This was the big one. This was the day where everything was on the table. All the showmatches, all the thousands of dollars bet beforehand was just a warmup to the main event.

You wouldn’t have guessed, watching the cheers, gasps and regular group hugs on the stage (to the annoyance of organisers and any health and safety officers in the crowd) that the final prizes were so small compared to what changed hands earlier in the weekend. Still, it didn’t dull the intensity of the matches or the passion of the spectators one iota. It was almost a kind of pure enjoyment, playing solely for the glory, something evident on the faces of particularly the Melbourne supporters.

The seeding points for EVO later this year wasn’t really a factor; most top players I spoke to weren’t planning on going. Many couldn’t fully practice for OHN 11, due to university or other work, although that didn’t stop them from enjoying the atmosphere.

Naturally, not every game received the same welcome. Marvel and Street Fighter were scheduled towards the end and they received the most ecstatic praise. The former was especially helped after Antman advanced from the lower bracket and forced Arnold Desu, the eventual Marvel champion, into a final best-of-five.

Not all matches were broadcast either, although this was by design rather than necessity. The Street Fighter 3rd Strike finals were played off-stream, and due to the schedule the games had already been resolved before organisers realised how far ahead of time things were.

To make up for the hour they’d gained — one of the hallmarks of excellent administration, a constant theme for the event — an on-the-spot Street Fighter team battle was arranged. That opened the door for fan favourites like ToXY to showcase even more of their skills, and the crowd’s roar of appreciation was a fitting reward for the admins’ ad-hoc decision.

Street Fighter produced the tightest rounds; I never expected someone playing Juri to win the whole thing. And the comebacks after the champion, gb from Victoria, popped the Korean Tae Kwan Do master’s ultimate were remarkable.

Despite getting a scare in the first best-of-five, Arnold Desu was able to wrap things up relatively comfortably. The game was peppered with instances of him eventually breaking through runner-up Antman’s guard. Both players executed their moves well, but Arnold maintained his lead through some incredible blocking; re-watch the VODs if you can. The guy is a robot, honestly.

Marvel continues to astonish me. It’s difficult enough as a spectator co-ordinating your brain with the action on the screen, let alone the sheer speed of the players. Ultras and specials being executed within split-seconds of each other never gets boring, simply because so few people can bring everything together so reliably under the pressure.

After all these years, I feel disappointed that I didn’t make the effort to attend fighting game tournaments earlier. Not only do they remind me of why I got into competitive gaming in the first place, but they’re also a hallmark in terms of showcasing a strong and passionate community fortunate enough to have organisers talented enough to keep the show running.

Sure, consoles are a lot easier to deal with than computers and the offline capability of the games removes a lot of problems from the equation. But that didn’t stop the stream from being absolute quality, and it certainly didn’t stop the admins from coping with over 210 players on the day (231 signed up beforehand).

Congratulations, OzHadou. Not only did you successfully run what was the smoothest tournament I’ve seen in many years — and that includes major events over the last 12 months — but you also made a new fan.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all again in May. And if you, dear reader, have the opportunity to come down to Melbourne for the next FGC event, come. It’s worth it.

As expected, the intensity ramped up significantly at the second day of proceedings at the 11th OzHadou Nationals. The fact that it’s a Road to EVO qualifier, where the top 2 of most games receive seeding points towards the Evolution championships in Las Vegas later this year, helps somewhat.

Mind you, a few thousand dollars changing hands doesn’t hurt either — and more is expected to come out tonight.

Money matches are kind of a tradition among the fighting game community, a way to spice up the action. Outside of the group stages, the first and second days are peppered with games that can become rather heated — although it’s the evening skirmishes that attract the most cash.

A large part of the appeal is the occasionally bristling, but usually friendly, rivalries between the states. Melbournians tend to play it up more than others, although a healthy dose of Marvel vs Capcom will always get Queenslanders riled up.

As someone who has spent the better part of a decade floating between various competitive scenes, it’s fascinating seeing the pressure applied to players by their peers, who desperately don’t want to let the state down. But the main attraction was the group stages, the first step on the path towards the top 16 and potential glory (which in turn allows the winner to talk copious amounts of smack, a commodity almost as lucrative as the prizes themselves).

