5 most forgettable tournaments

[tns8597]

What were the 5 tournaments that were not necessarily the worst; but the most forgettable in your mind? For the record, while I definitely think being forgettable is a negative factor contributing to how I rate a tournament, but I personally think there have been some average and even fairly good tournaments that weren’t groundbreaking or particularly memorable. By contrast, some tournaments were memorable but for the wrong reasons (eg SASUKE 19 for being too hard, 28 for trying to retire the All-Stars etc.). Here are mine in no particular order:

1. SASUKE 33 - wasn’t a particularly bad tournament, especially with Stage 2 getting the bump in difficulty it deserved and some new faces clearing. But just forgettable because of the disappointing results and thus how there was no real consequence of these results minus some very minor tweaks in the following tournament. Also no incredible breakout runs (reaching Stage 3)
worth mentioning either, and those that did do well were mainly digested anyway.

2. SASUKE 13 - this tournament was generally forgettable due to coming after one of the best and most memorable tournaments. Stage 1’s modifications were underwhelming and were undone the following tournament anyway, while there were some new faces clearing but those were generally quite forgettable and didn’t return anyway. Stage 2 and 3 didn’t see any surprises/breakouts and the results were underwhelming/worse than previously despite no real modifications, and Nagano being expected to achieve victory but coming up shorter than before.

3. SASUKE 20 - this tournament was forgettable in my eyes because it’s stuck in SASUKE 19’s shadow. Both were hard and had bad results but everyone remembers 19 due to fewer clears and the only ever Stage 2 ending. SASUKE 20 was just a case of same old same old, and because it came one tournament later, the results weren’t as shocking/more expected than with 19. Only Levi’s debut was particularly memorable, the rest completely forgettable in my opinion.

4. SASUKE 34 - I sort of group this one with 33 because both are sort of stuck in this no man’s land. 32 was well known for introducing new obstacles and also being an archetypically bad tournament, while 35 was memorable because of the vast changes to the course, including a more realistic Stage 3 that enabled a Final Stage attempt. 34 was again a decent tournament but just had no real excitement as the obstacles were the same as 33, and no one surviving the UCCH-VLK combo could’ve been seen a mile away. No breakout runs, no surprising results, a lot of Stage 2 attempts but many forgettable faces that were digested, I could go on.

5. SASUKE 26 - this one sticks out because it’s not only forgettable but also the worst tournament ever in my eyes and a few others it seems. It’s forgettable due to the terrible editing; constant cuts and digests of high profile familiar faces was a common occurrence so most shocking fails weren’t seen in full anyway. Barely any progress was made compared to 25, Americans were never really given much screen time so there wasn’t much emphasis on most of the good results anyway. 26 has almost impressively managed to be one of the most forgettable, as well as one of the worst tournaments in Sasuke’s history.

Let me know your thoughts

[zoran]

Oct 12, 2020 12:17:19 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

What were the 5 tournaments that were not necessarily the worst; but the most forgettable in your mind? For the record, while I definitely think being forgettable is a negative factor contributing to how I rate a tournament, but I personally think there have been some average and even fairly good tournaments that weren’t groundbreaking or particularly memorable. By contrast, some tournaments were memorable but for the wrong reasons (eg SASUKE 19 for being too hard, 28 for trying to retire the All-Stars etc.). Here are mine in no particular order:

1. SASUKE 33 - wasn’t a particularly bad tournament, especially with Stage 2 getting the bump in difficulty it deserved and some new faces clearing. But just forgettable because of the disappointing results and thus how there was no real consequence of these results minus some very minor tweaks in the following tournament. Also no incredible breakout runs (reaching Stage 3)
worth mentioning either, and those that did do well were mainly digested anyway.

2. SASUKE 13 - this tournament was generally forgettable due to coming after one of the best and most memorable tournaments. Stage 1’s modifications were underwhelming and were undone the following tournament anyway, while there were some new faces clearing but those were generally quite forgettable and didn’t return anyway. Stage 2 and 3 didn’t see any surprises/breakouts and the results were underwhelming/worse than previously despite no real modifications, and Nagano being expected to achieve victory but coming up shorter than before.

3. SASUKE 20 - this tournament was forgettable in my eyes because it’s stuck in SASUKE 19’s shadow. Both were hard and had bad results but everyone remembers 19 due to fewer clears and the only ever Stage 2 ending. SASUKE 20 was just a case of same old same old, and because it came one tournament later, the results weren’t as shocking/more expected than with 19. Only Levi’s debut was particularly memorable, the rest completely forgettable in my opinion.

4. SASUKE 34 - I sort of group this one with 33 because both are sort of stuck in this no man’s land. 32 was well known for introducing new obstacles and also being an archetypically bad tournament, while 35 was memorable because of the vast changes to the course, including a more realistic Stage 3 that enabled a Final Stage attempt. 34 was again a decent tournament but just had no real excitement as the obstacles were the same as 33, and no one surviving the UCCH-VLK combo could’ve been seen a mile away. No breakout runs, no surprising results, a lot of Stage 2 attempts but many forgettable faces that were digested, I could go on.

