Interview With PewPewU—Marth, E3, NorCal

I'm only going to two out of the three summer majors. Going to be attending Evo and MLG. CEO is just a little too far.

You know, I would like to say that I have a fighting chance against the top 6, but this year (prejohns incoming) I haven't really been playing because of where I'm going to school. I'm at UC Santa Cruz, which is kind of off the beaten path of the mainstream NorCal tournaments. I do have quite a track record of pulling out sets without much practice though, and I think that's because I'm good at riding the feelings in-game against players better than me. But when it comes down to my play mechanically, and freshness of mind altogether, I would say my chances are slimmer than they were last year. I obviously plan to try the hardest, but you can just tell the top 6 are so in practice right now. They're pretty unmatched it seems.

WC and I have talked a lot about this, and we've concluded that the majority of the threats are actually going to be California players. The only WC player to qualify is Westballz (which is great news for us haha), so that still leaves S2J, Fly, Shroomed, SFAT, and I think Axe as well. And you can't forget about players like The Moon and DJ Nintendo and Nintendude. I think winning the open bracket will be extremely hard endurance-wise, but there aren't any outstanding threats that any of the top cali players can confidently say they will lose.

And about the PH2 being only 2000 points – I feel the West Coast was ridiculously under represented in the MLG circuit. It feels really unfair to a bunch of our players, especially people who have done great these past months like Fiction and Fly and SFAT. But I'm not complaining... especially because the only bracket that matters is going to be in Anaheim.

The EC/WC crew battle will be a heck of a show! I think EC has a better chance since they have 4 powerhouses in an 8 man crew battle. WC will really have to play their cards right from start to finish if they want to close it out.

Well, I'm sure most players can tell that the three of us have drastically different approaches to how Marth should be played. My playstyle is hinged on feeling my opponent and reading/interpreting whatever they're throwing at me. And from there I like to really dissect my opponent's playstyle. I'm a lot more adaptive than the other two, in my opinion.

Currently I'm not actually working on anything because I'm swamped with finals as well as preparing myself for E3. A few months ago I really tried to start perfecting the ins and outs of shield dropping with Marth – and I got pretty good at it.

I'm glad you watched those matches, I had a blast at NCR. As mentioned in some of the commentary in that tournament, the Fox counterpick is moreso a product of the disgusting counterpick triangle in NorCal. I've actually always played Fox, since I picked up the game, but I've never had really had to use him in tournament until Shroomed picked up Sheik. And this actually worked out great because I've had to fight plenty of Sheiks that try to counterpick me only to discover I have a Fox.

The 20XX "movement" is more of a cult if you ask me, which generally consists of players switching to Fox because he's the best. In my opinion it doesn't matter if you switch characters that much, Fox definitely makes a difference but that doesn't mean you're going to get any better from switching

I'm so glad you asked about doubles! I've been playing doubles for longer than I've been playing melee actually. Developing teams strategy and mindset has just always been a part of me since I started playing the Smash Bros series with Smash 64. I've always enjoyed teams more than singles even when I was really bad and would just fight level 3 Marios.

SFAT and I have been playing with one another since we both started and have been teaming for as long as I can remember. I like to team with SFAT the most, but when plans go awry or there are complications we have to switch it up. And don't get me wrong, I love teaming with Shroomed, but SFAT and I have a style of synergy that makes me just appreciate teams as a whole.

I love Marth, Fox ,and Peach so much in teams. The three each fulfill their own niche roles and I think that it's awesome to play any of those three haha.

You know, I recently re-read Wife's book (which everyone should read). And he has a fiery passion for doubles just like me. I think his article was merely to play the devil's advocate and to stir the pot. Wake up the community in a sense. I think in terms of exposure, there are a few simple things that can be done:

• Consistent teams (like Mew2King and Hungrybox)
  
• Team names (PewFat)
  
• Good commentary
  

I feel that the lack of solid commentary makes it difficult for a lot of viewers to watch teams and know exactly what's going on. It's hard to be engaged with so many things going on the screen.

In terms of new players, a great way for players to get first of all engaged with the community would be to just follow the mainstream Smash channels on twitch.tv (vgbootcamp, clashtournaments) and go on the subreddit, as you'll quickly learn of the community's drive for overall improvement and just how we do things. In terms of actually getting to play the game, just get a bunch of friends – every Saturday night you and your friends can hang out in the afternoon, play melee all night and just have a ball. And that will never change. Hanging out all night, playing Melee, and having fun, that is. At all skill levels ♥

Of course. Smashlounge.com is a simple directory for beginner smashers to quickly learn, visualize, and see the application of the core advanced techniques, all in concise .gif format. We have a really minimalist approach to smashlounge.com, so that players can quickly use it as a reference and don't have to dig through bodies of text on forums.

In terms of upcoming plans,we actually have tons, but as Logan (@Logan6694) and I are both enduring the hell that is finals, we haven't had time to properly implement them and make them public. We're working on a way to get smashers involved and bring in the community with a simple "Submit a .gif" form, where we let any people on the site submit a gif of an advanced technique with a description, and can leave a username so people will know who uploaded it.

