The brothers of Sigma Beta Rho put on a tournament in the gaming lounge of University Crossing to help St. Jude’s and their fight against childhood cancer. And what was the fraternity’s game of choice? “Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.”
Fifty-eight worthy combatants showed up to prove their skills in a single elimination tournament in Nintendo’s flagship fighting game, pitting characters from both Nintendo and Capcom in a free for all battle of champions.
Sigma Beta Rho were thrilled by the turnout of the tournament. “It was expected and yet it exceeded expectations,” said President Zachary Zuber. The cramped quarters allowed for friends to cheer on while others got a chance to study and admire their competition.
The Master’s Gaming Konnection lent their hand to help the festivities of the Event. Helping to provide the consoles, controllers and copies of the games, Master’s Gaming Konnection is UMass Lowell’s epicenter of gaming on campus. They offer every form of game from board games to video games and everything in between, even going as far as to set up Magikon, a three-day event of gaming bliss held Nov. 20-22 on the third floor club room in University Crossing.
When the night began, each participant placed their five dollar entry fee and was slotted into one of two brackets. Combatants sat down at one of the three consoles, picked their fighters and dove right into the fray. Slowly but surely, contestants were knocked out one by one leading into 29 fighters left.
After one lucky fighter got a bye into the next round, 28 were left to dove right into the fray. Slowly but surely, contestants were knocked out one by one leading into 29 fighters left.
After one lucky fighter got a bye into the next round, 28 were left to duke it out to sift out the top 14. Soon enough it was apparent who had more experience, who put in more hours on the sticks and who needed more practice.
After a few more rounds, it was down to the final four, each presenting the same match up but each with a different style of fighting. Mario, everyone’s favorite Italian plumber is a springier character, flying from one end of the stage to the other punishing characters with slow reaction times. On the other hand, King Dedede, the primary antagonist in Nintendo’s Kirby series, is a lumbering damage dealer who has to predict his opponents’ movements and adjust accordingly.
When all was said and done only one character stood above the rest and that was Jack Elkhoury’s King Dedede. Fighting his way through the ranks, Jack used his over decade long experience with Smash to handily dispatch his opponents. Elkhoury found his toughest challenge in the tournament was Link, the hero of Legend of Zelda, “…due to his good basic techniques and his defense against the spikes.”
Walking away from the tournament, everyone learned something new about the game they are so passionate about all while helping a great cause. St. Jude’s is holding an all-night event on Nov 14 to help raise money just like Sigma Beta Rho, to aide in the everlasting fight against childhood cancer. If you want to help the cause you can check out stjude.org and donate or help organize events.
