Every game released, every league created, every tournament announced makes competition increasingly accessible. Whether you want to be a world champion or a local legend, 16-Bit Esports is here to help.
16-Bit Esports is an esports organization founded in late 2018 as a League of Legends team. Since then, they've expanded into fighting games, Legends of Runeterra and Teamfight Tactics and are split between America and Japan. They've got former Challengers, rising talent, and even some guy who plays a meme fighting game called Dong Dong Never Die.
Andross
Andross is a rare case of someone not really growing up gaming, yet managing to break into some of the highest ladder rankings.
As a kid, he never owned a gaming console, so he'd resort to either watching his friends play or hanging out with his uncle to play video games. He still had access to a computer that could run browser-based games, and in high school, he got a major taste of competition.
At the time, he played Yu-Gi-Oh! as a hobby, but never invested much into the game. However, he found a magical place that changed many a YGO player's life: Dueling Network.
If you know, you know.
The iconic 'ree-ourgh,' which my best friend described as an alarm combined with a donkey, still echoes throughout eternity despite the site being taken down.
Before the site was taken down though, Andross would play every day after getting back from school, from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM. He joined an online team and even played against some popular Dueling Network YouTubers.
Then, his gaming career took off in college.
"When college came around, I finally got a job and I was able to pay for my decks, pay for the decks that I actually wanted, the decks that I played on Dueling Network. I actually had them in my hands."
He also got a laptop and started pursuing League of Legends and Fortnite. Now, he was balancing competing in three different games on top of college and work.
After gaining some confidence, Andross managed to top a regional YGO tournament and kept working on his League and Fortnite mechanics. Then Teamfight Tactics came out.
He was reluctant to play at first, but after he saw most of his friends playing in season one, he gave it a shot. In just two weeks, Andross got Diamond
"TFT came naturally to me because it was similar to a card game and it was something I really liked."
Because the highest-ranked player in the world at the time, minchall19, played in Latin America North, Andross decided to start playing there season one. Right before he left for the military, he got Challenger on LAN.
Similar to his experience on Dueling Network, he's been able to play against and talk with some of the top TFT players, but this time from the LAN server. He kept his interest in playing on multiple servers and his unique experience playing in different regions gives him an edge.
"Playing in other regions is really fun for me because I get to meet people from around the world and I get to learn how people play. Every region plays different, you know? Like playing in EU, I've never seen so many people level to five pre-second Carousel."
Andross's goal for this season is to get Master in as many regions as possible. He hopes to use this experience to do well in tournaments, and although he's recently been placing 7th or 8th, he almost always makes it to finals no matter what.
Br0wn
Br0wn grew up as a Nintendo kid, playing games like Mario 64 and Mario Kart with or against his parents, depending on what mood struck. Although he also played Smash Bros., he didn't take much to fighting games until Ultra Street Fighter IV.
"Street Fighter IV and Ultra Street Fighter IV were kinda my proper introductions to fighting games in general. It kinda became an obsession where it became like 'hey, I want to play all of the fighting games.'"
After continually learning new games and characters, Br0wn was able to attend the first Super Smash Con in 2015 with a friend. That was the beginning of Br0wn's transformation from casual to competitive.
A picture from Super Smash Con 2018.
He and his friends knew the competitive Smash ruleset but they never used it until spectating Super Smash Con. Then, he got invited to a basement tournament.
"Another friend of mine said 'hey, a friend group of mine is gonna host a Smash 4 tournament in one of the guys's basement. We're all gonna hang out in his basement, order pizza, and we're gonna play in the tournament.' I think I got third and that basement tournament was kinda cool because there're people that played there that are now ranked in [Maryland/ Virginia] for Smash."
That's when Br0wn realized he could compete in fighting games, specifically Smash Bros. However, that tournament also planted the seeds of tournament organizing.
He's become the fighting game player of his friend group, and as such, he has a passion for introducing friends to new games. The more casual the friend, the crazier the game.
Br0wn starting hosting his own basement tournaments. He discovered an obscure computer game called Dong Dong Never Die, described by PC Gamer as "... if all the Asian WTF videos you've ever watched on the internet got together and starred in an arcade game."
5.1 Emergency Update Edition pic.twitter.com/8M7fc8RkPB
— M+ | Br0wn (@Br0wn__) February 15, 2019
"I love Dong Dong Never Die. You're always finding something weird with that game." It's still unclear if Br0wn's enthusiasm for Dong Dong Never Die is completely ironic or not.
Since the game has such a small following, he's been able to develop the meta. He's made several tier lists and discovered bugs like infinitely slowing time with one of the characters.
He said he loves expanding the FGC, and the best tool to use with a casual player is a wacky fighting game like Dong Dong Never Die.
