The Meltdown bar in London plays host to a weekly gathering of folk from all corners of the Smash scene.  There’s a friendly atmosphere as you wander inside and find groups of people gathering around the glowing screens, chatting away and enjoying the company of fellow gaming enthusiasts.  “It’s someone’s birthday today!” exclaims the person organising today’s Smash Bros 4 tournament; and in unison, everyone stops to chant the (now thankfully public domain!) Happy Birthday song, wishing happy tidings and joy to the lucky person turning a new year amongst a friendly crowd.

There’s a sense of camaraderie abound as players exchange tips, strategies and thoughts on their favourite characters and as they reminisce over the last few months; with fellow players taking part in national Smash events, some even as far out as Japan and the US.  Newcomers are made to feel welcome alongside the old guard, with everyone sharing that same love for the crazy game that is Super Smash Bros.

                                        (Weekly)                                                                          (Monthly)

With weeklies played here and monthlies played nearby at The Bridge Academy in Laburnum Street, the Smash scene in London is vibrant and ever growing.  As the latest Smash Bros game turns one year old, how has the scene evolved since the launch of Super Smash Bros for Wii U? Well, we spoke to some of London’s (and the UK’s) most skilled Super Smash Bros 4 players for their thoughts on the evolution of the scene, the game itself and what competitive play is like for those who partake in it.

Dean: So, to start off with... Who's your main?

@Sirius_DX17: My main's Rosalina. I can use other characters, but she's the one who I end up using the most and she gives me the best results.

Dean: Right! So, from this point in time.  If you could include any character in Smash, who would it be and why?

@Sirius_DX17: Hmm... gotta think about this, 'cause all of the characters I wanted initially have made it in now...

Dean: (laughs) Yeah, what with Cloud having taken away another possible choice that no one saw coming as well now!

@Sirius_DX17: He wasn't even on my mind! Ok, if there was another character being added in who wasn't in the game already, probably Issac from Golden Sun.

Dean: Oh yes! I'm still jostling for him myself! It's crazy that we still have yet to have a character who is PURELY magic based.

@Sirius_DX17: Yeah, well I suppose that if Issac was in it, he probably still wouldn't be since he has a sword.  But yeah,  because of the way I'd imagine him playing similar to Robin, it makes him a bit of an unlikely choice and well, the series hasn't had much representation in Smash thus far.

Dean: Well I suppose if Little Mac can make the jump from Assist Trophy to character, then fingers crossed!

@Sirius_DX17: Very true.

Dean: It could still happen! Right, next question.  What is it about the game series which makes you want to play it on a competitive level versus just a few friendly games?

@Sirius_DX17: I guess it's because I have fun with it, but it's more... I want to improve.  And when I was playing it casually I thought I was the best at it...

Dean: (laughs) Oh that old chestnut...

@Sirius_DX17: Yeah, I thought that, I am the best, I'm amazing at this game.  When I went to join the competitive scene, I realised that I wasn't as good as I thought I was.  It has pushed me to improve more and more and... I mean, I didn't get to the top of the top of Brawl, but with Smash 4, I feel like I've got a foothold in there and that I've just got to keep improving.  It keeps me interested in it, just knowing that I want to improve and that I still can improve.

Dean: Of course.  It feels like the heights are never ending?

@Sirius_DX17: Yes that's it.

Dean: I know that back in the days of Melee and Brawl, I used to better than my friend at the game.  All of a sudden, Smash 4 comes along and now he's a million times better than me! (laughs)

@Sirius_DX17: (Laughs)

Dean: Maybe one day, I'll finally get back at him and get back up there, but I know it's a long road ahead of me (laughs)

@Sirius_DX17:  Well, you know.  Come to the weeklies, speak to some of the people here who are good at the game and maybe they can help you get good with the character you play. That's another good thing about being part of the scene, you get to meet people, you know they're good players and with the Smash 4 scene, they're more than willing to help other players improve. It may not be a sharp improvement, it may not be a quick improvement.  But they're willing to help and as long as you show that you're willing to improve, they'll CONSTANTLY support you.  The thing they most want is a strong, unified community. They all want to get together to show the rest of Europe, to show America, the world, that we're not just some small island out there that can't play the game.  That we are GOOD at the game.

Dean: Of course.  You getting better makes them get better.

@Sirius_DX17: Yup.

Dean: And funny you should say that, because that ties in nicely with my next question...

How do you feel that Britain stands on a world scale in regards to Smash?

@Sirius_DX17: When you look at people like J.Miller, he's one of the best in Europe.  When he went on to APEX, he came 17^th out of hundreds of people who went to APEX from all over the world.  With his character, he made it to 17th; that's a huge testament to his skill.  Unfortunately though, outside of J.Miller and a couple of others, we are still lagging behind but from a couple of months ago, when we had a couple of French players who weren't even the best of the best from France, they slaughtered us.  Since then we've shown that we've taken that beating and that we're not going to let that happen again and we've seen more and more players show them and other countries that we're not, like, if we do lose to you, we're not going to take that on the chin and be like "oh, we're just bad at Smash", we're gonna learn.  We're gonna improve and if you come back, we're gonna show you how much we have done just that and I'm hoping that we are going to show the best of Europe as a whole, including J.Miller, that they're not alone.

Dean: Well I hope so as well! Britain could certainly stand to win something! (laughs)

@Sirius_DX17: It would be lovely!

Dean: Right, speaking of which, next question!

How do you feel the metagame has evolved over the last year? Do you feel that any particular strategies have emerged since release that you never envisioned when the game was first released?

@Sirius_DX17: I think that, especially with underdeveloped characters, that once they got some adjustments that they needed like, either people finding out new techniques or gaining buffs through incremental patches, that more characters became viable as a whole.  I mean, there's still a couple that struggle, but even with those, we're seeing players showcase that... it may be with a gimmick or a one trick pony that even the worst characters can do something.  We've got characters that... we've got players like Afro Smash with Samus, Samus is regarded as one of the worst characters in the game, and he'll come over to a tournament; at a 200 man tournament last month he came 9th with a character who is considered the worst in the game.

