Ladies and Gentlemen,

please allow me to bump this thread. It is with good reason, as I will announce the winner for this very first Wii online cup!

Let me recall you what was going on -- there is this game, Mario Strikers Charged Football, that came out in Europe (and other parts of the world) on May 25th.

It contains an online multiplayer mode which allows you to play indoor-soccer with other people around the world, and it rocks. We (the people who bought it day one) acknowledged its awesomeness and swiftly started a World Cup.

There were two groups, each one with a bunch of people in it, and in the end only the first two for each group ascended to the final phase.

Then these four awesome players played the semi-finals, and a pair of champions emerged, Capndrake and Haunted One. They both came from Group A.

Yesterday, the final match of this world cup was played. and the winner is...

Haunted One!

Three big cheers for him.. And a custom tag! Yes, you heard it right -- the winner gets to proudly wear a custom tag.. The mods kindly agreed on that (thanks D.!)

Here's the score card:

Capndrake 1 (with six goals) - Haunted 4 (with fourteen goals)

Normally players needed to win two out of three matches, but since there's been some connection problems (first time that's been occurring during this world cup) the players decided to play again after the first serie. They dealt with the problem without asking for a third-party ruling, which is a sign of fair play and friendliness among GAFfers; admirable!

Now let's collect the players' impressions and thoughts!

The first thing I want to know from our champs is the usual display of tactics and formation, for the record but also for our wannabe-champs who need to learn.

Haunted One said:

My captain was Daisy, with Birdo x2 as midfielders and Dry Bones in defence. The good thing with Strikers is that every character is able to score a goal if you handly him correctly, so you can be very diverse in your offence. Shooting with Birdo, Warping with Daisy, shooting and driving the ball forward with Dry Bones - the trick is in finding out which strategies work and which don't. I wanted to play aggressively, because I allowed Drake to score much too easily in our first match in the preliminary rounds, so I didn't want a repeat of that.

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and

Capndrake said:

Waluigi, Boo, Monty Mole, Hammer Bro, same strategies as last time.

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Either Dutch people are very terse or, probably, Capndrake isn't very talkative.. But that's understandable, n'est pas?

Another thing I would like to know, but this is only out of curiosity, is how you both approached the match. It was just a game on the internet, right, but it was also a decisive match for the world cup. Did you experience a bit of the tension athletes are subject to?

Haunted One said:

I was pretty calm before the match. Of course, if you're advancing into the final, you think 'why not win this thing?', but I wasn't that confident, as Drake beat me the week before. I just wanted to give it my best.

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Capndrake:

Capndrake said:

I was confident to win since I beat Haunted in my very first match. Guess that didn't hold up.

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Yeah seems so.. But this is only the first cup! and beside, you got to the finals. You should be proud of that.

Haunted, let me ask you, how does it feel to be the first NeoGAF "online champ" on a Nintendo console? I mean, they really took forever to add online to their main consoles, the wait seemed unbearable!

Haunted One said:

it feels great, naturally. One thing that was funny to me was the fact that many of the US guys here on GAF claim 'there's no online on the Wii, where are the online games?' while, simultaneously, we are organising and playing this whole Tournament with lots of players from several different countries (Netherlands, Italy, UK, Germany etc.).. and it's all online and on the Wii.

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And what about the tag.. Which one will it be?

Haunted One said:

Just look under my username in a couple days for the answer to that one.

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Ahh ok.. Let's hope the mods don't play any trick, though. :lol

Let's get back to the match: what was the best skill, or perhaps tactic, of your opponent?

Haunted One said:

Definitely his Waluigi play. He was everywhere, defence, offence. Very dangerous to score a goal and foiling my shots wherever he could. Drake is probably the player who uses his Captain the most of all the players I've encountered so far.

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Capndrake said:

Birdo potshots.

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..Birdo potshots. Notice taken. Would you change something if you could replay the match?

Capndrake said:

Nothing would change about my formation, but I would try to take more potshots at the goal with Monty Mole (I never did, and he's a power player after all).

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I've heard that the connection wasn't that good in the first round of games for this final match. What about it?

Haunted One said:

ah, yes... Well, the first game we played had a 3-star connection (out of 4 possible). For me, it was slightly laggy, but I didn't have too much trouble coping with it. Drake however, said that it lagged greatly during the first game and at a crucial moment (a mega-strike) in the second game. We both didn't want to let the Cup end on such a bad note, so we agreed to play another series. This time, the experience was lag-free for him (but slightly worse than before for me, and this time around, it messed up a mega-strike for me that decided one of the games in the series >_<), but still, I won the second series, and in the end, I'm happy that we could cope with these technical issues to arrive at a fair conclusion.

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Capndrake said:

A bit of lag hit me just when I was blocking a MegaStrike shot, causing me to miss it and lose the match. But we did a rematch and Haunted still won, so yeah.

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Good show of fair play, guys!

Now I would like to hear from you what were your feelings throughout the cup. Evening after evening, during your normal life, you were looking at the stats, trying to improve your skills, seeking advice against those playing your next opponent.. Do tell us!

