How my lockdown obsession with Super Smash Bros led me to a vital epiphany

I didn't expect to be making my competitive gaming debut at 30 - but over lockdown, my flatmates and I became hooked on Nintendo's beloved brawler

Thirty is definitely not the best age to kick off an esports career. In that world I am aged, with lower-back pain and reflexes about as sharp as a wooden spoon. But nonetheless, earlier this year, I found myself standing in a dimly lit east-London bar, huddled among the city's greatest players of Super Smash Bros, Nintendo's beloved fighting game. As the throng of competitors reminisced over previous tournaments and shared high-level techniques, I stared apprehensively at my name on the tournament ladder, hoping that nobody would find out that I only started playing Smash last year.

At the risk of sounding like the narrator of a 90s teen film, let's rewind. My Smash obsession began during the joyous era of lockdown one. As Covid-19 exploded devastatingly and invisibly, the humble Bow flat I shared slowly morphed from fun-loving party pad into cramped, claustrophobic prison. We did our best to keep things light with bike rides, poorly measured portions of weed brownies and increasingly ridiculous themed nights - but Super Smash Bros Ultimate was what really got me through the mind-numbing ordeal that was 2020.