the famous combo video maker) and a huge variety of players. The atmosphere was amazing and a lot of people actually were watching me play there. During that night, I was finally starting to unrust, to get the hang of the normal N64 controller and I was having some really good games with some of the better players. I also took the opportunity to practice my Japanese skills, and it proved to be a great learning experience.
My favorite moment was when I explained to S (the Fox player) how I used my Falcon up-b setups. In Europe and America I’m known for being that weird guy who uses Falcon Dive (Falcon’s up-b) in many other ways than just as a combo finisher (to catch people shielding on a platform/near the edge, to techchase, to use in frame traps, to outrange grabs, etc.). So when I explained him how I used that move, he picked Falcon and started using all my own tricks against me (and very well too). It was a strange but very rewarding feeling. It felt to me like a sign that he approved of my uses for up-b and recognized its potential in many situations. Japanese players in general were very nice and funny, they loved to call me/shout “CRAZY DENMARK!” whenever I did something witty/silly ingame.
I left the restaurant with a huge smile of my face, knowing that I wanted and would definitely try to come back to Japan next year, to be able to relive this experience once again.
I absolutely recommend this event to all 64 players but also to all smash players in general. I never even dreamed there’d be such a big, healthy and fun-loving community for such an old game, so after witnessing it myself, I really felt like I needed to share it all with you guys.
On a final note, I would like to announce that I’m going to start a donation fund to get 3 top Japanese 64 players to come to Apex 2013 (Jousuke, Kikoushi and S who got 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively at the event). A 4th player is planning to come but he doesn’t need any money to do so. Japan has come a very long way ever since the Isai videos from 2006. I’m quite sure that those three guys would give our best players a run for their money and would provide us all with some amazing matches to enjoy. I’m going to write out the thread for it in the next few days and I hope people will want to help make the magic happen.
Anyway guys, peace out! Hope you enjoyed this tale!
Julius aka “King Funk”, your favorite crazy European Falcon. =D
![Эикельманн [РУС]](/data/avatars/l/153/153661.jpg?1415225120){kind=avatar}
