It’s quite the feeling to see hundreds of people come together to play a game that you love so much after a big competitive hiatus. Hundreds of players, experienced veterans and newcomers alike, showed up early Sunday morning (5/17/15), controllers in hand, to take part of what turned out to be the area’s biggest Smash event in a long time: UPlanet’s UFEST in San Salvador, El Salvador.

Queueing up for the tournament

International players had arrived the day before and wasted no time in finding members of the community to play friendlies with. We had been reporting on the players attending, and despite being fairly accurate on the results predictions, we were not prepared for the skill level shown that day. It made sense of course, having Guatemala’s, Nicaragua’s and El Salvador’s top Melee and Smash 4 players under the same roof (the Honduras committee didn’t make it unfortunately, a last minute let down), that we were getting ready to see some high level play.

Internationals

In Melee, two names stood high above the rest: Guatemala’s Adam Ziane Delgado and Nicaragua’s Carlos “Bubu” Osorio. After meeting for the first time (and sizing each other up), the two immediately found a setup and started playing very intense friendlies. A crowd quickly gathered around them and the hype level went from a four to a ten within two games. Adam’s Falco, though rusty from not playing in a while, was hands down the most precise and technical spacie everyone had seen. Bubu’s Captain Falcon was a train of swag that had punishes that spectators had trouble keeping up with.

Bubu (left) and Adam (right) warming up.

In between matches and while waiting for the final bracket, you could see people lining up behind these setups wanting to challenge them. Bubu had traveled over 12 hours with teammate Fish from Managua to play in his first real tournament and wanted to make every second count. Adam traveled a third of that, but seemed hungrier for playtime. He doesn’t get much practice back home nowadays, having other priorities plus the fact that the Melee scene is not as active in Guatemala.

Pools advanced sluggishly, but  Adam quickly devoured his bracket opponents and reached winner’s finals without dropping a single match. Bubu seemed to be on the same path, but found himself in trouble in winners semi’s when paired against local homeboy Jonathan “Taku” Abrego. In the upset of the evening, Taku’s Sheik took down Bubu’s Falco (his secondary, as we found out) much to the delight of a very hyped Salvadorean crowd, knocking him into losers. The Nicaraguan champ took a few minutes to get back on his mindset, and took easy victories in losers bracket, facing Taku again in losers finals, who claimed a very respectable third place for the home team, setting up the finals that everyone expected.

Nerves were very much present during grand finals. Bubu took the lead on the first game, but Adam won the next two. The Nicaraguan decided to opt for his secondary, and thus a Falco ditto turned out to be the very final match of the Melee tourney. In what was probably the closest game of the set, we saw combos and shines that would have made Westballz proud, only to have it all end by an anticlimatic side b off the stage by Bubu, crowning Adam the well deserved champion. A decisive run by the Guatemalan with very little mistakes and elite tech gameplay. Armada himself, old friend of Adam from his time in Stockholm, commented he was happy he took first place.

(You seriously want to turn the volume down for this one)

“It was a good tourney, the Central American skill level is rising”, said Adam. “Bubu is a very good player. With a bit more tournament experience he will be top level. His nerves showed during the match, and, as a result, he made mistakes.”

When asked about his first real tournament experience, Bubu said “Adam is a great player with lots more experience having played tournaments in Europe. He’s used to the pressure and the crowds. He reminds me of Costa Rican champ Duff, very similar playstyles. They’re on the same level.” When asked about the future, he replied “I feel like I leveled up after this tournament. I hope I get the opportunity to keep playing on major events and keep showing that Central America has what it takes”. Bubu’s good friend and rival n0ne was happy to see his viejo amigo take care of business the way he did. Carlos is hopeful funds can be raised through some sort of sponsorship to travel to Mexican national Smash Factor in July.

On the Smash 4 side of things, things went almost as predicted as well. Pools advanced slowly and when the final bracket was served, there were very little surprises on the list. Zaga Talent’s sponsored Fernando “Luisfer” Orellana, Salvadorean undefeated boss and Smashladder‘s reigning champ, drove his Diddy to grand finals without dropping a single set. Guatemalan Erik “Player 5” Alvarado was the strongest contender to the title reaching winner’s finals with jaw dropping Ness play. Luisfer sent him to loser’s finals, where he encountered none other than long time BFF and fellow countryman Randy Yanes, who had to fight through a very stacked losers bracket after an early upset against Salvador Vanitas.  In a very tight battle reminiscent of almost every Brawl finals in Guatemala for the past few years, Randy’s Mario bested Player5’s Ness 3-2. Grand finals were quick and painless, and when the night was over, Luisfer claimed a flawless victory having lost no matches the entire tournament. Guatemala took home second and third with its characteristically strong and strategic gameplay.

Randy (right) and Luisfer (left), grand finalists.

When asked if he breezed through the tournament the champ replied “I don’t think it was an easy tournament, but I didn’t really feel I had any complications either. It was great to see new players improving their skill, such as Greenwalker, Mijango and Vanitas”.  When asked about the demand of playing both tournaments (oh, did I forget to mention he took 9th in Melee?), he said, “It is very demanding and I think my Melee skill suffers from it, but not too much. I think players like Zero, M2K and Armada have shown that with determination you can play multiple games in tournaments, be it Smash4, Melee, PM or Brawl, singles and doubles even”. Luisfer’s win is a very positive sign for him as he prepares himself for his biggest challenge yet: EVO 2015.

A great tournament with a very sour note from the organizers who really let everyone down with the prizes, but that still nurtured the competitive spirit in the community. Look forward to more content from the region in the near future.

—

If you speak spanish and want to keep up with our initiative to promote our scenes in latin america, follow us @smashenespanol, join our FB group, subscribe to our YT channel or listen to our podcast (Itunes link).