On the first weekend of February, I got to compete in the most anticipated event since the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate!
This tournament held in Oakland, California, at the Oakland Convention Center. Over 2,000 attendees competed in Ultimate, while at the same time over 1,000 attendees competed in the classic Super Smash Bros. Melee for the GameCube. No matter the hour of the day or the place in the convention, there was always something going on.
Day 0: Thursday
I had booked a flight with Southwest Airlines a few months beforehand, but just the day before I decided to join a carpool with two friends instead (thanks to Southwest’s full refund as credit!). I was still working at my engineering job that day, but left work around 2 P.M. I got back home and double-checked that I had everything – notably my controller, Switch, chargers, and books to sell – and an hour later we were off! We were leaving northern San Diego county, so the drive was anticipated to take about 8 hours. Throughout those 8 hours were dozens of subtopics about Smash, on top of playing Smash on our Switches via local wireless (bless technology! – but unfortunate for our driver who had to deal with our pressing buttons without ever getting to join in). A few stops for food and gas extended our time to 9 hours, arriving in Oakland at just around midnight. I also took the wheel about an hour half before we arrived, giving the driver a chance to rest and actually play, haha.
Having done some research before our trip, we found a nice, cheap parking garage within the Chinatown of Oakland, just a five-minute walk from our hotel. While the hotel parking rates were as high as $40 a day, this lot was only $16 a day. It also seemed a bit sketchy at first, given that the instructions given to us said to leave the keys in the car and the car unlocked, or else you’d have to pay an extra $10 a day! That said, my friend held on to his car keys, but we still managed to leave without having to pay the extra fee. Only at the end of the trip did we find out that the leaving keys was so that the staff can move cars as needed to accommodate more space, because the amount of space in the garage was fairly tight. The parking garage was at least gated, but man no wonder it was so cheap despite being an underground garage, haha.
We arrived at our hotel, the Oakland Marriott City Center, where we still needed to check in. The line for checking in was surprisingly long – about a half-hour wait, even at midnight. I had a few other friends who came separately and wanted to check in before me, but unfortunately it turned out that only the credit card holder of the person who reserved the room (me) can check in, despite being added as a guest. I hadn’t had that problem with other hotels, but unfortunately they had to wait an extra two hours just for me. They had all come from Los Angeles as well so they were exhausted! But I suppose it is what it is.
Once we checked in, we all started playing Smash in our room, up until the late night hours of 3 to 4 A.M. There was a total of 7 of us, all just playing the game we love. (Smash players would rather spend as little as they can on housing, so nobody minds such a crowded room!) Everybody does this at a Smash major; there’s no way around it, whether you’d like your sleep or not. Regardless, it was still an enjoyable evening, and we could not wait for the tournament to come!
Day 1: Friday, Tournament Day
Despite sleeping late, I surprisingly woke up naturally and early: around 7 A.M. I was the only one awake. Not being able to fall asleep, I did a quick little workout at the hotel gym, followed by walking around the city playing Pokemon Go. I always prioritize getting at least some kind of workout in on the day of a major, as it helps my performance tenfold.
I came back with everyone awake about an hour later, and of course the games continue. After maybe 45 minutes or so, we went to grab our attendee badges downstairs (as the hotel we were staying at was directly connected to the venue), then headed to the nearest Starbucks to grab coffee and breakfast, just a five-minute walk away. A friend and I returned to our hotel room, while the rest headed to the venue. I had heard that despite it being opening hours, the venue was already packed and thus it was difficult to get games in, so I stayed back for a bit. With at least one friend to play, I just wanted to make sure I was warmed up for my bracket, which was to start at noon.
After playing for a good two hours, I headed down to my pool. I had no idea what to expect. I tried looking up my opponents beforehand, but I could not find a single person online. I was going in blind, but all I could do was put in faith knowing that I had practiced enough to conquer anything that was put in front of me.
My first match was actually put on stream – against an unknown Snake player. Despite having played for nearly a decade now, I get the nerves whenever I get put on stream at a major. Streams at locals are no problem for me, but I can’t help but think that thousands will be watching my match at a major. That said, I had a rough start in my first game, but I was slowly feeling more comfortable as the set continued, eventually beating my opponent fairly convincingly 2-0.
