Stephen Gilbert (left) and Harrison Neville (right) playing Super Smash Bros in MOG fighting game tournament. Photo by Kat Bell.

Montevallo’s Organization of Gaming (MOG) hosted a Smash Ultimate tournament for students on Jan. 17.  

20 students participated in the one-on-one, bracket style tournament to determine who was the best at playing Smash Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch.  

Mason Little, a junior graphic design major, won the tournament. Little stated that playing Smash is something that everyone can enjoy, no matter where they come from.  

“I’ve been playing Smash since the third installment of brawl first came out, which has been about three years,” said Little. 

Little received a deck of Montevallo playing cards for winning the tournament.  

Super Smash Bros. is a fighting game that uses popular Nintendo characters from different games as their competitors. The game raked in large success for Nintendo when it was named the fifth best-selling game of 2018 and the top selling game of December.  

“It has everyone’s favorite characters beating each other up, and it’s this nice blend of competition and camaraderie that makes it really fun,” said communication studies major, Cameron McGuffie, one of the competitors in the tournament.  

“We had a pretty good turnout last time, and it worked out well for events. Everybody really liked it,” said Ashton Craig, the organizer of the event.  

MOG hosted a similar event last year which invited gamers to fight each other in an earlier version of Smash released for the Wii U.  

Nicholas Callins, a junior graphic design major with four years of experience playing Smash, placed second in the tournament.  

Callins showed support for the game, and described it as a game that is accessible to a wide variety of people. 

“Specifically, for Smash, this is a community game. More people are inclusive to play, and it’s fun,” said Callins. 

Craig, a junior business major from Huntsville, also shared his enjoyment for Smash Brothers by stating that he too believes it’s something everyone can enjoy. 

“It’s the competitive aspect of it and being able to have fun and going against each other gets the adrenaline. It’s also a shared interest to have fun and hang out,” said Craig. 

MOG also provided Smash 4 and Injustice 2 for students to play during the event.  

Based on the turnout, the event was popular among students and they expressed how much they enjoyed it. There appears to be interest in doing it again soon. 

MOG’s next event will be in early February where they will host Magic: The Gathering drafts.