CAPTAIN FALCON
C'MON!Yo... it's
THE CAPTAIN speaking.
There's only three things I've ever treasured in this word: my abs,
THE BLUE FALCON, and the open road. Well tonight, we can add one more thing to that list-
VICTORY! It's been a long game, and a tough one too. At a few points I thought I'd never make it to see those
CHECKERED FLAGS, and now here they are, just outta reach. I've played hard, I've thrown myself into this headfirst, and I think I deserve to win.
OH YEAH! Help me get across the line!
My plan coming into this was to throw caution to the wind, and just have a blast being myself-
CAPTAIN FALCON, bounty hunter, sexy, brilliant, fastest man in the universe! After a few
BUMPS in the road and a bit of a wake-up call, I hit my stride, and my eyes became fixed to that finish line. I know as the game goes on, things intensify, and it’s hard not to get poked by the pointy end- but, I hope you all still managed to have fun with
THE CAPTAIN. That's why I signed up end of the day- to have some fun, and I enjoyed goofin' off with every one of ya.
Now, on to the meat and potatoes. I'm gonna give you a run down of my approach to the format and my journey here, cos it's quite the tale! Feel free to ask for more detail if ya require, I'm ready to be questioned and challenged on anything I say. If my yammerin’ makes your eyes bleed, skip ahead to
F-ZERO X for my closing thoughts. Otherwise, fasten your seatbelts, and find something to hold on to. Cos it's time for me to
SHOW YA ME MOVES!APPROACHING THE RINGIf me or anyone else got up here and claimed to have some grand master plan, they’d be lyin’ to ya. Fundamentally, I think
ARENA ain’t so much about plannin’ as much as it is adapting to what’s in front of you round by round, and that’s what I did. Pre-merge, that was all about building up connections and friendships wherever I could. Whether on my team, up on the stands, with the players in
THE RING- I’d always hit someone up when the landed there, partially just cos it was fun talkin’ to all the colourful characters and hearing their stories, but also cos you never know who you could end up working with later on down the
TRACK.
Then post-merge, having those connections gives you some flexibility and keeps you outta the crosshairs. Because every duel is a fork in the road- you’ve got two alternating paths in front of ya, and you have to be prepared for both outcomes. I got pretty lucky in the sense that most of the people I voted for post-merge ended up going home, so I retained a lot of power that could have easily been lost with a different duel result. But- I was always trying to get something in the works for either scenario, so I could keep avoiding
THE RING for as long as I possible- who knows how things would have panned out otherwise, but best believe I’d be doing anything I could to keep my head out from under the guillotine.
That’s another thing about ol’ Cap- for some,
THE RING is an inconvenience. For me, it’s more than likely a fatal blow. I ranked the stages at the beginning of the game, and Smashville was in my top 5. A challenge that’s essentially guesswork being one of my top 5, goes to show ya my confidence with these stages. So for me, keeping my sweet ass out of
THE RING was an important part of the game. If I wanted to make the end, it had to be. So I hope you can appreciate that- I had to use my mouth more than my muscles to get here, and ultimately, it kept me safe at every vote bar one.
Now, for the journey. Let's begin at the arrival of
THE CAPTAIN- in
THE BLUE FALCON! OPENING & BLUE HELLRight from day dot, I was coming here to do one thing. And that was to be
THE CAPTAIN! Speeding through every red light at 457 km/hour in
THE BLUE FALCON! The rest of the game? That’d sort itself out. Because why would anyone vote out
THE CAPTAIN? Scoundrels I tell ya! So during the free-for-all, I had one mission-
BLUE baby!
C’MON! I’d respond to some fanmail of course, but I wasn’t waiting around once those team picks were up. You all knew where I was going, and you could follow me there, or take a hike! Well… many of you took a hike that day… but-
OH YEAH! I was on
BLUE! All that mattered!
So I arrive and quickly park
THE BLUE FALCON, and I'm followed by two players who I’d had some good chats with, Squirt and Ricky boy. But before the whole team had arrived, I had to hit the
BAR! Or go to bed, one or the other. As the players trickled in, they all fell in love with my witty posts and my rock hard abs. They all swore their loyalties to
THE CAPTAIN, and promised to include me in whatever alliances or deals were formed. To put it simply, I was at the centre of the team. Then I woke up!
