Apex Preparedness

So, how prepared for Apex am I?

As prepared as I could possibly be.

My bags are (mostly) packed and (almost) ready to go.
I've got travel figured out for the most part.
I'm equipped with everything I could possibly need (I hope).

Now that I've got all the logistics out of the way, how well do I think I'm going to do?

Well, they say that you are only as good as the people you play, and... well, I'm better than everyone that I play... but that's not saying much considering that they don't go to tournaments. I, myself, haven't been to a tournament since 2009. And I did pretty bad in it.

Regardless, I'm diving head first into Apex with a dream to bring about some upsets.

I've entered three events, Brawl singles, Smash 64 singles, and the All-Brawl event.

The one event that I'm probably most prepared for is the All-Brawl event. I know all the items. I know all the stages (except Hanenbow, because the general consensus is that Hannebow is gayer than Rainbow Road. I've literally only played on the level in a multiplaye bout twice in my life. The first time it was seen, it got an immediate quit because of how gay that level actually is. And I shall remain ignorant when it comes to Hannebow. You can tell me nothing about that level. I don't know what game it comes from, nor do I care.). I play with items consistently (because I honestly feel that Brawl is a considerably better game with items on, unlike Melee or Smash 64, where those games are amazing with or without items), and I've seen almost all the random shit that could possibly happen with items (except Ganon's insane item use, apparently). So for that tourney, I'm ready. Even if it's only 2 lives for 2 minutes on a random stage with a random character against 3 other players. It's cool. I'm ready.

Smash 64 is a game that I play relatively consistently on my computer, and I find that game better than Brawl because of the hitstun. If I haven't already told you, the lack of hitstun in Brawl is now officially the biggest thing that kept me from entering the few and far in between Brawl tourneys that I could have entered in 2010. Still, I'm only as good as the people you play, and while I have experience playing the game online and I know that people are on some entirely new shit in that game, I only really play one person consistently, and I'm far beyond him, so that's moot. Still, Smash 64 is the only Smash game that I hadn't entered a tournament for, so I felt the need to finally enter one.

And then there was Brawl. It's the biggest tourney there, with, like, over 400 entrants or something like that, and a $8000 pot with 1st place getting $3750. 7th and 8th place score $200. That's still a lot of money.

And I'm going for it. With a platinum controller and a fist full of dreams, I'm going for it. I'll face the realities of the situation if I lose. I'm not going to eliminate myself from contention just because of how much I haven't played this game compared to how much others have. Someone will have to eliminate me from contention. Period.

Like I said, I'm as ready as I am going to be. My only weakness is the game itself. The one thing that I have been able to do is train my mindset for this tournament, and it is trained well. I'm totally focused, and there is absolutely nothing holding me back from bringing my S-rank game.

So with all that said.... I'm going MetaKnight. No reason not to. BUT! If my tournament life looks hopeless at any point, I'm going Sonic. Period. My last Brawl tournament match Has to be me going Sonic. It is only fitting...

So Yeah.
Apex.
Final Tournament. (probably)
Smash 64.
Brawl.
MetaKnight.
Sonic.
Hype.
Let's Go.

Brendan's Progress, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and Sonic Generations Music

Brendan's Progress (aka the NaNoWriMo part)

So as of time of this post, I've got 9297 words complete.

It's still a bit slow, as I don't exactly have this story where I want it yet, and I think between a combination of actually attempting some kind of character development and overall bullshitting, there's a legit explanation of why I'm not wholly excited over what I'm currently writing.

That just means that I'm not being over the top enough. Which makes sense. Other than a few bits here and there, this has been a rather ho-hum experience.

But what's keeping me going, maybe more so than the desire to actually hit the 50,000 word mark by the end of the month, is the knowledge of exactly where this novel is going. There are certain events of this story that I've gone over a ridiculous number of times in my head, especially while I'm at work, and the more I think about it, the more ridiculous I make it, and... well, it's going to be ridiculous. That's all I can say. Like, there's going to be this huge turning point in the story that makes no sense before we get to yet another turning point in the story that makes no sense, but it'll all tie together somehow because I think that I actually have a goal for the character that is Brendan. I've made him into something, and I think I may be trying a little too hard to establish to the reader what I've made him as, and throughout the course of the book, he's going to do some amazing things....

I just wish the beginning of this didn't suck so bad. But I just gotta press on. I can edit shit to be better or out completely when it's all said and done, but for now... just keep on pressing.

This is definitely a masterpiece in the making.

