By Katey Khaos

Name: Kevin Morrissey (KevinM).
Age: 22.
Game: Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Current Main: Fox.

Meet Kevin Morrissey ~ he’s a competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee player.

How does someone get involved in playing a video game for more than fun? “There was a tournament at a local game store in 2007 that I thought I could win easily. After getting beat by a couple of players that were doing things I had never seen before, they told me that SSBM has an entire competitive scene and I could learn more about it at www.smashboards.com. I visited the site and was hooked from there,” Morrissey explained.

The competitive Smash scene is pretty intense, especially the tournaments. Average tournaments last from 1-10 p.m., with international tournaments running Friday through Sunday.

“Tournaments are so incredible! Anyone interested in Smash in the slightest should come out to one! There have been tables fallen through as people try and stand on them to watch crazy-large matches, arm-wrestling matches between some of the stronger players that have been watched by hundreds of spectators and hotels having literally 600 to 800 Smash players roaming the halls … it’s really an intoxicating event,” Morrissey said.

His most memorable moment? “Japanese player, Daiyoshi, actually mentioned that I was the tallest player he had ever seen through his translator before using what little English he knew to call me Godzilla!”

Morrissey has participated in dozens of tournaments on the East Coast, including the Revival of Melee series, which is an annual tournament in New York, and the Apex series, which is the equivalent of the Word Championships for SSBM. What’s more, he placed 13th at Revival of Melee 4 in 2011 and 17th at Revival of Melee 3 in 2010.

“Any time you make it into the Top 32 bracket of international tournaments, it’s a great achievement, considering the depth and talent of the field you’re competing against.”

Where does Morrissey rank in the big picture? “We don’t have any official rankings, but if I were to speculate on where I was in general, it would be something along the lines of Top 3 in New England, Top 10 in the Northeast, and then the best in the entire world,” he joked.

This summer, Morrissey will participate in Evolution 2013, hosted in Las Vegas, which is considered the biggest fighting game championship of the year, pulling in more than 100,000 spectators.

Check out some of Morrissey’s game play at the Apex series at  www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr31Vn02ZDI and be sure to follow him on Twitter @KevinMDaBess.

Photo by Katey Khaos.