Celebrating the players of the Edmonton Smash Bros Community

Brandon "Yoshiii6" Rudzki

 

"My name is Brandon Rudzki, and I go by the gamertag yoshiii6. Brawl and melee are my preferred smash games even though I have alot of fun playing project M. I play yoshi and metaknight it brawl, fox in melee, and snake in project M. I went to my first tourney at animethon a couple years ago for brawl and was introduced to the scene. I went to a couple of brawl tourneys but I would say I really started playing competitively last September when I started attending regularly."

"First things first. Of all the gamer tags to choose from, why Yoshiii6? Typically most people avoid using numbers in their names unless its on a forum or something similar."

"I don't really remember why I chose it. It has been the name I have used for a while. I think I originally wanted to have yoshi as a user name somewhere and it recommended me some other suggestions because it was taken. I think I fused some of those suggestions together"

"We don't often have players who have Brawl as their preferred game, much less players who prefer both Brawl and Melee. Why do you consider Brawl as your most preferred game, and do you feel like there are mechanical problems switching between Brawl and Melee, especially since you main a mechanically intensive character like Fox in Melee?"

"I like each game for what it offers. I don't really know how to answer this but brawl is just fun and I like it. I feel like I have to be more careful in brawl though. The reward for doing well and recognizing or creating good opportunities for offensive play feels better, whereas in melee, the speed and combos feel good. Both, I find, require a lot of skill and personally I don't have too much trouble switching games. I do make quite a few technical errors in each games but over time switching between games feels natural and they don't conflict with each other."

"What are your thoughts on PM? Early on you were apprehensive of the game but now you are arguably one of the top PM players in Edmonton. What brought about the change?

"At the start, I didn't like PM. I felt that the characters I tried to learn in brawl and melee were too different. At the time I was getting into melee and trying to improve at the same time in brawl. Project M, in a way disrupted this and made my improvements feel weak. In brawl I enjoyed snake and was one of the first characters I played. I didn't like how my brawl playstyle would leak into my project M and it forced me to change the way I play with him. I kept playing though and started enjoying it. Ftilt to jab reset is a big reason *laughs*."

"Do you feel good when you perform those deadly Snake combos?"

*laughs* Depends. To newer players who may not be strong at teching or to anyone who gets really salty over it, I don't see myself enjoying it. In general though they are pretty fun."

"You entered brawl tournaments in the past, but what made you re-enter the competitive scene at it's fullest?"

"Well, usually I am quiet and a bit shy. I enjoyed playing with the brawl players and everyone seemed to know eachother. I could tell everyone was nice and willing to play, but I found it awkward for myself to approach anyone. I more looked at tournaments as a way to test myself and see if I improved. I would play with some friends, practice a bit and sometime later attend to see how much better I got compared to everyone. When I started attending more I felt like i knew a lot more people by their name rather than their gamertag. I started improving more and talking more with other members in the community. I say that had the biggest influence on me. You also make everyone feel at home Victor, I don't know how but you make a lot of people feel welcome on what might be an intimidating tourney."

"Aw shucks Brandon *blushes*"

"With the growing numbers, what do you think the future holds for the smash community? Especially with Smash 4 on the horizon? Similarly, what are your thoughts on Smash 4 and do you have any goals in regards to it?"

"I think the future looks bright for smash. Melee has gained huge amounts of interest and smash bros has always been a very popular title. I hope that Alberta grows into the icon for smash in Canada with this growth. I think smash 4 looks great. I think everyone is going to be training hard with smash 4 so I'm hoping I can hold my ground against the top veterans and the upcoming newcomers, with yoshi of course."