Why do you play Bayonetta?Not only does she come from my favorite video game and is she my favorite video game character, she also allows me to speak with my play better than my previous main, Peach. I truly have fun every second of game play while using Bayonetta.Where do you put Bayonetta on the tier list? Many players believe her to be #1 (typically tied with Diddy Kong and Cloud).I believe Bayonetta to be the best character in the game. Although Diddy Kong could possibly be tied with her for the number 1 spot.What are her match ups like?Overall pretty even or in Bayonetta’s favor. Her ability to negate most characters strengths usually swing a matchup in her favor. The only matchup I find very difficult is Diddy Kong, due to his neutral against Bayonetta.You said this over Twitter:Would you like to share some of those secrets? (Honestly, I'm not expecting it to happen).How long do you think it will take to unlock Bayonetta’s true potential and why has it taken so long? What is her learning curve like?Ha ha, well, I can’t really share some of those secrets as it might create a disadvantage for me in tourney. Let’s just say they’re things almost no other Bayonetta has dabbled in.I think it’ll take about another year or so for her true potential to be reached. Most of her players (including me for quite some time) always relied on what was given to us instead of trying constantly to find new ways to rack up damage or steal a stock.I believe that is one reason why it’s taken so long. Another reason why it’s possibly taken so long is how vast her kit actually is.There are many small things that people don’t realize about her like a certain hitbox of a move sending this way, or this special move sending this way at a certain position and so on.As you may well know, Salem is well-regarded as the best Bayonetta main as of right now. You said this over Twitter:What do you think separates you from Salem as of right now? What are you planning to do to achieve the titles of "best Bayonetta" and the "best in the world"?How long and how much work will this take?I believe our neutral separates us the most. Salem is mostly regarded as a patient Bayonetta, while on the other hand, I’m known for going aggressive and keeping players pressured.Our combos are pretty different too, but Bayonetta is just a simple character with no variations in her combos right? ;)For my plans to become the best Bayonetta and best in the world... just simply be better than everyone else. I think with the constant effort I put into the game and my studying I do, I believe I will be able to achieve this goal in this year.I usually put about 3-4 hours into the game each day with studying included. Mentality is going to be the hardest part.I have always struggled with nerves in tournaments and have only recently partially fixed them. I still have many ways to go.



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What do you think of the new stage list rules? How will this affect Bayonetta players like yourself?I believe it’s a good stage list. It is pretty balanced overall.The stage list will most likely affect the other Bayonetta players more than myself. With my aggressive play style Lylat Cruise and Duck Hunt really didn’t suit my needs as much as the other, more patient Bayonettas.I usually preferred Town and City or Smashville over the now banned Duck Hunt/Lylat.So in regards to Genesis 4, there was some controversy over the whole "0.9 incident." What do you think happened? Who is to blame?I honestly have no idea what happened. There isn’t much evidence period pointing to anyone specific at all causing this incident.I don’t think anyone is to blame for this, but if evidence were to be brought to the table regarding this I’d be very happy to see it.Have people tried to hold you responsible to this incident? Do people blame you or have treated you at all unfairly as a result of what happened?Some people tried to say I caused the incident until they were shut up by the fact that ZeRo and Dabuz played the set on 0.9 too. Of course people have treated me unfairly.People love to assume that I caused something just because my character is dancing on the win screen.What did you think of the ruling that the Genesis 4 staff made at the time that required you to replay only the last match against Komorikiri? How did you perceive that this ruling was only made for your set and not the set between ZeRo and Dabuz?At first I was a bit upset. Replaying a match that I had already "won" felt very wrong to me, but after that I quickly regained composure and was even ready to play the whole set if needed.During the whole event I didn’t even consider we were the only ones who had to replay the set. However, the more I think about it the more I understand.Time constraints were a serious issue plus people were also being a serious issue. Something like this never happened before and thousands upon thousands were calling for a bunch of different outcomes.Thankfully a somewhat justified resolution was put forth.Given, this is probably impossible to truly say one way or the other but do you think that there were any alterations to your set's outcome?In a 0.9 meta, which character do you think would benefit more from such settings? Bayonetta or Sonic?I honestly can’t say. Mentality, stamina, and warmer/colder hands are all pretty big factors in a match which were completely shifted after the first 0.9 set was played.I do not have any right to say Sonic has more benefits as I don’t main him, but I believe Bayonetta would have [a] slight edge if [it were] known that it was 0.9. Her "A" button combos would be greatly extended if you would know what setting it was on (which I clearly didn’t).Some of my special combos would not work in 0.9 which are very powerful in 1.0.People claim you cannot SDI [Editor's note: Smash Directional Influence, helps with escaping combos] as well in 0.9 which is true, but the combo followups after the special moves are greatly weakened making an even trade off so to speak.Rage combos are not affected and they work just as well in 1.0 as 0.9. The game winning combo game 3 would’ve worked better in 0.9 and would not have required as much inputs.Has the whole incident made you more paranoid of future tournament matches? Does it make you want to double check the settings even if it isn’t your responsibility to do so?Yes, of course I’m slightly paranoid. Having something so shocking happen to you is definitely a slap in the face.I will double check the settings before every tournament match. No doubt in my mind [about that].Do you think the staff of Genesis will be able to handle this better next year? Do you think this was a good learning experience in general for the Smash community?Yes and yes. The Genesis staff was extremely on point besides this random inconsistency.I believe it was a good wake up call for the Smash scene. Anything can happen so make sure literally everything is correct according to the rules.Let’s wrap this topic up… How did you feel for Dabuz and Komorikiri when this whole thing happened?I felt terrible. Knowing how bad a loss feels in general is enough to make you feel depressed for someone, but having a whole set feel quite possibly stolen from you must feel 10 times worse.Despite only being 15 years old, you’ve been making some notable splashes in the tournament scene. Do you think your age gives any sort of advantage or disadvantage against the older players? Or does it simply not matter in your opinion?I believe it simply does not matter. We’ve all been playing Smash 4 since release so it’s equal playing ground. I never like using my age as an excuse or something to brag about.How supportive have your parents been in your pursuit of professional Smash Bros.?So far they have been very supportive. They love seeing how far I’ve come. Seeing your 6 year old child playing Roy in Melee to then seeing him grow up to be a 15 year old ranked 20th in the world for Smash 4 must’ve been something!Have you had any reactions from your fellow school peers regarding your successes in the tournament scene?Well at the moment I’m home-schooled so [unless] my dog counts, then no ha ha.What would you say is your greatest accomplishment in regards to Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U?The first time I went positive in money at a national tourney, ha ha. UGC Smash Open was the first tourney I went to and did not break even or go negative, but it certainly was not the last.Any shout-outs you’d like to make? Where can our readers see more of you?Shout-outs to DMG Alliance for being my family, everyone who supports me at tourneys (you all know who you are), and of course my little Cheshires (my fans, <3 love y’all!).My twitter is @CaptainZack_ and you can catch DMG Alliance on their YouTube channel I would love to start streaming eventually, but I currently don’t have the funds to do so. If a sponsor/team were to pick me up I would most likely start!See you all on the big screen ~ Oh! I forgot one thing..."Don’t mess with a witch!"