Genesis 9, a major fighting game tournament, took place over the weekend. It was a stellar combo and a massive upset as the main event Super Smash Bros and The ultimate Unfortunately, while the tournament was going on, one of Canada’s top Kazuya players, Michael “Riddles” Kim, sparked a heated discussion The ultimatecommunity around “best player privilege” and “ego issues” when he threw the controller after losing a match.
Considered one of the top Kazuya and Terry channels in Canada, Riddles is ranked ninth in all of North America. Riddles, a member of esports organization Team Liquid, has placed in the top 10 in nearly every tournament he has entered, with his most recent first-place win coming at Path to Glory in November 2022 in Saskatchewan, where he took home approximately $11. 000 ($15,270) next to the top spot. Simply, Super Smash Bros. the community sees Riddles as a goat. Knowing that he was entering Genesis 9, a California tournament packed to the brim with top talent such as Steve the acola player and Marth the main MKLeo, his ardent fans and interested spectators were anticipating his performance. He did, but not to the level that he or the gaming community might have hoped for.
Riddles found himself in the losers bracket after losing a close set against Palutena Chase. Riddles would go on to win the next two matches in this group, but ended up facing French major Lucin Nassi “Leon” Laib. The match started out heavily in Riddles’ favor. However, Leon had Riddles number on speed dial as Leon switched to Chrom giving Riddles a little breathing room.
It all came to a head when, in the final match, Leon absolutely nailed Riddles. Riddles lost that match. After sitting in the chair for a while, frustration clearly visible on his face and his opponent no longer on the screen, Riddles threw the controller hard before leaving the arena.
People were confused by the upset because Riddles was the top seed, meaning he was expected to place pretty high. However, Leon is ranked 77th. The odds were always in Riddles favor, as was evident on the faces of the people around the two players. Aside from congratulating Leon on his win, most people were stunned by what happened. A few were photographed with Riddles sulking in a chair, but most others in the immediate vicinity were shaken.
It is this brief moment that ignited Super Smash Bros. community to discuss rebounding in a professional setting.
“You throw away the driver,” one tweeter he said to Puzzles in all caps. “Do you know how much you make people suffer? You lost [and] was played by a neutral character. Just cheese people to 0 like that [fuck] off.”
“It’s called holding people accountable,” another tweeter he said. “Something this community actually needs more of.”
“It doesn’t matter if he’s humble, he still had a moment,” a third tweeter he said. “If you give him permission now, nine times out of ten, it will happen again.” Just stop fam lmao. Everyone has moments like that, we understand that, but to shrug it off like that shows why top player privileges are a thing.”
The comments on the above YouTube video aren’t much better, with some agreeing that Riddles “has no right to be salty or furious” and that he’s a “little kid” who needs to be “educated.” Others laughed at the incident, while a few people remembered his name and called him “Shittles” instead. One person even said that Riddles has “crazy ego issues” when he reacts like this. Sheesh.
This is because Riddles is feeding Kazuya Mishi, one of the Tekken‘s protagonists, the 81st combat unit Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s Fighters Pass Vol. 2 and a notorious figure in the game scene. Kazuya is a combo-heavy fighter in the The ultimate, he primarily relied on his Wind God Electric Fist to stun his opponents and rack up some heavy damage. Kazuya, and this stunning move in particular, was a thorn in the side of the community The ultimate players regularly ask for Kazuya (just like Steve z Minecraft) to get banned from tournaments. In short, Riddles gets a lot of hate for the character he plays, and his loss to Leon and the resulting on-camera explosion was an excuse to pile on—to the point that Riddles ended up deactivating his Twitter account.
my city asked Riddles for comment.
On Twitter DM s my cityLeon said he was scared and motivated Riddles, ready to face him in the Genesis 9 competition. However, Leon did not expect to defeat Riddles and said he was “very surprised and shocked” when he did so with his supporting character, Chrome. He also wasn’t entirely surprised by Riddles reaction to the upset after the event, although he didn’t entirely agree with his opponent’s behavior.
“[Riddles’ reaction was] completely [unwarranted] in any major competition. It’s easy to see,” Leon said. “Throwing your own controller.” [release] frustration is not the best move, but it only concerns him and him alone. As long as he respects his opponents (which was the case with me), nothing is too heinous [about what he did]. I would also be sad and frustrated if I got out of the tournament so early.”
Not everyone pulls Riddles for the way they appeared in Genesis 9. A few top players, from Yonni’s former competitor on famous player Justin Wong on Aaron Wilhite of Moist Esports, defended Riddles’ actions. It’s a little ironic when you think about it, because a few days before the start of Genesis 9 Ital Break a player was banned from future tournaments after literally slapping his opponent during a live stream. Riddles, on the other hand, took out his frustration on an inanimate object and announced that he would be taking a long hiatus from his Discord. I’m not entirely sure what the community wants from Riddles or top players in general, but asking them to be robots and show no emotion just isn’t. I still occasionally throw controllers because video games make me angry. It’s human nature, isn’t it? At least Riddles didn’t take it out on his competitor.
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