My second opponent had been carefully watching my stream match; he was a competent Palutena player. I had to work quite a bit in this match, but I pulled it off in the end at a close 2-1, having figured out the opponent’s habits by the third game. (The online bracket incorrectly says 2-0).
My third opponent was a solid ROB player. ROB has always been my worst enemy. I could never figure out how to win against that robot despite having played for years. I had an entire notebook of 200 pages filled with notes of dozens of matches analyzed featuring ROB in Smash 4 (or Smash for Wii U), but I could just never beat one of any caliber. Despite this, I just told myself, Don’t let it get to you. I knew I couldn’t lose the mental game before the match even started.
Throughout the set, it felt like I was making all the right reads, but one incorrect one would put me in such a disadvantageous state so that I would easily take 100% each time. Game one was decently close, and I was able to close it out. Game two was actually more convincing from me, except at the end where I messed up an edge guard and got spiked super early to cost me the game. Game three was much closer, but for the first time ever I was able to close out the set against this character. A huge sigh of relief. A friend was watching my set, and knowing my background, popped off for me.
My fourth and final match of the day, regardless of outcome, was against another Snake player. This wasn’t any Snake player however; this was the first seed of the pool: MVD. This match was also put on stream. In the first game, I simply could not figure out how to get in against this Snake’s grenades. Every moment that I thought was an opening turned out to be just a bit too slow. I could not take a stock off him, and Nintendo even made a clip out of my final stock! It’s fine, I told myself. It happens. I thought about the match, and now that I understood the way MVD set up his grenades, I gave it a second try: same stage, same character. This time it was much closer. I managed to take two stocks, but couldn’t do too much on his final one. Nonetheless I was pretty content with how I did, knowing that he’s a top 20 player by this point. Allegedly I was the only person to take stocks from him that day too, so I’ll take it.
With that, my pool was over. Both the winner and loser of the winner’s finals match of the pool move on to the second round, which happens the next day. To celebrate, I got myself some boba with friends just a five-minute walk away, then played friendlies for about 3-4 hours while checking out the venue and everything it had to offer. With about 20 artists and vendors, free arcade games, and other tournaments going on, there was plenty to see even for the non-competitor.
It was now 7 P.M. and I gathered my friends for dinner: ramen time! Also within walking distance, we got some refreshing food especially given the cold weather, talking about Smash the entire time. I decided to splurge and treated myself to a lavish meal: a bowl of lobster ramen. Over twice the price of a standard ramen bowl, but to this day I can’t forget how great it was! There was a decent amount of lobster meat, but what was even more notable for me was how fresh the broth was. Drinking the soup the entire time felt like drinking out of a lobster itself. Paired with some hot sake and it was a great meal for a Friday night.
Back to the venue, back for more games. The venue was open 24/7 so plenty of folks were still around, even past midnight. I went back up to my hotel room after 1 A.M. and got some shut-eye (some other roommates were also asleep so I could go to sleep fairly easily this time).
Day 2: Saturday, Round 2 Pools
The day started off the same way as Friday: work out a bit, followed by some games in the hotel room. Instead of coffee, I got myself boba and udon from a Chinese shop in Chinatown. While I was there, I took the time to check out what festivities were happening given that it was Lunar New Year weekend! Red lanterns were put up all over, and plenty of vendors were selling food and decorations along the streets. As a fellow Chinese, it was a sight to behold.
Nonetheless, back in the hotel room, I was once again playing against my friends, warming up for my next bracket match that was to start at 2 P.M. After a few hours of playing, I never felt more ready.
My first bracket opponent of the day was a Ganondorf, a character DK fortunately does well against. I was definitely playing at my prime, dropping only one stock out of two games against him.
My next opponent was an Inkling, one who’s also top three in his region. I didn’t let that status get to me. I did my thing, played to the matchup, and won the first game. In the second game, he was figuring out my patterns, but I couldn’t quite figure out the counterplay to his counterplay by his final stock, dropping this game. Game three was even more convincing, but from my opponent, not me. He kept doing what he did in game 2, keeping himself a certain distance where DK would be uncomfortable, and I couldn’t quite adapt to that without putting myself in a bad position in time. He won the set, and hence this was the end of my tournament run.