Dean: It's great when you see an upset!

@Sirius_DX17: Look at players like Plastic Poptart, who is considered to be in the top ten, within the UK as a whole.  He shows that, for this game even moreso, that even if your character isn't top tier like Zero Suit Samus, it doesn't mean that you can't win, it's just a matter of finding out what your character CAN do and utilising it.  And that's what's interesting about the meta as it is; no character is left behind.

Dean: Yeah, that's something I've noticed myself.  It's not like with Brawl, where some characters were just simply unviable.

@Sirius_DX17: That's it.  Like Ganondorf in Brawl was considered unviable, he just had unwinnable matchups.  He had no positive matchups or even even match ups, but in this game, you'll see Ganondorf take sets, take characters rated far higher than him and it's the same with Zelda and Samus.  You'll even see the same with the likes of Falco, who I personally feel is not usable at all, but I've still seen him win a good couple of sets, place really well even in major tournaments, within the top 32. Not so much top 8, but 32 is a good start!

Dean: It is a good start indeed! Right, that also ties in with my next question.

The 3DS and Wii U versions have gone through many changes and updates. How do you feel about the fact that changes can be made after release and unintended gameplay exploits can be removed via patches now in this day and age?

@Sirius_DX17: I feel it's a good thing, but that it's a double edged sword.  It all depends on how the developer uses those patches.  I've seen with other games where they bring out these incremental patches and they destroy what makes that character that character; unfortunately I have also seen this with Smash 4, with Luigi.  Not only did he lose his grab's knockback, but he also lost everything that made it... that!

I think that's a shame, I'd say that some characters just didn't need that damage done to them; I wouldn't wish that on any character to be honest.  But I would rather see a bad character be brought up to the level of the rest of the cast than see a good character, not even the best character, take such a fall from grace.  It doesn't sit well with me, partly because I've seen my character go through that to a degree, but it doesn't feel right.  Why nerf a character to be at the same level as the rest of the cast, when you can bring several characters up to fight them? It's like they're being left behind if you keep doing these sorts of things; I feel that it's not addressing the major issues with the game as a whole.

Dean: Yeah, I suppose that in the end what the developers are looking for is for the game to have a sense of balance; with anyone having a chance to win.

@Sirius_DX17: It's one thing to have 40 characters who are balanced and another 15 characters who are not balanced, when you can have five or six characters who are exceptional and another 48 who are still very good.  Certain characters might still shine, and you can address that at a later point, but if you just listen to the community moan about a character that may not actually be as dominant as they sound like, what happens to all the characters that people aren't propping up because they simply don't play them? Because they're bad.

Dean: (laughs)

@Sirius_DX17: They just get left behind.  And I feel like if they did address those to an extent, we'd have a better game.

Dean: Oh yeah, absolutely.

@Sirius_DX17: On top of that, outside of the characters as a whole, they can address things like stages or movesets or tournament mode within the game.  And that would truly improve the game as a whole, without even touching the characters;  that's something that patches can bring, but it's something that we're not really seeing yet.  Those are the kinds of things that I would like to see with a system like patches.

Dean: I think that most would agree upon that... funnily enough, I have another question about patches...

@Sirius_DX17: Go ahead.

Dean: Are there any patch changes you have particularly liked or disliked?

@Sirius_DX17: I dislike what happened with Luigi, with the last patch.  I thought that they went too far.  Like when that happened with Diddy, he was still shown to be a strong character, the best character and even then they went too far with him and ended up adjusting him to make him slightly better than before.  I kind of hope that they do that with Luigi as well because he kind of needs it.  And initially, I disliked what they did with Rosalina, I thought that they took a lot away from her; I felt that was a kneejerk reaction, but again, she's still a strong character.  I can see places where they can still nerf her and depending on how they do it, there's some of it that I could agree with and some that I wouldn't, but time will tell with that.

Dean: Of course. Do you feel that any particular character needs to be nerfed or buffed?

@Sirius_DX17: I feel that characters such as Wii Fit Trainer, Falco, Zelda and Ganondorf, do need adjustments.  I wouldn't necessarily say buffs, particularly like in Falco's case there's a lot of outcry for so called changes to be impervious but I feel that say three of them would do it as long as they choose the right three.  They've already shown that with this character in particular, they can't address the faults with the character and slowly break him apart, but I feel that there are integral ones that they could do.  Bring him to the point that they want to, without making them busted. Same with Zelda, same with Wii Fit Trainer, characters like Duck Hunt Duo as well; although as much as he's a bad character, his gimmicky playstyle still works and I feel that's why he's weaker in other aspects, because they know that his gimmicky play style DOES work.

Umm... in terms of nerfs? Not really.  Sheik can get a couple of tweaks here and there. Zero Suit is a character who is very strong but a hard character to quantify and it shows in the fact that only people like Nairo can show how strong this character can be; but if they're going to keep nerfing characters around her, then I feel like they need to nerf her as well, otherwise she'll just become THE strong character of the game.

Dean: Yeah.

@Sirius_DX17: And if they do patch Zero bit by bit and adjusting then, she'd be a better character than what they'd do if they just chop her legs off essentially (laughs)

Dan: (laughs) I agree.

@Sirius_DX17: So, I say that if they continue nerfing the top tiers, they need to nerf Zero Suit alongside that.  If they're not, then she can stay more or less how she is now.  But I'd rather see those characters I mentioned before get buffed alongside the rest of the cast, than see those nerfs first.

Dean: Rather than make everyone terrible, it's better to see everyone made good.

@Sirius_DX17: Yes, essentially.

Dean: Great, right.  This next one might be interesting...

Over 3,000 Smash players took part at Evo 2015 across Melee and Smash Bros 4, but only 517 players took part in tournaments for both games. Do you feel that the divide between the Smash Bros player base has widened between games over the last year?

@Sirius_DX17: Divide comes from attitude.  Personally, with what I've seen with the community here, we're all about unity. We don't want to ostracise anyone if we don't have to.  And unfortunately, what we've seen with the rest of our UK scene, there are too many people who are happy to cause more of a divide between, and I would say this because this is how I feel it is, but it's Melee and "The Rest" of the community.  If there wasn't this, then I feel that we'd have a better playerbase as a whole.  But unfortunately, there are too many bad eggs and until that's addressed, there will always be a divide; which is a shame because I think as a whole, the twitter bob ross that they made for the Fighting Game Community (@FGC_Bob_Ross), in particular was a perfect example of how the community could be, but currently isn't. The things that was talking about… we can all have our different games, but at the end of the day we're all playing something that we enjoy... Why take away the enjoyment of someone who doesn't play the same game as you, or the same character as you?

Dean: Yeah.

@Sirius_DX17: And if we all thought like that, it would be a nicer place.

Dean: Everyone would be a lot happier.

@Sirius_DX17: But alas (laughs)

Dean: (laughs) You can't win eh?

@Sirius_DX17: Yeah.

Dean: So how do you feel that the Smash scene as a whole has evolved over the last year? Has it expanded?

@Sirius_DX17: I can't speak for Melee's community as a whole, because I'm not truly a part of that, but in the Smash 4 scene I think that it's amazing what we've got here.  We've got monthly nationals all across the UK.  Ireland, Scotland, Wales, all the various corners of England and we're constantly growing.  We've got those regions helping each other whenever they can advertising, finding the players to come to events... and it culminated in a 200 man tournament last month in London, hosted by ourselves! Where we had not only not only players from all corners of the UK attending but plenty of players coming in from mainland Europe, we had Mr R, who's the best player in Europe, come along.  And sure, he won it all and made it look kind of free...

Dean: (Laughs)

@Sirius_DX17: (laughs) But we got to see him! Hands on! It means a lot and it's the first time it has ever happened in the UK in terms of Smash 4, I hope to see more of that.  And it's not just a matter of Europe, we see players from all over willing to take the trip out to Japan to find players out there, who take the trip out to America to compete in their majors.  And the fact that they took the time and money to attend and even win... They LOVE the game that they're in and I want to keep providing the environment where they can just love the game that they play.  I think that's THE goal.

Dean: Yeah, I think that unity is the most important thing as a whole and is what we should be striving for... Sorry, I wasn't originally intending to ask you so many questions! (laughs)

@Sirius_DX17: (laughs) that's perfectly fine!

Dean: Well then, I might as well go for a few more then! so...

You don't really seem to see much competitive play from the Nintendo 3DS version. Do you feel that there's anything that can be done to make a handheld Smash Bros game more appealing to competitive players?

@Sirius_DX17: Unfortunately... There are some things that can't be avoided with the 3DS version.  There are limits with the 3DS version, with the control scheme's design.  It feels more limiting to play it on the 3DS.  On top of that, you have connection issues and just design asthetics hinder the experience; to the point where a lot of player who do play it, treat it as a trainer for battle.  If they can't get to their Wii U, they will use their 3DS to train, maybe try out a new character. Ultimately, they will pick the shinier version with the better controls, with more features, with just a better feel overall because that's it, it's been designed to have a better feel than the 3DS version.  Because there's only so much they can do with it.  It's a shame, but you still see a lot of people coming into it; I still feel that the 3DS version did its job.  They got it out first, to show people what's gonna be in the game; they showed what could be done in a handheld version of Smash Bros as a whole and I hope that with future handhelds that Nintendo may or may not make and future versions of  Smash that they may or may not make, that they take what they learnt from the 3DS version and create a stronger version of Smash for the future.  So that we may see people using the handheld Smash more, or maybe even to the same level as what we see with the Wii U version.

Dean: Yeah of course, anything you get from the 3DS version will end up feeding into the next one, regardless of it being handheld or console.

@Sirius_DX17: That's it, that's the hope.

Dean: Or in the case of NX, perhaps even both!

@Sirius_DX17: (laughs) Exactly!

Dean: Ok, let's get a little more fluffy with the next one...

What is your favourite entry in the Smash series?

@Sirius_DX17: My favourite entry will be this one, Smash 4.  But I do still hold a bit of love for the N64 one.

Dean: Ahh, that's good to see!

@Sirius_DX17: Every couple of years I'll go back to it and be like, oh! I remember how much fun I used to have with it And I can show that I can still play the game quite well.

Dean: Yeah, it's quite interesting because I've noticed that there seems to be a little bit of a resurge in terms of the competitive scene for that game as well.

@Sirius_DX17: In America, there's a small unit of dedicated Smash 64 players.  Uhm... in the UK, not so much but you do see people who are like "Oh man It would be great if we had Smash 64 here!" And at Heir 2 the Throne last year, there was actually a small little corner dedicated to Smash 64 there, where some people did really enjoy themselves there.  I myself didn't go to that particular section, I was focused on Brawl at the time; but it still gets love, it has its group that enjoys it and will continue to enjoy it.  It's always nice to see a game that old still see support.  At this point, it probably has more support than Brawl has!

Dean: (laughs) Poor Brawl!

@Sirius_DX17: I think that effectively everyone from Brawl has moved over to Smash 4.

Dean: Yeah, I've noticed that.  It's a bit of a shame really because it still has its own charms.

@Sirius_DX17: It really does.  But alas, I think that Smash 4 is the more polished, the more accessible, the more fun game of the two; both on a competitive scale and on a casual scale.

Dean: Alright, we're nearly done here... next one...

How many hours of Smash do you typically play in a day and does it impact on you wanting to play other games?

@Sirius_DX17: I'm actually one of the few who doesn't play Smash as much as everyone else.  It may have hindered how much I have improved... I mainly play here in tournaments; tournaments are my main form of practice.  If people come to my house, we normally have a Smash fest that lasts till way into the night but outside of that, due to my own personal circumstances, I don't get that much time to play.  It doesn't really impact on me wanting to play other games; when I run events like this that takes up more time than actually playing the game, so I'm not really upset about not being able to play other games. I fit it in when I can.  But Smash 4 is the one that I really so enjoy, it's the one that I made so many friends in, have such a good time with and I've got a lovely community.  So I guess that it may take up a fair bit of my time, but I'm not upset about it.

