Tournament:Rambo

Rambo was a Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament held in Melbourne University's Old Arts Hall on 26 April 2008, in conjunction with the Couch Warriors Committee and the Manifest Committee. It was directed by CAOTIC and assisted by Myst Walker, Strider, Shaz, Blazey and others. Overall attendance surpassed 100 throughout the day as players converged to play Street Fighter: 3rd Strike, Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core, and Casual Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The official Rambo attendance stood at 62. The tournament was heralded as a success, but was plagued by the incorporation of Melee and Brawl, offering 4 different tournaments for entrants. Handling the transitions between Melee and Brawl proved a major obstacle for many players, and led to considerable delays in Rambo's schedule. As a result, the Swiss System suffered a cut in rounds (from 6 to 5 for Brawl), which led to inconsistencies in the system's ranking project. Nonetheless, the Swiss System was still aptly able to determine the standout players for both Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl, with tournament host CAOTIC taking 1st place in Melee and Sydney resident Kulla to take the 1st place for Brawl - a first major victory for Sydney's Smash Community.

Rambo's administration welcomed some new changes not before seen in Australian Smash - most notably pre-registration and online payments. This helped to save valuable time during the event. The total prize pool stood over $800, which was given a welcome boost from Strider's 'Smash Bank.'

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Singles

1st - CAOTIC (Victoria)
2nd - Dekar (Victoria)
3rd - Jaz (New South Wales)
4th - Shaz (Victoria)
5th - Kupo (Victoria)

Super Smash Bros. Melee was the first game to be run at Rambo, which showed continued support from players and spectators, depsite the impending interest in the newer, fresher, Brawl. Suprrise results included Melee veteran and Yoshi expert Bringer of Death struggling to poll into the finals due to Swiss defeats by Sloth and Kulla. Jaz pulled stunning victories against many players, including CAOTIC, who was expected by many spectators to lose the match, only to be given a self-destructing repreive by Jaz. Jigglypuff main Dekar, following on from his stellar run from Adelaide's Reloaded Festival 08, was just as impressive, winning a championship set to produce a deciding set. The great Melee veterans Kupo (better known as the 'Smasher:Husband' slaying Emily), and Shaz (voted Australia's overall best smasher of 2007), managed to rank respectably high.

Melee's finals drew large spectator crowds and sent a strong message that the game is still alive and strong. Despite observations that overall skill levels for the game have slightly deteriorated, it brought about a large scale atmosphere and vibe that Brawl has yet to produce in its tournaments.

Teams

1. CAOTIC + Shaz (Victoria)
2. Berimbau + Kulla (New South Wales)
3. Kupo + Sloth (Victoria + Queensland)
4. CATS + Smasher:Bringer of Death (Victoria + Western Australia)
5. Dekar + Turtle (Victoria + New South Wales)
6. Hybrid + Daltsy (South Australia + British Columbia)

Melee's Teams tournament was a hotly contested event which brought about several high tier combinations. Sydney's top team proved to be one of the strongest teams, taking out positions 3 and 4, and narrowly losing to Melbourne's top Melee team in a deciding championship set. Dekar and Turtle represented the TEC Clan well (an elite Australian community specialising in Wi-Fi) and Hybrid and Daltsy proved that even the most random combinations on the planet (Adelaide and Vancouver?) can pull rank.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Singles

1. Kulla (New South Wales)
2. Erick (Victoria)
3. Dekar (Victoria)
4. Redact (Victoria)
5. Hybrid (South Australia)

Brawl proved to be very competititve in the advanced matchups, with many matches going right down to the wire. The final match to determine 1st place came down to the final KO hit with both Erick's Falco and Kulla's Meta Knight well over 100% damage. Both were tipped from the beginning to rank very highly, and the first major Brawl tournament may have started a new and hotly contested rivalry between the best players from Sydney and Melbourne, injecting some much needed vitality into the national scene. Adelaide's Hybrid was somewhat of a dark horse, proving difficult for most players, including taking out CAOTIC. Seasoned Melbourne Brawlers Redact and Dekar proved that they could hold up well in a major national, leaving little to surprise.

Teams

1. Kulla + Berimbau (New South Wales)
2. Hybrid + TakFR (South Australia + Victoria)
3. Dekar + Turtle (Victoria + New South Wales)
4. CAOTIC + Jei Jei (Victoria)

Teams was biggest victim of the time restrictions placed against Rambo, with a Seeded Single Elimination bracket determining the outcome. Once again, Hybrid performed better than anticipated, TEC was solid, as was CAOTIC and Jei Jei. Tournament favourites Redact and Ammeren fell just short of their first round matchup against Kulla and Berimbau and experienced a most unfortunate placing (16th). The finals series was decidedly one-sided with the Sydney team proving too strong for all other teams on show, having defeated every major threat to their crown. The Brawl Teams tournament concluded 10 hours of Smash tournaments, finishing at 8pm.

Controversy

After the tournament, Jei Jei's car got broken into at the parking lot of the hotel he was staying in. His Wii, Brawl, DS, R4, and laptop were all stolen. Turtle's luggage was also lost in the process. In addition, Sam's laptop was heavily damaged.

A J-Fund tournament will be hosted soon in order to help Jei replace some of his stolen goods.

Gallery

• Rambo Venue.jpg

  Outside the Venue

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  Inside the Venue

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  SSBM Singles Finals

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  SSBB Singles Finals

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  The Greenhouse

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  Federation Square