Genesis 4 TOs address Smash 4 0.1 gaffe, offer compensation to Komorikiri, Dabuz

By Ozzie Mejia

There was a cloud of controversy hanging over the Smash 4 top 8 at Genesis 4.

Following a set between Rei “Komorikiri” Furukawa and Zack “CaptainZack” Lauth that CaptainZack won 3-1, Furukawa noticed something was noticeably off in terms of the knockback and impact of some of Bayonetta’s specials and combos. Komorikiri disputed the result and it was revealed that the damage ratio setting had been set to 0.9x, as opposed to the normal 1.0x.

Earlier today, the tournament organizers for this Smash 4 tournament addressed that issue, which impacted the CaptainZack/Komorikiri set and may have possibly affected the set that took place prior to that.

“Having had a bit of time to digest everything that’s happened, my current opinion is that the validity of the 2 sets played under incorrect conditions were permanently and irreversibly compromised and unfair to both players, and that making people replay matches does not solve the problem in whole or in part,” Sheridan “Dr. Z” Zalewski said in a Twitlonger statement. “The players will have been under a lot of mental stress and will have had the opportunity to adapt and respond to things they learned about their opponent in the invalid set, which to me invalidates everything that happens afterwards, and that it’s futile to try to correct it with a replay.”

The decision was ultimately made to replay the final match, which CaptainZack won again. Komorikiri walked off the stage, refusing his opponent’s handshake.

Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby, who had played Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios in the previous set, saw these events unfold and realized that the damage ratio was also off during their set, which ZeRo had won. A replay was not granted in their instance, with tournament organizers asserting at the time that the damage ratio was on the correct setting. They also stated that once a set has concluded, both players have tacitly accepted the result.

However, the Genesis 4 tournament organizers have since taken responsibility for the uncertain outcome and have explained their stance, along with outlining measures to ensure this does not happen at future Smash 4 events.

“After some scrutiny, Sheridan stated that ‘once you start the next game you are accepting the result of the previous & can’t contest it,’” tweeted Bassem “Bear’ Dahdouh. “That was the simplest, clearest solution at the time. That’s why the matches between Dabuz and ZeRo were not replayed on stream or off stream. At the time, I was worried that the Wii U was faulty so I made sure between every set we checked that the ratio was at 1.0x before the match began. I do NOT want this to ever happen again, whether in Round 1 Pools, Round 2 Pools, Top 32, and especially Top 8. As hard as we try to do make everything run smoothly, TOs are not infallible and there are sometimes an overwhelming number of variables to check. So I’d like to propose a new rule: Settings Check. Similar to how the players do Button Checks, I think it’s important that the players themselves take a brief moment to open the settings menu and make sure everything is okay so when they start the match they acknowledge that the settings are correct for their match. That way there is no more issues where someone can change a setting before the players sit down, because nobody can interfere after they check it themselves. Depending on community response, this Settings Check will be something I’d like to include in my tournaments moving forward so nothing like this can EVER happen again.”

Dahdouh also explained that compensation was being finalized for both Komorikiri and Dabuz, covering Genesis 4 as well as any future major that either competitor wishes to attend this year.

Komorikiri has not yet made a statement, but Dabuz appears to be amicable to the olive branch on Twitter.

This was not the only issue plaguing Smash 4 at Genesis 4. Dahdouh also addressed an issue regarding brackets and matchup inaccuracies during pools. An import issue with the Smashgg service was cited, and he has issued an apology to all players affected.

Ozzie hopes the time for memes has passed. Find him on Twitter @Ozz_Mejia