The fighting game community (FGC) has grown from holding local events at smaller venues to occupying ballrooms at four-star establishments with talent from all across the globe attending. Major sponsors such as Capcom, Namco Bandai, and others are responsible for the development of some of the world’s most famous franchises in gaming, and are showcased at a central tournament featuring the top fighting talent from across the world. With major prize pools, fighting games are now reaching a platform that can be compared to traditional eSports.
Every week, I’ll be posting interviews I’ve had the pleasure of conducting with members of the fighting game community. The interviews will touch upon their history in the FGC, where they got their start, and what they’d like to see from video games in general.
This weeks guest is a man I recently had the pleasure of meeting: Hendrick Pilar aka MH | DJ Nintendo.
Kash: Thank you for joining me today, please introduce yourself to the Broken Joysticks’ readers.
DJ Nintendo: Thanks for having me. My name is Hendrick Pilar aka DJ Nintendo. I’m 27 years old. I’m from Bronx, NY and I’m Dominican.
Kash: A fighter’s tag is like their identity: some would rather use their real name and some their nickname; how did you decide what yours will be and why is it hard for me to say it without bopping my head as if I had music in my ears?
DJ Nintendo: My nickname/tag was given to me a long time ago in my first year of high school when I was 14. I was really good at Mario games and I was always up to date on the hottest mainstream songs. I used to play music through a little computer speaker and walk around with it lol. So my friends/classmates started calling me DJ Super Mario. Then they realized I was good in general at Nintendo games. So they changed it to DJ Nintendo and I just stuck with it since then. I guess just hearing the name DJ makes someone think about music lol. I like DJ’ing because music makes people feel good and have a great time.
Kash: Where would you say you got your start in the FGC?
DJ Nintendo: Well Smash is now starting to be apart of the FGC and they’re getting closer. I started competitive Smash with Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64, then Super Smash Bros. Melee was released in December 2001 and it became my main competitive game. So I started playing it competitively sometime in 2002. Melee is a non-traditional fighter but it definitely has most, if not all the elements of a true fighter. So the FGC is recognizing that now and having Melee in its events, like for example, NEC I believe.
Kash: Tell me a bit more about your sponsor MH.
DJ Nintendo: One of my best friends, Alukard, told me a long time ago how he became sponsored by Maximum Hype. I always thought it would be cool for me to be sponsored for playing a non-traditional fighter like Melee. MH in the beginning was really only composed of Marvel. So Alukard helped me out, put in the word, and the sponser was interested in me joining the team. MH is broadening their horizons and reaching out to more games than just the typical FGC games like Marvel and AE. So having an exclusive Melee player helps out the team as well. MH’s goal is to provide entertainment for the world out there in what we have to offer.
Kash: I’ve seen you on streams as both a singles player and a team player, usually teaming up with your friend and teammate MH | Alukard. Do you prefer team play or single play for Smash Bros. in tournaments?
DJ Nintendo: Teams all the way!! I wouldn’t be playing Melee anymore if teams was non-existant. Teams is the only reason I keep playing the game competitively. For me, teams is way more fun and you have to be really aware of all the things that’s happening. Constantly having to make fast decisions like, “Should I save my teammate or get this easy kill?” “Should I take a risk and go for this team combo or play it safe as to not get hit?” I’ve had almost 50 different teammates in my Melee career.
Kash: Also Alukard didn’t tell us about your team-ups (get him); what is the strategy you two employ in team fights?
DJ Nintendo: Since I’m one of the OGs of Melee lol and have been playing longer than Alukard has, he leaves most of the strategy on what we have to do to me. Alukard is an aggressive kind of player, so usually it’s him taking the lead in the front and I’m the support in the back. Although we switch it up sometimes so the other team doesn’t catch on. Since I know more about players, what stages the other team may like because of their characters, and game knowledge in general, I speak to Alukard on what exactly we should do against that specific team we’re about to fight. Another good thing about our team strategies is that we play multiple characters. So we can always know who to pick when fighting specific characters. Alukard and I were on stream recently talking about how we view teams:
[youtube id=”OS8XSCiqfNw” width=”600″ height=”350″]
Kash: Which game(s) are you most known for playing and what character(s) do you use?
DJ Nintendo: I’m most known for playing Melee. Since I’ve been playing for so long, I can play with every character. Ice Climbers is my worst character. I suck at doing their tricks lol. For tournament, I usually just go Fox because he’s the best character and it makes it easier for me to try to win. Although sometimes I could be having a bad Fox day or for counterpick purposes, I go to my secondaries, which are Samus, Bowser, Dr. Mario, and Sheik. I’m most known for playing Bowser and Samus. More for Bowser because I’m the best Bowser player in the world. Despite how much the character sucks compared to higher tiered characters, I’ve brought him to good use in high level play.
Kash: Do you think other people in the FGC like their characters because they like them or because they need to use them based on the current tiers and meta game?
DJ Nintendo: It could be one or the other, or even both. Even though I stated I usually just use Fox because it makes my tournament life easier lol, I’ve always like the character and I have fun with him. There’s nothing wrong with being character loyal if lets say you love using a low tier, especially if you’re godlike with the character. Although sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and high tier it up. There are people who just ended up playing a high tier but didn’t know the character would be godlike and just always loved the character. Current tiers and metagames are unforgiving lol. For example, Bowser has a fighting chance in Melee and I’ve always loved the character even though I knew he sucked. I just put a lot of time and energy into making him viable. Bowser in Brawl on the other hand, has no fighting chance whatsoever because of how the metagame is and how bad his mind, body, and soul gets annihilated lol.
Kash: Do you think in the future the Smash community inside the FGC will be be as massive as those in the FGC who play other popular games like SF4 and Marvel?
