ZeRo
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| ZeRo | |
|---|---|
| Current team | |
| Team | Team SoloMid |
| Games | Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (retired) Super Smash Bros. Brawl (retired) Super Smash Bros. Melee (retired) Project M (retired) |
| Status | Currently Retired |
| Personal information | |
| Name | Gonzalo Barrios |
| Born | April 17, 1995 |
| Nationality | Chilean |
| Team history | |
| 2011 | vVv Gaming |
| 2014 | Clash Tournaments |
| 2015 - present | Team SoloMid |
Gonzalo Barrios (born April 17, 1995), known by his gamertag ZeRo, is a Chilean professional Super Smash Bros. player. He is considered the best Super Smash Bros. for Wii U player in the world throughout his Smash career. ZeRo had a record-breaking 56-tournament winning streak in 2015, in which he also won several high-profile tournaments like EVO 2015 and The Big House 5. In the past he has been a top ranked Super Smash Bros. Brawl player. He mainly plays as Diddy Kong in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Pit in Project M, Meta Knight in Brawl, and Fox in Melee. He is the only person to earn more than US$100,000 playing Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Career
Barrios has occupied the gamertag of ZeRo since 2005, and has been playing the games of Nintendo franchise Smash since Super Smash Bros. since 1999, the same year as the original Super Smash Bros. game on the Nintendo 64 was released.[1] He started to travel and play in Melee tournaments in a local Akiba Game Store in early 2007.[2] ZeRo quit Smash completely until December 2010 and then focused only on Brawl. After being invited to the Smash Bros. Invitational ZeRo went on to win the event, going through winners bracket and beating Hungrybox in the first Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournament.
ZeRo placed second in Brawl at Apex 2014, losing to Nairo and was the champion of the Smash Wii U at Apex 2015.[3][4] He defeated Dabuz, who was playing Captain Olimar, in the finals. ZeRo qualified for the MLG Anaheim 2014 championship bracket and finished 17th. ZeRo was ranked in 2014 by Melee it on Me as the 35th best Melee player in the world.[5]
On November 25, 2014, he criticized Diddy Kong's repetitive playstyle in Smash Wii U, claiming that Diddy was "killing the game".[6] However, ZeRo later retracted the statement, and later said Diddy Kong was his favorite character to play with, leading to his role in "maining" the character in tournaments.[7] Barrios streams on twitch.tv Mondays through Saturdays at varying times, usually for around 8 hours a day.[8] ZeRo attributes much of his success in tournaments to training with fellow competitive Super Smash Bros. professional Mew2King.[4] He was sponsored by Clash Tournaments for part of 2014 until resigning in November. e-Sports Earnings estimates that ZeRo has earned a career total of US$ 31,484.22 from tournaments. ZeRo was considered the third best Brawl player in the world by Clash Tournaments in the 2014 SSBBRank, published at the end of the year.[4]
In early 2014, he picked up playing Melee once again, as well as the Brawl mod Project M. Since November 2014 when he placed third at Sky's Smash 4 Invitational, ZeRo has reigned triumphant by placing first in every singles Wii U tournament he has participated in.[9] As of early 2014 ZeRo was making approximately US$40,000 a year from prize money, sponsorships, and twitch.tv streaming money etc.[10] by ZeRo has had a "bounty" placed on his head that will be paid to anybody who can take a set from him at any future tournament.
ZeRo won EVO 2015, the largest Smash for Wii U. tournament at the time beating Mr. R in the finals. On the August 1, 2015, Team SoloMid announced ZeRo as the second player in their Super Smash Bros. division.[11]
At The Big House 5, ZeRo was knocked into Loser's bracket very early, fastly putting his first place tournament run in jeopardy, though qualified for Top 32. He led off by defeating Sonic "main" StaticManny, Sheik "main" and top Melee player Wizzrobe, Mario "main" Ally, and Pikachu "main" ESAM to make top 8. In top 8, he beat Mario "main" Zenyou, Rosalina and Luma "main" Raquayza07, and beat Mario "main" ANTi in a very close set. In Loser's finals, he handily beat Dabuz, who plays Rosalina and Luma, to make it to Grand Finals against Team Liquid's Nairo. After easily beating Nairo in the first set of Grand Finals, ZeRo ended the tournament with a win in the second set, 3-2, to win TBH5, despite suffering an early upset.[12]
In MLG World Finals 2015, ZeRo defeated Ness "main" Nakat, StaticManny, Ally, and ESAM to fight Zero Suit Samus "main" Nairo in Grand Finals, coming from the Winner's side. There, Nairo took two sets off of ZeRo, ending ZeRo's reign at 56 tournaments.
