By: Frank Vaisvilas, Daily Southtown
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Jacob Waller had spent many hours mastering every move of his favorite Pokemon fighting character, he nearly met his match a round before competing for the championship.
The 17-year-old from Oak Forest ended up winning it all, despite being the second youngest of more than 100 competitors in the masters’ division of the Pokemon North America International Championships July 6 to 8 in Columbus, Ohio.
Waller plays Pokken, an offshoot of the Pokemon video game series that is a fighting game similar to Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat.
He had started with Pokemon, a turn-based game in which players collect avatars they use to fight each other, when he was around age 5, and started competing in Pokemon tournaments in 2013.
But when Pokken was released three years ago, Waller soon found a character he loved in Sceptile, a reptilian-like creature with a V-shaped forehead.
“His movement looked great. That sealed the deal,” he said. “I was determined to master him and to try my best like a fanboy.”
Waller said he enjoys Sceptile’s ninja moves, his ability to hang in the air and his use of traps.
“I’m just really happy I’m so good at it,” he said.
All Waller’s hours of training came to fruit during the tournament as he easily defeated players about 10 years older than him. He competed under the screenname ThanksAlot, but most of the guys just called him the kid.
Then came a player in his 20s going by the name of Toasty who used the character Lucario, an all-around fighter who looks like a fox.
“Every round was super close,” Waller said.
He had to win three out of five games, with each game consisting of the best of three rounds.
Waller was used to winning early in the tournament but against Toasty it went to game five.
“I was a bit worried there,” he said.
But Waller’s Sceptile prevailed, and he moved on to the championship round against player InC Rokso, an opponent who didn’t prove to be as nail-biting, or finger-numbing, as the previous one.
Waller was awarded with an invite to the Pokemon World Championships next month in Nashville, Tenn. where he’ll compete for his share of $500,000 in prizes.
He might have to miss the first couple days of his senior year at Oak Forest High School in order to compete.
Though his mother, Diane Kemp, said she doesn’t understand much of what Jacob and his friends say to each other when talking about gaming, she doesn’t think he’s wasting his time playing video games.
“I’m very proud of him,” she said. “He always gives 110 percent. He’s in his element when he’s there. … It makes him very happy, so in turn it makes me very happy.”
Jacob is the youngest of five siblings and Diane Waller describes two of them at “techy” and three of them as “sporty.”
In keeping with his passion, Waller said he’d like to help design video games when he grows up.
But he has a world championship to strive for first.