And people take this seriously. In between the laughing, joking and the banter, the level of focus and concentration is at its peak. Moves need to be executed to the split-second, counters worked out to the exact frame.

Each fighting game has its own approach and calculations, and part of OzHadou’s appeal is moving from one match to another and just seeing the differences. From that, players can work out which games suit them best; I spoke to many who said they tried Street Fighter, or tried Tekken or King of Fighters but admitted that they “just weren’t very good”. In essence, fighting games are no different from your high level RTS, action RTS (or MOBA if you prefer Riot’s terminology) or a team-based FPS in regards to the level of dedication required.

But fighting games have that extra element, that additional layer of adrenaline others lack. Perhaps it’s natural considering how close many matches are; how often games come down to the wire and just how quickly things can turn in an instant.

One mistake can always, for instance, cost you a game of StarCraft. The time it takes to resolve, compared to an ultra move in Street Fighter, is typically much longer.

And maybe that’s why there’s so much more hype, so much more banter and so much more — and I agree that this is an unfair premise — passion on show.

Within the space of a few hours players were jumping (against the wishes of a distressed admin team, who were doing their best to honour OH&S laws) up to the stage to hug their recently-victorious friend. These aren’t even the finals. Like everything else on show though, the trials, tribulations, anger, relief, happiness and adulation are all spent within an instant.

You can see it on the crowd, the intense way they follow every move, become exasperated at every mistake and audibly gasp in unison at every piece of genius.

There is nothing else like it in eSports. The closest I can remember was Counter-Strike and even that was a slow burn; the players themselves were emotional and not shy about expressing themselves, but it was a different experience for the crowd.

You could see it in their eyes towards the end, when Frenetic Array’s Stef eked out the narrowest of wins against NefeliousG in the Pool G semi-finals; both had an opportunity to win, but a failure in execution saw them both throw their chances away. At the time of writing, the pair are due to face off in the grand finals for their pool; the winner will progress to the upper bracket of the top 16, while the runner-up will begin in the lower half.

This was just one of many, many nail-biters. And to think the crowd’s just getting started.

If you can’t still can’t visit York on 99 in Sydney (spectating is free!), OzHadou’s two streams on TwitchTV has all the live action and all the VODs from the games played. Go to http://www.twitch.tv/Ozhadou and http://www.twitch.tv/Ozhadou2 for more. The schedule for the whole weekend is also available on the OzHadou website. 

For those who have never attended a national championships for fighting games, let me offer you a primer: casual is not casual in the slightest.

The OzHadou nationals, the 11th iteration of which is being held at 99 on York’s Red Room in Sydney, always earmarks the first day for two things: registration and “casual” play.

But a cursory glance around the room proves that what’s really going on is far from casual. Indeed, only a couple of hours after registration began, the announcer declared that special showmatches would be taking place throughout the rest of the night. That is to say, best-of-five or best-of-ten games interspersed with copious amounts of trash-talking.

And money.

It’s a bizarre experience for me, having grown up in the world of Counter-Strike, which pre-dated a lot of these kinds of competitions when it came to establishing the infrastructure for sending players to national and international qualifiers. Because even though that system was well in place, the people amidst it all were, well … poor.

How times have changed.

Bond University certainly knows the score. According to their latest survey (commissioned by the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association), the average age of gamers is 32. 32-year-olds have a lot more money than, say, 15-year-olds.

That, of course, applies to casual gaming. But just a cursory glance at any eSports event will tell you that people are a lot older these days. And the impact of that cannot be understated.

There’s gamers walking around with cameras worth thousands of dollars. That’s just the lens, mind you. And not to mention the custom-built cabinets supplied by the organisers. The guy chiefly responsible for the stream team: he shipped down 60 kilograms of equipment. There’s a switcher worth a few grand on its own. And the venue itself; there’s something a little surreal walking into what feels like Sydney’s most upper-class RSL, only to discover hundreds of massive fighting game nerds rocking out on the first floor.