"I think in general, the weirder the fighting game, the better it is to play in an environment of non-fighting game players. If you bust something out like BlazBlue or Guilty Gear, they're gonna be like 'oh, it's anime characters, and they're all hitting each other in the air and stuff, that's cool.' But if you bust out this one where there's this fat Chinese dude with a giant hammer like duh, they're going to find that one way more interesting. What does he do, you know?"
Br0wn lives about 15 minutes from where Super Smash Con is hosted. As such, he sees his current path to success as practicing in local and regional tournaments leading up to competing in the yearly Super Smash Con. He hopes to eventually be ranked in Maryland/ Virginia, as with Smash especially, people look up to good players.
Until then, he'll be known fondly for his love of Dong Dong.
On God, this man loves Dong Dong.
dwolfx
dwolfx is a strategy gamer. He's played TCGs like Pokémon, YGO, Magic: The Gathering, and Cardfight!! Vanguard. He also got into chess, and in high school, his team qualified for nationals in his home country, the Philippines.
He pursued chess a bit more seriously in college, but found it too difficult to balance schoolwork and competing as some tournaments could entail spending a week playing round-after-round.
During that time, dwolfx also found League of Legends. He kept improving and wanted pursue either competing or coaching.
However, after he got his bachelor's degree, he incurred a still-unresolved hand injury.
"Any hopes I had of getting good at League were immediately dashed. All I can explain is it happened to both of my hands. I just got a cold one day, my arms started aching, then my hands froze and all I could feel was pain in them. We ended up going to a neurologist and they couldn't find anything wrong. There was literally nothing wrong with my hands. All they could tell was I had the hands of someone who's been using a computer for over a decade."
After three months, he started to regain functionality of his hands. That was five years ago, and he said it's fairly uncommon for any part of his hands or arms to freeze anymore. Occasionally, his fingers might start freezing a bit if without any breaks, he types for over six hours or plays League for over four. He said he hasn't had a freeze in a couple of months.
However, his gaming aspirations were rekindled by TFT as it's not a mechanical or "timing intensive" game. Like Andross, he begrudgingly gave the game a shot and quickly became passionate about it.
"When I played the game mode I realized 'wait, this is actually fun and I actually know what I'm doing 100% of the time.' It sort of just clicked."
In Master tier in Ph server, now I gotta work on my NA server rank climb pic.twitter.com/Eu138exhSL
— dwolfxTFT (@DwolfxT) August 7, 2020
Also like Andross, dwolfx plays in multiple regions.
dwolfx is a data scientist and works as a business analyst. He said there's some overlap between his job and TFT.
"In terms of technical know-how, I need to learn on the fly what needs to be done and I need to adapt to what's needed. In a sense, I'm using my day job to get me in the mindset of playing TFT and using TFT to improve my day-job skills as well."
dwolfx is hoping to pursue TFT more full time. He hopes to create more content via streaming consistently and potentially creating YouTube content. He also dreams of qualifying for TFT worlds, however, Southeast Asia is not listed as a region that can qualify.
Until Riot adds his region to the worlds circuit, dwolfx will be pressing "D" and saving up for a new laptop.
Attilio
"Ultimately, we want to be a community where people feel wanted and they know they have a chance to make it too. We want to be able to bring up players who thought maybe they didn't have a shot or maybe have potential and they just need that first chance."
16-Bit Esports Founder Attilio started his competitive career as a Smash Bros. player. Like Br0wn, he was a part of the Maryland/ Virginia Smash scene.
He competed during his college years and did well enough to be known as 'that Lucas guy that keeps winning.' Also like Br0wn, he ran his own tournaments. However, unlike Br0wn, he moved to Japan for his job.
There, he also joined a Japanese an American esports team for about four-to-five months. Correction: The esports team Attilio joined was American. He just joined it while in Japan.
"My time with that org, I loved it. I was treated respectfully by all my co-team members, and all my owners and bosses. Their philosophy was you get what you show; you work for what you get."
Attilio said he was a relatively unknown player who didn't have a big gaming résumé, but was still given a shot. Despite doing poorly in large Japanese tournaments and being on the team for a relatively short time, the org's philosophy left a positive impression on him.
Serious-faced @16B_Attilio is ready to take on Tokyo Nights in Smash Ultimate. Let's go! pic.twitter.com/m0AiCmgtpU
— 16-Bit Esports (@16bit_esports) November 10, 2019
Attilio still dabbles in Smash Bros. He's also a big fan of Immortals and Liquid.
He built 16-Bit Esports to bring up aspiring players who are passionate about gaming. From his previous team experience, Attilio wants to give people a shot and additionally reward players who perform well.
Among other plans, Attilio is especially excited to potentially do an in-person 16-Bit collaboration between the Japanese and American players. He's also excited to see where he'll take the org, and more importantly, where the community and players will take the org.
"16-Bit is the family you want to go to. We are a respectful organization that's willing to give any player any chance and a chance to show that they can play on a competitive level. If you have the commitment, we want to see what you got."
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