ZeRo suffered from a hand injury in early 2016 which prevented him from competing from March until May 2016. After his return he still remained dominant, but he was significantly less dominant than before his injury, as many more players were able to defeat him. While he was losing more than he did in 2015, ZeRo remained one of the best players in the world in 2016 - 2017.
After his persistent success in the Super Smash Bros. scene, ZeRo is widely accepted as the #1 Super Smash Bros. for Wii U player in the world.
Hiatus
On January 12, 2018, hours after ZeRo once again was ranked 1st on the Panda Global Rankings v4, ZeRo announced his hiatus from the Smash competitive scene, saying that it was because of a lack of motivation. [13] However, he still continues to be involved with the scene, and frequently streams the game on his Twitch account. During his hiatus, he was invited to the Smash Bros. Ultimate Invitational and won, beating MKLeo in the grand finals.
Popular culture
Kotaku named "ZeRo, The Smash Bros. Champ" as one of the gamers of 2015, honoring his 56 tournament streak.[14][15]
Personal life
Barrios is from Chillán, Chile, and currently lives in Chicago, Illinois.[16] He had an older sister.[17] Zero temporarily resided in Phoenix, Arizona in Early 2015. In November 2015, ZeRo became engaged to his girlfriend Vanessa.
Harassment and death threats
ZeRo was notably harassed by a fan at 2GGT: Abadango Saga which forced event administration to intervene as the fan became highly disruptive.[18] ZeRo has notably received plenty of detractors who have spoken about his playstyle negatively. This has escalated to him receiving a total of ten death threats, which has prompted him to hire a bodyguard to be with him at all times.[19]
Tournament placings
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apex 2012 | January 6–8, 2012 | 17th | 9th | Kadaj |
| Apex 2013 | January 11–13, 2013 | 9th | 13th | quiKsilver |
| SKTAR 2 | August 3–4, 2013 | 5th | 4th | Ally |
| KTAR 8 | December 28, 2013 | 2nd | 3rd | Salem |
| Forest Temple | January 11, 2014 | 1st | 1st | FOW |
| Apex 2014 | January 17–19, 2014 | 2nd | 5th | Chib0 |
| Shuffle V | February 22–23, 2014 | 1st | 7th | Chibo |
| Collision 9 | March 15, 2014 | 1st | 2nd | Vex Kasrani |
| KTAR 9 | March 22, 2014 | 1st | 3rd | Seagull Joe |
| WHOBO MLG | May 3–4, 2014 | 1st | 2nd | Denti |
| Hitbox Arena Warm-Up Welcome | May 10, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
| SKTAR 3 | May 31-June 1, 2014 | 4th | 4th | Vex Kasrani |
| GUTS 3 | September 19–21, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
Super Smash Bros. Melee
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shuffle V | February 22–23, 2014 | 13th | 3rd | Nintendude |
| Revival of Melee 7 | March 8–9, 2014 | 17th | 9th | Vex Kasrani |
| KTAR 9 | March 22, 2014 | 7th | 1st | Mew2King |
| WHOBO MLG | May 3–4, 2014 | 4th | — | — |
| Pat's House 2 | May 24–25, 2014 | 17th | 7th | Westballz |
| SKTAR 3 | May 31-June 1, 2014 | 9th | 5th | s0ft |
| SSS Lock-In | June 14–15, 2014 | 9th | 3rd | S2J |
| MLG Anaheim 2014 | June 20–22, 2014 | 17th | 13th | DEHF |
| CEO 2014 | June 27–29, 2014 | 17th | 4th | ESAM |
| Kings of Cali 4 | July 5–6, 2014 | 13th | 5th | Westballz |
| EVO 2014 | July 11–13, 2014 | 17th | 5th | KoreanDJ |
| Zenith 2014 | August 2–3, 2014 | 7th | 2nd | Axe |
| Mass Madness CE | August 23, 2014 | 5th | 1st | Hax |
Project M
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KTAR 8 | December 28, 2013 | 17th | — | — |
| Shuffle V | February 22–23, 2014 | 13th | 1st | Denti |
| KTAR 9 | March 22, 2014 | 9th | 2nd | Seagull Joe |
| WHOBO MLG | May 3–4, 2014 | 1st | 1st | Denti |
| Project M Showdown 3.02 | May 17, 2014 | 1st | 1st | ChuDat |
| SKTAR 3 | May 31-June 1, 2014 | 9th | 1st | Rolex |
| CEO 2014 | June 27–29, 2014 | 1st | 2nd | Mew2King |
| EVO 2014 Day 2 Side Tournament | July 12, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
| Zenith 2014 | August 2–3, 2014 | 1st | 1st | Mew2King |
| GUTS 3 | September 19–21, 2014 | 1st | 1st | Emukiller |
