Thumbs were dashing across the controllers as students took part in a Super Smash Bros. tournament last Saturday, Oct. 25, in the Memorial Union.
The event was hosted by the University of Maine Gamers Guild, a club devoted to alleviating school stress through the power of video games, board games and role-playing games.
“We are trying to figure out which tournament style is best,” Rodney Banks, president of Gamers Guild and a fifth-year mass communication student at UMaine, said.
The tournament was bracket-style and each match was six-to-eight players. There were about 30 members and non-members competing for a cash prize.
Super Smash Bros. is a fighting game featuring characters that crossover from other franchises operated by its creator, Nintendo. As of today, there have been five versions of the game released across multiple gaming consoles. The Nintendo 64 console was released in 1996 and the first Super Smash Bros. game was released and made compatible for it in 1999.
Nintendo has made it possible for gamers across two different consoles to play in the same match. For Super Smash Bros., players used a Wii U system in addition to Nintendo 3DS handheld devices to connect and play in the same match via local wireless. Matches can have as many as eight individual players or four teams of two.
“It’s such a well-known game that we get all ranges of experience,” Banks said.
Characters that were popular among the players were Kirby and Bowser, who have been a fixture of the game since the series was first established. Eighteen new characters have been introduced to the newest installment, which was released solely for the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS systems in 2014.
“The purpose of the Gamers Guild is to provide a safe and fun environment for gamers,” Banks said. Banks also describes the Guild as being “very casual,” however they do not play games for which the university already has clubs.
Players paid $1 for each round of play and the champion received double their money back. All proceeds went go to the Gamers Guild Halloween party, which will be held this Saturday, Oct. 31.
