Fierce battles are the weekly norm in the Behavioral Science Building at CSU.
Every week, the normally calm, peaceful atmosphere of the BSB is replaced with a competitively intense atmosphere for weekly Super Smash Bros tournaments.
Over 50 people from Colorado attended the weekly Super Smash Bros club in the BSB Wednes. Feb. 8.
Students from CSU and players from all over Colorado attended the tournament. From Boulder, Denver and all over Fort Collins, players gathered to compete to become the weekly champion.
With roughly 20 game console setups to host the vast number of competitors, the tournament began at 7 p.m. with the doubles tournament, when two teams would face off. The winner of each round would advance throughout the winners bracket and those who lost would have a second chance for greatness in the losers bracket. The winner of each bracket would then face each other in the finals to decide who would be the weekly champion.
Super Smash Brothers has been a timeless Nintendo staple that has spanned since the Nintendo 64 to the Gamecube, Wii and Wii U and has remained just as popular, if not more so, since it is initial release.
To manage the number of players and the available consoles, players were broken up into doubles and singles tournaments and further divided into what Super Smash game they wished to compete in. The iconic Super Smash Melee from the Gamecube era and the newest Smash Bros on the Wii U were both available for the tournament.
“It’s fairly simple to get into,” said participant Alex Brown. “The tournament is a social experience as well as fun. I mainly play Melee and main as the characters, Samus, Falco and Fox.”
Brown said that he got into competitive play a month ago through his friends that hosted their own tournaments.
Players ranged in skill level and experience with some players being a part of the competition for years to those who only started playing Smash recently.
The Smash Club was started two years ago by Makoto Gamblin.
“I’ve been playing both Melee and Smash for the Wii U for all my life,” Gamblin said, “I’ve been playing competitive for over two years.”
While the club draws an estimated of 40–60 players every week, Gamblin also hosts a statewide tournament twice every semester. The last statewide tournament in late January drew and estimated 250–300 people from all over Colorado and some from out of state in Nevada and California.
“As a tournament organizer, it’s a thankless full-time job,” Gamblin said. “But the people and the community as well as their appreciation keeps me motivated.”
