Geoff “Vermanubis” Butterworth is as many may call him “the best Ganon”. His journey started about eight years ago in New Hampshire, but with time many changes occur. Through tons of practice and dedication, he has achieved prestige in the community and has grown as an up and coming content creator. Here Dio Reyes and Vermanubis sit down and discuss his journey through the smash community.
When did you start playing Smash?
I’m an old, old dude, currently 28 years old. I was out when Smash 64 came out and I got it on launch date. I used to play with my friends all the time, and I always had a running Zelda theme. Oh man! I regret saying I would go on the record because now I gotta admit I used Link instead of Ganon and that’s going to be a hit to my reputation as a Ganon. I think I first tried getting competitive at the end of Melee but I didn’t really know how.
When did you start going to tournaments?
So my first tournament ever is sort of a meme in the New Hampshire community because that’s originally where I’m from and it was called the Greatest Region of All Time aka GROT. There is a lot to unpack with that tournament but that was my first ever live tournament prior to that I think that was in 2011 and prior to that, I was for about a year entirely online. Right around then is when I really started to take the game seriously and try to compete
Who did you main in Brawl?
Ganon. For better or for worse I have been a solo Ganon main since brawl.
What makes you stay so faithful towards Ganon?
That is a very multifaceted question or rather a simple question with a multifaceted answer I should say. Depending on how deep you would want me to go. I guess it would suffice to say that the reason has kinda changed with the season, but eight years later after starting competitive brawl the reason at this point are a great deal or there are many I should say. I’m trying to think how to phrase this without sounding terribly morbid. Basically, last year both of my parents passed away, and they were always very supportive of my smash stuff.
They were always very proud that I would go to tournaments, and had this reputation as the best Ganon. They would introduce whenever I meet their friends whenever “Oh my son is the best Ganon in Super Mario Bros!” Even going so far as to a couple Christmas ago both of my folks got me a Ganon Amiibo and a bootleg smash sweatshirt that had Megaman from battle network up front. I think a big factor at this point to continue with Ganon is in their memory to keep this going.
Why did you start playing Ganon?
That reason was slightly less virtuous I would say. I just liked him. Because at the time living in New Hampshire now with Ultimate New England is booming as far as the smash scene goes, but in the brawl days it was me and maybe one or two other people in the entire state so I was almost entirely online.
I never entertained the idea of being able to go to live tournaments so I figured “Yeah whatever he is a horrible character, but he is fun and… you know there is this site called always brawl which is to this day legendary among the brawl vets and they had an online matchmaking system there and I would play all the time and started to kinda get that reputation as a solo Ganon main. I kinda liked that aesthetic and I started going to tournaments and then by that time my reasons for using him I just kinda got so used to him and had such I guess relative successes, that I just kinda stuck with him.
Then once the going got thicker in terms of starting to feel his viability or lack thereof that’s when my reasons sorta started evolving and changing to such a point where I decided to keep using him in spite of his shortcomings. But initially, it was just because I liked him and was good at him.
I can definitively sympathize with that because I am a solo Captain Falcon main and I have been trying to find another character and nothing just sticks.
As of Ultimate I have been a lifelong Castlevania fan and I have been really trying to get good with the Belmonts and it’s so strange. Especially such different dynamics between characters. But I ultimately think I would just always end up getting back to Ganon.
Are you going to keep pursuing the Belmonts or are you going to stick to Ganon as a solo main?
It’s tough to say I think that because I really like the Belmonts, but I don’t like them as much as Ganon. And the question would naturally arise given what I just said about sticking with Ganon for the reasons that I currently do. I guess it would be better to say that I don’t stick with Ganon just because he is Ganon, but I can’t pick characters that I don’t love. That I don’t have some kind of thematic chemistry with. Yeah, I do really love the Belmonts as characters and I do enjoy how they play, but I can’t honestly see myself pursuing them seriously.
It’s all that emotional attachment that just sticks
Oh yeah. and like I said I do to some degree have that emotional attachment to the Belmonts because you know Castlevania. When I was a kid the Belmonts were my heroes. The reason my hair is long is because I used to think Rickter specifically from Symphony of the night was just so damn cool. I would want to be anything like him. So when anyone sees my long hair it’s like “that’s Rickter”. I do have an attachment to them but in a very different way.
I have heard that tier lists only matter at top levels of play. How does that sound to you?
I agree with that. That’s one thing it’s good to understand for people that aren’t at top levels of play. At my region, we have a lot of up and comers and their first instinct is at as soon as they meet failure to switch to another character. Their immediate assumption is that it’s their character that is the problem, but as I and many others tell to this skill stratum of players, you really shouldn’t worry about your characters until you reach top levels of play because it’s safe to say that until that point, your character isn’t the problem. I don’t think that is categorically the case I think there are exceptions, but generally speaking until you achieve a level. I think the answer I’m more satisfied with is that when you are that level you have to just play and get some type of baseline. When you are brand new you should just be trying to get an intuitive feel for the game. It’s like taking a lump of clay from the ground.
