Have you ever heard the two words “Philippines” and “Smash” come together? Even to the average Filipino gamer, Smash is practically non-existent here with only faint whispers of “Have you seen that new fighting game” or “I wish I had a 3DS to play Smash” being heard here and there.

For people living outside the country, the most you’ve probably heard of Filipino gaming is it being very LAN-cafe based with Dota and League Of Legends taking center stage. FGC fans might know players like the American-born Filipino Champ or AK but that’s about it, right?

The History Of Philippine Smash By Justin Banusing

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Table Of Contents

Origins: Garage Casuals, OctoBrawl and Imperium Year End Party

Finding A Home: Tournament M and Summer Smash

New Blood: For Fun, For Glory And The Foreign Invader

The Other Side: Birth Of The South Sm4sh Scene & Philippine Gaming Festival

The First National: ESGS And National Expansion

X-Smash: The Christmas Party

The Kerfuffle: The Melee Of South’s Past, Versus Smash 4 Circuit & Imperium Monthlies

Revival Of PM/Melee: Melee Mayhem

Glossary

Origins: Garage Casuals, OctoBrawl and Imperium Year End Party

Contrary to popular opinion, our tropical country does have an active Super Smash Bros scene. Founded in early 2013 by Steef, DK, RZ and SpicyD, the scene had its origins as a Facebook group created to foster Super Smash Bros. related discussions.

Due to the Philippines being a traffic-congested country, the chances of a large tournament being held here were slim. It was only in June 2013 that the members of the group finally met in Steef’s garage to have Melee casuals.

Thanks to the announcement of Smash 4 at E3, the group had a sudden influx of new members. In order to teach the newer members about the game’s fundamentals, Steef held OctoBrawlFest. Since Smash 4 was more akin to Brawl, OctoBrawlFest (as the name implies), ran Brawl only.

Later on in the year, Steef and SpicyD approached Raph (owner of the then new Imperium E-Sports Bar). Smash PH and Imperium decided to promote each other by holding Smash PH’s Year End Casuals at the bar’s grand opening event. Surprisingly, a lot more attendees came than expected and with the amount of people that they had, Smash PH was underway to have their first large event. After hours of heated battle and drinks, RZ’s Ganon took the first Philippine PM title over DK’s Toon Link.

Even with all of this, Steef noticed something: They still haven’t found a place to call home yet.

Sure, Imperium was a really awesome place to have big tournaments but in his mind, what the scene really needed was a more casual place. Somewhere where they could just relax and have fun, without the hustle and bustle of E-Sports.

It wouldn’t be until the next year that they would find that place.

Finding A Home

Cubao Expo, the Philippine’s nerd culture capital, was and is still home to some of the most unique establishments in the country. If you were in the slightest bit interested in things like skateboarding, tabletop gaming and food, this was the place to be.

Smash PH’s half-year long search took them to the expo’s aptly named Appraisery, a tabletop gaming cafe/auction house. With the owner’s approval, they hosted Summer Smash which was the first event Smash PH had in quite a while.

For the Project M veterans, this was where the community truly began, with many of the current top Project M/Melee Smashers having it as their first tournament. An astounding 20 people came to the event, unheard of at the time. For the first time, you could actually see people who hadn’t even heard of the game getting interested in it! Champo, the best overall Smash player in the Philippines, took the crown in his first ever tournament without dropping a set.

Vic, the Appraisery’s owner, soon directed Steef over to Kiko who was constructing a dedicated FGC gaming lounge right beside it. Sharing the same vision of a gaming community as Kiko, Steef immediately agreed to a partnership. When Kiko’s place, The Rumpus Room was opened, the Smash community almost immediately held another event there: Tournament M.

While you’re all probably expecting something big and hype, Tournament M didn’t go that way. No one could believe what had happened. Only 5 people joined the tournament?! Riding on Summer Smash’s success, none of the community’s members could believe that the turnout would be like this.

Regardless of the circumstances, Champo was back to defend his title against a round robin consisting of fellow top dogs Vhon, Raf, Rob and Blues who all wished to dethrone Champo. Despite their best efforts, Champo won the tournament yet again. The tournament didn’t get as many people as they had hoped for but in their eyes, that didn’t really matter.

Smash PH had a home now.

It’d seem that Smash in the Philippines was on it’s way to solidifying itself and although none of them knew, it was only matter of time until someone would come and forever change the community.

To Be Continued In Part 3: For Fun, For Glory And The Foreign Invader

Glossary Part I

North – The northern part of the National Capital Region of the Philippines. This includes cities like Quezon City, Pasig, Pasay and the like. Compared to the PM/Melee focused Iloilo and the Smash 4 driven South, North players dabble in both at a high level.  Top players include DJR, RZ and Cloi.

South – The southern part of NCR. This includes Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, and Parañaque. By far, the most passionate people of the scene come from here.  Top players include Godz, L1nk and brothers Guppy & DYG.

Iloilo – A region in the Visayan group of islands (and the region where I come from and am the head TO in). This includes players from Iloilo City, Antique, Bacolod and Aklan. Compared to both scenes, Iloilo has been mostly focused on Melee and Project M due to not having enough resources/setups to play Smash 4. Top players include the US imports KG, Chad and JB alongside locals like Popi, Bline, Methoma and Shadowman.

Juans – Filipino term used as a substitute to the western “Johns” or excuses.

Food Court – Collective term from the North used to describe Smashers who have no interest in growing the scene. This rose to prominence during the 3DS release era, when a lot of splinter groups started popping up in food courts, hence the name.

Rumpus Room – The North’s Smash hub. Run by Kiko, Rumpus Room isn’t just a place for Smash but is also a hub for the MKX community.

PlayBook – The Southern counterpart to the Rumpus Room. Just like Rumpus, it’s also the home of most competitive FGC games in the South such as Street Fighter.