Dean: Alright, and last one now here and it once again ties in to what you said...

I love the Smash Bros games but I'm terrible at them. What do you recommend I do to get better?

@Sirius_DX17: Well, you find a character, you say to yourself "I want to get good with this character", it could be a good character, it could be a bad character.  As long as you're willing to put the time in to get good with that character, it's fine.

Can I ask what character you play?

Dean: Ike

@Sirius_DX17: You play Ike? Right.  You want to improve with Ike, you find any sources you can that can help you improve with Ike.  You find players that also play that same character; they don't have to better, they don't have to be worse.  They'll give you a fresh pair of eyes as to how to improve with that character.  So for example with your character, G~P, my fellow TO, he plays Ike.  And he's been playing Ike since the Brawl days, so if you wanted to find out what you can do to improve your Ike play, I'd say, play a couple of games with him, talk with him, find out what he does to improve Ike.  How he tackles certain matchups, because the best way to improve is to find someone who is better than you and to show you how to improve, so in terms of Ike, you find a good Ike player like G~P and he'll probably tell you that he's spoken to other Ike players, like... he knows Ryo, who's an Ike player from the Brawl days and plays Ike in Smash 4.  I believe he actually got top 8 in MLG when they were last there.  Watching people like that play as well, you can see them play and see things that make you think "Oh! I never knew that worked! I should try that next time I'm playing!" or "Oh! I never knew that (move) killed!" or the options that it has. And it just shows...

Dean: Right, this it.  You've been great, thanks!

@Sirius_DX17: My pleasure.

Dean: Ok! To start off with...

If you could include any character in Smash, who would it be and why? (Laughs) and it can't be Cloud because he's already taken now.

Khanage: I've always wanted another Metroid character, apart from Samus or Zero Suit Samus.  So I was thinking, from Metroid Prime 3, Rundus.

Dean: Rundas!? Oh!

Khanage: Yeah, I think he'd be a cool character.  He's not as ridiculous as Ridley, who you're definitely not gonna get at this point since he's a stage hazard.  But yeah, another Metroid representation.

Dean: Oh yes the series definitely needs it!

Khanage: Yeah, there's not a lot of candidates.

Dean: Yeah, your choices are kind of limited, well maybe unless you get into some of the characters from Metroid Prime Hunters perhaps?

Khanage: Yeah, maybe you could have some of the Hunters, but I've not really played Metroid Prime Hunters, so based on the popularity at the time, I'd say Rundus.

Dean: Not a bad choice! So, what is it about the game series which makes you want to play it on a competitive level versus just a few friendly games?

Khanage: Well I've never really done anything competitive before...

Dean: Oh, so you consider yourself more of a friendly player?

Khanage: Well maybe in other aspects, but in this... I just gave it a go and I did well and started thinking, "I can actually make it!" I just made top 8 today!

Dean: Nice! It's really amazing how quickly you can grow.  Alright, so what is your favourite entry in the Smash series?

Khanage: Entry... I think, this one, Smash 4.  Because, well Smash 64, first game, what're you gonna do? Melee, great game fun to look at but pretty buggy... I think some of the exploits were not made in mind for competitive play, so you know, you can understand the flaws.

Dean: Yeah, Smash 4 was made with that competitive play more so in mind.

Khanage: Yeah, with the balance patches.  There's always patches that balance things and there's always something new and with customs... Well, not right now, but that will always extend the life of the game.  Once the normal game gets a bit stale,  there's always customs, there's always new ways of keeping things fresh.

Dean: Oh yeah, definitely.

Khanage: And Brawl... The WiFi was absolutely terrible, so... the competitive side wasn't quite all it could've been. And also with tripping, it was an attempt at balancing I guess, but a lot of us didn't like it because... well you can guess!

Dean: Well what can you do eh?

Khanage: (laughs) Yeah, well with Smash 4.  They've really taken the best bits of Melee and Brawl and found a nice middleground for everyone and just look at how quickly it became popular?

Dean: Yeah, it really exploded!

Kharange: Exactly, it's probably the best eSports title so far and probably will be that way for a while.

Dean: It's definitely perhaps the most accessible of them all.

Khanage: Yes and it's more accessible.  It's just a lot of fun.

Dean: Ok, yeah, just a couple more.  How do you feel the metagame has evolved over the last year? Do you feel that any particular strategies have emerged since release that you never envisioned when the game was first released?

Khanage: People are always discovering new tricks and little tactics, frame data and stuff like that.  Balance patches, ALWAYS shake up the game.  For example, you have Diddy and Luigi.  Both characters are still good, but not as good as before so we have to find new ways to adapt.  People may not feel as threatened by them...

Dean: You have to adjust your strategy to match.

Khanage: Exactly, you never know what's going to happen next.  It keeps you on your toes, even though it's not too drastic.

Dean: Except for poor Greninja (laughs)

Khanage: (laughs) Except for poor Greninja.  For some reason they seem to hate him.  Though thankfully they seem to have stopped the abuse.

Dean: For now (laughs)

Kharange: (laughs) For now.

Dean: Alright, last one! What features in particular would you like to see still come to either Smash Bros 4 or a future Smash Bros game?

Khanage: Hmm... The Omega Stages are great, but perhaps they should also make Alpha Stages where they're based on Battlefield, rather than Final Destination. And maybe some with different platforms?

Dean: So a bit more variation, but without the stage hazards.

Khanage: Yeah, or otherwise... Some stages are good, but perhaps a toggle? To turn stage hazards off and on?

Dean: Yeah, I've seen a lot of people ask for that one!

Khanage: Well some stages have good potential, but then they can't be used in competitive play because they might have lava or something else similar, but you also have to keep in mind that it is also a party game.

Dean: There's a certain balance that has to be kept.