X-Men vs. Street Fighter

You know how you get bored one day and you decide to try something new?
Or, better for this particular piece of the blog, you get bored and you try to explore something that you dabbled in for a bit but finally decided, with nothing else to, to actually try to immerse yourself into a new experience with that dabbling?
Even better for this part... ever had access to a video game and played it for a bit, but set it to the side, and then randomly decided to give it a deeper, truer shot?

This is what happened with X-Men vs. Street Fighter. This game was on my computer, mostly to watch some epic battles between top players on GGPO. Randomly, however, I decided that I wanted to play it and actually try to get good at it (or at least as good at it as I am in Marvel vs. Capcom 1).

And man, this game is really fucking intense.
And man, this game is much better than Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Like, I'm playing this game, right? And I'm currently getting an interesting feel for Cyclops. And his combos are pretty cool, but require some interesting timing. And then combined with the rules within the system of the game, PLUS SIX ATTACK BUTTONS (that's 2.5 more attack buttons than MvC3 has), you can actually show some kind of creativity in your combo. And that creativity can lead to mad mix-ups. And those mad mix-ups can lead to you losing 100% of your life for free before you even know what happened. No X-Factor needed.

And I think that's what's really satisfying about this game... being able to pull off combos that do a shit turd of damage with your own hands, not some bullshit embedded in the game. X-Men vs. Street Fighter has rules in its game system that try to keep infinite combos out, but all it does is add to your creativity, figuring out what moves have what properties, and using those properties to either get around the rules or break them entirely.

And being able to learn this stuff is a wonderful, intense experience. Much more satisfying than any silly ass combo I ever learned in MvC3, especially when they're the only real combos that make more sense to use.

Sonic Generations Music...

...is so fucking amazing.

As it stands right now...
Here's my Top 5

5) Crisis City

4) Toxic Caves

3) Stardust Speedway

2) Vs. Shadow

1) Open Your Heart remix

I can sit here and tell you that I haven't even heard everything, so this list is subject to change.

But I doubt it.

Wait a Second... What About Apex?

Yeah..... still haven't gotten around to practicing any type of Smash at all. Between work, and now NaNoWriMo and the desire to play Sonic Generations over anything, plus WWE '12 coming soon... I'm clearly going to lose every possible set if I don't go MetaKnight...

I might have to summon my inner douche and actually play MetaKnight to get a win, too.

Also, Apex 2012 now has Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition (with that new patch) and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 on deck. Now... hmm, I don't think I made that post about SSF4:AE and how I had been playing the game on the low and how I don't think the game is that bad except that it's simply not SSF2:Turbo and thus I find it really slow these days, but yeah. That's kinda the reason why I'm not entering that.

But Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3... well, I may actually play that game a bit more regularly than I did its vanilla counterpart...
It solely depends on how Captain America feels when I play him. I read some of his changes... between getting his double jump back and getting his Shield Slash to OTG again, he just might feel like good ol' CapUSA from the MvC1 days.

And that's where the fun begins... Cap, Zero, Strider, anyone?

I may throw Vergil in there somewhere though... or Dormammu... I've been fucking with his firestorm shit... it's too funny to see 36 random hits come from changing the color of my hands.

All of those characters would have much more fun gameplay if they were in XvSF's system...

FIGHTING GAMES BRO (couldn't think of a better name lol)

The Road to Apex 2012


So I've registered for Apex 2012. For those of you not in the know, Apex 2012 is a HUGE Smash Bros. Tourney that will be taking place in Rutgers University in New Jersey on January 6, 7, and 8. It will include the games Super Smash Bros. (N64), Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

"But those aren't fighting games."

That's a completely different type of blog post that I may tackle one day.
Fact is, I'm in there. I entered for Brawl singles, Smash64 singles, and All Brawl.

For Brawl singles, I was originally going to go MetaKnight without hesitation. However, since MetaKnight has been officially banned after Apex (more on that later), I'm going Marth. I may play a little Sonic in "serious friendlies" and money matches, but in tourney, I'm probably going Marth.

For Smash64, I'm going either Captain Falcon or Fox. Now, I'm not even all that good in this game, but I actually play it much more than I do Brawl (something about this game actually having hitstun...), so I figure I might as well try it out in tourney. I'm also going to have to secure an N64 controller for this, as I play Smash64 on *gasp* a PS2 controller. And yes, it works. It works well.

What the fuck is All Brawl?

That is All Brawl.
Basically, the rules are all items are on, everything is chose at random against three other opponents, and you gotta win two games before everyone else does. Clearly, this is a lottery, but you know what? Easily the most fun lottery you can enter. So I'm game.

