Author: Jacob Bullard
This August I attended my first major, Super Smash Con. I was fortunate enough to get a press pass for the event with the help of Nor’easters founder Courtalon! With my camera in tow and an eager outlook in mind we made our way to Virginia. After a ten hour drive the eager outlook was replaced with an achy butt and a stiff neck, but that didn’t deter me in the slightest! Within the convention center I was surprised by the sheer scale of the place and the amount of attendees was a great sight to see. There were market stalls a plenty, indie games being presented, virtual reality set ups, an arcade with four DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) machines, two food courts, a streamer stage, hangout areas, a center stage with four huge screens, and hundreds of setups for all the tournaments! With so much to explore and four days to do it I set off into the sea of colorful crowds and stands ready to capture some memories!
The marketplace was the first thing you ran into when you entered the convention center, and it was quite the bustle of activity. Although we departed Rhode Island for a videogame tournament I found myself spending more of my free time admiring the plethora of amazing artists who had their portfolios on display. Being an artist myself, seeing so many unique and talented styles enraptured me for most of the weekend, when I wasn’t working of course. Along with the artists there were people selling custom controllers, shirts, and other merch. Very handy for souvenir searchers such as myself! From plushies to magic cards and anime figurines there was something for everyone. Most of it pertained to Nintendo, but this was Super Smash Con after all.
Against the wall near the main entrance was a row of small stalls that displayed a variety of indie games that small dev teams had brought to show off! Some were fighting games that held similarities to smash like BlindSight and NAIR, or completely different games that still drew tons of attention like Scarlet City of Devils and Check x Mate. In my opinion the star of the indie show was another platform fighting game called Rushdown Revolt. I was able to get an interview with some developers and played some matches with each character, but I’ll save that for a full review of its own! These setups were great to have around, since some of these games I never would have heard of and actually being able to talk to the creators while giving it a try leads to a much more entertaining experience. They also let you look at a videogame other than Smash Bros for four days in a row which was very refreshing!!
The arcade was in the far corner of the center and held mostly foreign arcade machines. I’ve been to plenty of arcades in my life, but this setup had a majority of games I had never heard of or never got the chance to play! Lots of the cabinets there were beat and rhythm games which are a favorite of mine, along with some other fighting and arcade style games I had never seen. In another wing off the main expo center there was a VR setup where you could play a few new games that had recently come out and were being advertised. I’ve already gotten into the VR world but plenty of people have only heard of it, so getting the chance to experience these games while at a convention is a great opportunity.
The center stage was where most people gathered, since throughout the 4 day convention a multitude of performances were being held front and center! There was a live band, the ‘Triforce Quartet’, along with matches that were being held on the big screens. The stage was also used for the ‘Combo Tournament’ and ‘Finals’ for multiple games. Announcers participated with the crowd extremely frequently and the crowd was almost always riled up to one hundred and ten percent. Since SSC has been put off for the past 3 years due to THE PLAGUE I could tell everyone was extremely excited to be back at a major. As finals went down the crowd was going absolutely mental for everyone who went on stage. Fan favorite players like Hungrybox (@LiquidHbox) and MkLeo (@Mkleosb) made the crowd explode whenever their matches were on, and trust me these matches got heated. Insane skills and devastating plays from every player made each match enthralling, but at the end of the day “Onin” (@BanStevePLEASE) took home the win with everyone's f a v o r i t e Minecraft Steve for Smash Ultimate. The man has skills.
Throughout the weekend I had plenty of fun, got tons of great pictures (which will be available on our Twitter: https://twitter.com/noreastergaming), and got to meet loads of amazing people that make up the Smash community. My favorite event had to be the cosplay contest that was held on Saturday though. I think everyone was saving their best for the past three years because the costumes I saw were inspiring to say the least. The overall winners were a super deserving Pyra and Mythra combo team (@cutie.but.evil / @thevaliantsun) whose outfits were entirely homemade! I think my personal favorite was an amazing Hu Tao cosplay (@_lulus_sketches_) who remembered the character’s song and dance and performed it to a T! I can’t wait for my next major and I had such a blast with my friends, until then I will be uploading a review for Rushdown Revolt in the coming days, stay tuned!