WOWZA! What I'd actually woken up to, was 4 pages of team banter n’ bonding, and a whole lotta ground to make up. What gives, this was supposed to be a breeze?!! I don’t know if I just missed the boat on those early chats, if it was a timezone thing, or if it was an issue with
THE CAPTAIN. Maybe a combination of the three- but one thing was certain, I was out of the loop-de-loop.
The next few days of the game, I was drivin' along, all seemed
SMOOTH... but something just didn't sit right. Why am I in no group threads? Why is nobody talkin' more than a vote or two ahead? Why does the best plan seem to be 'hope for a duellist'? Why does the suit feel tighter than usual? Bloody midnight snacks. It was red flags abound- I told myself it could just be early game jitters, but either way my only play was to keep workin' those relationships best I could. Felt I had something good with Squirt and Ricky, felt I was getting there with Falc. Only people I weren't hearing from were Pyra & Myth, and so naturally I aimed my target that way. With Petey immune, and no duellist arriving, we were at 6, and time was now for things to come together. Only, not so much- Falc and Ricky stuck with the twins, Squirt and Petey stuck with me, and it was
ROCKS baby!
BLUE was in shambles, and I had barely survived. In one hit, one of my top buddies had turned on me, and rocked himself out in the process. Talk about a
SPEED BUMP! My paranoia was well-founded- the vibe was especially funky that day, and I even threw up by two biggest cards on
ATTACK and
SHIELD. Now, there’s two ways you could look at this. On the one hand, I had gotten myself to the outside of the team and was almost voted out in round 3, which… ain’t good. But on the other hand, I’d made enough headway after a shaky start, that I turned what could have been an easy trip to
THE RING, into rocks. All about perspective! But either way, this was a turning point for ol' Cap.
NEVER AGAIN. I had been cruisin' and it almost send my ass out the game. From then on, my foot was jammin' that accelerate full throttle. And I never let up.
Right after the vote,
THE CAPTAIN started working to firm up my position. Of course I had Squirt, who'd stood by me from the start and didn't back down, and Petey, who was new to the team but still backed ol' Cap. But it was also a great opportunity to build bridges with the other two (three). Falc and I had always gotten along, but it's here where we finally put everything on the table, agreed to call it water under the bridge, and move forward. Pyra and Myth were in the same situation I was- betrayed and almost killed. We managed to clear the air, put the guns down, and they let me in on a lot of the dynamics I wasn't privy to. It was one of the highlights of
BLUE for me, cos they went from being my direct adversary in the game, to one of the players I trusted the most- just goes to show how quickly things can change, and that's something I always kept in mind moving forward, you never know who you could end up connecting with or working with- so keep every door open.
After that, I went from the outside, to the inside, or perhaps even the middle. We got down to 4, soon to be three, and basically were in a situation where we were looking at 2-2, or someone switching and making it 3-1. While Squirt had just gone to rocks for me, I also wanted to make sure that I was safe, because askin' someone to go to rocks for ya twice is a big ask. Squirt proved himself to me when it counted- but at the same time, there were certain things he hadn't let me in on about
BLUE and where I stood, things that Pyra & Myth had revealed. So I made it clear with Falc and the twins that- while I adore Squirt and wouldn't wanna dump him, if it came down to it, I'd pull the trigger. The perfect scenario though, was Falc volunteering, which he did. I ain't gonna claim a lick of credit for him doing that, but I will only say that as soon as he mentioned it as a possibility, I did what I could to reassure him it was the right idea. Cos I genuinely think it was, for all 4 of us.
I know I spent a lot of time talking about
BLUE, but it was a significant part of my journey. I was proud of myself for overcoming such a rough start, turning the ship around, ending up well positioned on the team and with 3 good relationships moving forward. Surviving
BLUE HELL was not easy, but doing so put a fire in my belly that I'd carry with me the rest of the game.
THE CAPTAIN got a second chance at life- and it would not be wasted.
SWAPPING & STRIKING GOLDDuring the round before the swap, I made sure to bid on
GRAB, since I wanted to use whatever opportunity I had to make some more connections before we all mixed together. Sam and Dededude both gave me a great vibe, but ultimately I ended up with neither of them, and none of the other players they’d mentioned either. But I was more than willing to take it as it came, and so
GOLD looked good to me! Squirt and I remaining together only reaffirmed our close relationship, and I quickly hit it off with Kaz too, who’d later become a key relationship for me. Squirt and I hooked up with Marthy boy pretty quick, for an
OG BLUE reunion, and found ourselves in the middle- Yosh and DK on one side wanting to make an egg salad sandwich, and Wario and Kaz on the other. We both felt more long-term potential from the latter, so swung that way.