| The Big House 4 | October 4–5, 2014 | 1st | 1st | Mew2King |
Super Smash Bros. Wii U
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super Smash Bros. Invitational | June 10, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
| Sky's Smash 4 Invitational | November 20–22, 2014 | 3rd | 5th | Mr. R |
| UGC Biweekly #17 | November 29, 2014 | 1st | 1st | Tyrant |
| Triumph or Die 2014 | November 30, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
| Super Smash Weekend 12-6-2014 | December 6, 2014 | 1st | 1st | Tyrant |
| Super Smash Saturdays 12-20-2014 | December 20, 2014 | 1st | 1st | Tearbear |
| UGC Biweekly #18 | December 21, 2014 | 1st | 1st | Xzax |
| Double Vegas Down Attack 5 | December 22, 2014 | 1st | 1st | Tyrant |
| SkillCon | December 26-January 2, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| UGC Smash v2.2 Road to Final Battle! | January 3, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Tyrant |
| Warriors Path 1/4 | January 4, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Xzax |
| Clash Online Invitational Finals | January 11, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Double Vegas Down Attack 6 | January 12, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Xzax |
| Final Battle | January 17, 2015 | 1st | 2nd | Tyrant |
| Smash 4 Worldwide | January 18, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Apex 2015 | January 30-February 1, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Mew2King |
| COTU VI | February 7, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Larry Lurr |
| Showdown VI | March 1, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Cyberzone 3/14 | March 14, 2015 | 1st | 1st | SS |
| The Gaming Zone 3/21 | March 21, 2015 | 1st | 1st | SS |
| Shockwave 22 | March 27, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Dabuz |
| Aftershock | March 28–29, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Dabuz |
| Double Vegas Down Attack 8 | March 30, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Come on and Ban #13 | April 2, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| NorCal Regionals 2015 | April 3–5, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Zex |
| MVG Sandstorm | April 18–19, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Mew2King |
| Chokaigi 2015 | April 25–26, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Mew2King |
| Fire & Dice Thur #9 | April 30, 2015 | 1st | 2nd | K9 |
| Smash 4 Oomba 5/1 | May 1, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Mr. ConCon |
| Fire & Dice Sundays #16 | May 3, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Xzax |
| Oblivion Tournaments Biweekly 5/5[permanent dead link] | May 5, 2015 | 1st | 1st | K9 |
| Fire & Dice Thur #10 | May 7, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Fire & Dice Thur #11 | May 14, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Smash 4 Oomba 5/15 | May 15, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| BESST 2015 | May 17, 2015 | 1st | 1st | K9 |
| Double Vegas Down Attack 9 | May 18, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Combo Breaker 2015 | May 22–24, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Double Vegas Down Attack 10 | May 30–31, 2015 | 1st | 1st | FOW |
| LA PARADISO | June 13–14, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Stingers |
| CEO 2015 | June 26–28, 2015 | 1st | 3rd | Hungrybox |
| FC Smash 15XR: Return | July 4–5, 2015 | 1st | 2nd | Hungrybox |
| EVO 2015 | July 17–19, 2015 | 1st | Top 16 | Anti |
| MSS 1 | July 25, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Top Cut Comics 7/28 | July 28, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Poplar 7/30 | July 30, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Low Tier City 3 | August 1–2, 2015 | 1st | 2nd | Mew2King |
| Super Smash Con | August 6–9, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Nairo |
| PAX Prime 2015 | August 28–30, 2015 | 1st | 1st | MVD |
| Top Cut Comics 9/12 | September 12, 2015 | 1st | 5th | HoRi |
