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| Luke Thao |
The following is an interview with Luke Thao, winner of the Smash Ultimate tournament at
Twin Cities Con 2024.
Where are you from, and how did you get into competitive Smash?
Minnesota native-born in Minneapolis and raised in the Twin Cities area! I started competing at convention tournaments when I was in high school. I was always really competitive when it came to gaming, and Smash was one of my favorite games growing up! Back then, I had dreams of being in the FGC (fighting game community), and also I didn't really know what I wanted to do when I became an adult so I invested a lot of time into video games and going to tournaments here in there while in college-but of course we have to make money and survive so now competing is just a hobby for me, and I just started competing again recently after a good four or five year hiatus.
You tend to play as Dr. Mario. What do you like about that character?
I love Doc's move set! I really enjoy his projectile pressure with Megavitamins and how hard he hits with his aggressive looking moves like down-air and back throw. I love being able to express myself with Doc, a very disrespectful and explosive character when he gets going. I also like being the underdog, and he's considered bad and a lot of people don't expect to see him in tournaments.
Any other characters you use?
I used to play Roy and Marth. Both are really strong characters but I just don't enjoy them as much as Doc-and you see them a lot in tourney, so I wanted a character that's different. There was a time when I was having a character crisis and dropped the game for a couple years of its life cycle, but I just picked up again last year because of Doc and wanting a hobby my little brother and I can bond with.
Before the finals, was there a anything that stood out in the tournament?
Actually, before the tournament started, I met a young man named Joseph and he was thinking about competing and new to the scene. He was apprehensive but I told him to give it a shot because he had nothing to lose and could only grow from the experience. Convinced, he finally signed up for the tournament. He reminded me of myself when I was his age (19), it reminded me of the fire I had when I was discovering things. I ran a set with Joseph and practically became his mentor throughout his tournament run, teaching him things about the game and tech, all that fun stuff.
How did the finals go?
Finals was a little rough for me since my opponent (Saint) had a good few matches before me during his losers climb so by comparison I wasn't fully warmed up. He 3-0ed me and made it to winners grands. I was eventually mostly up to speed but I do feel like I wasn't playing at my strongest. Fighting games are so weird because you can be so consistent at times and then sometimes you just hit a mental wall and you legitimately aren't playing well in the moment. That said, I adapted and prevailed in the end, and it's always a treat to be able to fight someone as strong as you.
What else did you do at the convention?
My girlfriend and her sisters have a business (8bit_ichigo) crafting and selling their crochets and art so we were in the exhibitors hall in the artist alley for the weekend! I met a couple of my voice actor heroes like Troy Baker and Josh Keaton and it was a blast overall. I have dreams of being a voice actor one day so being able to meet the people in the industry is a great way for me to do some studying and have fun.
A press pass was provided for this event.