Shield Breaker! People don't understand what Shield Breaker does to people's mental stat, it's such a breaker! I once had a sweeeeeet kill on Hungrybox where I broke his shield, and since he's Jigglypuff he just died off of the top. Definitely top 5 satisfying attacks ever landed in a tournament.

I don't have any rivals really, I don't know why. I suppose SFAT and I always have had a rivalry since we both started together. But there are people that I definitely gun for more than others by a huge margin. Namely PPMD, Axe, and now Fly Amanita.

Oh my god, please look out for Azusa from NorCal. That guy's dedication to the game is literally unmatched. His motivation is impressive and makes me feel bad for studying for finals when I could be practicing, and that doesn't even make sense.

Outside of NorCal, I know everyone has been saying ZeRo, but I honestly think Gravy is godlike at melee. I sat down for an hour with that guy at Pat's House 2 while we worked out a bunch of Falcon matchups, and I've got to hand it to him. He's a unique player. Very cerebral and calculated, all while being an extremely deadly Falcon. I know that there's a lot of hype because of his KDJ comeback which was... a little fraudulent if you ask me. But his skill is very real, and he's also a great guy.

If I were to run my own major, I would only allow modded Wiis into the venue, where Pokemon Stadium transformations didn't happen. I would even open up the venue at 5am just to mod every Wii to not have transformations. That alone is the ideal major.

In terms of a banned stage that I would allow, it would be DK 64. That stage is beautiful to play black Falcon on because you literally cannot see him.

Mango vs Armada Genesis Grand Finals. That was my first major, and just at the mention of it, my heart begins to race and I just remember the collective dejectedness when Mango went into it-- because Mango lost winner's finals. But slowly, but surely-- little by little Mango brought it back into a 3-0 in the last set, and it was pure magic, I remember literally every moment and that happened 5 years ago. The most beautiful moment in smash history for me, always and forever. Mango vs Armada 2.4 <3

Being on stage at E3 was incredible... Above all it was super emotional. I did not expect the crowd to be in so into it, it really made the event a magical mark of history for Smash players old and new. The audience gave a lot of us a kind of motivation that was unique to the invitational (speaking for myself). I can say that I felt a fire in my heart when I first got backstage and heard the crowd chanting "WE WANT SMASH. WE WANT SMASH. WE WANT SMASH".

So I was 11th pick in the draft of 16, so I got a pretty bad draw. I was one spot away from Marth, but Ken got it with his 10th pick. So I just stuck with Mario. The first round was by far my favorite! I fought against Toph, Lilo, and the infamous Liquid`Ken. Final smashes were stolen from me, things weren't going my way, and I was kind of getting bopped until I pulled out a super clutch comeback, killing Ken and later Lilo in sudden death after landing the one and only combo of the tournament.

Later on, I came really close to beating aMSa in the vote, and I felt like I did, but it's all good. I'm not worried at all. There were two factors going into the drafting phase. First was plain and simple, "is your character good?" And second was about whether your character would be well received by the fans. I think Mario was a mid tier in both respects, but then again, how the hell can you not like Mario?

It was basically just that my first impression of the game was awffffffful, such a bad design. But after I kept playing and kept playing I realized that it's actually just a completely different game than the other 3 (or 4 if you want to count PM). It was obviously drastically different, but I gauge the fun of a game based off of the emotions that I feel, and to an extent I was feeling the same things that I feel a lot of the time when I play Melee. The exasperation, salt, hype—the package deal. So overall the game isn't bad.

Now, I think there are several limitations that will stop it from becoming a success in the competitive aspect, such as dash range, falling speed, landing lag, and damage scaling.

No, I don't. Not at all actually. Personally I don't think that Sakurai or anyone at Nintendo will listen to what we have to say. Obviously I hope to god that they do, but it's an iffy subject. I have no reason to believe that they'll listen to us because it's never happened in the past. Nintendo has always been the company that targets the nuclear family—a kind of market that is open to all age groups, indiscriminate of gender, demographic or anything, but after seeing things like The International 4 for DotA 2, where they've raised 9 million dollars collectively as a community by allowing their players to buy a small vanity bundle that donates $2.50 to the prize pool...I mean, you can't ignore those figures. $9 million, man.

I did, actually! And I realized that since that version is set to come out sooner they have a slightly more finalized version. There are different characters, like Sheik, who we all hypothesize will be the best character in the game. But my time with the game was painfully brief as I had to catch a shuttle to the airport. I will say that the 3DS control stick is STATE OF THE ART. I never thought I'd play smash on a handheld, and that was a dream since the Gameboy Color.

Despite how bad he was, Mario was a blast. So much fun. He was the only character that can do 2 moves in one short hop, believe it or not. I definitely plan to compete in Smash 4 in the future. I don't know how much I will actually like it, but I plan to at least try it out and feel how much I like it before I throw it out completely.

Lilian "Milktea" Chen: it was amazing getting to know her. She's an amazing person and I can't believe it took me this long to realize how cool she is. I had the privilege of getting pretty close to her this week.

Masaya "aMSa" Chikamoto: a great guy, and a wonderful icon of what a top international player is. He also paid for my bus fare!

Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios for winning in such a humble fashion. Humility is a skill in itself, and many of the top players can learn a lot from his performance as a winner and a champion.