Road to Juu Go Kakuto Geemu - Part 1
Blog post about Juu Go Kakuto Geemu
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Oct. 16, 2023
Part 1 - History of Kakuto Geemu
Hello folks, TheKiest here with the first of many short articles about my upcoming event.
Ichi Kakuto Geemu and other Beginnings.
The first Kakuto Geemu took place on 7/10/2010. I was a Smash Brothers Brawl TO trying to break into the FGC.
Since I couldn't fit everything, I had the idea of rotating games based on the entrant counts. The game with the lowest count would get switched out. While the highest entry game becoming the "main event", gaining a higher prize pool and side event. Little did I know that Smash Bros Brawl would always stay this way. I named it Kakuto Geemu in order to do "broken Japanese" similar to how "broken English" is frequently used in Video Games in the 90s. ("Go to Die" is my personal favorite). This horrible translates to "Fighting Game" so "Ichi Kakuto Geemu" is "1 Fighting Game". We're now at number 15. I love this name, though I might be the only one who does... :D
The event took place at Shelby Park House.
We only had around 30 people, but this was a large win for me. Folks back then rarely went to events with both FGC and Smash. We started getting more traction when actual FGC folks came to Ni Kakuto Geemu. This increased the total unique count to around 40. It was also when I started my "mystery events".
Mystery events for me were all about non-video games that people's bored girlfriends could play. The first one was Thumb War. Others would include Hungry Hungry Hippos, Mario Party Shake it, and Bob it.
Kakuto Geemu Themes
At first, Kakuto Geemu didn't have themes. It was a simple tournament that tried to combine Smash and FGs. It was one of the first smaller events in Ohio to do so. It stayed this way for a very long time. However at the end of Juu Kakuto Geemu, we were talking about the idea of a "Civil War" type theme that was popular at tournaments. We came up with "Red Vs Blue" theme but called it "Carmine Vs Ultramarine" as a joke.
Juu Ni Kakuto Geemu was about "reconstruction" after COVID's lock down period.
Juu San Kakuto Geemu was a Christmas Themed event with a gift exchange.
Juu Yon Kakuto Geemu we made into an anime themed one since Juushichi lead that one.
Now we're at Juu Go Kakuto Geemu.
I had always wanted to do a Halloween event. While November 4th isn't even in October, we always had multiple weekends of celebrating it within my friend group. So I suppose it's on the selfish side this time. It'll be fun to see people's costumes.
I also wanted to do a "Dead Game" event where we ran games people don't really play. On the other hand, I hate it when people call games "dead" which people clearly still played, so some titles are more of a "petty revenge thing". I'll be discussing the games themselves in future posts. I love fighting games way too much and I honestly want to run them all one day... though that's practically impossible with how many more keep being made each year.
Stay tuned for future Kakuto Themes.
Overall, my recent Kakuto Geemus have been a "festival" to me. When you go to a festival, the lead festival runner doesn't care about what each stall is doing (as long as it follows the rules). Each TO runs their game in a similar way with very little if any input from me . In most cases, I won't even run the game unless I have a TO to run it. The TOs are welcomed to just run their game and go home, or to stay and help out. Either way, I'm always grateful. This "festival" style vs the typical "esports" style is one of the core things that keeps Kakuto a great grassroots event. And I intend to keep it that way.
The Core Staff
The first 8 Kakuto Geemus was mostly my event with some side help. But as number 9 and so on start, I started a formal team. I'd like to wrap up this article by talking about those members briefly. I have trained all of them and they have done very fantastic things as TOs. I'm grateful they still come to help me with Kakutos.
Solecalibur
Solecalibur (or Manakete Gaming to many of the Smashers) has been my right hand at Kakuto. He's also been my TO partner since the 2010s. Whenever anyone hears of a "Keist event", he's typically has known about it several months beforehand. While he doesn't run events or streams as much, I still value his advice and company.
SuperNac
SuperNac has been my left hand and essentially my "chief of operations" at Kakuto. Anytime I over think anything, he's usually the one to keep me in check. While I didn't teach him TOing directly, he learned from my example and still discusses things with me to this day. He currently is one of the main leaders of The Big House Smash Major in Michigan.
Juushichi
This man doesn't really need an introduction. I'd call him an "Anime FGC Superstar" at this point. I taught him how to TO way back around 2014 so he could help run Project Melee events. I guess to go with the body part metaphor, he'd be my Right Foot. He's been my main pulse for the FGC as a whole. Especially on the anime FG side of stuff. I'm very proud of him.
Gibson
Formally known as "Jon Dog" or "TO Joe", he was in my first formal TO trainings. While the other students were quite good, I felt Gibson was a league above them. He seemed to have a spark. He usually serves as helping with the actual layout of Kakutos and maintenance during events. I always enjoy working with him at Kakuto's as the Left Foot.
Zion
Zion many of you know about. He was the lead TO in Smash LAN and Tension Shift for a very long time. Lots of his training was done via Trial by Fire combined with my direction. He also won "Best TO in Ohio" in 2023's Ohio Smash Awards, despite being more of an FGC player. He usually serves as my support during the year. We ran out of body parts, so we'll go with the Left Shoulder.
Maxim Ace
Maxim Ace is my current prodigy. She has helped in several events before even coming to me for learning. She knows what needs done and will do so. She is also the lead artist for Kakuto Events. While she has supported all of the Kakutos, this will be the first one she can attend to in person. She's my Right Shoulder.