Changes

On the 29th March 1994, it was his father's birthday and several friends and family visited Sami's home. During this time Sami felt it would be a good occasion to organise Super Mario Kart Tournament between the family friends that were attending. 8 players were gathered for a Match Race tournament and were organised into the brackets for single match races. As most of the players were on a beginner to intermediate level at the time it was kept only to Mushroom Cup courses. The participants included Sami's brother Hakan, sister Ayla, cousin Esra, friend Jonathan Cem Pulleine (later ranked on the Time Trial site) and 3 more friends of the family. The Semi-Finals saw a face off between Sami and one of the players with Sami reaching the final. Hakan did really well in his Semi-Final but was overtaken by Cem. The final took place on Mario Circuit 2 with Sami having a bad start after being hit by Cem's red shell. Sami made a comeback in the last lap with a Mushroom to win the Tournament that day. He did not participate in a similar Tournament again until 2006.

On the 29th March 1994, Sami organized a Super Mario Kart Tournament between family and friends. 8 players were gathered for a Match Race tournament and were organised into the brackets for single match races. As most of the players were on a beginner to intermediate level at the time it was kept only to Mushroom Cup courses. The Semi-Finals saw a face off between Sami and one of the players with Sami reaching the final. Hakan did really well in his Semi-Final but was overtaken by Cem. The final took place on Mario Circuit 2 with Sami having a bad start after being hit by Cem's red shell. Sami made a comeback in the last lap with a Mushroom to win the Tournament that day. He did not participate in a similar Tournament again until 2006.

In Summer of 1999 Sami travelled to Turkey with an ambition to expand the site. He took several documents with him to help him work on the expansion. He was discussing ideas with the Kart Historian of the Player's site of Mario Kart 64, Kevin Booth and decided that he would like to create a similar format for Super Mario Kart. A full Player's site with more features such as Player Profiles and overall Rankings including Total Times and later on Standard Times. Kevin really liked the idea and advised Sami to pursue this. Sami drew up some blueprints while staying in a small village in the middle of mountains in south Turkey. This allowed him to come up with what he wanted the front page of the site to look like and also the Players list, rankings and later the POW Awards. He implemented the bluprint designs towards the end of August 1999 on his return to London and full Player's site was completed. The site's design remained in that format for nearly 7 years. By the start of 2000 competition started to pick up, particularly more on the NTSC side with some rivalries near the top from new members, this competition continued consistently through the year into the new Millenium.

In Summer of 1999 Sami travelled to Turkey with an ambition to expand the site. He took several documents with him to help him work on the expansion. He was discussing ideas with the Kart Historian of the Player's site of Mario Kart 64, Kevin Booth and decided that he would like to create a similar format for Super Mario Kart. A full Player's site with more features such as Player Profiles and overall Rankings including Total Times and later on Standard Times. Kevin really liked the idea and advised Sami to pursue this. Sami drew up some blueprints while staying in a small village in the middle of mountains in south Turkey. This allowed him to come up with what he wanted the front page of the site to look like and also the Players list, rankings and later the POW Awards. He implemented the bluprint designs towards the end of August 1999 on his return to London and the full Player's site was completed in November 1999. The site's design remained in that format for nearly 7 years. By the start of 2000 competition started to pick up, particularly more on the NTSC side with some rivalries near the top from new members, this competition continued consistently through the year.

2005 was another busy year for Sami as he had a lot of projects at University and final exams. After graduating he started full time employment which meant less SMK time but he still worked on updating the site although it was becoming a strain due to the volume of active members each week. Sami's rank on Super Mario Kart declined as he was no longer involved with Time Trial himself but only occasionally met up with #2 and #3 in UK, Matthew McCarthy and Chris Clark respectively for some races which he was still able to perform very well in. Sami was then ranked at his lowest rank of #7 in the World on PAL by the end of 2005 and was set to drop further.

Sami's rank on Super Mario Kart declined by 2005 as he was no longer involved with Time Trial himself but only occasionally met up with #2 and #3 in UK, Matthew McCarthy and Chris Clark respectively for some races which he was still able to perform very well in. Sami was then ranked at his lowest rank of #7 in the World on PAL by the end of 2005 and was set to drop further.