Kharange: Yeah, Smash Bros isn't made just for competitive play, it's made for casual play as well... Hmm.. what else? I think that customs is a good addition.  Even if it's not used now, it keeps the game fresh.  I guess since it's their first time they're kind of testing the waters with it, so they'll be able to see how to improve them in the future.

Dean: Yeah, for sure.

Khanage: Take Donkey Kong's Cyclone, really really good.  Then you look at Zelda's alternative B and it's absolute garbage.

Dean: So a focus on making all customs equally useful all round?

Khanage: Yeah.

Dean: What about the unlocking process? Maybe making the customs easierto unlock?

Khanage: Hmm... Personally I like unlocking stuff, a lot of stuff is already unlocked.  It's just a couple of characters and a few stages, it doesn't take long.  I think they should keep it that way, it has the right balance already.

Dean: Yeah I suppose it also encourages you to play the other modes as well.

Khanage: Yeah exactly, you don't want everything to get given to you at face value.  Just as long as it's not, like 70% of the game! (laughs)

Dean: Alright, that's about it! Thank you very much

Khanage: Yeah, no problem.

Dean: Alright, let's start off with a nice simple one... If you could include any character in Smash, who would it be and why?

Wildfyre: Err, I'm not sure really... probably King K-Rool

Dean: Ahh, a popular choice!

Wildfyre: Yeah, not because he's been popular with the ballot or anything I just really like King K-Rool, I was actually quite surprised that so many other people thought the same.

Dean: Yeah, he's one I've wanted to see myself.  There's lots of moves that naturally fit with him, like his crown throwing.

Wildfyre: You could, he'd be very interesting. You could also have lots of costumes from the Donkey Kong Country games, like him dressed up as a Pirate, or as the Doctor from DKC3.

Dean: Yeah, that could even tie into his moveset as well.  Ok, next question.

What is it about the game series which makes you want to play it on a competitive level versus just a few friendly games?

Wildfyre: Mainly because it's a challenge, I can test myself.  I enjoy playing against other people with there being so many characters in Smash 4 and these events are a great way of meeting people.  You're not just playing amongst your own circle of friends when you go to one of these Smash tournaments.

Dean: Yeah of course, there's that community factor involved.  Right! So, next question...

Both the 3DS and Wii U versions have gone through many changes and updates. How do you feel about the fact that changes can be made after release and unintended gameplay exploits can be removed via patches now in this day and age?

Wildfyre: I think that it's a good thing on the whole.  Some characters get better and some get worse, so if you main a character who gets worse, yeah you're gonna get upset about it.  But as the game gets more balanced, more characters can be used roughly on an equal level.

Dean: Yeah, it keeps things interesting as they go along.  It keeps you on your toes.  Are there any patch changes you have particularly liked or disliked?

Wildfyre: I heard that Luigi got worse in the latest patch.

Dean: (laughs) Yeah, that was an unpopular one

Wildfyre: I like that Diddy got worse from how he was in Brawl, as time went on he really just was the best in the game at that point.

Dean: Yeah it was just ridiculous at that point (laughs)

Wildfyre: Yeah

Dean: Do you feel that any particular character needs to be nerfed or buffed?

Wildfyre: Probably Sheik needs a nerf.  She's... she's just a very good character, too good, too hard to punish.  So she just gets away with too much stuff.

Dean: Alright, just a couple more.  How do you feel that Britain stands on a world scale in regards to Smash?

Wildfyre: I'd say that we have a few very good players, such as J.Miller and IXIS and after that a lot of decent player, but still behind say, America.  Definately America, not sure about elsewhere.

Dean: Yeah, as long as we have those few there, we have that incentive to push just that little bit more to get further up the global ranks.

Wildfyre: Definately, yeah.

Dean: Ok, last one.  How do you feel the metagame has evolved over the last year? Do you feel that any particular strategies have emerged since release that you never envisioned when the game was first released?

Wildfyre: I think that it depends on the character really.  It's interesting to see how other people play them.  People end up maining a character and then try to make them as good as possible.  When you watch them play, you see different techniques emerge.  So when you play a character that you're unfamiliar with, you'll play very different.

Dean: Oh yes, that's very true.  In my case, I stick with Ike but I never seem to get any better (laughs).  Just one of those things that I need to keep knocking away at.

Wildfyre: Of course, if you just watch some of the other players, you'll learn all sorts.  Maybe you won’t get it today, but...

Dean: Yeah, one of these days.  You have your ebbs and flows eh?

Wildfyre: Yeah, you do.

Dean: That's great, thanks very much!

Dean: If you could include any character in Smash, who would it be and why?

Smashbound: It would be… if I could say two? It would be Phoenix Wright or Simon Belmont simply because it would mean that there is Phoenix Wright or Castlevania music in the game…

Dean: Ahh…

Smashbound: Which of course would mean that the music could be remastered or remixed… They even remixed the Super Mario Maker song when the game was only one week old, so they might remix those songs.  It would also be a good advertisement for those games, because not a lot of people know about these really good games.

Dean: Yeah, they certainly could do with it.  Alright, good! Next question…

What is it about the game series which makes you want to play it on a competitive level versus just a few friendly games?

Smashbound: I think it’s the depth.  The more I play it, the more things I see that can be done and the level of strategy and depth involved just seems to be endless.  I just feel that I want to go as deep as I can; even when you feel that you’ve gotten as deep as you can go, more depth just seems to present itself when somebody beats you.  So you wonder why they won and then it makes you want to keep playing…

Dean: How many hours of Smash do you typically play in a day and does it impact on you wanting to play other games?

Smashbound: A lot… uhm… Let’s just say maybe around 3-4 hours a day, mainly online.  Does it impact me on wanting to play other games? It stops me from playing other games because I’m playing Smash instead (laughs), but yeah… it doesn’t exactly make me want to play other games more or less, but it does make me remember that I want to play other games, like Shovel Knight that I’m playing at the moment.

Dean: Nice shout out to Shovel Knight there! It’s a great game!

