Credit/@zhoucow/Andrew Zhou

Enrique Pena Ponce
Staff Writer

Oh boy, for fighting game fans, Genesis isn’t just a tournament. It’s opening day, reunion, and Super Bowl rolled into one. Controllers in hand and mains locked in, thousands gathered in San Jose for Genesis X3, the first major Smash event of the year.

What makes this scene and genre so special, you may ask? It’s the community, for sure. When you play against others, it can become a fun session. Whether you’re beating someone who just started the game or calling someone’s character “lame and trash,” it’s all in good fun.

The real competition can also get intense, and you may be more connected than you think, whether it’s in the spirit of fighting or getting overly attached to your main character.

Genesis is the first major Smash Bros. tournament of the year and is a sort of Super Bowl equivalent in the scene, except without major announcements or commercials, since those are usually saved for national tournaments like EVO. Genesis has been around since 2009, but didn’t get on a consistent schedule until Genesis 3 in 2016. Genesis began as a primarily Smash Bros. tournament, but later expanded to include more fighting games like Street Fighter and Rivals of Aether, to bring in more of the community. I mean, they have a competitive Umamusume Pretty Derby this year, and I didn’t think that was possible until I saw it. The point being, this convention might have something for everyone to attend.

On the first day, I arrived at the San Jose Convention Center around 7 a.m., and I may or may not have arrived before most vendors or even players, but that was short-lived, as an hour or two later, the absolutely phenomenal Artist Alley opened.

Artist Alleys make this scene more beautiful, showing how much love and craft people can put into this genre. I am no better than the average consumer, as I immediately purchased stickers and key chains of one of my favorite fighting game characters. There was no lie in what they said about this artist alley being top-tier. There were 74 artists at Genesis, and all of them sold high-quality items.

As for activities on site, there are plenty of arcade fighters, rhythm games, and the ever-so-famous Super Smash Bros Melee. I was a bit of a fool because I forgot to bring my controller to the convention, so I didn’t play anything that day. The Rhythm game section is pretty neat, you don’t need to bring anything. I had lots of fun being terrible at rhythm games I’ve never played before.

On the second day, I didn’t forget my controller! I got to the convention around 10:30 a.m., and I decided I was gonna play some games casually.

There was this station for an independently developed game called Combo Devils, so I decided to test it out and play it with another player. For an early alpha build, it was pretty solid.

I then headed to play Street Fighter 6 (SF6) and Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising (GBVSR) with other players and got utterly destroyed most of the time in SF6.

At 5 p.m., a cosplay contest started, with around 20-ish cosplayers, mostly centered on fighting games. Tons of talented cosplayers won awards, and I’m glad it was more inclusive than a top three, as it showcased other merits like best craftsmanship and other categories, where almost half the cosplayers got an award. One cosplay that stood out to me was an Ilsa cosplayer from GBVSR. The character had been released less than a week before the convention. While GBVSR is based on a mobile game that debuted years ago, this version of the character was brand new. The cosplayer handcrafted props of her guns, which transform into the larger weapon seen in her Super Skybound Art in the game. That level of detail amazed me beyond anything else.

Now I’ve yammered enough about my Genesis experience, so I decided to get another perspective from someone who has been to previous Genesis Conferences and enjoys fighting games as well, The Spectator’s very own Cole Wagner, in a podcast format. We discussed how important Smash Bros. Melee is to Genesis. I asked Cole what he thought about the very important Smash Bros. Melee and he had this to say: “I think in order to enjoy competitive Smash Brothers at its core, competitive Smash Brothers at its core, you have to acknowledge that it’s kind of a busted game’ Which in my opinion is correct but that game’s jank is what makes it so loveable in my opinion.”

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make day 3 for reasons beyond my control, but this event was absolutely amazing. All the players there having a good time made it a fun event. The only difference between Genesis and EVO is that EVO is larger scale and gets announcements on games like DLC fighters and reveals. Other than that, Genesis is still a must-go. A date hasn’t been announced for Genesis X4, but it will likely happen at a similar time next year, so get to saving money and remember to bring a controller!