By Josh “BarkSanchez” Brody and Jason “Nardwell” Mani

Every Tuesday we will be posting reviews of the past week in Smash 64. This week we find out the secret boss that invaded Havasu and provide brief results for some other events in our scene.

Lake Havasu’s Shark-Infested Waters

This week in Smash 64 news, Cody Daniels, the mastermind behind Operation Desert Smash, brought me out to help shine a spotlight on the Havasu Smash 64 scene and help train the crew up for Snosa 2016. The Havasu crew sports some healthy competition between their top players: Daniels, Aces, and Dusttin, despite Daniels being a strong favorite at the weeklies. With Godspeed, Sonicfuzz, and EliteScoringGuy not far behind them, it brought a nice feeling of potential in the whole scene, that in a matter of months any of these fresh players could be number 1 in Havasu.

Everyone was incredibly friendly, and Havasu, as always, was a great time. Godspeed drove me and a few others to some interesting sights, as well as some good food, while Daniels busted out the ATV for some off-road fun. The weather was quite windy and limiting, but come time for ODS 2 in early September I’m sure the weather will be perfect for the sequel to the ultimate smash retreat of 2015.

The tournament ended as was expected, however there were a few surprises along the way. The Havasu scene is quite diverse, as this tournament saw every character played at least once by a Havasu player except Donkey Kong. Seeing that level of variety is a very pleasant surprise, a nice break from the constant Falcons, Kirbys, and Pikachus. Goldmemba busted out Link in the face of Natedog’s imposing Kirby, while EliteScoringGuy showed the rest of Havasu what Yoshi and Mario are capable of. I was also pleasantly surprised with the improvement from each player throughout their sets. Katiebug, Lloyd, and iSuk, three Sm4sh players that recently picked up the game showed great fundamentals as they learned much of the game mid-set. Against myself, Daniels was taking the games to last stock by the end of each set, making solid adjustments in the neutral game.

The tournament this weekend was essentially a closed event for the Havasu crew, but the Havasu weeklies are usually open to all, and could see talented players from Phoenix/Tucson, Nevada, and SoCal visit on any given weekend. With two months to train, the Havasu crew made clear their expectations to turn heads at Snosa 2016.

The Rest

Excelsior Smash 64

In a small town, about an hour outside of Boston, a new Smash 64 community is blooming. Headed by Adam Henderson, the second weekly of this fresh community went off without a hitch. These events are held at a small comic and game shop that has, like so many others, welcomed the Smash 64 community with open arms. This week, the new group was graced by the presence of Fireblaster, who made the trip up from Connecticut. He duped the TO a bit and some how pulled a twelve seed, so the road ahead looked to be a smooth one. All went according to plan until he met Yunque, the fourteen seed, in Winners Semifinals. Both of their runs were flawless until this point with neither dropping a game. This set, however, was taken the distance and in an upset, Yunque sent Fireblaster and his Yoshi to losers bracket. There he met Mark, who had made a miraculous run through the losers bracket. Mark entered losers after the first round when he was sent there by Yunque. Once there he sailed through, and after defeating dajjal in Losers Semifinals, he earned the right to face Fireblaster. Unfortunately for Mark, Fireblaster took him out in a 3-0, forcing him to settle for a third place finish. This set up a rematch between Yunque and Fireblaster in Grand Finals. This Grand Finals seemed destined to become one for the books as Fireblaster swept the first set and reset the bracket. The second game then went the distance and Fireblaster took home the gold, winning 3-2. This was a good week for the fledgling Smash 64 community in Boston. They were able to draw top talent to their weekly and had a healthy turnout of 16 competitors. They seem poised to take the spotlight soon. Be sure to check in to see what the future holds for them in the coming weeks. The full bracket can be found on Challonge.

Grid Games Weekly

Fireblaster was a busy man this week as he was also able to make it to his home state’s local as well. This tourney was much smoother sailing for Fire, as he was able to take home the gold in a clean sweep without dropping a single game. Despite the dominating performance by Fire, there were some impressive runs by other members of the Connecticut Smash 64 group. 6AM in particular had a great run through losers bracket after being sent there by a 2-0 loss to Kaz. He was able to battle all the way back to Losers Semifinals where he met Rouge. Unfortunately, this is where his story would come to an end with a disappointing 2-0 sweep and having to settle with fifth place. Rouge then went on to face Kaz, who was sent to losers, like so many others, by Fireblaster. In Losers Finals, Kaz prevailed 3-1. Kaz then met Fire in Grand Finals and we all know how that turned out. Connecticut’s Smash 64 community has found a nice home in Great Value Smash and will be hosting the fourth edition of its Gauntlet series this weekend. Be sure to stay tuned to The Smash Writers for updates on that. The full bracket for the Grid Games Weekly can be found on Challonge. Replays can be found on the Great Value Smash YouTube Channel and be sure to follow them on Hitbox.tv for streaming times.

SONA 3

SONA is Smash 64 at the Old North Arcade in Columbus, Ohio. This event is a newly created weekly in the Ohio Smash 64 scene. Coming in at fourth place this week was Cyoonit. He was sent to losers by tyhiggz after Winners Quarterfinals and fell once more to Box during Losers Semifinals. Third was tyhiggz who fell victim to Pugs and was Box’s next conquest in losers bracket. After making it back to Grand Finals, Box was given the chance to face Pugs once more after being sent to losers bracket by him earlier in the tournament. Pugs was able to prevail and took home the gold in the 3rd edition of SONA, at Ohio Smash 64’s new found venue.

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