The competitive fighting game spirit

      This is something I've been thinking about the last couple days, the competitive fighting game spirit. What is it and how does it affect us? I would say its simply the will to win, get better, or just have fun. Everybody takes competitive gaming differently. For example, I aspire to be a great smash 4 player (get top ten at a local tournament) but my friend only cares that he can beat friends and doesn't think he has to go tournaments to prove himself. And a different friend of mine just enjoys playing the game when he gets the chance. I used to play a ton of 2D fighters on Playstation when I was a kid and I was pretty good but it wasn't until I started playing Melee on Gamecube that I became aware of the competitive aspect of gaming. I played my brother and all my friends and got really good at the game.
     Fast forward to today and I'm still a pretty good smasher on the latest version. However, my fighting spirit (ki, stand (ora ora ora ora!), mood, w/e you want to call it) has always been a bit lacking. I'm a very emotional player and that shows in my playing. Once I start to miss attacks and mess up I tend to become predictable and almost throw the match. Its happened to me countless times and I've got to find a way around it and/or just change. I don't like losing but it has occurred to me that sometimes I won't win unless I lose a lot first. It sounds stupid but not everybody started out being a great smash player. I just started playing Smash on Wii U in September 2015 so I can say that I've still got a lot of time and effort to put into the game before I can really consider myself 'good', and by good I mean tournament viable and able to take out good players in bracket. But yeah, Mew2King (pro smash player) didn't start off as a Smash god, and in smash 4 he definitely didn't start out being so great. It wasn't until recently when Cloud came out as dlc (downloadable content) did he really found his place in the big leagues with the likes of ZeRo and Nairo (other pros, the first and second best players).
      Its always hard not to be salty after I lose a match. I especially get upset when I lose to people online because they usually leave right away afterwards (can't get revenge) or they win because of lag (crappy Nintendo servers). I'm working on not taking it seriously and learning from my mistakes but it's easier said than done. The one thing that helps me from putting salt in the wound is the realization that I love playing the game. Just the mere love for the game can change your outlook on why you are playing, competing, and putting so much time into it. If you don't love it then what's the point?
     Also, I like the social aspect of being apart of the smash community. I know when every single tournament is happening because I'm in the SoCal smash page on Facebook and I know of all the players-big and small. In addition, I've met tons of cool new friends through tournaments at Fire and Dice. Meeting and playing against all these people has made me a better player, giving me different match-ups to learn and play styles to get used to.
     The one thing I would say that I need to work on in the future is to just remember that it's just a game. At the end of the day I'm playing a game that I enjoy playing. Nobody can change the fact that you're just there to have fun. If you're having fun then you've already won really. I know that sounds a bit daft but its the truth. That's the way I see tournaments. I go to a local, pay up $10, and get some great unlimited entertainment for the rest of the night. It isn't easy getting into a competitive fighting game that has like 56 characters and a ton of match-up knowledge but once you're in, you're set for life baby. Nothing compares to being apart of a great fighting game community. It will be some time before I really have that competitive mindset down for smash. Often times I'll go into a match worrying about whether I win or lose, and mid-match I just don't switch it up enough to compete with a good player from SoCal. Also, I'm still trying to find the best characters that I should use. I've got a long way to go as a player in the competitive scene but I'm already happy as a player. A year ago I didn't even know about tournaments for smash and I'd never gone to a gaming tournament ever before. You could say that smash changed my life. Lol, but seriously its been a blast!

"If you want to learn how to talk to lady, ask your mum." -Bayonetta