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Field of View: The History of Nup! Squad Features The history of N!SF is a powerful, moving and inspirational tale of one team’s determination to be the best in what we have now come to know as the Golden Age of gaming. It is an arduous journey with seeds in humble beginnings that follows our members through hardships and turmoil, leading ultimately to fame, glory and respect throughout global gaming society. Nup! Squad Features’ earliest recorded impact on the professional gaming circuit took place in the summer of ’97, mere months after the release of Nintendo’s revolutionary 64-bit console. During a joyous and productive session of Super Mario 64, N!SF Founding Member lankycheese stumbled upon an open challenge in the latest issue of Nintendo Power. Calling for video footage of players earning the game’s 100% status in the fastest time possible, lankycheese saw in this competition an opportunity like no other. Immediately he set to work, developing a rigorous training schedule by which he would spend hour after hour determining the quickest route to 120 stars. All other priorities were laid to rest when finally, days before the competition deadline, the speed-run was complete. Tense weeks past as the VHS tape was flown via Courier Express to Nintendo Power’s offices in Washington, USA. During this time, lankycheese and second N!SF Founding Member ThePhotoshop engaged in numerous high-stakes multiplayer battles of GoldenEye 007, each match bolstering their reflexes, coordination and first-person shooter skillsets. It was not long before lankycheese, after returning one afternoon from school, found an officially stamped envelope awaiting him. Upon removing the wax seal, he discovered his wildest dreams as a Nintendo fanboy had come true: inside was an official invitation to compete in Nintendo Power’s International Goldeneye 007 Championship, held in North America. The invitational competition was a team-based tournament, with 2v2 matches conducted elimination style. Contestants had been chosen based on prowess displayed in their Super Mario 64 speed-runs – a perfect indication of a player’s skill, dexterity, and endurance thresholds. It was after reading this that lankycheese discovered a second surprise; attached to the invitation were first class tickets to Nintendo Power’s stadium in Washington State, site of the fateful tournament. These tickets were in honour of his speed-run’s record setting time of 1 hour, 42 minutes and 39 seconds, a time that to this day has yet to be surpassed. The nineteen hour flight was tense and nerve-wracking, as ThePhotoshop and lankycheese bounced various tactics and strategies off each other. Movement patterns, weapon damage outputs and map layouts were extensively examined, allowing the two players to co-ordinate their play-styles and ensure maximum area coverage and combat effectiveness. Counter-strategies were then developed so that the Founding Members might predict their enemies’ movements and ensure swift and painless victory. All was looking well, as the plane landed and began to taxi.
Dawn had broken, and the day of the Championship had finally arrived. ThePhotoshop performed his hand stretches whilst lankycheese dissembled, cleaned and oiled his controller. Two warp-up rounds were played as both players ensured all was in readiness before leaving for the stadium. Forty-five minutes passed as lankycheese and ThePhotoshop exchanged no words over the course of the car trip, instead spending the time calling forth every last reserve of their mental capacity. Their destination reached, the Founding Members stepped out from the limousine and were immediately taken aback, as they beheld the Nintendo Power Stadium.
A short pause followed as lankycheese and ThePhotoshop looked at each other. Circling through the high columns, a small gust of wind could be heard escaping through the front door as ThePhotoshop returned his gaze to the secretary with his reply. “Nup...Squad Features.” The secretary could not help but pause in wonder as the name reverberated through the lobby. She came to, entered the details into the computer and showed Nup! Squad Features to their Green Room.
Their first match beginning, N!SF stepped up to their soundproof terminal across from the opposition. Both teams stared at the giant electronic billboard with breath held, awaiting the game mode that would be played. The board currently stated that all games would be “First to 20 Points”, followed by blank sections for Level, Weapons and Scenario. Whilst ThePhotoshop and lankycheese had trained for all possible combinations, they still possessed weaknesses when it came to Rocket Launchers and other explosives, and so prayed they would not have to face these shortcomings. The board lit up. The crowd and competitors leaned closer.
