SPNW and BUMPS present: Pokkén vs Cake 03/04/16

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Back to the original beginning of the day with “will we get access or won’t we??”

Having booked it months ago, the staff in the café still fail to pass the message on to security, but thankfully we managed to sort it in time with half an hour to spare…. phew!

It was our annual collaboration with Bangor University Masters of Pokémon Society (BUMPS) as well as a national qualifier for the SPUK Pokkén Launch Tournament, so we were ready for the challenge of a hectic day!

We set up two Wii Us in the main room ready for Pokkén, as well as getting the second room ready for the Pokémon ORAS tournament for later in the day.

People started arriving from 11, and we had two entries for our Cake contest. Maybe others thought that “Pokémon themed” was just too ambitious? 😛
Good on the two that rose to the challenge though!!

We started the main event with round 1 of our SPGL Athlon- Session 2 was all about Mario Kart, but we’d previously only give two clues:
   1) One round involves pairwork
2) There will NOT be Mario Kart 8
Round one was a balloon battle in Mario Kart Wii. There were 4 people per group, but all 4 were on the same team (red) against hard CPUs. Most members are so used to just playing VS mode, they were a bit thrown by the battles, as was evident when barely anyone scored points in battle!
The Pokkén tournament kicked off after that, with 15 entries. The layout was single elimination and best of 3.
Plenty of spectators, but it was the chief of BUMPS who popped up with “ooh it’s amazing that the two screens seem so perfectly timed!” …. “Yeah it’s the same match mate!” …. “Oh…. is it??” …. “yeah…” …… “ohhhhh!!”

There was always going to be one! Most people realised as we did a similar setup in Bar Uno last August with Splatoon. (We connected Pokkén over the wifi because usually it’s very fast and reliable – It saved us trying to find cables for the LAN connection!)

To see the semi finals and final, you can catch them here:
Drn won the qualifying position, with Nick picking up 2nd place. Both won £10 eShop credit.
There were also a couple of card games going on amongst the busy atmosphere of the main competitions, and it was nice to see members of both groups helping each other 🙂
Round 2 of the Maroo Kart followed – This version was Mario Kart 7, in mirror mode, leaf cup. Standard set up with Shy guy as character.
People weren’t expecting mirror mode, as we’ve always traditionally done straightforward 150cc. It certainly mixed up the results a bit!
The Pokémon ORAS tournament was where we handed over to BUMPS. They ran a double elimination tournament, using VGC2016 rules.

It ended up being one of the most tense and series tournaments we’ve ever done, and this was supposed to be a friendly between groups!!

We walked into the “other” room to silence and this:
Time was a bit tight, so we had to start the final round of Mario Kart, which was the much anticipated 2 vs 2 Double Dash!
We paired up people depending on their added up scores from the first two rounds, pairing 1st with last, 2nd with penultimate, etc.
some had to be reminded how to play it!
It certainly made it interesting, because the current “definite” winner, ended up not being in the running for the top position after the 3rd round, and it ended up being a tie for 1st place between Jack and John.
There was one issue there, as Jack was also doing quite well in Pokémon so both SPNW and BUMPS needed him at the same time!!
There was a particular intensity between 3 of the top ORAS players, which peaked at a moment in the semi finals when one match was decided on a one hit kill move! There was an eruption of laughter for some, and the other side were gutted at the same time! It was a complete moment of bewilderment and disbelief!!
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be for Jack though, as Dan Ward walked away with victory for Pokémon, and John grabbed the Mario Kart session victory, winning £20 and £10 of eShop respectively.
Jack walked away with £10 eShop credit for his runner up position in Pokémon.
SPNW is known for being bang on time with its schedule, although noted, unless it’s a collaboration event (as we overran last year too 😛 )
We decided to do the raffle before the Pokémon match had finished, as some people had to catch buses. Derwen ended up getting lucky in both the raffle AND won the highest bid for our silent auction of the Generation II Pokémon league badges. Well done to anyone else who managed to grab something too!
Some had to leave before Jack and Dan battled it out for the final:
We had to have two group photos this time: one before people ran for the bus, and one once the Pokémon match had finished!
Another great and fun collaboration was had, it was our 3rd one, but the first one where we could mark it as a true collaboration 😉 Here’s to next year!
We’d like to thank BUMPS for being part of another amazing collaboration, and the work that went into the event too. We’re always grateful for the attendees who support our events too, and particularly anyone who helps us set up and tidy up at the end 🙂
We also thank StreetPass UK and Nintendo UK for allowing us to be part of the SPUK Pokkén Launch Tournament, and the support they’ve given us for running it!
Chairman of BUMPS, Tristan, said: “All three events were enjoyable and energetic! We could feel the enjoyment and competition between everyone! It was an amazing experience for all involved, and we must thank everyone who helped organise it as well as the people who participated! 🙂 “

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