Smash time: Roland-Story fall esports

By Dylan N. 

Roland-Story esports has had incredible success within the past few years. Examples include the Overwatch and Smite teams attending state tournaments last year. This year marks the third year RSHS has participated in esports through the Iowa High School Esports Association. One of the titles for fall season is Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros. is a player vs. player fighting game where you can play famous Nintendo characters against your friends or online. The Roland-Story Smash Bros. team features seniors Nathan Barkema, Braden Vinson, and Logan McLain; junior Logan Bunn; sophomores Aidan Lowther and Justin Shanks; and freshmen Ethan Mikel, Kyler Jensen, and Kail Hendersen. Practices happen after school, and involve matches against teammates as well as scrimmages against other schools.

Their games go with three rounds where the team who gets two wins takes it all home for a win. The scoring system is set to have five players from each team battle it out over various maps chosen week to week. For each round, players have three lives (or stocks) where one of the players from each team fights. Match winners are determined by which school had took the most stocks. Once all five players have gone through the lineup, the match ends and whichever team has the most points wins that match. 

The season is now over with a 4-3 win-loss ratio. The Smash team lost out to West Delaware to advance to state.

Location: Story City, IA 50248, USA

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