It feels amazing; it feels like I’ve come home.

Part of the sentiment in the latter stems from what a fellow games.on.net user described to me as a community that is “rough and unrefined”. A fellow organiser quipped that fighting game tournaments were more like Bay 13 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the kind of sentiment you’d expect a rowdy crowd to bellow out at the referee, than the action witnessed in other communities, which he equated to “golf”.

This is why I kept playing competitively for so long; I’ve missed the banter. The real action, of course, won’t start until Sunday.

Friday is the “casual” day, although from what I could see it was anything but casual. Most players were completely engrossed in their “practice” matches, some of which were incredibly tight.

That would ramp up later once the exhibition games — essentially grudge matches — kicked off. Some received a louder reception than most, but there was an underlying rivalry to all of them.

I heard a story a few years back about how a gamer rocked up to a nationals in a cast and decided it gave him protection from any repercussions for his smack-talk — something he promptly rethought once he was getting the crap kicked out of him. Physically.

Clearly, the fighting game community are a lively bunch. For those concerned, they’re very warm to newcomers, at least in my limited experience. Unless you’re going to start bantering with the professionals. That’s best left to the veterans — something I’ll no doubt see a lot more of on Day Two.

If you can’t make it to York on 99 in Sydney, never fear – you can follow all the action on TwitchTV via OzHadou’s two streams: http://www.twitch.tv/Ozhadou and http://www.twitch.tv/Ozhadou2. The schedule for the whole weekend is also available on the OzHadou website.

Throughout the course of the year, Australia has a lot of wide and varied tournaments serving gamers’ competitive needs. But none are as competitive or as fierce as those held by the fighting game community, which enjoyed a stellar 2012 by having some of the biggest and most unique events seen in the country.

The first nationals for the year, OZHadou 11, looks set to continue that tradition, having been selected as an official qualifier for the Evolution global fighting game championships at the Paris Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, in July.

I spoke to some of Australia’s most talented fighters ahead of the event and asked them what their expectations were, who to keep an eye on as potential darkhorses, what Australia’s chances at the world finals in Las Vegas were — and just exactly why they love fighting games so much.

Jake Blomberg

3rd for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 at OHN 2012 and one of Queensland’s best UMvC3 players:

I expect OHN 11 to be a fun, exciting, and entertaining time. As with the previous years they always deliver a high quality tournament. Ziggy, Yang and Yousseff make this easily the best major for Australian Fighting Tournaments except for Shadowloo Showdown of course.

The Road to Evo qualifier hasn’t changed my preparations toward the tournament. I take every tournament seriously and with a high level of preparation. Even though the EVO points are a nice incentive there are many other reasons for going to this event. The biggest reason I think for people in Australia to go to OHN is more about pride. And to prove who are the best at their respective game and who is the best state.

Without giving too much away from our scene, there are 3 Queensland players that I will not be looking forward to meeting: 2 players from Victoria and 1 from NSW.

Thomas “Nefelious G” Body is the most decorated player for Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. He didn’t lose a single tournament to anyone in Australia in Marvel vs Capcom 3, he only lost to [foreigners] at Shadowloo Showdown (Tokido and Mago) and at EVO (Clockwork and ChrisG). He is always a threat in this game and will be a really good match if I come up against him in [the] tournament.

Tyrone “OmegaRed” O’Toole aka is the Wolverine master only to PR Rog in the [United States]. His rushdown is relentless and unforgiving. He was the highest placing QLD’er at [Shadowloo] with international guests coming 7th in the tournament. I only hope that someone else takes him out and not me. Tyrone is currently my pick [for] OHN11.

Stefan “Solid Stef” Materazzo. What can I say about the kid. He is a beast to say the least. I’m going to nickname him the Interstate Killer. As he has won all of the recent majors at interstate tournaments. He will be a hard challenger and will expect new stuff from him as well with his strange team and ridiculous setups.

Michael “ToXY” Guida is what I believe to be the most versatile gamer at the highest levels. Any game that he touches he always excels at it. Recently he clean-sweeped all three fighting games in NZ for UMVC3, SF4AE and SFXT. He is always someone you need to keep an eye on and be wary of and will expect to see his name be in the top 8.

