This past Friday, Oct. 14 at 6 p.m., around 40 Longwood students participated in a Mario Kart 64 Tournament organized and held by Ryan Pereira and Daniel Sweid. Located on the fourth floor of South Cunninghams, the event included one TV with two projectors and screens for twelve players in total to play compete at the same time. A comfortable environment with old multi-colored couches, table hockey, a foosball table, and refreshments, the event was large enough and varied enough for everyone – spectators and contestants alike – to enjoy.
Mario Kart 64 is a 4 player racing game released in 1997 to the Nintendo 64 console, according to the Nintendo website. A family friendly game, rated E for Everyone, the player can choose from a multitude of characters, such as Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Bowser, and race around tracks with various traps and dangers. Not only that, but the player can also use items, such as bananas or turtle shells, to help one win by making it harder for others to drive, slipping on bananas or being thrown into the air by the collision of a red, green, or blue turtle shell.
When entering the event, each person could either sign up as a contestant or a spectator. The rules upheld by Sweid and Pereira, the organizers of the event, included no pausing during the race, no unplugging of another's controller, no texting while driving, no intentional distracting of another player, and that the player must have clean hands before handling the Nintendo 64 controller. Before each player was allowed to pick their character of choice, each had to roll a die. The highest roller would be able to choose first, while each lower player would be able to choose consecutively, according to how high the number is. To win the tournament, each player was graded on a point system, according to the placing at the end of each round. The player who wins first place receives five points. The player who wins second places receives three points. The player who wins third place receives one point. Lastly, the player who ends last receives no points.
Sweid commented, "We [Sweid and Pereira] didn't want to do elimination because we don't want people to just be kicked out after their first match. That wouldn't be fun. Fun is what we want here." He described the decision as to how to organize the point system as "the only difficulty" of organizing the event, saying, "We wanted everyone to rank with people that they are sort of equal with. That is what the point system is for."
So, even if a player received fourth place in the first round, he or she still had a chance at winning in the end. "Eventually the person with the highest amount of points is going to win," said Pereira.
The idea for the tournament arose when Pereira and Sweid were both playing Mario Kart 64 one day. "I don't know who came up with the idea first. We kind of did it together," said Sweid.
"We were thinking about programming ideas," Pereira said as both had been inspired to organize an event that they both could connect to on some recreational and nostalgic level.
"One of the first games I played on the Nintendo 64 was Mario Kart," said Sweid. "For me, I like Nintendo because it's very friendly, whereas other games it gets really competitive."
Pereira added that, "The reason why we chose Nintendo 64 we felt it was kind of like the pioneer of the modern Mario Kart. So, it had that classic feel to it. But the earlier one didn't really have as many aspects to the game -- of the modern game -- as it is."
Adding to the event's success in popularity, as Pereira added, was that, "The great thing about Mario Kart is that everyone knows about Mario Kart, and everyone loves it or hates it, but they're going to have a strong opinion about it."
Pereira said one of the big reasons to hold the event was that "We just wanted to get a bunch of people to come out and have fun and have an alternative to having fun that doesn't involve alcohol or partying."
Pereira and Sweid not only utilized word of mouth and advertisements around school facilities, but also created a Facebook event. "I think the big contribution was Facebook event. That blew up immediately. The moment we made the event, people were just like, 'Yes!'" said Sweid.
Sophomore Aaron Persh won first place in the Mario Kart 64 tournament, winning a Toad figurine. Coming to the event, Persh said, "I was just gonna enjoy myself. I didn't care if I was gonna win. It wasn't my primary goal." He added that he was happy to just "hang out with friends." When asked if Persh would recommend other students to attend if a similar event occurs in the future, he commented that "[it] doesn't really matter if you're good or bad at it. Just come out and have a good time."
Both Pereira and Sweid described the event as a success. When asked if Longwood students should expect another similar tournament soon, Sweid said, "We want to do this again. Either Mario Kart -- we might change it up. Maybe do a different game. But I like to stick to something that's 4 player."
I am personally keeping my fingers crossed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