Match after match followed, as ThePhotoshop’s and lankycheese’s very limits as gamers were tested. Every possible combination was thrown at them; from Proximity Mines and Flag tag, to Sniper Rifles and You Only Live Twice, to Throwing Knives and License to Kill. The battles became harder and often lasted up to an hour at a time as N!SF continued to rise through the ranks and eliminate all opposition. The opposition stepped up, and the teams exchanged powerful stares as the billboard above lit up. Level: Complex This was it, the final battle. With Power Weapons, an all-out, crowd pleasing brawl was guaranteed to take place. Skill and tactics took a backseat as reflexes and speed would win out. The round began, the camera spinning around the characters as players entered the game; ThePhotoshop as the Arctic Commando and lankycheese as Trevelyan. Bullets flied, walls were shattered and epochs were shifted as the two teams called upon every last ounce of mental and physical energy. The scores remained steady throughout the round, with the opposition preferring the Shotgun and RCP90 to ThePhotoshop’s and lankycheese’s armour-piercing Cougar Magnums. Tensions ran high as the game approached the hour-and-a-half mark with both teams tied at eighteen kills each. ThePhotoshop began to take fire, and proceeded to retreat with lankycheese. Running low on magnum ammunition, ThePhotoshop climbed up a ramp to a raised portion of the level – a one-way alley with no way out. It is here that he witnessed both enemies below him converging on their position. All escape routes were covered and lankycheese began to engage the enemies. However, he was easily overwhelmed as his vision was disrupted by an RCP90 and fatal damage taken from an Automatic Shotgun. The final shell discharged and the screen next to ThePhotoshop’s ran red with blood as lankycheese was downed, leaving N!SF one point behind and the opposition with only one point between them and victory.
The crowd watched as the bottom half of the screen ran red with blood, and all paused for a moment until they could take in what just happened. The boards lit up; N!SF had won the Grand Final, at a score of 20 – 19. Victorious amidst the hysterical cheers of the crowd, the two teams approached each other and shook hands. No words were exchanged, yet all could tell the words on each other’s lips: See you next year. The opposition departed, and N!SF were approached by Nintendo Power representatives. They informed ThePhotoshop and lankycheese of a small detail: Although this is a team-based tournament, the Final match was yet to be conducted. The Founding Members of N!SF still had to battle each other in a one-on-one battle to decide the ultimate victor. Thrilled with the opportunity to finally decide who was the better player, ThePhotoshop and lankycheese agreed, and made ready to fight. Though they had displayed incredible skill and teamwork throughout the tournament, the true proving grounds for N!SF were about to begin. ThePhotoshop and lankycheese eagerly watched the monitor as the round conditions were being decided. Suddenly, it came to life: Level: Stack ThePhotoshop could not believe his luck as lankycheese was visibly cursing inside his soundproof terminal. This would a walkthrough. The round started, and after a short game of cat and mouse, ThePhotoshop scored the first kill. Immediately he began his pattern, locating the spawn, quickly killing his opponent and moving to the next before anything could be done. At his ten kills to lankycheese’s zero, both he and the crowd knew there was nothing that could be done. Upon moving to the eleventh kill, ThePhotoshop made a fatal mistake and overconfidently lead his target for a few seconds before closing in for a headshot. He fired, the bullet smacked against the green wall. Stunned for a second, ThePhotoshop resumed his pursuit of lankycheese, but it was too late; he had escaped. The crowd cheered for lankycheese as he strafe-ran as fast as he could toward a weapon. Picking up a Silenced PP7 and moving to the upper catwalk, lankycheese calmed himself and focused on his objective. Sure enough, ThePhotoshop was not far behind, pulling the trigger as fast as he could in a panic. Lankycheese took aim, held his breath, and fired. Both players dropped, and blood ran down the entire screen. From that point on, everything was in lankycheese’s favour. ThePhotoshop’s method had been shot completely out of whack, and he struggled to regain his momentum whilst dieing again and again to lankycheese’s precise shots. However, there was no coming back, and lankycheese scored his final kill, taking out the win at 20 – 11.
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