| Sunday Smash 34 | September 13, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Top Cut Comics 9/15 | September 15, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| Poplar 9/17 | September 17, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Shevy |
| Rebirth V | September 19, 2015 | 1st | 1st | V115 |
| Smash 4-Ever #26 | September 30, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| The Big House 5 | October 2–4, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Nairo |
| MLG World Finals 2015 | October 16–18, 2015 | 2nd | 1st | Nairo |
| E2C 19 | October 24, 2015 | 1st | 1st | Zinoto |
| Tipped Off 11 | November 7–8, 2015 | 1st | 1st | 6WX |
| iBUYPOWER Cup | November 14, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
| GENESIS 3 | January 15–17, 2016 | 1st | 2nd | Nairo |
| Get On My Level 2016 | May 20–22, 2016 | 2nd | — | — |
| 2GGT: Mexico Saga | June 4, 2016 | 2nd | 5th | VoiD |
| Smash'N'Splash 2 | June 11–12, 2016 | 2nd | 2nd | Abadango |
| Low Tier City 4 | June 18–19, 2016 | 1st | 1st | Nairo |
| CEO 2016 | June 24–26, 2016 | 9th | 3rd | Nairo |
| WTFox 2 | July 1–3, 2016 | 3rd | 1st | Mr. R |
| EVO 2016 | July 15–16, 2016 | 3rd | — | — |
| Super Smash Con 2016 | August 11–14, 2016 | 13th | 2nd | Nairo |
| Endgame | August 20–21, 2016 | 1st | 1st | Ally |
| Shine 2016 | August 26–28, 2016 | 1st | 2nd | ESAM |
| Collision XIV | September 3, 2016 | 4th | 1st | Nairo |
| 2GGT: Abadango Saga | September 24, 2016 | 1st | 1st | Komorikiri |
| The Big House 6 | October 7–9, 2016 | 1st | 1st | Nairo |
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xanadu Smash 4 Invitational | November 6, 2014 | 7th | — |
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
| Tournament | Date | Placement |
|---|---|---|
| Super Smash Bros. Invitational | June 12, 2018 | 1st |
References
- ^ Zárate, Daniela (June 11, 2014). "Chileno es campeón del primer torneo oficial del "Super Smash Bros."". Emol. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ^ Torres, Juan Angel (June 18, 2014). "Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios: "Comencé a estudiar Smash en un ciber"". El Nortero. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ^ Walker, Ian "iantothemax" (February 6, 2015). "ZeRo Demonstrates the Strength of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U's Diddy Kong at Apex 2015". Shoryuken. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
- ^ a b c Chibo. "#SSBBRank 1 – 3: The Grand Finale". Clash Tournaments. Archived from the original on December 30, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Lee, Daniel. "SSBM Rank 2014 (40-31)". Melee it on Me. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
- ^ LeJacq, Yannick (December 30, 2014). "Why Hardcore Smash Bros. Players Can't Stand Diddy Kong Right Now". Kotaku. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "ZeRo". twitch.tv. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
- ^ Hernandez, Patricia (May 20, 2015). "Smash Bros. Player Is So Damn Good, There's Now A Bounty On His Head". Retrieved May 20, 2015.
- ^ Lopez, Alan (May 16, 2015). "Feature: The Poor Career Choice of Super Smash Bros. Professionals". Nintendo Life. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
- ^ Wolf, Jacob. "ZeRo joins Team SoloMid". dailydot.com. Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ https://smash.gg/tournament/the-big-house-5/bracketfvs/10302/2722/8091
- ^ https://twitter.com/TSMZeRo/status/951914839709974529
- ^ http://kotaku.com/the-gamers-of-the-year-2015-1749440335
- ^ http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/17506693/zero-featured-guiness-book-world-records-gamers-edition
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEDFbv0JWJg
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIbvRN59Wzk
- ^ Kent, Mike. "Pro Smash Player Harassed By Fan At Major Event". Dexerto. Retrieved 2016-09-26.
- ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia. "World's Best Smash 4 Player Is Worn Down By Haters And Harassment". Compete. Retrieved 2017-10-20.