By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - After... eight or so months, it's back!
I'm pretty happy about this news: Today, Nintendo of America, in collaboration with eSports platform Battlefy, have launched the NintendoVS North American Open April 2022! This tournament takes place on FRIDAY, April 22, 2022, into Saturday, April 23. That fits the structure of the very recent Splatoon 2 North American Open March 2022, which also had a ladder on Friday into a Saturday bracket and then livestreamed final round, also on Saturday.
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| Nintendo's graphic designers gave up on making unique banners for these. |
Also taken from that Splatoon 2 event? It's a North American Open. The last time there was a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament on the Battlefy platform sponsored by Nintendo of America, it was exclusive to the United States—meaning it excluded Mexico and Canada. Fortunately, that means the regions have reverted back to how they were in 2019 and 2020 back when the whole of North America was included in those. I dunno why Nintendo went on a United States-only streak for a bit last year but I'm glad it's over. ...Of course, the regions weren't really balanced back then, either.
Anyway, rather than explaining in words how the tournament is structured, I decided to produce this picture that should get the concept across much faster:
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| Group A = Regions 1, 2, 3, and 4. (West side of North America.) Group B = Regions 5, 6, 7, and 8. (East side of North America.) Groups A and B never interact with one another, for latency and timezone reasons. |
ALSO taken from that Splatoon 2 event? The prizes. They're the exact same prizes with the exact same approximate retail value. I'll just copy-paste from my Splatoon 2 event write-up and change one thing:
- First Place of Final 4 receives Gaming Chair (ARV $359 USD), NintendoVS North American Open April 2022 Trophy (ARV $150 USD), 10,000 My Nintendo Gold Points (ARV $100 USD), Gaming Headset (ARV $99 USD), Splatoon 2 Jacket (ARV $75 USD), Backpack (ARV $50 USD) and Nintendo Switch Carrying Case (ARV $20 USD). Total ARV $853.
- Second Place of Final 4 receives 7,500 My Nintendo Gold Points (ARV $75 USD) and Nintendo Switch Carrying Case (ARV $20 USD). Total ARV $95.
- Third and Fourth Place of Final 4 receives 5,000 My Nintendo Gold Points (ARV $50) and Nintendo Switch Carrying Case (ARV $20). Total ARV $70.
Otherwise, the actual ruleset is the same as the NintendoVS US Fall Open 2021, though there's only one tournament instead of two here. Same stage list, determined by Random Stage Select in the Battle Arena. Best-of-threes three stock matches for the entire duration of the tournament, including the Final Round. All characters are allowed.
Besides the Random stages, it's normal competitive online tournament rules, and very skilled people do end up playing. But also casual people looking for a good time show up! The ladder format for the first part of the tournament lets you keep playing even after losing (and you SHOULD do that), and with enough matches, you should be match-made to people who are at similar skill to you. It's fun, there's no fee to join, and I encourage you to join (unlike, say, the NintendoVS Challenge Cup February 2022). ...Though Nintendo really shouldn't be doing these for Friday evenings.
Note: eSports organisation Panda is completely unaffiliated with this event, so this is not the beginning of whatever relationship Panda has with Nintendo that will be revealed this year.
Ludwig is biased in favour of these tournaments because he moderates the Discord server for them, but that also means that he's an expert in the questions that people ask... and how to answer them. He hopes this article is helpful, and he's also anticipating the FIGHTER USAGE STATS that will come out of this tournament!
The FIGHTER USAGE STATS for April 2022 are now available!
I have the feeling I've asked this before, and apologies if I have, but would you consider streaming your attempt at this? From articles on past online events it sounds like you do pretty well for the most part, so I'd be interested in watching. Even if you don't want to use a mic at all, or anything like that, or even respond to me in Twitch chat or w/e.
ReplyDeleteYou haven't asked me.
DeleteBuuut I also don't have streaming equipment. >.>
Well, crud.
DeleteOh well. ^_^;
Delete(And I have no plans to GET streaming equipment.)
Well, the matchmaking on Battlefy.com was down for the first half hour. Fortunately, an extra half hour was added to the time allotted to playing.
ReplyDeleteSet 1: Vs. MARIO. Of course. He went RANDOM. He got Purple Toon Link on Small Battlefield vs. Bowser. He says he forgot to change his character? Game 2 he went with Mari0, of course. Yoshi's Story. I three-stocked him. I now have 8 Smash Tags from him, so this is the FOURTH time I've played against him. I think all in Set 1.
