The Nintendo European Championships 2023 in Germany are over, and with the ink all dry and the dust now settled, it’s players from Germany and France who will travel to compete in the World Championships at Nintendo Live 2024 in Tokyo next January. Catch up on or relive the event over at the Nintendo European Championships 2023 website.
Taking place across Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th October in Bad Vilbel, part of the Frankfurt am Main region in Germany, the Nintendo European Championships 2023 saw the culmination of continental tournaments for two Nintendo Switch multiplayer games: Splatoon 3 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Day one featured the Splatoon 3 European Championship group stages, where 12 teams from across Europe competed in round-robin style to advance to the next day’s knock-out phase. After a day of intense and hard-fought matches, it was Alliance Rogue of France, Germany’s team KaiZer, Swiss group Golden Ratio, and Spark representing the UK & Ireland who all made it through to the semi-finals.
Sunday started with Alliance Rogue vs. KaiZer in the first semi-final, marking the third time Alliance Rogue have faced German opposition in the knock-out stages of a Splatoon European Championship. In a back-and-forth best-of-five set, and with both teams tied at 2-2, eventually KaiZer secured the dramatic last-gasp victory with a double Power Clam play in Clam Blitz overtime. Watch the winning game on YouTube.
The second semi-final saw two newcomer teams, with UK & Ireland representatives Spark against Golden Ratio, the first Swiss team to progress to the knockout stages of a Splatoon European Championship. Starting with Turf War, before moving onto Tower Control on new stage Shipshape Cargo Co. and Splat Zones on Hagglefish Market, Golden Ratio clinched their seats in the final with a powerful Rainmaker push on Sturgeon Shipyard to win 3-1. Catch Golden Ratio’s semi-final-winning game on YouTube.
In the third-place play-off, Alliance Rogue matched up against Spark, the French side coming out on top 3-1 to take home the bronze trophy.
In the climactic grand final of the Splatoon 3 European Championship, home favourites KaiZer took on the Swiss group Golden Ratio, making their debut in the final. KaiZer – with a line-up of captain Isik, Zerr[eZ], newcomer flyzero, and four-time German champion and former world championship runner-up WMajin* – brought their quality to bear, recovering from an initial 2-1 Turf War defeat to win four consecutive Anarchy Battle matches, clinching the victory 4-1 overall. Their prize: a golden trophy and the opportunity to compete in the World Championships at Nintendo Live 2024 in Tokyo on 20th and 21stJanuary 2024.
That wasn’t all the competitive action the event had in store, as hot on the heels of Splatoon 3 came the very first Mario Kart 8 Deluxe European Championship. A total of 24 players from across Europe, who each won their places through online qualifiers in August and September, faced off in two semi-finals. After 12 races, the points were tallied, and the top six from each semi-final progressed to the grand final.
Going into the final two races – Bowser’s Castle and Rainbow Road – it looked like one of the top three of ώƒ Mars on 84 points, Mario (82 points) or starxlx (81 points) would take the ultimate victory. But it was French player Thomas who came through, clinching second place in the final two races to add 24 points to his total and reach the top of the leaderboard on 101 points, a full seven points clear of starxlx in second place.
Thomas became the first player to lift the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe European Championship trophy, and booked a trip to Japan to compete in the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe World Championship 2024 at Nintendo Live 2024 in Tokyo on 21st January next year.
Source: Nintendo UK
Imagine my surprise I’ve never heard of or seen competitive Splatoon and/or Mario Kart, I’ve seen competitive Fortnight and Overwatch in the MLG and other select titles but not competitive Splatoon and/or Mario Kart.