Smasher:Ken

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Ken Hoang. The list of authors can be seen in their page's history. As with SmashWiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Ken "SephirothKen"
Character info
Melee main	Marth
Other Melee character	Fox
Team info
Crew(s)	Socal Elite 4
Personal and other info
Real name	Ken Hoang
Birth date	October 10, 1985
Location	Westminster, California
Miscellaneous info
Skill	Top professional

Ken Hoang (born October 10, 1985), also referred to as just Ken, SephirothKen or a variety of other nicknames, such as "The King of Smash" and "The Asian Sensation", is an American professional smasher of Vietnamese descent. Often cited to be the World Champion of Melee, Ken is said to have earned well over $40,000 USD playing the game. His main character since his debut in Tournament Go 4 has been Marth, and he uses Fox as an alternate. The two-time national champion of Major League Gaming, two-time winner of Tournament Go and winner of many other tournaments, Ken is officially ranked the best Super Smash Bros. Melee player in America. He is also widely regarded as the best player in the world, having defeated reputable players from around the globe, including top Japanese players such as Captain Jack, Masashi, Aniki, Bombsoldier, and Korius in the summer of 2005.

Ken is considered the most consistent player, and has the most impressive tournament track record earning him the nickname "The King of Smash" within the community. Aside from his personal achievements, Ken is a member of El Chocolate Diablo, the top-ranking doubles team, and a member of the Socal Elite 4. Ken is also notable for having a combo named after him.

Biography

World Champion Ken with a check for $5000.

Ken started playing Super Smash Bros. when it was released for the Nintendo 64. He made his gamer tag "sephirothken" from his interest in Final Fantasy VII. He was naturally talented at the game and became fluent in the gameplay and style of smash. However, he was never able to compete in major tournaments for the Nintendo 64 version of Super Smash Bros. due to the lack of a competitive scene. When Melee was released for the Gamecube, Ken initially did not enjoy it, but the game grew on him after a period of a few months. By the time he attended his first tournament, he had already built up an impressive reputation in his town as the best smash player. This tournament, hosted at a local gaming store known as Game Square, employed completely different rules from today's standardized rules. It was a free-for-all tournament, and everybody else teamed up against Ken because he was considered the best.

In 2002 a moderator on Smash World Forums by the handle of Matt Deezie hosted Tournament Go (TG series), which was one of the first major tournaments. There were six installments in the TG series, with each new incarnation being more popular than the last. TG4, in early 2003, was the first major tournament Ken attended. Even with the lack of a strong competitive scene, Ken managed to defeat players who had attended previous TGs and take first out of a record 89 players at that time and he placed second in teams losing to TG1 and TG2 singles winners J.R. Castillo and Justin Junio.

Seven months later, in August 2003, Ken attended and won TG5. This was the first tournament where he teamed with Isai Alvarado for doubles (otherwise known as "Malva00"), who is still considered one of the best Melee players in the nation. Their victory in the doubles tournament started a two-and-a-half year winning streak. They won every doubles tournament they entered until MLG Chicago in July 2006, where they were defeated by Azen and Chillindude829 in the finals and received second place. However, they reclaimed their title later that year in August at MLG Orlando where they defeated Azen and Chillindude829 6-3 in the finals.

For the next two years, Ken continued to win nearly every competition he entered. The worst loss he ever garnered in his competitive career was in August 2004 at TG6 where he placed 9th out of approximately 128 competitors. He did not place below 2nd until MLG Orlando in August 2006 where he placed 5th and then MLG New York (Season Playoffs) where he placed 7th, and in teams he got 3rd teaming with Isai making it his all-time low in singles and doubles at MLG events.

Ken is notable for having fame outside of the Smash games. In September 2006, Ken was nominated as one of five members of "The Dangerous Five" by Electronic Gaming Monthly; he was notable as being one of only two gamers on the list who did not specialise in the Halo games, alongside Michael Brandt, who played Tekken. Ken was referred to as "The Duper", due to his quick, smart, and aggressive playstyle. Additionally, Ken managed to land a spot as a contestant on the 17th season of Survivor.; in the final standings, he won fifth place.

Ken briefly joined the tournament scene for Brawl, with respectable standings, including a second place finish at EVO 2008. EVO 2008, however, proved to be his last tournament; his AllisBrawl profile lists him as inactive, and in a Q&A session with ESPN, Ken stated that he needed a "a big break from gaming", and that he needed to pursue his career in illustration. Ken, however, also suggested that there existed a potential for him in joining the Brawl tournament scene if it got picked up by the MLG again.

Notable Tournament placings

Note: These are only major tournaments which include professional and amateur tournaments with 60 or more players. This list does not represent the number of tournaments Ken has attended in total.

2003

• 1st - Tournament Go 4 (TG4) ($900)
• 1st - SoCal Inland Empire SSB:M
• 1st - Tournament Go 5 (TG5) ($1000)

2004

• 1st - Game Over ($650)
• 1st - The 0-C (Zero Challenge) ($650)
• 1st - MELEE-FC ($500)
• 9th - Tournament Go 6 (TG6)
• 1st - Major League Gaming (MLG) 2004 Season Finals New York ($2000)
• 1st - MLG 2004 Season points

2005

• 2nd - MOAST 3 ($400)
• 1st - MLG 2005 (Season OpenerTournament) DC ($1000)
• 1st - MLG 2005 (Season Tournament) San Francisco ($500)
• 2nd - MLG 2005 (West Coast Regionals) Los Angeles ($1000)
• 1st - MLG 2005 (East Coast Regionals) Atlanta ($2000)
• 1st - MLG 2005 (Central Regionals) Chicago ($2000)
• 1st - MLG 2005 Season Finals New York ($5000)
• 1st - MLG 2005 Season points leader
• 1st - Jack Garden Tournament (JGT) (Japan)
• 1st - Getting Schooled 2 ($800)
• 1st - MELEE-FC3 ($800)

2006

• 1st - Champ Combo: NorCal Edition ($400)
• 1st - Champ Combo: Yayuhzzz Edition ($400)
• 1st - 0-C2 (Zero Challenge 2) ($1200)
• 2nd - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) New York ($1200)
• 1st - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) Dallas ($2000)
• 1st - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) Anaheim ($2000)
• 1st - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) Chicago ($2000)
• 5th - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) Orlando ($300)
• 7th - MLG 2006 (Season Playoffs) New York ($375)
• 1st - NCT2: The Big One ($1080)
• 3rd - MLG 2006 (National Championships Singles) Las Vegas ($3000)
• 1st - MLG 2006 (National Championships Doubles) Las Vegas ($5000) per team member
• 1st - MLG 2006 Season points leader ($4000)

2007

• 4th - 0C3 (Zero Challenge 3)
• 1st - Evo World 2007 ($5000)
• 1st - Sushiman's Westminster Tournament
• 7th - Super Champ Combo
• 1st - Super Smash Royale III

2008

• 2nd - Evo 2008

2012

• 33rd - Kings of Cali

External Links

• sephirothken SWF Public Profile
• AiB profile
• News Article, GotFrag DPad