Thomas Askew ‘21
In an attempt to construct a friendly competition between students, Dunellen High School organized the first Super Smash Tournament on January 10th, 2019 after school in room 206. Ryan Ferrer, sophomore at DHS, provided the technological equipment to enable this tournament. Through the use of a VGA to HDMI converter, the Nintendo Switch was hooked up onto a computer monitor and displayed on the whiteboard.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate is a fighting game that was made for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth game in the Super Smash Bros series. The game was announced on March 8th, 2018, building hype for the largest Super Smash Game to date starring 80 Nintendo characters. It was then released on December 7th, 2018.
This game was the most successful game on the Nintendo Switch as well as one of the most successful games in Nintendo history, excluding Pokemon. According to vgsales.fandom.com, the game sold three million copies in the first three days in the United States.
Since its debut, students at Dunellen High School have been bringing their Nintendo Switches and competing against one another. Many people are playing the game during the school day so English teacher, Mrs. Shannon Pair, along with Ryan Ferrer, organized the tournament to have people go head-to-head against one another as a friendly competition.
When asked whether or not he thought the tournament was successful, English and History teacher Mr. Edward Zukowski said, “Definitely, the turnout was a lot higher than I expected.”
Mr. Zukowski also believes that there will be more tournaments in the future like this one, especially with a game as popular as Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Once this game has gradually died down, he believes that there will be an organic movement from one game to the next.
When asked whether he would attend another one of these tournaments, sophomore, and winner of the tournament, Anthony Nieves said, “I would go to another personally. Not only to defend my title but also to have fun. Since I won people want to face me and try to beat me. For me, I would just play friendlies and just try to have fun because once the fun stops then the game will become less interesting to me…. If I could change something it would be to have food.”
Anthony Nieves said he would want to attend another one of these tournaments in the future because of the friendly atmosphere that its insights. To him, it is less of a competition for best player, and more of an after-school activity that he enjoys doing with his friends.
It is understood by many that this tournament was a very successful one and that students are going to push to have another. This game is one enjoyed by both hardcore fans and leisurely players. Therefore, based on the popularity of the game, and the success of the last tournament, it is reasonable to believe that we will expect more tournaments like this in the days to come. Another tournament is already scheduled for January 31st, 2019.