Pachirisu Cosplay @ Anime Milwaukee 2020

At Anime Milwaukee 2020, I had a chance to interview "Laughing Rat", a cosplayer who dressed up as Pachirisu for the convention. A lot went into this costume, and I asked her about it:

Anime Milwaukee 2020: Smash Ultimate Tournament

Conkerz

The following is an interview with “Conkerz”, a competitive Smash Bros. player who placed second at a tournament at Anime Milwaukee 2020.

Where are you from, and how did you get into competitive Smash?

I’m from Milwaukee, WI. I've played Smash Bros casually ever since the first game on the Nintendo 64. I started playing competitively in 2013 after a friend of mine introduced me to Project M-a video game Mod of Super Smash Bros Brawl to make the game feel more competition-oriented and more like Melee. Ever since then I started playing Project M and Melee at weekly tournaments hosted by a group named MeleeMilwaukee (now known as Event Horizon Gaming). With the release of Smash Ultimate in 2018, I’ve had a lot of fun learning and competing in the game, as well as implementing my knowledge from the former games to this new one.

What was your reaction when Banjo & Kazooie were announced for Smash?

I was shocked and excited when they initially announced Banjo & Kazooie. As a big fan of Rare games (as you can see with my tag), I thought this was a great addition to the Smash Bros. roster.

What drew you to the character mechanically?

Honestly, when I first played the character, it just felt very smooth and easy to pick up. Banjo has aerials and smash attacks that are fast and extend out, similar to a sword character. Additionally, he has projectiles that give me an advantage when at a distance. The recovery is also great and the grab options are solid.

Despite only being single elimination, this tournament went on for about five hours. Did that start to wear on you?

Yes, this was a long tournament. There were only three setups so it didn’t progress as quickly as I would have liked. I definitely got hungry, so it was great to finally be able to eat after.

In the finals, you fought against a Ganondorf player. What are some things to watch for in that matchup?

Ganondorf is a heavy and slow character so my strategy was to bait out and predict my opponent’s moves. At low percents, I am able to combo the character to higher percents. His attacks are very powerful, though, so it would only take a couple of hits for him to get me into knockout range.

Despite doing quite well in the first game of the match, you decided to switch characters. Why was that?

I actually don't have a specific Main for the game. I play Banjo, Bowser, and Luigi all equally well. This gives me an advantage because then my opponent will have to adapt to my new characters. I knew that the finals match was going to be best three out of five, so it gave me more opportunities to experiment and decide the correct character for the last games of the set. After taking the first game with Banjo, I felt I could have done better overall with Luigi which I (mostly) did, but I ended up losing with him because I was looking for a more stylish kill option (Luigi’s “shoryuken”) instead a safe one. I took a chance because if the move would have landed, it would have given me much more momentum going into the final games of the set.

What would you do differently if you could?

I don't think i would have done anything differently besides play better. Even though I was able to win the first game, my opponent just played better overall in the set.

Any dream characters for the second set of DLC?

Yes, put Conker in the Game! (Laughs)

Editor’s Note: A press pass was provided to Poké Press for this event.

Anime Milwaukee 2020 Recap

We'll be going over my time at this weekend's Anime Milwaukee convention. Find out who I met, which panels I attended, and what you can expect to see soon on the channel:

A press pass was provided for this event.

Livestreaming Pokemon TCG GB2 + Sword/Shield Raids

Believe it or not, there was a sequel to the Pokemon Trading Card Game for Game Boy. Released only Japan, it focuses on the Team Rocket set and features a fair number of additional cards. Thanks to a copy I picked up off of eBay and a translation, I was able to play through part of it. Sandwiched in the middle, I took some time to feature a Poke Casters Network raid night: