On March 25, 2016 at West’s Anime Club, there was gaming tournament of Persona for the title Champion. This tournament happens every year after Christmas break.

Do you enjoy video games? Fighting or RPG (Role-playing Game)? Have you ever heard of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax? Persona is a fighting style game and all about auto-combos and earning skill points to defeat your opponent with a character you select.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is a fighting game in which characters from both Persona 4 and Persona 3 battle each other using a variety of special moves, combos, and their abilities. Also new to Ultimax, the players can choose to play either normal or “Shadow” type characters. These “Shadows” are different because they have large skill-based variants of their counterparts, which employing a high-risk and a high-reward playing style. It is all thanks to the reduced normal attack damage and an altered moveset with lacking defensive-mode options.

About 10-15 people signed up for the tournament every year to earn the title champion but one and only and student of West Anchorage High, Sean Sasis, kept his title as Champion for almost two years as his favorite character Yu Narukami. He also placed 8th in Super-smash Bros in the Gaming Convention on March 5th. “I kind of want to face David Lee again probably because he’s at UAA (University of Alaska Anchorage).” Sadly, he won’t able to play next another year because he is a senior and retiring from Persona.

Sid Calayag, a sophomore at West High, participated his second year to earn the crown Champion. “It’s a fun fighting game,” said Calayag. His arch nemeses in the tournament are Sean, Dylan and Hugo. He doesn’t think he’ll win the tournament due the Champion, Sean Sasis, is a professional gamer of Persona. He would definitely attend next year’s tournament to earn the title champion.

        “As president of Anime Club, it’s kind of an obligation to host events,” said Tayla Jones. Jones is the president of Anime Club at West and also the host of the gaming tournament. The reason why she likes video games is because they help people to release built-up anger in a good way. “Either Madai or Sid because they played more games and they’re the best gamers in the club,” said Jones when asked who would claim the title. At the end of the tournament, Sean Sasis is once again the Champion of 2016 however due that Sasis is a senior, he gave his crown to Sid Calayag for next year tournament.