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On Match 11th the first dutch open sensible soccer was held. I decided to take the initiative, when i noticed there were quite a few dutch guys on the United Sensible Soccer Community, but there weren't and tournaments. And while playing online might be nice, nothing beats sitting in the same room when you thrash someone.
The Trophy of which Swos players dream, photo by uFx
But to make it a real tournament, we should make it real. All data will be entered on the Sensible Soccer.de site and I bought a trophy and got it engraved. As we wanted to play on as many formats as possible, Robbie brought his PC Laptop to complement my Amiga, Snes and Jaguar. I didn't have a second Jaguar Joypad, but luckily the local game shop was prepared to borrow us one, thanx Dr Games!
At twelve a clock the first participants arrived. My wife had left the building, as 10 nerds in a house wasn't her kind of fun. We didn't know houw many people would show up, but slowly the room filled. People came from as far Maarssen, Grootebroek, Beverwijk, Beekbergen and Eindhoven. One remarkable fact is that the youngest participant was born in 1990, only two years before the first Sensible Soccer release on the Amiga and Atari ST. We had 9 participants in the end.
At one' o clock we started. We decided to leave the Super Nintendo out of the game, due to time restrictions. It was confrontation betwee different styles, as the Amiga people and PC people played rather differently, and everybody excelled at the platform he was used too.
Sjoerd and Tomaz playing on the Amiga, foto by uFx
On the Amiga it was a fearce battle between Captain Thunder and DJ Luis, they won almost all their games. The battle between them ended in a 3-3 battle. Swoozh and Mark improved their game during the tournament, but where too late to catch up.
Swoozh and Robbie playing on the Jaguar, foto by uFx.
The Jaguar was the most controversial platform. Loved by some, loathed by others. Some had the feeling they had no control at all, while others who were used to joypads had an easy game. While at first Mark seemed to have an easy victory here, Swoosz, the best allrounder in the tournament, got close, but was beaten by 2%. uFx started late, but was only beaten on goal difference in the end.
Captain Thunder and Swoozh playing on the PC
PC Swos took some time to set up, as DOS programs and Windows, and Windows'98 and USB pads aren't the best of friends. In the end it worked. Robbie was untouchable on the platform, winning all his seven games.
At half past five we ended the first round. There wasn't enough time to play every game, but enough matches had been played to decide on the winners. Mark had won one platform and ended second on another, and therefore won a place in the final. DJ Luis and Robbie each won a platform, but didn't perform that well on the others. They had to battle in the semi-final. Swoosz was the best allrounder, with three third places, but as he didn't win a platform, he didn't reach a semi final.
The semi took place on Atari's last console, as no one had an advantage there. The other participants had dicovered the Jupiler by now and cheered Robbie and Dj Luis on. Robbie emerged victorious, and won himself a place in the final.
Mark and Robbie playing the final, photo by uFx.
The final was played on two platforms. Robbie was the favourite on the PC, but couldn't take the preasure and lost his first game on the platform (1-2). Everybody thought Mark would easily consolidate on the Amiga, but Robbie played the game of his life and almost won the second leg. Mark could hold on to a 1-1 draw in the end, and emerged as Dutch Open Swos champion. Robbie won the special price, a copy of Retro Survival Magazine, because had conceded the fastest red card.
All in all, it was a great tournament, seldom i have seen so much joy of play Hopefully one of the participants will organise a new tournament soon.
The Winners, photo by uFx
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