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One reason this game was so fun to watch was that it escalated so quickly. The game kicked up a notch as Pikachu answered Mario's impressive beatdown with equal intensity. He air-kicked Mario, Mario answered with a hurricane special attack, and they both landed to the right of the pirana plant. Somewhat distanced, they shot off fireballs and electric sparks at each other, then met fist and paw and met blow for blow. They were really digging into each other, and not a one looked like they were gaining even a small foothold over the other. Then Pikachu broke the close-proximity fighting by charging and headbutting Mario, which knocked the plumber off his feet. While Mario was in the air, Pikachu leapt up after him and slammed him into the right edge. Pikachu only had 42% at this point and Mario only had one life left. I was not-so-secretly rooting for Mario, so at this point I was caught between despairing and being caught on the edge of my seat.At this point it seemed this was a match of vengeance. I mean think about it. Mario was pretty much the King Nintendo, and then Pikachu came in mid-'90s and suddenly swept a whole generation of kiddies away from the Mushroom Kingdom and into his own world of pocket monsters. So Mario's got good reason to want some digital justice. Pikachu, on the other hand, is still relatively new compared to Nintendo's older franchises, so of course he's going to make a go at the big dog and try to prove himself. I don't know, I guess I was looking way too much into it, but to me at the time it really felt as if these two were willing to go tooth-and-nail before they would give up the match. It was personal, in other, more clichéd words.
So like I was saying, vengeance. This time around, Mario returned stronger than ever, even with Pikachu having so little damage on him. Mario swept down to underneath where Pikachu stood, underneath the two platforms on the right, and drilled him into the ground, leading right into a low Smash attack. Pikachu answered back with a low Smash of his own, but it wasn't nearly enough. Mario was drunk with rage. He coined-punched the snot out of his newcomer rival, hitting him high into the air, which set him up for a Smash attack haymaker right into the edge. Mario K.O'ed Pikachu with only 16% lost, and taunted again like the sportsman he is.
It was maybe a mistake to be so cocky, because Pikachu came back and slammed Mario's oversized skull before he was even finished taunting. Mario answered with a drop kick, and after Pikachu came back with a tail whip, Mario knocked him off his feet using his patented coin jump attack. Each combatant only had one life left, and this match was very close, with Mario at 28% and Pikachu at 19%. So I guess you could say things were getting pretty serious.
Mario was bitten once again by the flower while shooting fireballs, and Pikachu took advantage of this third blunder by back-kicking him onto the elevator scales. They fell together onto the left elevator and began a bit of a slapfight, so whenthe scales broke this time they barely made it out. When they did, Mario dropped onto Pikachu with a hurricane spin attack that tossed the Pokémon back into the pit.
Pikachu made it back to high ground by virtue of his teleport, and called down the Thunder right where Mario stood. From there he zapped him with a spark, and then back-kicked him to the right edge. Things were looking scary for Mario (and Mario fans like me), because with Pikachu at only 31%, Mario was up to 110%.
Mario's age was showing, I guess. He put up a good fight, but it didn't look like enough. He threw out another dropkick and followed it up with a coin uppercut, but at his high percentage, all it took from Pikachu was a downward air slam to knock his damage-heavy all the way across the level nearly into the left edge. Mario slowly righted himself, and jumped to strike the POW block on his way back into battle, but Pikachu had jumped just in time to miss it, and knocked Mario back to the ground with another spark attack.
Mario was at 132% fighting for his life against Pikachu, who had a meager 43%, as they scrapped and dodged and traded light hits only a few inches from the left edge of the level. Pikachu aimed to put Mario down for good as he jumped high into the air, and came down hard with an electrically-charged slam. Mario wasn't giving up, and met him mid-air with a jumpkick, but Pikachu's hit proved much stronger. The force of it sent Mario flying clear across the level straight towards the right edge with smoke trailing behind! But just as it looked as if Mario was about to be toast, it seemed Pikachu had been hit just far enough to hit the left edge!
The game was over! Mario made it alive by the skin of his teeth and emerged the victor of the first Super Smash Bros. tournament match. Holy dang.
It was about as close as Super Smash Bros. matches get, and, I thought, a great way to start off the tournament. Mario's going to make his way to the next level where he'll face against who-knows-who. But Pikachu, despite his tenacity and ridiculous busload of electic spunk, is knocked out for good. Tune in next week as Donkey Kong flexes his primitive pecs in the second match of the Super Smash Bros. Tournament!
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