5. SASUKE 26 - this one sticks out because it’s not only forgettable but also the worst tournament ever in my eyes and a few others it seems. It’s forgettable due to the terrible editing; constant cuts and digests of high profile familiar faces was a common occurrence so most shocking fails weren’t seen in full anyway. Barely any progress was made compared to 25, Americans were never really given much screen time so there wasn’t much emphasis on most of the good results anyway. 26 has almost impressively managed to be one of the most forgettable, as well as one of the worst tournaments in Sasuke’s history.

Let me know your thoughts

Disagree with 33. Morimoto's return and near fail on the fishbone. Kawguchi's fail. Yuuji,Anastase and Kanno failing the Rolling Hill. Asa's last tournment.The Hardest stage 3 ever a long with the Flying Bar mess.Takeda clearing the First stage,Yamada's last tournament, better coloured mats. Shingo's idiotic fall,Darvish's down to the wire fall.

[tns8597]

These are all true but I personally don’t think it had much impact in the grander scheme of things, compared to other tournaments, for better or for worse.

What would you put instead of 33?

[zoran]

Oct 12, 2020 13:17:24 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

These are all true but I personally don’t think it had much impact in the grander scheme of things, compared to other tournaments, for better or for worse.

What would you put instead of 33?

14.

[tns8597]

Given that we saw the most drastic changes in Stage 3 to date, as well as the introduction of the Metal Spin, 14 for me is personally more memorable. Especially as it saw Nagano’s streak of success in reaching the final abruptly halted due to these changes, so they had a much more memorable place in Sasuke history. We also saw a wide range of competitors reach Stage 3, including a mix of foreigners, rookies, secondary players and All-Stars, which made things more interesting. That’s why I didn’t consider 14.

To play devil’s advocate, what made you choose 14 over say, 15 or 16? Where barely any progress or modifications were made in the latter two tournaments? Not necessarily disagreeing, I am just interested.

[zoran]

Oct 12, 2020 15:11:20 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

Given that we saw the most drastic changes in Stage 3 to date, as well as the introduction of the Metal Spin, 14 for me is personally more memorable. Especially as it saw Nagano’s streak of success in reaching the final abruptly halted due to these changes, so they had a much more memorable place in Sasuke history. We also saw a wide range of competitors reach Stage 3, including a mix of foreigners, rookies, secondary players and All-Stars, which made things more interesting. That’s why I didn’t consider 14.

To play devil’s advocate, what made you choose 14 over say, 15 or 16? Where barely any progress or modifications were made in the latter two tournaments? Not necessarily disagreeing, I am just interested.

 15 had the hardest course in the show at that point.The sun defined the tournament with the Wall dominating that tournament aswell as Shiratori's heat stroke.Memorable fails in 15 are Shinji and Yamada's fails.The Metal Spin in 14 was pathetic because the cords didn't stretch, they fixed that in 15 and it took out Nagano, his first second stage fall. Shiratori,Morgan Ham and Takeda all had very memorable runs.

16 - Fun first stage with 16 clears,Kenji Takahashi returning, Akiyama's last first stage clear, Yamada's closest chance of clearing stage 1 since 12,Shingo's fail,Metal Spin dominating,Shiratori going farther than anyone else despite being the oldest competitor in the third stage,Nagano and Koji's fails,Iketani's last attempt at the third stage.

[tns8597]

Fair enough. Do you agree with my other choices?

[zoran]

yes.Although i'd put 20 as number 1.

[darthvaderlim]

In my honest opinion
5-Sasuke 14-Aside from being the first tournament to introduce a longer Stage Three and the iconic Metal Spin, there wasn't really much to stick out from other tournaments. Though there were memorable moments, like Takeda's Stage One record with 32.44 remaining, Bunpei's Balance Tank fail, and Paul Hamm's Wall Lift run.
4-Sasuke 29-Watered down Stage One from Sasuke 28, no foreigners except for Lee. Stage Two was just time out after time out with 13 in total, a Sasuke record. Stage Three was pretty much the same, but with a time limit to decide for the ASEAN Cup, with Yusuke being the only competitior to prevent Stage Three from being identical from Sasuke 28.
3-Sasuke 20, pretty much a carbon copy of Sasuke 19, but with the ending of Sasuke 18.
2-Sasuke 26, I don't need to explain this
1-Sasuke 9, Aside for introducing the Cliffhanger Kai, Rumbling Dice, and Globe Gasper, this tournament wasn't really memorable enough, with Akiyama's Godantobi fail, and Yamada's infamous Stage Two run, and Shingo's Rumbling Duce fail. The only saving grace to this tournament is Nagano and even then, he could have cleared if he swung back one more time on the Pipe Slidet

[tns8597]

29 and 9 just missed my top five, firstly because both saw the infamous breakout runs of future champions.

29 I felt was one of those tournaments that fell into that category of being well remembered as a bad tournament: the stupid Backstream, Stage 3 timer, Morimoto blatantly cheating on the Passing Wall and so on. I suppose I’m biased as this was around the time I started going to the gym and training motivated by Sasuke. So 29 for me was quite impactful anyway.