Arnold Samau (from NSW): He is a beast, the fact that he won [UMvC3 at OHN 11] last year is reason enough to look out for him. But this year lets see if he can still hold the crown. The underrated players that I think will perform better than expected will be Peter Pham “Fish” and Tri from QLD.

Australia is viewed by foreign countries as a good country, but not the best. If we were ranked by the other countries in the world I think a good estimate is probably around 5th-10th at fighting games. This is mainly because they don’t get enough exposure to our gameplay at fighting games in general. And its because that the other countries simply have a higher population than Australia in a more condensed area. So naturally they have more players than Australia.

I think if our top 10 Australian players were to enter EVO… I think there is a good chance that a fair few could make it through to the top 32. And that’s really good considering that at EVO there are usually over 2000 competitors for the one game.

Derrick Wong

One of WA’s best SF4: Arcade Edition fighters, 4th place finisher for KOF13 at 2012′s OHN

Every OHN provides a great opportunity to meet new players as well as catch up with friends from other states and I expect it to be no different this year. It’s going to be exciting to see how Melbourne’s Marvel players fare against QLD and Syd. These states have been proven powerhouses but Perth is bringing their best Marvel players this year. I am hoping we can cause an upset. In terms of KoF13, it has always been Colin (Colonov) versus the rest of Aus. A couple of us have been secretly training hard for this event. Expect some upsets!

As for [SF4:AE], ever since Johnny (HumanBomb) returned to HK, the throne has always been up for grabs. I expect players like ShangTsuang, ToXY, Robsux, AfterDeath to do well as they consistently have.

Other countries tend to view us as a “Free” country not due to our skill level (which we have improved heaps over the past few years) but based on international performances. They would need to play more international players as well as watch and study heaps of videos. Our community is a lot smaller than many other countries, and this puts us at a disadvantage.

With the discovery of unblockables in SSF4AE, the metagame has evolved into a game of counter-picking. Outside of Japan, it’s very hard to main one character and expect to win every tourney. KOF13 is slowly growing in Australia, I hope OHN 11 will encourage others and many original/old school KOF players to pick this game up.

(I love fighting games because of) the mind games, combos, and because of how it’s never the same each round/game. It’s a skillful game of intellect, dexterity/execution and reaction. Each character has a fixed set of moves, and if you delve down deeper, you will find information like frame data, hurtbox, hitbox, etc. Studying this will give you an edge, and pits you against your opponent in a high level of rock, paper, scissors. Magic pixels in the game during tournament makes some rounds super hype. Being able to show off your combos or outwit your opponent gives great satisfaction.

Colin “Colonov” Tan

Winner of the KOF13 tournaments at ButtonSmash 2012 and Battle Arena Melbourne in October

I’m expecting [OHN 11] to be a jam packed event. We’ve seen the fighting game community grow from year to year, and this year will be no exception. OHN never fails to deliver interstate rivalry at its finest, and with the way things have been going so far, this year will certainly not disappoint.

I’d like to see more cohesion and readiness to setup meets for more sessions. Given that arcades are a dying industry, most of the gameplay casual gamers get against others is online. Of course this is less than optimal with lag issues, which is why it’s so important to be able to play others in person.

On a larger scale, I’d like to see more major tournaments and more sponsors backing these tournaments. Even having on average a major every 2 months in Australia would ideally not only boost interest, but would give players something to work towards in the short term.

As [KoF13] is arguably the most balanced fighting game out there being played right now, character knowledge plays a big part in success as a player since every character in the game is viable. Internationally though, it’s mainly the Japanese, Koreans and Central Americans are the ones innovating new approaches to the game and its engine, which is a very refreshing take [on] the game indeed.

It’s not just the competition and hype that comes from it, but it’s also the people you meet and the relationships you forge with fellow players, even if they live halfway across the globe. Together we form communities, communities that support and encourage growth of not just how a game is played, but also our personal lives as well.

You can find out more information about OZHadou and OHN 11 through their website.