You gotta have that lump of clay before you make pottery and its once you got that baseline that you start refining and sculpting it. I think how that relies on staying with one character or at least a small set of characters and kinda sticking it out with them the relationship there is that if you don’t really have a chance to gain an intuition in the game with one character. You are going to keep starting over from square one and it’s going to be really difficult to develop a baseline that you can refine.
When did you start improving at the game?
During the brawl era there were a lot of people who said I was the best Ganon a lot of my reputation came from the brawl days, but in my opinion, I wasn’t that good during the brawl days. I had kinda a good baseline, but I really didn’t think about the game too much and then Smash 4 came around and that’s when I really started to think “Oh hey my character might be good now”. This was in the early days of the game when we really didn’t know yet that Ganon was horrible.
During the first half of Smash 4, there was a lot of contention for who the best Ganon was, and that wasn’t always the case in Brawl. So there was contention, it wasn’t really laterally one Ganon. But I wanted to have that distinction of best Ganon. There were awesome Ganon’s like Gungnir from Japan, and hopefully if any of my Ganon friends hear this they don’t think I’m leaving out for forgetting them, but Gungnir was really just amazing.
Then really good Ganon’s like Ray Kalm just all sorts of really good Ganon’s for competition and that’s what really motivated me to start thinking about the game in a structured way. So about halfway through Smash 4 I started to really theorize and seriously watch videos and take the game seriously rather than just play it and ride on that very solid baseline I had established up to that point.
When were you satisfied with your level of play?
I would probably say near the end of Smash 4 that’s when I. The Ganon that I always felt in closest competition with was Gungnir in Japan. He really was the one that when I watched him play I really felt like he was someone that I wanted to parallel. He was my point of reference so I would say that I felt I achieved a Gungniresque level somewhat towards the end of Smash 4.
Because Gungnir had an amazing run at Umebura… I can’t remember the number where he beat a lot of great players. It was an amazing performance and I just thought to myself “I really need to step it up” and so that was kind of the point where I really started working towards that.
When did you win your first tournament? Is it a fond memory?
Yes it was a very fond memory as a matter of fact is for the longest of time I never won a tournament in Brawl I think my best overall placing was fifth at a regional. You know I had gotten like second and third at locals but I had never actually won a tournament in Brawl. In Smash 4 I had a nasty streak of constantly getting second all the time and the first time I finally won a tournament at least one… like I said I had won weeklies and stuff, but the first time I won like a monthly or regional I think around February 2018.
After that I actually started winning pretty regularly because I’m surrounded by three other regions of Eastern Washington, Southern Washington, and Idaho so some of the times I would win the Southern Washington ones, I think the highest placing I got on Eastern Washington was second. I won a few Idaho ones, and I won one of my own Eastern Oregon.
How did it feel to make it so far in Don’t Park On the Grass 2018?
It was kinda surreal if I’m honest. You know like I said during the entirely of Smash 4 I only went to one major which was Hyrule saga and there I got 65 out of 800. Finally having what I thought my skill level was being reflected in my placement was such a foreign concept to me so going into Don’t Park in the Grass when I fought my winners finals match on pools against Pokepen I just had these flashbacks from Brawl and Smash 4 like oh god its Isabelle she’s just like villager. I’m going to die. I’m going to get my ass whooped. It was just that I didn’t have a lot of confidence.
But just as the tournament progressed I felt like I was flying. I felt liberated. Here I am beating these players that in the previous games I could only dream. I felt like I had just been unchained and before I knew it I ended up making it into the single digits placements at Don’t Park. It was surreal after 10 years of having no confidence.
What’s Ganon Potential in Smash Ultimate?
He is significantly better than in Smash 4. I think they are incomparable and the reasons for that I could make one of my videos just for that, but it would suffice for now to say that I think he is significantly better. I still don’t think that he is a great character. He still has some extremely oppressive weaknesses.
If I were to wrap up his changes into one quick summary it would be that he is now properly rewarded for understanding his opponents were as in Smash 4 and brawl that was not the case. He had the comeback factor, but you could no matter how well you understood your opponent in either of those games you really were not properly rewarded for making it in were in Ultimate it’s no longer easier to make it in you are rewarded handsomely for doing so.
The new shielding mechanic is also extremely helpful to Ganon because he can now properly space and zone with aerials were as in Smash 4 he couldn’t because no risk perfect shielding is as if someone just runs up to you and perfect shields your aerial there is nothing you could do about were as now you have to find other avenues to contest Ganon’s aerials and stuff like that
Featured image provided by Vermanubis
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