Set 2: VS. Mr. Mokoto. I'm sticking with King Bowser. He's going with Purple Samus, which… isn't something I'll enjoy. Small Battlefield. I two-stocked him. He's trying to do typical wifi Samus stuff but his spacing has a lot to be desired. I switched to Jigglypuff for game 2 and he switched to TERRY, who… I historically do poorly against with any character. But I won very comfortably on Final Destination. His Terry was more "I'll spam smash attacks and recover very predictably" than… clever.
Set 3: VS. Cup. They got 2 wins and 1 loss already. He remembered that we fought in the October 29, 2021 tournament! Impressive. I 2-stocked his Ness on Smashville with Jigglypuff. He then swapped to Lucas as I continued with Jigglypuff. We went to Kalos. I two-stocked him again! Got a shield break with Pound. He's a shield and shield-grab at the edge kinda player.
Set 4: Vs. Anoddymous. We had this match chat convo:
AnoddymousApr 22, 2022 7:01:09 pm
my shirt and back
AnoddymousApr 22, 2022 7:01:12 pm
are waterfalls
Koopa#5969Apr 22, 2022 7:01:13 pm
Uh....
AnoddymousApr 22, 2022 7:01:17 pm
u make an arena or do i
Koopa#5969Apr 22, 2022 7:01:19 pm
We're only half an hour in.
Koopa#5969Apr 22, 2022 7:01:22 pm
I'll make it.
Koopa#5969Apr 22, 2022 7:01:30 pm
While I make it, go dry off and drink some water.
AnoddymousApr 22, 2022 7:01:33 pm
technically an hour
AnoddymousApr 22, 2022 7:01:47 pm
thank you
AnoddymousApr 22, 2022 7:02:14 pm
oh i forgot i cant
AnoddymousApr 22, 2022 7:02:34 pm
no water
Koopa#5969Apr 22, 2022 7:03:00 pm
...yikes!
So I tried naming my Battle Arena "Sweat Waterfall" and it renamed it to "Swea*****erfall"
Apparently there is a slur in the arena name "Sweat Waterfall". Uh… anyway, I picked Ludwig and he picked Mii Swordfighter. Um… I lost on Final Destination. Part is that is I don't know the match-up at all. The other is that the connection was very spotty. …Game 2, I went King Bowser. Town and City. I barely won. I told him to restart his Switch. I restarted mine too. His connection speed doubled (upload). He switched to white Donkey Kong in our remade arena. I stuck with my dad. …And I lost in a last hit-ish situation on Town & City. We had no noticeable connection issues that third match. …if we played like that the whole time I would've won my first game.
Set 5: VS Sharpsteel. He's also 3-1 right now. I chose Ludwig. He chose Ridley. I three-stocked him on Battlefield. Game two I three-stocked him on Yoshi's Story, same characters. He had no idea what to do and he was just combo food and didn't know how to approach.
DeleteSet 6: Vs Uran10. We had this flattering exchange to start:
Koopa#5969Apr 22, 2022 7:36:56 pm
Hiya!
Uran10Apr 22, 2022 7:36:57 pm
JV82X/869
Uran10Apr 22, 2022 7:37:04 pm
I feel like I can't dodge the really good players
Uran10Apr 22, 2022 7:37:07 pm
case and point hi :)
Koopa#5969Apr 22, 2022 7:37:11 pm
Am I really good? :p
Uran10Apr 22, 2022 7:37:19 pm
good enough for me to recognize you so yes
He's going with Light Blue Yoshi vs. my Ludwig. Game 1 on Town and City. He was winning for the first stock… and then I played more carefully and had a comeback. But he played more carefully and more egg-y in the last stock and he stole it with a shield-stunned down-b shield break into forward-smash. That's also how he beat my first stock, too. So game 2 I switched to KING BOWSER. We went to… Small Battlefield. And I lost in a last stock situation, though I think I played better with Ludwig. In the end I struggled to get around his egg baits. My tool is firebreath but he predicted it and punished me. That's 4 wins and 2 losses.
Set 7: VS. lewisjewis. His arena features Stage: Choice; amiibo: On, and Spirits: On. …So I made an arena. I think this time I'll struggle with Jigglypuff. He picked KAZUYA. I DON'T THINK PUFF IS GOOD HERE BUT I DUNNO WHO IS. He EASILY two-stocked me and just wiped out my last stock with some super up-b combo. He had over 200% on his last stock, sheesh. It was on Yoshi's Story. So game 2 I switched to Ludwig. I STILL DUNNO HOW TO FIGHT HIM but maybe I can pelt with projectiles. It was Kalos. I won… comfortably, actually? BUT I CAN'T RAPID JAB HIM. I switched to King Bowser as he went to KING K. ROOL on Stadium 2. He was destroying me until I got to my last stock… and then a light turned on and I just sweeped his second stock and his last stock and won the set.
