Kingsway’s unofficial Dragon Gaming Club hosted the first Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament. Melanie Springer, a science teacher at Kingsway held the tournament in Room 419 during SMART lunch on March 5.

Springer said “I’m passionate about all forms of gaming, and I wanted to give the students at Kingsway a place to share that passion with each other, and to have fun.”

The tournament saw nearly 50 students go head-to-head in Smash Ultimate, a multiplayer fighting game developed by Nintendo for their Switch video game console. The game features over 100 characters pulled from both Nintendo’s first party franchises, such as The Legend of Zelda and Mario, as well as those of other third-party developers whose games have appeared on Nintendo’s consoles, with developers such as Sega, Capcom, and Konami all contributing their beloved mascots to the roster.

But why Smash Ultimate? According to Springer, there are two things that make it the ideal game for this sort of tournament; portability and popularity.

“The Switch is a uniquely portable console, making it easy to bring into and out of school. Plus, Smash Ultimate’s huge roster and accessibility make it immensely popular, making it easy to get a lot of kids in for the tournament.” Springer said.

After an initial announcement period, the players were split up into four separate sub tournaments, where they competed in an elimination bracket to determine who would move on to the finals. These four finalists are set to play one another in a final tournament on a to-be-determined date, but that’s not all.

As far as hosting future tournaments, Springer said “I am definitely looking to host a larger tournament, probably after school or on a weekend… It all depends on whether or not the Gaming Club goes official, and if the students show enough interest.”