Smashbound: Yeah, really great game.  The more I play Smash, the less I play other games, but I don’t feel bad about it.  It doesn’t really impact me in that way.

Dean: Heh, I’m surprised that you didn’t mention that you wanted Shovel Knight in Smash when you had the chance!

Smashbound: Well see, I think that there’s a good chance that he’s going to get in anyway.  I mean, they’ve made an Amiibo for him and there’s other stuff out there as well, so I think he might be coming anyway.  The chance is very high…

Dean: Ahh, so you wanted to go for someone less likely!

Smashbound: Heh, yeah.

Dean: Alright then! What is your favourite entry in the Smash series?

Smashbound: I didn’t put much time into Smash 64, or Melee really and with Melee it was really more as a party game because I was playing just for fun, whereas with towards the end of Brawl and with Smash 4 I started to play more competitively.  I definitely enjoy the competitive aspect more, which is probably why Smash 4 is my favourite in the series.  But seeing the other games as well… some of them had some really great stages like Saffron City on the N64 one that has never made a return, or Pokefloats in Melee.

Dean: Ahh yes, the Pokemon stages that’ll never come back! (laughs)

Smashbound: Yeah, they’re great stages, but definitely this game.  What with the amount of music, the characters, the variety, the competitive scene, I really like it.

Dean: Both the 3DS and Wii U versions have gone through many changes and updates. How do you feel about the fact that changes can be made after release and unintended gameplay exploits can be removed via patches now in this day and age?

Smashbound: Really good.  It helps so much because it stops people from complaining about… I mean, you still get some complaining about how some characters are better than others, but from how I can see it, the game is really well balanced now; characters are pretty much equal, that’s how I see it.  And I feel that makes more people want to play, less people end up complaining, plus they can add more stages; it keeps the game going as well, like Splatoon has done for example, it’ll keep it fresh for a really long time.  This game could just keep going and going if they keep releasing updates for it.

Dean: Are there any patch changes you have particularly liked or disliked? Do you feel that any particular character needs to be nerfed or buffed?

Smashbound: Random little things that a lot of people wouldn’t really know.  Ness’ Down-Throw used to do 9% to everyone but it used to do 7% to Mr Game & Watch when the game first came out.  It seemed like a glitch because of the way he looked or something, so when they patched that I really liked that because… yeah they made it 7% to everyone, which made him a bit weaker, but he had a good down throw into combo anyway, so really it’s good that they made that weaker.  They also added a little screen shaking effect, so now when he uses the Down-Throw, the screen shakes because he’s pushing them onto the floor.  I really like that.  I didn’t like… or rather I’m not used to it yet… the patch with increased shield stun because I end up holding the shield for too long or rather holding shield, letting go and expecting the shield to disappear, then pressing left to run away and then rolling instead.  Rolling usually ends up being a worse option, as people can read it, so that’s not really good for me.  I need to get used to the increased shield stun.

Dean: Yeah, rolls are pretty readable in this game in general.

Smashbound: Yeah, especially if you’re a character like Samus, who’s rolls are really slow.  As for nerfs or buffs? Hmm… it’s interesting because, the way I see it, the game is already balanced.  Sheik vs Ganondorf… when you think about it Sheik can just keep hitting Ganondorf, but if Ganondorf gets just one hit, even if Sheik’s hit him 10 times, they’re even.  That’s how I see this game.  What I would like to see is no more nerfs… well no, actually Rosalina’s gravitational pull needs a bit more lag, because you can just keep using it over and over again and it just completely gets rid of Ness’ recovery…

Dean: Of course as a Ness player, you would say that! (laughs)

Smashbound: (laughs), No! I just feel that it’s silly to get rid of Ness’ recovery, it should maybe not just get rid of it because it used to get rid of Pacman’s trampoline and now it doesn’t.  Because it’s his recovery, maybe it shouldn’t affect other characters’ recoveries as well? That could be a nerf that would work well.

Other than that? Yoshi’s down air deals way too much damage.  If you hit perfectly, that’s 32%!

Dean: It IS stupidly powerful!

Smashbound: Yeah I think it’s a bit too much and also pretty much breaks your shield because of the new shield stun mechanic.  If they could just make that a bit weaker, that would be good.  In terms of buffs, yeah, they should buff the slightly worse characters.  Characters like Zelda, Ganondorf, maybe Wii Fit Trainer, but Wii Fit Trainer is actually quite good; because the hit boxes are so random, people don’t really know where they’re gonna get hit from.  Maybe Dr Mario as well, just to improve his recovery a bit.  That’s it really, otherwise I’d say that the game is really well balanced as it is.

Dean: How do you feel the metagame has evolved over the last year? Do you feel that any particular strategies have emerged since release that you never envisioned when the game was first released?

Smashbound: Well people are still discovering things today, only last week or so they discovered a new tech, where if you do a certain input when you get up from a ledge, you can get up with no cooldown or something.  So you can instantly act coming out of it; that’s definitely changing competitive play.  People are always getting better, even more than people imagined before as more things are found out.  Compared to when it first came out, everybody just thought things like Bowser was the best character in the game, or that Little Mac was the best, just because their moves killed at 30-40%.  Now people realise that, with all the cooldown they have and after looking at the framedata and stuff like that… yeah it’s definitely changed a lot.

Dean: How do you feel that Britain stands on a world scale in regards to Smash?

Smashbound: It’s not… it’s interesting because… compared to America, our level of play is definitely lower.  The way that they play is just different and they play a lot more often; they have a lot more weeklies all over, their weeklies are like our monthlies essentially, because of just how many good people go there.  All of their weeklies are really important and they stream every week.  Over here, you find more new people rising up as well.  To take myself as an example, Smash 4 is really my first game that I have ended up playing on a competitive level and it’s a lot of people’s first game, so yeah, there’s still a lot of improvement to be done in regards to the UK’s Smash prowess.

Dean: Over 3,000 Smash players took part at Evo 2015 across Melee and Smash Bros 4, but only 517 players took part in tournaments for both games. Do you feel that the divide between the Smash Bros player base has widened between games? How do you feel the Smash scene as a whole has evolved over the last year?