9 I think was quite forgettable also but I only didn’t include it because it introduced some iconic obstacles that did some clear damage in Stage 3, Nagano’s breakout run, Yamada’s famous duct tape fail. The tournament ending on a disappointing note (Shingo’s fail) did really hurt it though imo.

[ChiBiJKT48]

It is another subjective list, so please no bashing.

1. SASUKE 26. ****ing hell. Beside Iketani and Okuyama's Clears, what else is memorable in this tournament?

2. SASUKE 34. No new obstacle really hurt. Morimoto did something crazy with his one arm rest on Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger and Takeda had *so far* his last First Stage Clear here, but I can't remember anything else from this tournament.

3. SASUKE 22. The first time they **** the numbering badly. If not for Kanno and Urushihara's breakthrough runs, there is nothing memorable from this tournament.

4. SASUKE 20. Agree with everyone, SASUKE 19 made this tournament forgotten. Of course there is Okuyama and Levi's breakthrough runs in here, but I think that is all.

5. SASUKE 21. No fresh new obstacle *we could agree that Hang Climbing is basically just little modification, not a major one*. However, both Nakata and Shiratori's last First Stage Clear and the first ever Shin-Cliffhanger's Clear happened here, that save situation a bit.

[tns8597]

Respectfully (no bashing as promised), I just can't agree with SASUKE 22.

This was the tournament that really signalled the start of the downfall for the All-Stars, and cemented the start of the new era of competitors. Until 18, All-Stars dominated, then with 19-21 no one did particularly well anyway due to the poor clear rate. But SASUKE 22 refreshingly saw Stages 2 and 3 comprise of all relative unknowns/first time competitors in those stages. Also, the first time that trial qualifiers did especially well: Kanno's breakout run and heartbreaking disqualification, Yuuji coming out of nowhere to be the first person in 5 tournaments to reach the Final Stage and almost achieving victory. Sure, it's not as memorable as 23 or 24 but it definitely marked a signal for the rest of the show and put several future stars on the map for the first time all at once (Lee En-Chih and Okuyama as well as those I mentioned before).

As for the numbers, I do agree that numbers 93-98 were just a case of 'why?' (I looked at the list again and it seems like they tried to fill the higher numbers with professional athletes which is why Iketani got 97), but I don't see how that makes a tournament forgettable as long as the high-profile competitors are shown. Akiyama and Shingo got low numbers, sure, but they'd been doing quite badly anyway and they were still shown in full. Also, other tournaments like 17 and 25 had weird numbering but I don't think that detracted from either particularly.

I'd like to hear more about why you put 22 just so we can debate a bit more lol. Everything else you wrote I agree with; I was close to putting SASUKE 21 but I only didn't because we got quite a few First Stage clears for the first time in a while and Takeda and Nagano also clawed back from some previously disappointing runs. Otherwise, yeah it was pretty forgettable.

[ChiBiJKT48]

The numbering did a lot of damage. That is also the reason why SASUKE 22 was among the worst five tournaments ever. Not helped also with All-Stars not clearing the First Stage. Hell, I don't even remember Iketani compete in there, you just remind me in your post. And the editing, man. They manage to put so many people between #30 and #31, that is incredible.

[tns8597]

Ok fair enough, you mentioned you're not a fan of 22 haha.

I actually thought the All-Stars not clearing Stage 1 was a good thing because it gave more emphasis on previous unknowns and changed things up a little bit. That, along with the fact that their fails were particularly memorable (e.g. Shingo's infamous HPA slip-up, Takeda failing the Jumping Spider for the first and only time), actually makes the tournament stand out more for me. Obviously, that happened in SASUKE 19 as well but it was less impactful as basically EVERYONE failed that tournament, not just the All-Stars.

I do agree the editing was pretty s**t though; digesting and cutting loads of competitors isn't excusable when there were only 5 clears (Iketani was also digested despite wearing #97 which is probably why you don't remember him). While I don't think this makes the tournament forgettable per se, they basically skipped straight from #92 (which was Takeda, who deserved #99 but once again didn't get it) to #98 as those in-between were mainly nobodies in the context of Sasuke. It definitely does undermine the whole point of emphasizing the last 10-20 competitors; that said, they did the same in 17 and it didn't really affect the tournament too much.

[s0y30nwin]

My opinion (pls don't bash me)
1. Sasuke 29 : there's nothing that impressed me much in that tournament, aside from the brutality of the Backstream and Morimoto's breakout run.
2. Sasuke 26 : do i even need to explain why i put that tournament ?
3. Sasuke 20 : the so called anniversary tournament proved nothing but a bloodbath, and eventually the starting point where the numbering system messed up.
4. Sasuke 16 : not gonna lie, i enjoyed this tournament so much back in the day, but i barely remember anything from it now days.
5. Sasuke 25 : seriously, if it wasn't because Yuuji's kanzenseiha, i don't think this tournament made a great impact, and only few moments that i can still remember.