Haunted One said:

Well, the first thing was that I wanted to have fun, and I wanted everyone else to have fun, and I think the Cup definitely accomplished that mission right from the start up until the end.
Considering my winning chances... At first I thought that I'd at least try to get into the semi-finals. I knew there were some really strong players on GAF, so I didn't really think of winning the Cup. Especially right before my match vs tanasten, I basically thought 'Now it's all over - just try to go down with a fight' . I never expected to win that game 2-0, so that just was a great feeling. After that, I generally thought: 'If you advance into the final, why not win this thing?' But honestly, I never really expected to win the Cup during any stage.

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Fair enough.. And you, Capndrake? You started very well!

Capndrake said:

Was pretty confident I could win it until Haunted suddenly got better than before and beat me.

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This man is made of steel AND very few words.

Are you people going to play in a subsequent cup? People asked many times to schedule another one as soon as possible.. Will you be in it?

Haunted One said:

Absolutely. I mean, as the titleholder, I'm just obligated to do that. But even if I'd have lost in the first round, I'd be there day 1 for the next Cup. It was just too much fun to pass on that.

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Very well.. Yes, it wouldn't be the same without the winning champ to confront with!

Capndrake said:

Yes.

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Good! Because I've a feeling you want to be in the final once again.. And win it this time! Am I right?

Last questions.. For the people who do not own the game or the console yet. What do you think about the game?

Haunted One said:

It's a fantastic game. Fast, hectic, intense, but always reliant on the skill level, imagination and strategy of the players. The game is insanely balanced as well. Pretty much every combination of team-mates and captain can win the game, and there are so many ways to play strategically. I really have to say that this is one of the best Wii games I've played, and the best arcade sports game there is on any console. (Sorry Sega Soccer Slam )

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About balance.. So true! Every day I log into the WFC and play at least a match.. I've encountered many formations, and they all make sense, they all are stingy and dangerous. I think this is one of those games you could play forever (not by itself alone, of course, you know what I mean).

Capndrake said:

Best Wii game out right now.

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Indeed! At least if you like games where you can't blink, that is. But it's an excellent arcade-meets-mario sport game, imho.

And what about the Nintendo WFC? It was the first time you used it on a console (DS is an handheld). Do you wish it was PSN / XBox Live? Why?

Haunted One said:

Apart from laggy games (maybe 10-15 out of the 300 I played) and frequent server issues in the first two weeks after release, I think the service is pretty solid. They've consolidated the servers after about two weeks, so I haven't experienced many disconnects or other major technical difficulties recently. Of course, regarding the overall Nintendo WFC strategy, there's still lots of possible improvements, especially in regard to what the competition has already built (stuff like a friends list for all the games, or a demo channel (that would be so awesome)), so we should keep bitching about the stuff that could be better.
But to come back to Mario Strikers... what's definitely missing is the ability to somehow communicate in-game (via voice or text messaging), which would make some things in the lobby so much easier. I always have to log on to GAF and post here to talk about the games I've played with other GAFfers.

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Capndrake said:

It's fine as it is right now, the only thing I would like is the ability to chat between games in every game (Only possible in a few games right now).

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Very well, I think this concludes this first online world cup for Mario Strikers Charged Football. Congratulations and honor to both players, but to Haunted One above all & anyone, for winning and being always there to play, chat, advise, respond.

Congratulations to the other finalists: Tanasten, Capndrake, MasterMFauli (in no particular order)! You're all great players and you could all win this cup!

I myself am glad we did this, as there's been a great amount of enthusiasm and no bannings whatsoever (although the play was very hard at times! But only in the field).. What a great way to start the WFC for Nintendo fans in Europe! Can't wait to start again!

I would like all the people with the game to post here and sign up for the next cup. If this one is an indication, you will have lots of fun!

Heh, congrats Haunted. You did great after all

maxmars said:

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:lol That was an awesome ''interview'', very nice. Congratulations to Haunted.

Thanks, guys. It was a pleasure to play with/against all of you.

An awesome write-up yet again, max. Big Big thanks for organising this Cup so well, investing all that time - and I'll definitely play in the next one as well.


And to anyone who is still on the fence whether to buy this game or not - do it! It's such a good game and really a great arcade title You don't need to like Football (although
it helps :lol ) to enjoy it. I hope to see everyone who participated in this one in the next Cup, as well as some new owners anmd players - the more the merrier.

I really enjoyed the cup personally - even though I came in last :lol

I'm itching to play another cup, come on and sign up people!

Sign up here or on the Matchups board?

Ninja: Oh - and I love the custom tag you got

Haunted One
Champion of the people

nice tag. Congratulation to your win.

Congrats to all participants and Haunted for winning the cup and sign me up for the next cup. Someone has to rival nli10 for that last place :lol .

Congrats Haunted! I can't wait until this baby gets released here in the states. Hopefully I can participate in the next tourney.

Sadly, there will never be a true world cup. According to the instruction manual, you can only play with other PAL versions if you have a PAL version.

legend166 said:

Sadly, there will never be a true world cup. According to the instruction manual, you can only play with other PAL versions if you have a PAL version.

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Supposedly you can play with FCs, just the ranked matches are restricted to your area.

But as I said before, why anyone would like to play across the big pond is beyond me. I ping 10-20 on german servers in Q4 and 180-200 on east coast servers in the US.

Those games will be unplayable.