Nintendo was holding a local tournament at a West Hollywood Gamestop over the weekend, and quite a few people showed up. One was Smash Bros. commentator D’Ron “D1” Maingrette. “Sitting at lunch in bewilderment,” he tweeted. “A random 10-year-old girl was destroying everyone in Smash 4 at the Gamestop!!!”
Sitting at lunch in bewilderment. A random 10 year old girl was destroying everyone in Smash 4 at the Gamestop!!! BRUUUHHHHH!!!!
— D1 @ Pasadena (@xD1x) November 8, 2014
That girl, dubbed Karissa “the Destroyer,” was pulling off quite a few complex Smash moves and overwhelming her opponents.
She wasn’t too shy to talk trash, either.
Frame traps are hard to explain, but essentially, if your opponent gets hit with a certain attack, there’s a recoil animation. That animation is too slow for your opponent to follow up with an attack, leaving you with a few frames to attack your opponent, and in some instances, knock him off the stage. Karissa was a master of manipulating frame traps.
Karissa the destroyer. Smash 4 players beware! #WeHo #Gsmestop #Nintendo https://t.co/qzSAu6WaC7
— D1 @ Pasadena (@xD1x) November 9, 2014
At the end of the day, she had won the love and admiration of the crowd.
But the story might not end there. In a bizarre twist, users on Reddit are questioning the legitimacy of her play. Our friends at Kotaku did some digging around, and found this on r/SmashBros: One user noticed that Karissa was taking her hands off the controller entirely.
That was followed up by this apparent posting from a casting agency. “Project notes: This shoot is basically a hidden camera job where we have a little girl play Super Smash Brothers against a series of opponents at a sneak peek before the launch.”
Former professional smasher Lilian “MilkTea” Wei won’t be too pleased if this turns out to be a giant hoax.
You want to promote the idea that females can play games too? Let’s start by highlighting female gamers that aren’t paid actresses.
— Lil Chen | [Milktea] (@_lilchen) November 9, 2014
We’ll update this story if anything else comes to light.
Update 12:18am, Nov. 10: We’ve found Karissa Bannister’s website listing her as an actress and dancer. She’s been in two films and a commercial for Ford. Her résumé doesn’t include the Gamestop appearance.
H/T Kotaku
