The Great Quakeholio Tournament 2018 - Mini Boss Battle 1 - David Craddock

Shacknews' Long Reads Editor went one-on-one in Doom with a lucky challenger in the inaugural Great Quakeholio Tournament. What the frag happened?

David Craddock

August 29, 2018 10:45 AM

1

The Great Quakeholio Tournament has come and gone, but the memories made at the inaugural event will live on. Memories like this, my one-on-one deathmatch in Doom against a lucky--or perhaps unlucky--competitor.

Shacknews editor-in-chief Asif Khan wanted to keep entrants on their toes. In that spirit, he staged "boss battles" at intervals throughout the two-day tournament. A boss battle was a one-on-one contest between a member of the Shacknews staff on-hand to cover the event, held at this year's QuakeCon, and a competitor selected at random. If competitors won their contest, they took one one of the tricked-out gaming PCs Asif Khan ordered from Cyberpower PC.

But if we, the Shack staff, the mini bosses, the Koopalings to Asif's Bowser, came out on top, we claimed our prize: An NES Classic.

Day one consisted of two rounds of FFA deathmatch: round one featured Quake Live, and round two turned the clock back to December 1997 and the fast pace of Quake 2. After that, challenger "IsABadMotha" was chosen to face me in the original Doom.

The map: E1M1. The rules: First to 25 frags or the highest kill count at the end of the 10-minute time limit.

I don't want to spoil the outcome for you. Suffice it to say that the winner of this mini-boss battle made John Romero, John Carmack, and all id Software developers past and present proud.

For more coverage of the 2018 Great Quakeholio Tournament, feast your eyes and mouse cursors on Shacknews' extensive QuakeCon and Quakeholio coverage.

David Craddock

Long Reads Editor

David L. Craddock writes fiction, nonfiction, and grocery lists. He is the author of the Stay Awhile and Listen series, and the Gairden Chronicles series of fantasy novels for young adults. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing Mario, Zelda, and Dark Souls games, and will be happy to discuss at length the myriad reasons why Dark Souls 2 is the best in the series. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock.