The only Smash Bros. tournament I ever entered was in an actual dojo. I’d heard about it from a reputable acquaintance; he used to work at the Bulk Barn and charge us 1/3 the price for full shopping bags of candy.

When my friends and I arrived we realized we were by far the oldest there. We were in university and they were all high school kids. Nevertheless, a small handful of them were fairly skilled and actually beat a couple if us. But really, they were kids.

Prior to the tournament we all had a a quick self-defense lesson. The dojo was mostly using this tournament as a recruiting session, trying to get kids who liked fighting games to sign up to learn something real.

I don’t think they recruited anyone.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed that tournament, but it’s hard to feel proud about beating kids, even if some of them were pretty good.

I wanted to play the best. I wanted my world tournament.

Every year EVO comes to Montreal. Maybe it’s not too late?

Haven’t heard of EVO? This video tells you everything you need to know: