Voted “Best Video Game Store” in Good Times‘ annual Best of issue two years running, Level Up Video Games in downtown Santa Cruz is hosting a 64-Player Smash Bros. Wii U Tournament on Saturday, April 4. Starting at noon, the competition will be played in 1v1 format and feature $450 in prizes.
“We host a good number of tournaments every year, but the “Smash Brothers” ones are always the most popular for playing and watching,” says Level Up owner, Jerry Abreu. “We have people wanting to compete on the Waiting List already, so it should be a great scene to come down and be a part of.”
More than 15 years after the original “Super Smash Bros.” was released for the Nintendo 64 game console in Japan, millions of people from around the world continue to compete competitively and for fun daily, making it one of gaming’s true Gold Standards.
Yet, when Nintendo was looking to create a new style of fighting game in the late 1990s, equipped with just a small budget and the promise of a limited release in Japan, developers could never have imagined the game’s ultimate success and its impact on the gaming industry.
When “Super Smash Bros.” hit the United States in late 1999, the game’s success was immediate. Gamers liked being able to role play eight of the most popular Nintendo characters of the time: Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox and Pikachu while beating the life out of each other, a feat that was more appreciated in the United States than abroad.
While playing as popular characters is what made the game a fast success, what kept people playing was it’s fresh twist on the genre and it’s difficult fighting mechanics.
The game-play objective differed from traditional fighters of the time. Instead of winning by depleting an opponent’s life bars, players gained an edge by trying to knock opponents off the stage and utilizing basic attacks that every character has, as well as unique abilities inherent to each character.
As popular as “Smash Bros.” was on the Nintendo 64, when Nintendo’s Game Cube video game console was released in 2001, along with the game “Super Smash Bros.: Melee,” what happened over the next six years in the gaming world, no one could have seen coming.
With more than seven million copies sold since it was launched, “Super Smash Bros.: Melee” is one of the best selling games of all time, giving rise to a global gaming culture that attracted big crowds of casual gamers who enjoyed the more lighthearted feel that the game had over more competitive fighting games like “Street Fighter” or “Tekken.”
The game’s difficult and intelligently designed fighting mechanics also attracted talented and competitive players, which created a perfect storm for competitive video game playing that had never existed before. Soon, in schools and towns everywhere, core groups of ultra-talented gamers were playing for show and attracting huge crowds of spectators.
Over the years these grassroots tournaments grew larger, and players created online message boards and communities that tracked their results and progress, making players like Azen, Ken, and KoreanDJ household names.
Smash players were the first and best gamers at growing their game environment and community via the Internet. Their initiative created the fan base for video game channels like the now shuttered, G4 TV and online gaming news source, IGN.
Since “Super Smash Bros.: Melee”, Nintendo has released two more installments of the popular series, “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” and “Super Smash Bros.” for the Wii U, Nintendo’s advanced video game console, which has furthered the game’s scope even more.
Info: Super Smash Bros. Wii U Tournament at Level Up Video Games, Saturday, April 4, Noon. Competition is full, go to watch. Sign-up for future tournaments at http://www.levelupvideogames.com.