Sami attended the Next Level Gaming (NLG) meeting in Orkanger, Norway in July 2007 where he entered several competitions/activities including SMK and other games; an international football tournament with the other visitors, bowling, go-karting and a mountain hike in the middle of a night during poor weather conditions. The SMK tournament was set on Match Race which chose the Top 16 based on 3-try Time Trial attempts of MC1. The Top 16 included players from France, UK, USA, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Australia. Sami made it to the final but lost to then current Match Race World Champion, Florent Lecoanet of France who later that year went on to win the CDF/CDE in France; it was a disappointment as Sami had won a friendly vs Florent 13-7 a few days earlier, however it was great to travel and meet many people and reach 2nd place. The football Tournament was a success as Sami created designs for Team UK with the slogan "Team UK - Feel no Way" in honour of Biff's success with the Street Fighter Alpha 3 and other activities at the Paris meet earlier that year. The Teams wore the t-shirts for the first time in the football tournament on a hot summer's day in Norway and later for most of the games. Three teams were constructed to divide the numbers evenly; Norway/Sweden (Scandinavian Team), the France/Holland team and the UK/USA/Australia team. The Scandinavia Team made a surprising attack on France and Holland with a 9-2 win. Team UK joined with Aus and UK struggled a little more but secured a smaller victory against France and Holland. The odds were against Team UK with injured and tired players for the final against the Scandinavian hosts. However with great teamwork they were able to prevail and managed to win the match 4-1 vs the younger crowd; they went on to enjoy the rest of the gaming and acitivites during the week.

Sami attended the Next Level Gaming (NLG) meeting in Orkanger, Norway in July 2007 where he entered several competitions/activities including SMK and other games; an international football tournament with the other visitors, bowling, go-karting and a mountain hike in the middle of a night during poor weather conditions. The SMK tournament was set on Match Race which chose the Top 16 based on 3-try Time Trial attempts of MC1. The Top 16 included players from France, UK, USA, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Australia. Sami made it to the final but lost to then current Match Race World Champion, Florent Lecoanet of France who later that year went on to win the CDF/CDE in France; it was a disappointment as Sami had won a friendly vs Florent 13-7 a few days earlier, however it was great to travel and meet many people and reach 2nd place. The football Tournament was a success as Sami created designs for Team UK with the slogan "Team UK - Feel no Way" in honour of Biff's success with the Street Fighter Alpha 3 and other activities at the Paris meet earlier that year. The Teams wore the t-shirts for the first time in the football tournament on a hot summer's day in Norway and later for most of the games. Three teams were constructed to divide the numbers evenly; Norway/Sweden (Scandinavian Team), the France/Holland team and the UK/USA/Australia team. The Scandinavia Team made a surprising attack on France and Holland with a 9-2 win. Team UK joined with Aus and UK struggled a little more but secured a smaller victory against France and Holland. The odds were against Team UK with injured and tired players for the final against the Scandinavian hosts. However with great team work they were able to prevail and managed to win the match 4-1 vs the younger crowd; they went on to enjoy the rest of the gaming and acitivites during the week.

October saw another opportunity for Sami to organise a games meet; his 25th Birthday involved a room hire in Fairfield Halls, Croydon, South London with several tvs and games available. The event had several UK visitors including friends and famil members, the Dutch, French and one from Norway. One of the highlights that Sami organised was a Tournament on SMK for 150cc Grand Prix mode on Mushroom Cup for the Beginner/Intermediate Level karters, featuring some of the Dutch and French Karters. The final was between Vincent van der Fluit and Sami's niece, making her first International Tournament debut, Leyla Hasso who was 8 years old at the time. Leyla wore her Team UK T-Shirt in the same design template as those created for the Norway meet and was able to win the tournament after some skilled driving. Leyla shortly after went into retirement from SMK to pursue Nintendo DS and other interests. The weekend was a success and the players looked forward to future meets.

October saw another opportunity for Sami to organise a games meet; in Fairfield Halls, Croydon, South London with several tvs and games available. The event had several UK visitors including friends and famil members, the Dutch, French and one from Norway. One of the highlights that Sami organised was a Tournament on SMK for 150cc Grand Prix mode on Mushroom Cup for the Beginner/Intermediate Level karters, featuring some of the British, Dutch and French Karters.