Alas, more friendlies, promoting my book, and all the good stuff until dinner time. We caught an Uber to the nearest Korean BBQ place, a Smasher’s staple at every major, but unfortunately the wait was expected to be half an hour, and none of my friends were willing to wait. We ended up eating next door at a Japanese restaurant, getting some sushi to close the week.
After dinner, we all headed back to the venue and abused the 24/7 venue. I made the grave mistake of playing until 4 A.M., especially given that we had to check out of the hotel at 11 A.M. I couldn’t help it! Friendlies are too addicting. I even had the opportunity of playing against one of the top DKs, Konga, for a solid two hours without winning a single game at 2 A.M. We bonded over how glaring DK’s weaknesses were and had a good time with other DKs jumping in and out of the rotation throughout the night.
Day 3: Sunday
Day 3 was fairly chill. We all woke up between 9 and 10 A.M., doing our last minute packing and cleaning up. After checking out, we went to the parking garage to drop off our luggage, then grabbed food. A local friend had suggested a restaurant in Chinatown to check out, so we did, and goodness was it a steal! This restaurant sold a lunch combo including a drink (including milk tea without the boba), soup, and salad, all with the entree for only $10. Only my carpool was here, but the three of us coincidentally all got the Mongolian beef.
Despite being quite full, across the street was the boba shop that I first went to this weekend, and I had to show my friends this place (different friends from the ones I went with on Friday). It made a nice, light dessert as we drank it while playing friendlies back at the venue.
The venue was scheduled to close around 2 P.M., and it was already 1 P.M. by the time we got back. I made the most of the hour and played as many friends from out-of-state that I could, until we were all kicked out. We were all encouraged to check out the top 8 venue, the Paramount Theater, but at that time Melee was playing and none of us were too interested in watching. We all decided to wait at another friend’s hotel room until Ultimate’s top 8 which started around 7 P.M., playing friendlies until then. My friend who drove us here ended up crashing instead, which was probably a good thing given we were planning to do the overnight drive back home after.
After walking for ten minutes to the venue, we arrived at the theater. It was a sight to behold. The lobby and halls were all shiny and golden, with red carpeted floors. Our badges into this venue gave us access to the balcony where we would spend the rest of the night. Every match was insane. Many stories unfolded that weekend. Would anyone be able to take down MKLeo, the anticipated winner among the top 8? Could anyone stop Zackray, the best Ultimate player in Japan? The hours flew by, and we were all so awake by the time it ended around midnight.
We headed back to the hotel where our friend crashed, then grouped up to head to the parking garage to start the overnight drive back home. We got a late-night dinner at In-n-Out, then started driving.
Just 20 minutes in, we all decided. It was way too dangerous to continue. The weather was horrendous; it was pouring and almost impossible to see anything. The three of us slept in the car at an arbitrary parking lot, attempting to drive out again in maybe 3 hours or so.
Waking up three hours later, we tried again. The weather was a bit better, but after another 20 minute drive, the driver decided against it again. Not worth the risk, and it was around 4 A.M. at this time. We slept in the car again on the street of a residential area, bumming the night away.
Day 4: Home
We all woke up at 7 A.M., and the skies were surprisingly as clear as ever. Everything around us was so blue and green. It was actually quite a beautiful sight to behold. We finally started driving the full way, engaging in more Smash conversation, playing on our Switches, and making pit stops here and there. It was quite a nice ride despite everything the night before.
I finally arrived home around 4 P.M. And given how much I slept that night before? How much I slept the entire weekend? I was exhausted. I fell asleep around 7 P.M., waking up the next day at 9 A.M. ready to go back to work. Typically, Smash players go through the phase of “post-major depression,” but that sleep I had was just so refreshing that I actually couldn’t wait to get back to work.
Man, what a weekend. 193 out of 2,105, not too shabby at all. I loved everything about this past weekend. Everyone says Oakland can be quite sketchy, but I didn’t care given that I was just minutes away from my own heritage of Chinatown, with all the food to indulge in, let alone with all the festivities going on with Lunar New Year. My next major will be at 2GG’s Prime Saga, held in La Marida (Southern California, so not as far of a drive) in mid April. Hopefully I can level up a ton until then!
Kevin Who 