eSports: SEL KOF '98 Team Tournament Brings Back Memories

The Singapore E-Sports League’s programme continued last weekend with the start of the Blazblue Community League and the King Of Fighters ’98 Community League’s team tournaments.

The BlazBlue 3v3 Team Tournament saw a total of seven teams of three participants, and was held over at the Tough Cookie Gaming Cafe.

“The tournament was a good run,” said Zack Tan, who took part in the competition. Blazblue is a relatively small sub-community within the larger sphere of fighting games in Singapore, but has very active members.

The King of Fighters ’98 Team Tournament, on the other hand, was a reunion of old guards. Players who frequented the KOF ’98 arcade machines back in their days returned for what will hopefully continue as a community league. The KOF ’98 3v3 tournament, also held at Tough Cookie Gaming Cafe, saw a total of five teams of three participants.

“It was just like the good old days,” said Jasper Chew, who helped run the tournament. “Rivalries were renewed, memories were revisited, but most importantly, it was the love of gaming that brought all these players back together once more.”

Indeed, we could hardly eat dinner without being fed some tidbit or another about legendary players from the arcade days of yore. However it might be difficult for the KOF ’98 community league to become a reality, since most of the players who excelled in it have moved on to other responsibilities in life.

Still, a gamer can dream.

Interested gamers can keep up with the console-only Singapore E-Sports League over on its Facebook page.

More photos of the Blazblue tournament can be found here, while the KOF 98 tournament has been captured here.