DJ Nintendo: Yes, most definitely. As time goes by, the Smash community is being recognized more and more as a fighter that should be part of the FGC. There are Marvel and SF4 players who have came from playing Melee and Brawl competitively. Also, there are Marvel and SF4 players who find Melee really entertaining to watch and even ask questions about the game to understand it better. Those players have also noticed that Melee is one of the most technical fighters out there. So the FGC is giving the game much more respect and support.
Kash: How difficult do you think it is for a new person to enter the community and feel welcomed?
DJ Nintendo: The Smash community is awesome. We’re always welcoming new players with open arms and trying our best to give them a fun, worthwhile experience, especially at their first tournament. The community is always willing to help new players improve and be better acquainted with how things work when it comes to tournaments, using our smashboards forum, and even finding Smash gatherings (we call smashfests). I’m one of the players who help people at Smash events or even asking for advice through my Facebook. So it isn’t difficult at all.
Kash: How nervous do you get during a tournament match?
DJ Nintendo: I’m actually the type of person who doesn’t get nervous during tournament matches lol. I just play and try my best to win. If I win, great. If I lose, then of course it sucks but I’ll access the situation and see what I can do to improve for the next match.
Kash: Other than fighting games, what other styles of games do you play?
DJ Nintendo: A whole bunch of games like Platformers, RPGs, Racing, Puzzles, MMOs, and Shooters.
Kash: What is your current system of choice and which system do you see yourself using for the next generation?
DJ Nintendo: Super Nintendo!!!
Kash: I think I’ll keep asking this question until my face turns blue, how excited are you with the announcement of a 6th generation of Pokémon?
DJ Nintendo: I’m super excited!! I love Pokemon!! Its about time Pokemon goes 3D. I can’t wait to see how many features and Pokemon the game is gonna have. I wonder what type the new Eevee, Sylveon is gonna be lol?
Kash: I want to say flying but you never know if they invent a new type of Pokemon.
DJ Nintendo: Yeah I’m leaning towards flying, normal or maybe supposedly a new type called Light. Who knows? If its not a new type, I hope its normal. If its flying, that’ll be cool too because then they can give it the move Tailwind. If its normal, then it can have useful moves like Fake Out and ExtremeSpeed.
Kash: If you could grab any character from one game and put them in any other game, who would you pick, where would you place them, and why?
DJ Nintendo: A funny one would be Bowser and placing him in UMvC3 lol. He’s slow but would have super armor on some his moves. One of his supers would be his Mecha Koopa special from Super Mario RPG. If you use him as an assist, you can have either a big fireball or a flame lockdown. His Mecha Koopa special is called Bowser Crush.
Kash: In this segment, I’m going to name two different characters, series, etc., and just tell me which one you’d pick over the other one. Since you’re DJ Nintendo I’ll keep these within the realm of Nintendo for the most part
Kash: You’re walking across the Mushroom Kingdom and see two pipes. One leads you into Delfino Plaza, the other to Nimbus Land. Where will you go?
DJ Nintendo: Nimbus Land.
Kash: You accidentally start a bar brawl and you see two bounty hunters enter the bar. One is Captain Falcon and one is Samus Aran. Who do you call for help?
DJ Nintendo: Samus Aran.
Kash: You’re tasked to go on a mission for Princess Peach and she presents to you Fluddz and the Poltergust. Which one would you take?
DJ Nintendo: Fluddz
Kash: Passing by an instrument shop you see the Ocarina of Time and the Wind Waker. Which one would you take along?
DJ Nintendo: Ocarina of Time
Kash: Sakurai comes up to you and says he wants to reboot the Smash Brothers series like NetherRealm did with Mortal Kombat. What 12-14 characters would you select?
DJ Nintendo: Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Lucario, Mewtwo, Peach, Pikachu, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, Zelda, Link, and Donkey Kong.
Kash: Zelda made the cut, I’d buy that reboot lol
Kash: What’s your top three favorite games of all time?
DJ Nintendo: Super Mario RPG is my favorite game of all-time, then it becomes extremely difficult for the next two. I would say its Super Mario Bros. 3 and Donkey Kong Country 2.
Kash: Any upcoming tournaments that you’ll be attending?
DJ Nintendo: I might be attending Smashacre Blaze this weekend and I’m definitely gonna go to Alukard’s monthly Melee tournament the following week called No Johns with the information here.
Kash: With stream sites like Twitch becoming the easiest gateway for people to view the community and players in action, is there any particular stream were people may see you play outside of a tournament setting?
DJ Nintendo: Unfortunately as of yet, no. I play a bunch of games and even speed run old school games sometimes. I wanna stream but I can’t until I get a new computer. My computer is worse than SSB Brawl’s Bowser lol. Once I get one, I’ll be streaming my training sessions for Melee, which I call Bowser’s Castle. Its another way for me to help train the community with the vast knowledge I have on Melee besides just when I’m at a tournament or people contacting me through FB or Twitter.
Kash: Any last words for the Broken Joysticks’ reader, as well as any way for them to contact you with any questions they might have?
DJ Nintendo: Any game you decide to play competitively or are already currently doing, have fun. Try to keep a clear head and don’t beat yourself up for losing if you’re the kind of person to do so. Whenever you play casuals/friendlies, its important to know that they’re meant to experiment things. The focus is not to win, but to learn. Ask for help/advice during those times. Try to go to as many tournaments as you can. What I do before I play in Melee tournaments is have a good breakfast and play old school games like Super Mario Bros. 3. For me, it helps me when I play in tournament since it improves my reaction time and decision making. To contact me, my Facebook is: https://www.facebook.com/djnintendo17 and my Twitter is: @DJ_Nintendo05. Thank you guys so much for giving me this opportunity.