MetaKnight has Finally been Banned

Well, it's too late for me (especially since MetaKnight's ban doesn't go into full effect until after Apex, which is theoretically the last Smash Bros. tourney I'm entering in my life), but you know what? I still feel like this will be good for Brawl in general. It took, like, five attempts, but you know what? This might be a case of "better late than never." Apparently a number of players had left the community because MetaKnight was such an obviously broken character that might have been left in the game solely because of one player (seriously. just one guy) (like, if this guy admitted that MetaKnight was, in fact, broken, MetaKnight probably would have been banned much, much sooner) and it's possible that now since this character is banned people may come back. Of course, there may be players that leave due to the banned MetaKnight, but... well... you get what you get what you get.

Seriously, I do like this move. I do think that Brawl is a very balanced game outside of MetaKnight, and I think that characters will be coming out of the woodwork in tournaments and stuff since MetaKnight is no longer there to lock characters down. Seriously, MetaKnight was so badass that they had to make rules to keep him in, and then adjust said rules because MetaKnight didn't give a fuck. One such rule was the "ledge grab rule" or LGL. It states that if an opponent grabs the ledge more than x amount of times, that player lost. At first, it was, like 70, I think. Didn't mean shit, because, you know, MetaKnight has, like, 5 jumps. Then it was 50. Still didn't mean shit. I think there was a 40 (don't mean shit), and I think it eventually settled down to 35, although the lowest my eyes remember seeing it was 25 at one tourney (although that may have been either a joke or a typo, since 2 is so close to 3 on the keyboard). Stages were also banned because MetaKnight existed.

With MetaKnight gone, maybe some of those rules can be removed and maybe some of the stages that aren't really a problem can return.

Of course, what if MetaKnight was just the optimal abuse of all the issues that Brawl has in terms of being a competitive fighting game? Well, with the "honor code" that smashers seem to have, I don't think it'll be that big of a deal. I mean, if smashers played to win like, say, street fighters, MetaKnight would have a 97% tourney win rate, since Mew2King wouldn't lose.....

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

So whenever I play this game, my team, as it stands, is going to be Blue Zero, Blue Vergil, Blue Strider. Yes, I know, I'm never going to have meter, because I'm going to be blowing it on my Zero combo, blowing it on the Vergil surrounding sword super, and blowing it on Strider's orbs. What I may do is play a relatively straightforward game with Zero and Strider, and then have Vergil come in with 5 bars and attack hard, especially if he's the last man standing... so that dat level 3 X-Factor can kick in...

Although I heard that X-Factor took quite a nerf... doesn't last as long and, while still damaging, isn't as powerful as it was in MvC3. X-Factor was one of my biggest issues with MvC3, and honestly, I kinda wish it just didn't show up in UMvC3 at all. However, I'll attempt to reserve judgment since it's been nerfed.

Oh, and have you guys seen Ryu gameplay? They definitely based this guy off of Goku. Dude even has a Kaio Ken attack lololol.

Street Fighter X Tekken


This is a game that, the more I look at it, the more I feel that if there's nothing below the surface of la, ma, ha, launch, la, ma, ha, *insert attack here*.

This probably won't be the majority of all the fights though. It's just that everything I've ever seen about the game is just that.

And honestly, that's no better than MvC3's la, ma, ha, s, ma, ma, ha, s, *insert otg move here*.

But, we have 6 whole attack buttons here. It can't be all bad. But if it is........

I'll just resort to Chun Li footsies and pokes and stuff... that'll work... right?

What happened to Mortal Kombat?


Like, Mortal Kombat had crazy hype behind it from its initial release to the decision to feature it in Evo2k11 right up to the big tourney itself. And then, I pretty much heard nothing about it.

Did it die? Impossible... the game is constantly patching up botches in the system and between the five featured games of Evo (SSF4:AE, MvC3, BlazBlue what the most recent one is, Tekken 6, and MK9), it had arguably the most balanced roster with BB coming in second I believe because MvC3 had Phoenixes running rampant, Tekken 6 had a Bob mirror for Grand Finals, and SSF4:AE's top 8 had Vipers and Yuns all day (even though a Virtua Fighter player won with Fei Long).

Maybe it's just me not following the game so much. Maybe the hype itself died but it's living on very quietly. I don't know what the case may be, but Mortal Kombat was not a bad game...

Oh wait... I remember when I was at a friend's house and wanted to play the game, shit took about an hour to update itself. Unfortunately, time is of the essence. We didn't wait for the update.

So maybe that's why I stopped caring. Silly consoles and their desire to become computers... can I just have a Super Nintendo Entertainment System 2 already?