Zap! Chop! Fizzle. . . : Power Cuts Out as Video Game Junkies Shoot for U.S. Title

Video game junkies who journeyed here Friday to zap, nuke and karate-chop their opponents for the coveted title of Nintendo Master were left without much action when a power failure blackened dozens of screens 20 minutes into the first day of competition.

But Matthew Petrikas, an 11-year-old from Norco, didn’t mind much. He led the competition with 961,050 points after one round.

Even though there was still two days of competition left, Petrikas could imagine himself as regional champ. “That would be cool!” he said.

PowerFest 94, the first national promotional tour by Nintendo, drew a slim 25 young followers to the parking lot of the Central T.V., Furniture and Appliance store here for the start of local competition.

Organizers said they expect about 8,000 people to attend over the three days of the tournament. Players can either sample Nintendo’s latest game for fun or they can compete against each other for the regional title. The eight highest scorers will do battle for that honor here Sunday at 3 p.m.

There is no limit to the number of times a person can play. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, at 2120 S. Bristol St.

Santa Ana is one of 150 cities nationwide to participate in the tournament. The national competition will be held at Sea World in San Diego this November, said Brian Ray, a field manager of Nintendo. A National Video Game champion will be crowned then.

Friday’s competitors gathered at a purple trailer, which housed a bank of television monitors displaying Nintendo’s latest games.

However, a generator supplying power to the trailer failed shortly before 2:30 p.m. Competition didn’t resume until about 6 p.m.

As they waited for the generator to be repaired, the young contestants gathered around the trailer to talk shop.

One hopeful contender, Robert Johnston, 16, of Pasadena, was disappointed with the spectacle of blank screens and sparse crowd.

“We thought there would be more than this,” Johnston said. “And it doesn’t help to have the power go out.”

Johnston and two of his friends killed a few hours dissecting the art of “Mortal Combat,” a popular video game that dominated discussion among the small group of contestants.

“It requires strategy, hand-eye coordination,” Johnston said.

But Pedro Negron, 13, and his pals from Santa Ana mostly like the game’s blood and guts.

“It’s bloody. It’s fun. It’s cool,” Negron declared.

The purpose of the game is to be the best bad guy, they explained.

“You can rip their heart out, take out their spinal cord and head, take their soul, cut them in half,” Negron said. “My sister gets mad ‘cause I waste too much electricity (playing the game).”

Although popular, “Mortal Combat” wasn’t among the three games included in the competition, which combines scores from three other popular games: “Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels,” “Super Mario Kart” and “Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball.”

Games such as “Super Bomber Man,” “Street Fighter II,” “Battle Cars,” “Ren and Stimpy” and dozens more also were available for those who preferred not to compete.

Last week, an 8-year-old girl in Tennessee set a record of 1,196,000 points during competition, but she will not be going to San Diego because she lost during a subsequent elimination round, Nintendo officials said.