Since I've made several announcements that I intend to utilize the double blind character select rule in all of my future tournament matches in Super Smash Brothers Brawl, I'd like to kick off my new blog by explaining my reasoning behind this. Even though I haven't been directly inquired as to why I intend to be "that guy" who calls tournament directors over to his station before each match, I fancy many have been wondering.
"But NGamer, you play Yoshi. Everybody knows this. You're not fooling anyone. Right? RIGHT???"
It's true, I am known as a character specialist in just about every fighter I play, and Smash is no exception. In fact, more than any other fighter does Smash bring the issue of character loyalty into play with such significance for me. Yoshi is MY character. I play him because he's my most favorite video game character of all time let alone in the Nintendo universe, Mario universe, or any other -verse. So even though I've mained him since the beginning of time and everybody knows this, why bother when I'm probably going to pick Yoshi anyway.
That's just it! I'll probably pick Yoshi, but now there's mystery. It forces my opponent to really contemplate their character choice versus mine, be it someone who has played me once, never, or a thousand times. Even before a button has been pressed, the mind games have already begun. "A big charade" you say? Not so fast. While you might think this will have a minimal impact on any single match-- especially in such cases when my opponent is also a character specialist (this is often the case with the local scene I play in), truth is you're probably right... 99 times out of 100. It only takes one match and plenty of witnesses to implant numerous possibilities in future opponents' heads.
Example- at Anime Iowa last year, I was matched up against Trent, one of the best Sonic players in the midwest and easily one of the favorites to win the tournament. I had played other tournament matches against him Yoshi vs Sonic and lost them. Without a doubt, Trent is a superior player to me. However, being someone with probably more fighting game experience than Trent, I was able to look back at our previous matches and come to the conclusion that I was close to beating him if I changed my style just enough to throw him off. We sat down to play our match. I picked Sheik; I then proceeded to spam needles and punish spot dodges with forward smash onto a victory in the first game. Although I ultimately lost the set and was sent to losers, Trent was completely floored by my gambit. Not only is Sheik a better matchup versus Sonic but the character changed my style enough to get the win, and that was what I was really after. From the get go, Trent had to essentially figure me out all over again in order to beat me, which can be very effective on many players. Not only that, but people witnessed I was more than a one trick pony. Thus, a seed was planted in everyone's heads. "Hey, he doesn't just play Yoshi."
This is getting a bit long, I apologize. Part two tomorrow.
For more information about this blog and what it is, read this.
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