Leicester’s Hypercombo is revived in a new venue

By Muhsin Cabdi

A bar in Leicester has successfully rescued one of the city’s most popular gaming events after its previous home closed down.

Firebug is a bar on 1 Millstone Lane in Leicester which opens at 12.00 p.m and closes at 04.00 a.m and its upstairs room is booked for a variety of different events and activities throughout the week

One of these activities is the Hypercombo event, which is held in the upstairs room every two weeks on a Monday from 06.00 p.m to 11.00 p.m.

The event is run by Will Burnett, along with twin brother Ryan and Jake Neal, and is popular with both veteran and amateur gamers alike.

Several screens and monitors are set up and a variety of fighting games can be played by people who attend the event.

Some of the games are also streamed online on a Twitch channel, with added commentary from Will, Ryan and Jake.

Ryan said: ” The name Hypercombo I believe is in reference to a move in Marvel vs Capcom 3, it’s called a Hypercombo and that’s pretty much where the influence for that came from.”

The event was recently revived at Firebug, after previously being hosted by The Font.

Ryan added: “The Font was closed down near the end of last year, about halfway through last year actually and basically the Leicester scene lost its local then.

“And no-one really had the time to do anything about the fact that we needed a new venue.”

The revival of Hypercombo was a joint effort by Ryan and Jake as long time members of the fighting game community, and Will, who provided the streaming equipment for the games.

Jake said: “We both have a background in both corporate fighting games as well as community as we both have  a lot of experience in both sides of it.

“So we’re in a perfect position to use those contacts to get prizes, to get support and to reach out to the local people in the area.”

One of Jake’s fondest moments since the revival of the Hypercombo event was the Soul Calibur tournament held on Monday, November 6, to celebrate the release of Soul Calibur 6, the latest instalment in the franchise.

Ryan said: “We grew up playing fighting games together.

“I feel like if you’re brothers  and you grew up playing games it’s pretty much the genre you play.”

Anyone interested in the event can watch the live stream at www.twitch.tv/PNDKetchup or follow them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/groups/hypercomboleicester