Set 8: VS Proto. Match-making is working well; we're both 5 to 2 in win/loss. I'm ranked 53 and he's 52, in fact. I'm feeling hot with King Dad so let's keep going with him. AND OH SHOOT HE'S A LITTLE MAC. Uh… my Bowser three-stocked him in Town & City. He SD'd his first stock by KO punching while jumping as I was standing on a side platform. I'm feeling FANTASTIC with King Dad. Um… and then he switched to Zombie from Minecraft. But my King Bowser two-stocked him on Small Battlefield. His minecarts were super-telegraphed… so I exploited that and won.
6-2… RANK 10 NOW that I've met the 8-match minimum threshold!
I ended up not playing any other matches for the duration of the ladder and dropped from rank 10 to rank 21... but still in the top 32!
DeleteRound 1, Winners Side: VS. QUI DDD. He plays as King Dedede and sometimes Pokémon Trainer. I gotta admit, I didn't really prepare for this at all. Against King Dedede, Ludwig is the right play. BUT FIRST GAME HE WENT POKéMON TRAINER. And he won Game 1 on Kalos in a pretty even game that I thought was VERY winnable. He's not "cracked" or anything. Nonetheless. I switched to King Bowser for game 2 as he stayed Pokémon Trainer. We went to Kalos again. King Bowser had a dominating performance whenever he was using Squirtle… and less so against Ivysaur and not at all vs. Charizard and his back-air spacing. So I lost in another last-stock high % situation… Kinda regretting my character switch.
DeleteRound 1, Losers Side: VS Gerg. Gerg lost because he didn't actually show up. He's Seed #5 Snake player. …And he didn't show up to my match, either. I ADVANCE BY FORFEIT.
Round 2, Losers Side: VS ■□■ ■□■ . …He's not interested in conversation:
Koopa#5969Apr 23, 2022 2:28:05 pm
Hi.
■□■ ■□■Apr 23, 2022 2:28:06 pm
F9sf0
■□■ ■□■Apr 23, 2022 2:28:09 pm
Pw 5
Koopa#5969Apr 23, 2022 2:28:35 pm
Hi.
Koopa#5969Apr 23, 2022 2:28:38 pm
....again.
■□■ ■□■Apr 23, 2022 2:28:50 pm
F9df0
■□■ ■□■Apr 23, 2022 2:29:01 pm
Sorry
He's playing META KNIGHT and I picked King Bowser game 1. We went to Kalos. Again. SOMEHOW I THREE-STOCKED HIM, with my Bowser at 150.2%. Well, I feel great.
Game 2 he switched to Construction Mari0. Yoshi's Story. Uh… he… just robbed my last stock while he was at like 135% and I was at like 75% by doing an Up-B and I got KO'd off the top. He's the type of plumber player that will spam three back-airs off one jump. Game 3 we went to Smashville and because there aren't tri-plats, he didn't do that shenanigan again and I straight-up beat him without any cheese, successfully guessing whether I should be recovering low or high. I will say I didn't challenge him during his off-stage recoveries except for fire breath. That plumber's low end-lag on his back-airs annoys me that he can just spot-dodge my shield-grab and then up-smash me. >.> BUT YEAH I WON.
Round 3, Losers Side: VS Flyfly. He's Seed 20. Right above me. I know he's a Dark Pit main. You know I really wanna bring Jigglypuff but I KNOW she'll get side b'd really early. Ludwig dislikes his reflector. SO KING DAD. And it worked out well on Pokémon Stadium 2 with a one-stock. Same characters for game 2. Now on Smashville. And I choked the ending and lost. Despite that setback, I WON'T character switch. THIS IS IT. STADIUM 2 AGAIN. AND I THREW IT by getting 0-to-deathed on my first stock. I didn't land a single hit on him for a whole first minute. Then it was eventually me on my last stock and him having two full stocks. Then I kinda went nuts and hit some raw smash attacks and quickly made it one stock each with me having great health. And then I lost to… I don't even know. Dark Pit's Down Smash? It's frame 5, which is very fast, and it KO'd me at the edge at high %. If that didn't hit he'd be laggy and I would've won, probably.
SO I GOT 13TH PLACE. And with primarily King Bowser.