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Everyone loves checking in on the results of Japanese tournaments because they simply do not make any sense. Even for Japanese tournaments, Umebura 24 had some of the craziest results yet. Many people try to theorize that Japanese rulesets lead to an overabundance of variance but, the truth is, Japan's metagame gives us a preview of what Smash 4 in the 1.1.6 era will look like around the world in the near future. Once the other regions have as high of an average player skill level as in Japan it will become clear that in 1.1.6, everyone is a threat.

Sakurai discusses how he brought Sonic to Smash in this Famitsu Column (Originally published before Brawl's release date). The translation was done by the folks at Source Gaming!

July 23rd saw the incredible 2GGT: KTAR Saga run. This 1-day, 409-man singles event ran by Champ and Keitaro ran in around 12 hours and ended with a spectacular top 8, wrapping up with one of the best sets of Smash 4 and an announcement for the next 2GGT: Civil War.

Today, two storied tournament series, one from the West Coast and the other from the East Coast, collide. Happening at the eSports Arena in Southern California, talents from all over have flown in for this one day, 409-man Super Smash Bros. Wii U national. Here's everything you need to know about the event and some of the heavy-hitters attending it.

After a two-month break, Umebura once again returns to the Ota City Industrial Plaza in Tokyo this Sunday, July 24th. This is the final installment before the highly-anticipated Second Anniversary Tournament hosted next month. It is set to be streamed by SHI Gaming. Perhaps because Kanto residents are eager to get their practice in, this event reached its 224-entrant capacity weeks in advance and features most of the region’s premier talent. Here are some of the players vying for 1st place:

Kamemushi is Japan’s best overall player and the world’s finest Mega-main. After failing to make top 16 at two consecutive events and then finishing 7th at a Vegas local, many people were...

From July 23rd to July 24th CEST, the tournament series Pandali's Pandemonium Tournament will be hosting a Super Smash Bros. Wii U tournament in Munich, Germany. Talent from all over Europe, along with a special international guest, will be attending this 188-man competition. Here’s everything you need to know about the tournament as well as who to look out for!

Smashboards, the world’s largest competitive Super Smash Bros. community, has entered a sponsorship agreement with Syndicate 2016, a multi-day international European event for both Melee and Smash for Wii U and the biggest Dutch tournament to date. Smashboards will make a contribution towards the TO budget and will help promote the event through its social media network.

“As longtime members of Smashboards, we are happy to receive support from the website that our community saw its beginnings on. This will boost our means to make Syndicate the best event it can be and serves as a reminder that Smashboards truly is the home of the competitive community.”
- Syndicate TO Staff

The sponsorship is a continuation of support for the European Smash community, which has included deals with Sweden’s BEAST series and streamer GeekyGoonSquad before.

About Smashboards...

Undoubtedly the best Wario in México, Edgar "Waymas" Lizcano is a dedicated fighting game player that has supported the competitive Smash scene since it first appeared in his country. Over the years, he’s earned himself a reputation as an amazing defensive player, climbing all the way to 4th place in the Mexican Power Rankings with consistently high placements. And as the scene continues to grow, with competition getting continuously harder, it doesn’t seem like he’s planning on slowing down anytime soon.

New Jersey's Quarterly Rapport, one of the region's cornerstone tournaments, is back with its second installation on August 7.

The event, featuring Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee amongst other titles, is a quarterly collaboration by the various communities of the region. "We have one TO from each game's community," said Chris "@Vestboy_Myst" Farina of the organizing team. "We're also using this event as a way to unify the small separated FGC communities as well as North / Central / South NJ Smashers who rarely get to see each other."


A highlight is that it will be one of the last Smash 64 events leading up to Super Smash Con 2016, the largest tournament in the game's history. NJQR will be host to three Brazillian representatives, notably Tomas "Kort" Keselik, and some of Baltimore's finest. For Smash 64 fans, tuning in will definitely be a...

At Umebura 23 I was asked if I could help with getting as many top names from outside of Japan to this August's Umebura S.A.T. (Second Anniversary Tournament). When I contacted @ZeRo about the tournament he surprised me by saying that he wanted to go to Japan, but he wanted to do it as soon as possible to train for EVO. He wanted to spend three days playing against the best in Eastern Japan (Kanto) and three days playing against the best in Western Japan (Kansai) and it had to be kept under wraps until after EVO had concluded. I immediately got to work with @Ayuha and we were able to give ZeRo the intense one week Smash 4 boot camp he asked for.

During Evolution 2016's third day, EVO staff member Mark "MarkMan" Julio, Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono and Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada took to the stage after a handful of new announcements for Tekken 7: Fated Retribution to make a special announcement; EVO Japan is coming!

After an incredible journey through loser's bracket and a game 5 bracket reset leading into a game 5 grand finale, this year's EVO 2016 Super Smash Bros. Melee champion is Team Liquid's own Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma. With an incredible turnout of 2,350, eight players stood above all else. Your EVO 2016 Top 8 are as follows:

1) TL Hungrybox ()
2) A Armada (, )
3) PG Plup (, )
4) C9 Mango ()
5) FOX MVG Mew2King (, )
5) TS S2J ()
7) G2 Westballz ()
7) CLG PewPewU ()

The Mandalay Bay Stadium was home to an amazing showing of talent and dedication by some of the Melee communities' finest combatants. From S2J defeating Westballz after two years of dominance, to Plup having a devastating performance over Hungrybox, the EVO world stage housed some of the finest play to date. The road to...

