Last month, The CCSU Esports Club finished the second of its three Super Smash Brothers: Ultimate tournaments.

The pandemic has taken a massive toll on the Smash and Competitive Fighting Game scene. Players at CCSU universally agree that the online fighting experience is inferior to playing in person. 

“It’s really bad. Nintendo tried to remove a bug with one of the characters attacks, but it resulted in an error where you are more often disconnected from your match at any time.”

Sam “Greenbolt” Baker, who won the latest Smash tournament on March 19th, says the only way he can really play the game is locally. Staying socially distant during an intense battle is a challenge in itself however. 

“I hope next semester we will be able to have more tournaments and more people showing up.” Baker said.

There were 12 entrants at this tournament, down from the 20 entrants that attended the tournament in February.

With COVID restrictions rolling back in the Fall, Baker and others hope for a reopened esports center and a return to weekly tournaments for CCSU.

During the February tournament, victory went to Richard “Sticky” Hoyt, after a bracket reset from another competitor, Hoyt, managed to close out the game.

“That was definitely one of the greatest sets I’ve ever played. The Smash scene over here has a lot of potential to become the greatest crew in the state.” Hoyt said.

Hoyt was not able to make it to the last tournament, but said he is excited to play more once restrictions are lifted.

“The feel of tournaments during the COVID-era has completely changed. It’s a lot different fighting your opponent through a computer monitor than sitting right next to them. Competition is much less intimate this way.”

The Smash community has endured much in the past year. Top players in the world have been banned from major events due to controversy. Nintendo issued a DMCA takedown to a major tournament organizer for using an emulator to play Super Smash Brothers: Melee with online capabilities.

Despite interruptions to the competitive experience, Smash Players at CCSU and around the world remain committed to playing the game and improving their skills, ready to show off new techniques to their opponents once the world is ready to return to normal.

“If we keep grinding and pushing each other past our limits, our power is limitless,” Hoyt said.