Now- one of my big lessons from
BLUE, was to not become the team that shrinks and shrinks until you’re down to 3 by the end of the week. It was important to me that
GOLD became fertile soil for duellists, and locking up a group of 5 and calling it a day was not the way to do that. Wario had done nothing wrong yet, but with the arrival of K Rool, it still felt too early to be certain that those greens wouldn’t team up and send old
BLUE packing. So we covered our bases and sent big fella into
THE RING, since it served both those purposes. From there, things kinda fell into place. Wario ended up returning, I voted for him again when Petey took the hit, but we eventually buried the hatchet. We then had enough votes lined up that we’d all be sure to survive ‘til the end of the week, while also being able to promise safety to anyone in
THE RING. So next we took out Yosh, who returned just as big fella and Petey did. The next vote I did push for Marthy instead of Petey (sorry Marthy boy), just purely because it seemed Marth was strugglin’ to keep up with the game, and I always had a soft spot for Petey since he forced rocks for me. But I was overruled, and
THE CAPTAIN knows when not to push the issue!
Another thing about this time on
GOLD, was talk of the pinks. Seemed like everyone that left pink did so on bad terms, and had all kinda claims about pinkies being one big super alliance we best be on the lookout for. True or not, it helped us goldies put differences aside and get on the same page, since none of us wanted to be on the wrong side of that. While I did have the two
BLUE over on that side I was still open to hookin' up with, I'd also now spent an entire week with building new relationships, and we'd done well to keep ourselves a team of 8. Kaz and I got on like a house on fire, K Rool and I were always singing from the same hymn sheet, Wario and Yosh, well I'd voted them out, but didn't seem like there were hard feelings there. So we agreed to make it work best we could- starting with me suggesting that nobody bid on
GRAB for the merge smash ball clue, so nobody would have to waste cards on it, and it'd just slide over to whoever the last bidder was. Which just so happened to be
THE CAPTAIN! MERGE & DRIVIN' THROUGH ON MAXSo of course, first thing
THE CAPTAIN did at merge was nab himself that Smash Ball! Second thing he did at merge was play it!
C’MON! Well, yup, I wasted it. Ain’t gonna deny that. However- I wanted to go with my gut there. There was all sorts of stories about Falc spreading shit, I felt Wario could easily spook since we just blindsided him a couple of votes ago, all the rumours about pinkies being tight as my bodysuit, and things were just oddly silent that night. Better using it than having it burn a hole in my pocket- since I knew if I was going in
THE RING, I damn well needed a stage of my choice. In the end Yosh asked me to choose a stage that was ranked as my worst at the time, so at least I got some good use out of it- goodwill with Yosh and a stage I hated up and out.
Besides that, merge was all about keeping connections going on
GOLD and striking up new ones with pinkies as best I could.
BLUE quickly reconnected too- but it seemed the first vote was landing on Yosh vs Pyra & Myth. While I wanted to look out for them coming into the merge, the twins seemed pretty damn confident they would win the duel, so it made sense to let things sit at that point so as to not ruffle feathers. I fully believed they would win too, but once they didn’t, momentum shifted towards
GOLD, and it only made sense to ride with that momentum. Just
SLIDE with the tide, baby!
From there, I found myself in a pretty optimal position- on the one hand,
GOLD had the numbers to send one player into
THE RING of our choosing. But then I also had some downlow allies with the pinkes that would keep my name off the ballot on that side of things- with Falc (after a feisty and pretty sexy scuffle post-twins, might I add), with Kaz who seemed to have shifted himself that way. I enjoyed DP a lot- but he seemed kinda like the glue of both pink, and potentially green as well. So it made sense to target him, and I could do so while not being targeted myself.