"Where's the Melee?" In Vegas, Mandalay Bay to be specific, starting tomorrow, July 17.

Super Smash Bros. Melee, a multi-year veteran of the EVO tournament series, returned as a main event for 2016 to showcase the best the game's player-base has to offer. Thousands of competitors all across the world came to contend for the coveted championship title but from them, only 8 remain.

Winners Bracket:
Adam "A | Armada" Lindgren () vs Jason "FOX MVG | Mew2King" Zimmerman ()
Juan "TL | Hungrybox" Debiedma () vs Justin "PG | Plup" McGrath()

Losers Bracket:
Kevin "CLG | PewPewU" Toy () vs Joseph "C9 | Mang0" Marquez ()
Weston "G2 | Westballz" Dennis () vs Johnny "TS | S2J" Kim ()

At 3:00 PM Pacific...

A year of storylines led up to the largest tournament in the game's history. Super Smash Bros. Wii U, the second grand finals event at EVO 2016, has concluded and with it, another year of the game in the world of eSports.

This being his third attendance at the annual Las Vegas-based tournament series (previous ones being 2009 and 2015), Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyarce () won his first EVO ever. Running through a bracket stacked with threats like Yuta "Abadango" Kawamura, who defeated him at Pound, he's also won his second major of the summer, Get On My Level 2016 being the first.

Smash 4 Results @ EVO 2016:
1st - Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyarce ()
2nd - Takuto "Kamemushi" Ono ()
3rd - Gonzalo "TSM | ZeRo" Barrios ()
4th - James "CLG | VoiD" Makekau-Tyson ()
5th - Hayashi "Ranai" Ryuto ()...

After over 2000 entrants and a day-and-a-half of tense competition, Super Smash Bros for Wii U at EVO 2016 has reached it's finale: top 8.

Upsets, comebacks and the like happened over the duration of the event but the dust has settled. These 8 will compete for the title of champion at the biggest event of the year, a large prize pool and so much more:

Winners Bracket:
Yuta "Abadango" Kawamura () vs Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyarce ()
Takuto "Kamemushi" Ono () vs James "CLG | VoiD" Makekau-Tyson ()

Losers Bracket:
Larry "eLv | Larry Lurr" Holland () vs Gonzalo "TSM | ZeRo" Barrios ()
Hayashi "Ranai" Ryuto () vs Samuel "dT | Dabuz" Buzby ()

You can check out the top 8 round of Smash 4 over at the official Twitch channel, now.

For more...

Project M returns for this year's iteration of EVO as a side event and a part of the PM Championship Circut.

Featuring top players such as Thomas "ThundeRzReign" Thammavongsa, Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma, Arjun "Junebug" Rao and other heavy-hitters the event started yesterday, July 15, and concludes today. After the last wave of pools are finished, the final stage of the tournament begins with a top 24 bracket.

As with any PM Championship Circuit event, points will be allocated to the top placers. One can catch the stream on AZPM's Hitbox channel. The bracket can be found on Smash.gg.

Jason "Mew2king" Zimmerman, a clear contender for a top spot at Evo 2016's Super Smash Bros. Wii U tournament, has decided to drop out of the aforementioned event.

After a similar situation at CEO 2016, it is surprising to see Team Echo Fox's multi-game titan quit. As of this time, he has not said anything regarding his decision.

For more coverage on EVO 2016, stay tuned on Smashboards.

VideoGameBootCamp (VGBC), the Smash community's leading stream team, announced that Daniel "Chu Dat" Rodriguez, Cristian "Hyuga" Medina and Marcus "Pink Fresh" Wilson will be joining their pro team.

With EVO 2016 coming up, players getting sponsored is inevitable. After Austin "Redd" Self's decision to leave VGBC, it had seemed that Masaya "Amsa" Chikamoto was the sole member left. With the addition of the three above, the team is heading into the event with a solid roster.

If you aren't familiar with them, let's do a quick rundown of who they are:
Chu Dat (, ) is one of MD/VA's old guard and a member of the legendary H2YL crew. Since the inception of Smash as a competitive game, he's been out there competing. Even up to now, he has the capacity to make top 8 at a major like with last year's EVO. Expect him to make waves in both Melee and Smash 4.
Another titan from MD/VA...

Today marks the one year anniversary of Satoru Iwata's passing. Iwata has had a huge impact on the Super Smash Bros. series -- being there from the very beginning. Let's honor his memory by remembering his contributions to our favorite franchise.

Note: This article was originally purposed as Thank Iwata for Smash on Source Gaming. I've updated and modified it for SmashBoards. Click the article for the full story!

Once upon a time, a game with no balance patches, and yet an unstable tier list. That time was 17 years ago, and that game is Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64.