Smashbound: It has widened because of the different ways you can play.  I hear from players that enter both games that they can struggle to adapt from one control style to another.  Let’s say you’re going from Melee to Smash 4 and you’re using Sheik, in Melee you never want to press Down-B because you don’t want to switch into Zelda; whereas in Smash 4, you’ll want to use Bouncing Fish all the time, so it becomes really different.  I feel that’s why people might enter one game, but not both; that’ll definitely split things.

As for the evolution of the Smash scene? Oh it has evolved hugely.  People are starting to overcome their biggest opponents; Zero has finally been beaten after a 50 tournament streak!

Dean: Yeah that was a big moment!

Smashbound: Yeah, that was huge. 

Dean: Even I remember seeing the reaction to that one! (laughs)

Smashbound: (laughs) Yeah, it was just crazy.  So the way that people are still learning stuff, it’s definitely still evolving, it’s definitely not hit its peak or anything like that, nor would I say that tierlists are accurate at all.  The game still has a ton of potential and still continues to evolve.

Dean: You don't really seem to see much competitive play from the Nintendo 3DS version. Do you feel that there's anything that can be done to make a handheld Smash Bros game more appealing to competitive players?

Smashbound: For me it’s the controller, it’s the Circle Pad.  When I try to play Smash Bros on the 3DS I end up doing Tilts instead of Smash Attacks, or Smash Attacks instead of Tilts, because I can only use the Circle Pad.  The Control Stick is much better.

And for Smash Attacks I like using the C-Stick, so even having the New 3DS’ own C-Stick… it’s the controller, the main thing is the controller.  That’s why I would say that a lot less people use it; but then again, lots of people also like using the 3DS as a controller for the Wii U game.  I don’t know, they obviously can’t make the Gamecube controller compatible for the 3DS version, or maybe they can? I don’t think so, it would be a difficult setup…

Dean: It would be a crazy setup! (laughs)

Smashbound: (laughs) Yeah, It would be quite interesting!

Dean: So that’s it, you heard it here first! Nintendo needs to get out a Gamecube controller clip-on for the 3DS! (laughs)

Smashbound: (laughs) Yeah, pretty much!

Dean: Alright! What features in particular would you like to see still come to either Smash Bros 4 or a future Smash Bros game?

Smashbound: I definitely want some kind of a one player mode…

Dean: Something like Brawl’s Subspace Emissary?

Smashbound: Yeah, so… not like Classic Mode, but like a story.  We can see how good they are with cutscenes when they put out the character reveal trailers.  The graphics, everything was just crazy!  Just those one minute clips, if you can imagine a story like that with all of these characters coming together, all the funny things they could come up with, like with Pikachu and Mega Man.  It’s just so out of nowhere, it would be perfect.  The potential is massive!

Dean: Yeah it’s crazy.  Even when you look at just Subspace Emissary, just looking at stuff like Brawl in the Family.  They come up with entire storylines just out of 5 second clips from it!

Smashbound: Yeah! And then they all get together and it’s really exciting.  Another thing I’d like as well is an online mode where you CAN use Miis.  What ends up happening is the everyone ends up playing For Glory, but you can’t use Miis so you’re unable to face up against Mii Gunner, Mii Swordfighter or Mii Brawler, simply because no customs are allowed.  But most tournaments do allow all three Miis with a 1111 setup, but you’re never able to face those Miis on For Glory matches.

Dean: Yeah it’s true.

Smashbound: Neither are you able to play certain tourney legal stages, you’re only allowed to play Omega versions.  If they could implement those two features into it, that would be really good.

Dean: Alright then, last question.

I love the Smash Bros games but I'm terrible at them. What do you recommend I do to get better?

Smashbound: Definitely go to friendlies if you get the chance.  If you know anyone who’s good, play with them more often.  Ask them for tips, maybe about where you’re going wrong.  Watch some videos, watching videos helps a lot; a LOT more than you’d think.  I started watching loads and loads of Twitch videos, people just streaming their gameplay.  You notice things, things that I started implementing into my own gameplay.  Also try not to be predictable, don’t repeat yourself.  Also experiment with different characters, you may have just not found the right one yet, there’s 50+ characters!

Dean: There’s plenty of choice on offer

Smashbound: Yeah, exactly.

Dean: Alright! Thank you for your time!

Smashbound: No problem!

Finally we have an interview with G~P, the man who ran the Smash Bros 4 tournament on the day that these interviews were held.  Enjoy a peek into what it’s like running Smash Bros tournaments around the country.

Dean: What got you into organising tournaments? Is it just Smash Bros you organise?

G~P: Well I was always a bit interested in it anyway, but the scene really needed someone to organise events. Uhh, when I started organising we had nothing, so I started organising stuff around 2012 and we had another guy called Dami hosting stuff. He's stopped now but he likes helping out now and again, you know, certain people just like helping out with all of this.

Dean: Ahh, so you sort of jumped into it then?

G~P: Yeah I just sort of jumped into it and I just enjoy doing it.

Dean: So did you come from other games, or is it just Smash?

G~P: Yeah it's just Smash.  I started with Brawl and then ended up shifting over to Smash 4; I used to host all of the Smash games but it's hard to run like three or four gaming events when you've got so many people there.

Dean: Yeah I can imagine, it must be a nightmare!

G~P: Yeah when you've got 30 people there per game it's really hard and now every week we get nearly 50 people so...

Dean: Of course, of course... Right! So, next question...

Throughout the Fighting Game Community, the Smash Bros scene is often considered its own separate entity that stands alone from other, more traditional fighting games. Do you feel that this is the case with your own audience?

G~P: Oh for sure, definitely, it's definitely its own thing.  The crossover between Smash and other fighting games is extremely low.  The reason for that really though is because Smash really is its own style of fighting game, I like to call it a freestyle fighter.

A lot of fighting games are very rigid, where you're forced to face the other fighter at all times.  The way that Smash moves is completely different from any other fighter.  The crossover is difficult, I mean, I feel that I am great at Smash in my own mind, but I can't play other fighters well at all.