The Robin vote ended up being pretty significant for me- I ended up telling her she was going in, basically since we'd worked up a good rapport, and I felt no reason to give her a runaround. At the time, seemed that side of the vote was on Wario, which, well, suited
THE CAPTAIN just fine. But knowing she was goin' in, of course Robbie shifted her sights elsewhere- me and Squirt. I knew Squirt and I would take a hit eventually, and this was sooner than I'd have liked, but I had always counted on the fact that when it did happen, Squirt would go in first- which is what happened. Now after the vote, I and most others started working on the assumption that Robbie would be returning (love ya Bluey, no offence of course, you'd have beaten me there!), and so I knew I had work to do to keep myself safe. Dededude and I always had a good thing going, so we laid it all out on the table and began figuring out what to do. Once Squirt did return, it was like
WOWZA! Dededude and I were already knee deep in one direction! But- it only made sense to continue in that direction- if Kaz and Dededude went in, I was the only non-duellist left. If they both stayed out, we'd share that target. If we sent Yosh and Wario in, I'd still have Squirt n' Kaz as my main buddies, a solidified bond with Dededude, one of Yosh/Wario who wouldn't have too many other options, and only Falc to worry about, who'd have 3 non-duellists to target instead of just me.
Problem was- while this made sense for me, it didn't make sense for Squirt, and he wasn't about it despite my pitch- ultimately it was a move that worked for me better than it did him. So when he returned, and shut it down with about an hour to go before the deadline- I had to abandon ship, and act like none of that ever happened. I ended up in a position where I knew Kaz was going in, and I told him that if he voted Dedede, it'd at least prevent me and him going in together, which is how it shook out. So, yeah- ain't gonna claim every move went my way here, but when it didn't go my way, I could at least make sure it wasn't me in
THE RING, and I always made sure I could recovered and get back in the drivers seat.
ENDGAME & THE RACE TO THE FINISHEndgame the trickiest spot for me. I was the only one left without a duel, and the heat was on! The move at final 6 was the toughest of the game for ol’ Cap. First of all, the initial plan with Yosh, Squirt and Wario was the obvious 2-2-2 split. Had that ended up Falc and Dededude (who had been spilling some of
THE CAPTAIN’s secrets to Wario, ya scoundrel, not that I blame ya!) it would have made sense for me. But with Kaz in the mix- I couldn’t let that happen, cos I completely trusted him and knew I could rely on him. When he told me he didn’t have the
GOLD smash ball, I believed him. And that led me to believe that Squirt had it. If Squirt had it, and him also likely having his top 43 bid, it meant Squirt would be immune ‘til the end. So I came to the realisation that- I either take Squirt out now, or I put my entire faith into Squirt’s hands that he’d protect me. I decided not to take that risk- and Kaz and I used our votes to send him in.
After it happened, Squirt let me know he’d have taken me all the way- and so if that was the case, maybe I made things harder on myself taking him out. To Squirt- that was a ruthless thing to do after spending the entire game together, and I did not feel great about it at all. But based on the information I had- the original
BLUE dynamics being kept from me, not telling me about Smash ball- now I ain’t using that as justification on a personal level whatsoever. But on a game level, it did make me think,
DAMN that Squirt is shrewd and he is here to win. I wasn’t sure that at final 4, you wouldn’t give me the chop rather than sit next to me un-duelled, and so I’d be in
THE RING with Yosh or Wario, both of whom are proven tough competitors. I would have been putting all my trust in ya- and ultimately, my gut said not to. And unfortunately, that was the only time I could have struck ya first- and so just like that, you were out, and Cap n’ Bluey was done.
Final 5, and my time avoiding
THE RING was over. Only took 2 players had to put their foot down and send me in, and those two players were Falc and Wario. I was hoping to squeeze by to 4, but it just was not gonna happen, and probably for the best it worked out the way it did. I was gonna try and work to send in Falc and
NOT to send in Kaz, but it was at the point where stick with with Yosh n’ Wario, while also trying to protect Kaz, it was a pretty hard task. So I ended up against Kaz to fight it out- end of an era, but I also knew if I just got through this one last hurdle, I saw a way to the end. Magicant was actually one of my few top Stages- surprise maybe, but I always tried to keep my strengths and weaknesses pretty obscured so as to not be forced out with a dud Stage. I love ya Kaz, we said our goodbyes, but I knew what had to be done.
THE CAPTAIN was in the final 4! At first, I though a revolving door was inevitable. But, as always I was workin' it where I could to avoid that scenario. Everyone came to their own conclusions as to why they voted for who they did- but of course I put in my 2c to convince each of 'em why I shouldn't be the one they vote for- playing myself down, playing up how threatening each of the others were. It a situation like that- when you've got 2/3 chance of going in, you can only say so much. I put my vote where it needed to be, said what I needed to say, and just let it sit. And sit it did- and now here I sit, in the final 3.
C'MON! F-ZERO XXXX