Crash2991 vs. NS2

Crash2991 vs. NS2
Standard
Start Date	March 16th, 2008
End Date	March 26th, 2008
Rounds	8
Participants	Crash2991, NS2
Match Page	(to be added)

Crash2991 vs. NS2 was a Youtube Poop/Video Tennis match that took place between March 16 and March 26, 2008. A rare 8 round match to happen in this period, it was one of a series of matches played during the Spring and Summer of 2008 that saw the consolidation of the first generation of tennis staff as players, friends and community presences. These matches include theHappyFungus vs. RabbitSnore, theHappyFungus vs. RAKninja, theHappyFungus vs. Nuthead, Crash2991 vs. RAKninja, Crash2991 vs. strong414bad, RabbitSnore vs. Nuthead, theHappyFungus vs. NS2, and Nuthead vs. NS2. Sources added in this match include Sgt. Frog, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind(1984), Gundam Wing, GaoGaiGar, Azumanga Daioh!, Final Fantasy: Unlimited, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star, Street Fighter(1995-1997), Ultraman(Episode 1 - "Ultra Operation No.1"(1966)), Yatterman(2008 series), the Chrono Trigger anime pilot, Hokuto No Ken(Fist of the North Star), Voltes V, a commercial for Super Mario Kart(SNES, 1992), Norm Augustinus, Burnout 3(PS2/Xbox, 2004), School Days(PS2, 2005), Super Smash Bros. Brawl(Wii, 2008), Super Smash Bros. Melee(GCN, 2001), Metal Gear Solid(PS1, 1998), Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction(PS3, 2007), Higurashi Daybreak(PC/PSP, 2006), Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!(DS, 2005), F-Zero GX(GCN, 2003), The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess(GCN/Wii, 2006), a portrait of Maximilien Robespierre, a photo of R.O.B. from Super Smash Bros. Brawl as "ROBespierre", the Kenji Otsuki song "Odoru Akachan Nigen"(2006, best known as the end credits music for Welcome to the NHK), the Max Coveri song "Running in the 90's"(1998), and the Genesis song "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight"(1986).

This was the second match to be played by NS2 and the fifth match to be played by Crash2991. It was one of the final matches played during the "Vanilla" era of the YouChew forums, with the Vanilla forums becoming shut down only five days after this match completed and replaced with fresh new forum software under RabbitSnore and TINS. As such, this became one of 25 matches to occur during the Vanilla era chosen for inclusion in the new Tennis: Archives subforum, with a new thread being created for it there in late May 2008. NS2 prefaced this thread with this introduction:

"Anyone who plays Crash is in for a match that will be legendary. That's what I felt during the whole of this match, and I realized this was true among others when even strong414bad felt legendary when playing him. I created some of my best [videos] in this match (specifically Round 8), and it literally blew my mind."

Around the one-year anniversary of the match's beginning, Crash2991 referred to it as "probably one of my favorite tennis matches and one that holds a special place with me" and that "It started off a beautiful friendship that still exists today."

Crash2991 privated all of his videos in 2011; his full body of work was saved and uploaded to archive.org in December 2019, allowing for his matches to be seen in full again. It was first compiled into a single video on the YouWouldBeWelcome account(then called "maniafax") in December 2019.

INCREDIBLE LASER SWORD

A key piece of early tennis community lore originates in this match. In Crash2991's Round 7, "The Revolutionary Cat Army Take Down The Penguin King", a clip from the Telesuccess English dub of the 1977 mecha anime Voltes V is added, consisting of Kenichi Goh declaring while helping to pilot the titular robot, "WE'LL FINISH HIM OFF WITH OUR INCREDIBLE LASER SWORD!". The phrase "Incredible Laser Sword" is a mistranslation from the original more-accurate "Heaven Sword" ("Tenkuu-ken"), and was likely included into the match to poke humorous fun at it. Nonetheless, it appears that there was some affection for this phrase; a month later, on April 19, 2008, Crash2991 announced in YouChew's Tennis Café thread the formation of a "team" with the name of Incredible Laser Sword consisting of the other regulars of the thread, which just so happened to include everyone that was to become a part of the first generation of tennis staff, including RabbitSnore. This would later extend to a separate YouTube channel created under the name IncredibleLaserSword, in which two collaborative videos created by the entire original staff (plus Markie) were uploaded in mid 2008. An elaborate Chewiki page detailing the made-up-for-fun origins of Incredible Laser Sword and the backstory and skills of each of its individual members was written by RabbitSnore, with the non tennis staff members being listed as Markie, MAZZ0Murder, and Sonicnerd23. Furnessly added a section titled "The NEW INCREDIBLE LASER SWORD" to the page in 2009, detailing a story involving the newer café regulars at the time, including ChrisGendo (as "Revolver ChrisGendolot"), Moogle (as "Mooglenova"), vvaluigi (as "VvaluigiAFox"), DaftPunkYoshi (as "D.P. Yoshi"), and himself (as "Furn McGuire"). During the Tennis Season in 2009, the name Incredible Laser Sword was used for a team consisting almost entirely of tennis staff members. This included three of its originals(RabbitSnore, RAKninja and Crash2991), its newest member(DaftPunkYoshi) and a non-staff regular (vvaluigi).

The Full Match

Round 1

"ALIEMS VS. GIANT MONSTER LADY" by Crash2991

Round 2

"(Tennis) Wolf Interrupts the Aliens" by NS2

Round 3

"THE CAT SAVES THE ALIENS" by Crash2991

Round 4

"(Tennis) Sekai Kills the Cat" by NS2

Round 5

"THE CAT RISES FROM THE GRAVE AND DESTROYS THE WORLD!" by Crash2991

Round 6

"(Tennis) The Penguin King Resurrects the World" by NS2

Round 7

"The Revolutionary Cat Army Take Down The Penguin King" by Crash2991

Round 8

"(Tennis) Cats Got Nothing on Incredible Laser Swords" by NS2