Dean: Oh no I'm much the same.  I don't play many traditional fighters at all but I loves me a bit of Smash, it's just much more freeform!

So... great! Next question…

With a constant stream of patches and updates coming to Smash 4 and a need to unlock characters, stages and custom moves; there are surely some challenges and expense involved in keeping multiple Wii U consoles up to date for each event...

G~P: Yeah, well all of these consoles all belong to other people, people bring their consoles in.  The Smash scene is very community driven, they bring their consoles from home to do this; I mean, I bring mine with me.

Dean: Yeah I'd imagine that's how it would be.  So do you find it difficult to keep all of this organised?

G~P: Uh, yeah it is a little bit difficult, but mostly you'll find that people keep their systems up to date anyway; sometimes you'll find that some aren't, I mean there's one here that doesn't have all the DLC characters in place, sometimes it's an issue, but you can't really say to someone that you NEED to download the DLC.  Most people who come to events will go and do that anyway.

Dean: Of course, most people coming here would be the types to do that I suppose.  So is there anything you would you like to see Nintendo do in order to streamline the process of keeping each Wii U console tournament ready?

G~P: Not really, they can't really do anything else.  I mean, it would be nice if they were more supportive of the people in the community that run stuff by offering them free DLC and things like that.  But you can't really do it like that as anyone could go to them and be like, oh yeah, I bring my Smash console to tournaments; they can't really do anything else in my opinion.

Dean: Alright then, so how do you feel that the Smash scene has evolved over the past year? Do you feel that it has earned a greater sense of legitimacy amongst the FGC?

G~P:  Globally, yes.  I mean, I personally didn't see it, but a lot of people who complained about how boring Smash 4 at APEX was back in January.  I personally enjoyed it a ton because I was there, but as it has evolved it has gotten a lot more aggressive and generally it is being viewed as a much better fighting game now that it was back then.  Now, for the past year, Smash in the UK has just exploded.  This time last year, we were getting around 30-40 people per game, now I have to announce things late just to make sure that we actually have enough spaces for people.  I've had to cap my events at 100 people now and it ends up hitting that within the space of a day!

Dean: Wow, it really has exploded!

G~P: It really has!

Dean: Well, that actually rather neatly ties into my next question...  How do you feel that Britain's Smash community stands on a global scale?

G~P: Just the UK community?

Dean: Yeah, the UK community?

G~P: Well in terms of skill? We're actually not that great and high up there in total honesty.  Err... J.Miller and IXIS are ok but on a global level they are not on the top level.

Dean: Alright, is there anything you feel that Nintendo or the fanbase as a whole could do to improve on things here?

G~P: All we can do is play and get better.  Get a better understanding of how the game works, that sort of stuff.  It's hard it's taken years to get this good but I have days where I'm just awful.

Dean: Yeah it happens.  Like with one of my friends who went to a Smash event, one day he's 3rd the next he's 9th.

G~P: Yeah sometimes I have it good but I came 17th today!

Dean: Alright, thanks for that.  Just two more now.  This one may be a bit controversial but...

Do you feel that there is anything that can be done to help bridge the gap between the Melee side of the community and the Smash 4 side? Be it either from Nintendo themselves or by the Smash Bros fanbase?

G~P: Oh boy... how long have you got!?

Dean: (laughs)

G~P: Ok, the Melee part of the community is just fine with Smash 4 and the Smash 4 community is just fine with Melee, but there are a few select individuals who I'm not going to name, cause I don't want to start anything, but there are people in the community, every community, but mainly on the Melee side who are massively against Smash 4.  No matter what we do, they will find a way to hate Smash 4.  It really bothers me personally, but it will happen.  The main thing is stopping people from doing what they do, but the thing is that the Melee community is very tightly knit, they're very grassroots and have always been grassroots.  There is no way that these people are ever going to want to stop doing what they're doing; that's just how they are.

Dean: Well I suppose it's just one of those things that when you're stuck in it, you're never going to get out of it.

G~P: Well the Melee community is just so streamlined and so into their own thing that you can suggest anything other than Melee that, well we've noticed it this year, you get a lot of FGC stuff like, normal fighting games and you'll see stuff like where they say yeah we want Smash 4 in this and without fail, some guy and it's always about of dozen of them; one guy will be like, what about Melee? It's not case where, yeah, we're having Smash 4 in this, it's... what about Melee? That's pretty much how it is with them.

Dean: Yeah, I've seen a lot of people following that line of thinking.  It definitely seems like something you generally see everywhere.

G~P: Yeah, pretty much.

Dean: Right, well just one question left now and it's quite a simple one.  As a Tournament Organiser, what's your greatest hope for the future as in regards to Nintendo and the wider gaming community as a whole?

G~P: Well, just to keep going as we're going; we're going up as it is.  I hope our team keeps on going and gaining more attraction and that we start getting more of a global name.  The community is great here, seriously, the Smash 4 community in the UK is awesome.

Dean: Yeah, we've got some good people here.

G~P: Yeah, everyone is great here, we've got no bad people amongst us and that's really rare.

Dean: And I suppose that's the most important thing.  That everyone's having a good time and that everyone's enjoying themselves.

G~P: Yeah that's my priority as a TO, just making sure that everyone's enjoying themselves.

Dean: And that's it! Thanks very much!

G~P: No problem!

If you want to get involved in the competitive Smash scene yourself, there are plenty of events around the UK and mainland Europe.  You’ll find listings on places like Smashboards or various Facebook pages like SmashUK.  The people in this interview all regularly attend Dat Smash and Dat Blastzone on a weekly and monthly basis.

If competitive Smash isn’t your thing, why not join us here on the N-Europe forums for our very own Anniversary Tournament? Taking place from 28/11/15 to 30/12/15, it’s sure to be a Smashing time, no matter what style of play you prefer!

As an added bonus, please enjoy some embarassing footage of me taking on Smashbound in a few rounds of Super Smash Bros for Wii U!