Interview with John Numbers, the 2015 Nintendo World Champion
Update by Brian (7/23): We’ve bumped this to the top. Game Informer has now posted its unabridged interview, which you can find here. John Numbers also posted a response on Twitter to the site’s original piece in order to clarify what he originally said.
Game Informer recently interviewed John Numbers, who won the 2015 Nintendo World Championship. Some excerpts from the interview:
Where did the name John Numbers come from?
Before I got into the Smash community, I basically used John followed by a few numbers for Internet aliases. I did the same thing when I first got into the Brawl competitive community one year after its released. A few years in people were just like, “Hey John. John 12346 sounds stupid. How about John Numbers.” And eventually it just stuck.
Did you go back and watch Cosmo’s performance during Mario Maker?
I’m actually a very big 2D Mario buff. I have a lot of experience with pretty much every 2D Mario game. I was going in pretty hard on that. I said, “What happened Cosmo? You were doing so well on the first and third levels?” To see him just perform like that? It was a letdown honestly. I was hoping it would be a good match, but he only got into the pipe as I killed Bowser. I got a chance to talk to him and he didn’t choke or anything. He just wasn’t familiar with the mechanics, that’s all.
What was it like meeting Shigeru Miyamoto?
When I won, I was like “Oh boy a trophy,” and I was being snarky because I knew I was getting a trophy – they said so on twitter. But it wouldn’t be any fun without some surprises, so here’s a guest: Miyamoto. And oh my gosh, I was star struck when that happened. I was floating there and I shook his hand. I was overjoyed to meet the man. I shook his hand and basically said thank you for all of the games and experience you’ve provided for us over the years. I’ve had a good time gaming with Nintendo. And he said thank you. He more or less understood what I said.
What are you doing with your 3DS and your trophy?
I was a little annoyed Cosmo got a 3DS, too. My prize was a 3DS and trophy, but he got a 3DS, too. The 3DS I’m going to keep for a very long time, at least for sentimental purposes. I might sell it one day, I probably won’t, but you never know. It might be worth a lot in the future. I’m more likely to sell the trophy because that thing doesn’t even have my name on it (laughs). It’s just a really heavy, 25 lb trophy. I think it’s made of lead.
Check out the full interview here.
