Fuentes wins Axis Gaming's Brawl tournament

EMERYVILLE - Alex Fuentes had enough energy to outlast 301 other competitors.

Fuentes won Axis Gaming's "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" tournament, capping off the lengthy journey early Sunday morning here at Expression College.

While many of the encounters he faced in the 14-hour tournament were new to him, the semifinals and finals was not.

The Compton player defeated Ryan "Futile" Burger twice in the finals to win the $2,000 first-place prize, using Meta Knight for most of the journey.

In the finals, Fuentes won 3-0, 3-0, marking the third time in the Brawl era he has come from the losers bracket and won six rounds in a row to win the tournament.

The tournament had 302 players, which is a new record for any game in the "Super Smash Bros." series. The previous Brawl record was 192, the U.C.L.A Monthly VI tournament this past May. The Melee record was 270, which was achieved during the Evolution Fighting Game Championships finals tournament.

But with the big attendance came issues. There were allegations of multiple people falsifying results. Plus, Axis Gaming had several assistants not show up to help out with the massive event. And perhaps the capper: the tournament organizer program on the main computer crashed.

There had never been a Smash tournament with 300 players.

Throughout the event, the tournament experienced waves of action. And once the final wave came in, action was nonstop.

Fuentes and Burger, who slayed players from throughout the West Coast, met in the first semifinal, further proving that Southern California is the dominant region.

Burger won the first semifinal, moving into prime position to win the $2,000. Fuentes was sent to the losers bracket, where he had to play "Plank," a very skilled Meta Knight player that took advantage of Meta Knight's structure to turtle. The crowd was mixed with reaction on the style of Plank's play. While it was successful, it was unorthodox in the minds of the spectators.

Plank got rid of Las Vegas' Kyle "SK92" King, 2-0, with one of the rounds going to time. But he couldn't find a way past Fuentes in the second semifinal, and the rematch was set.