News

As more major events pop up in Europe such as Dreamhack Winter and with more European talent traveling to majors both within and outside of Europe, SmashEurope has been able to create a Top 20 ranking of this talent based on these results. The ranking takes players from a shortlist of those who placed either Top 24 at Heir II the Throne, Top 16 at Helix, or Top 32 at either Dreamhack or B.E.A.S.T. 6. With a panel of over twenty representatives from throughout Europe the ranking was able to become a reality.

The ranking has begun with the bottom quarter of the list including talent such as Mahie from France and Geeky Goon Squad's Beat from Sweden. To see the list so far, make sure to check out the full article on SmashEurope!

Welcome back to another edition of Weekly Character Showcase! This is a series where we analyze the playable characters in Smash 4 and what they can do with both general and character-specific advanced techniques.

This poll's winner is, funnily enough, the champion of Pound 2016: The Genetic Pokémon, Mewtwo!
With Abadango's recent victory, interest in this character has risen and now we're here analyzing what the Psychic-type can do in this fierce competition. To help with this article we have Kamtheman56 and Metalex, two players from the Mewtwo Discord.

The ShrunkenHeadMan Club of San Jose State University has launched a new charity drive! The artwork is done by graduates and current students of the university. SHMash is selling several Smash-themed prints on their store with 100% of the proceeds going to Child's Play Charity (from April 4th - 24th). There are also a couple of incentives such as a buy-two-get-one-free deal, and free local pick up.

Here are a couple examples of the prints you can purchase.

Many gamers in the west are extremely jealous of Japan's ever-active arcade scene. Arcades are the perfect training grounds for competitive gamers to test their skills against a variety of opponents and match ups. With a high-speed internet connection, console releases can simulate a competitive arcade experience from the comfort of your own home. However, input lag, server downtimes, dropped connections, rage quitting, and more can sour the experience and most competitive gamers prefer a face-to-face opponent, where all of the outside interference is eliminated and players can focus on their gameplay. Players of games without an arcade release are normally forced to wait until an opportune tournament to play against offline competition but, lately in Japan, game bars have been giving new life to communities without an arcade scene.

March 2016 has passed, and so another month has happened in the world of Smash 4. A patch took everyone by surprise, balancing out the cast and drastically changing up two of the biggest characters in the meta. Along with that, however, came many events and community developments. As per usual with the series, the State of Smash 4 takes an in-depth, comprehensive look into Smash 4's competitive metagame over the past month. With that out of the way, it's time to get started with March 2016.

Australia is an often-underrepresented region when compared to the exposure that top players from Japan, Europe and the USA, but with this latest tourney series to be hosted in Queensland, things are looking to change. The idea behind Stacked is to bring one top player from outside Queensland into the state so that they can compete against arguably the strongest region in the country.


For the first installment of Stacked, tournament organiser Urisk has arranged for Waveguider to be flown out to Queensland to show his mettle. Waveguider is well known as one of the premiere Wii Fit Trainer mains in the world, sporting silky movement, incredible reads and a creative ledge game. A poster boy for optimal Wii Fit, Waveguider has been unable to travel interstate to Queensland before and has only...

Out of the many inspirations that come from the world of Smash, fan art is some of the most enjoyable. Those who have a passion for both art and Smash often choose to translate this into make art for players and teams, and these are great tools for promoting the Smash scene and their craft. In this Smash Art Spotlight we will be looking at a young artist that has quickly gained popularity within the Smash scene: PG | Wolfiisaur. Come learn more about her and her art is this exclusive interview.

Last April, the Smash scene in Bloomington, Indiana hosted its first regional tournament, Full Bloom. While the tournament ran successfully, it was of middling size, sporting just 95 Melee singles entrants. However, the region has only grown stronger. Full Bloom 2 will be the third Indiana tournament in three months with over 300 attendees and top-level talent from outside the Midwest. Hoping for similar success as Landlocked and Outfoxx’d in Indianapolis, Smash at IUB is looking to put their city on the map with Full Bloom 2.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee’s early years, the game and its future were almost entirely forged by the players. Names such as Ken, Isai, and Azen immediately come to mind. Now, one of the original pioneers of Melee has returned – Ryota “Captain Jack” Yoshida. In this Smashboards exclusive interview, we sat down with the Japanese legend to discuss his storied career and more.

Melee's history and identity as a competitive game have been shaped by many things -- the players, the TOs, and the streamers all come to mind. But perhaps one of the most important things in all of Melee are the memorable sets that have set the tone for the game throughout its rich history. That's why the team at Last Stock Legends has released their first episode in their main video series that covers the most important moments in Melee history. Join Ken and Toph as they discuss the set that would change Melee forever: Ken vs. Bombsoldier.

Welcome back to another edition of Weekly Character Showcase! This is a series where we analyze the playable characters in Smash 4 and what they can do with both general and character-specific advanced techniques.

This time, it's the turn of the winner of last week's poll, the newcomer Shulk! For this week's article, we requested the help of the Shulk Discord, as well as Aether Esports's very own Tremendo Dude, a premier Shulk player.

Source Gaming has published another installment of the Sakurai On series. This series brings together a collection of quotes from the Smash series director in order to promote a deeper understanding of the design philosophy behind Smash.

The latest game, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS has seen numerous balance updates, and support for tournaments from Nintendo. One of the biggest focal points for Masahiro Sakurai is ensuring that Smash can cater to all kinds of audiences and playstyles.

Sakurai said:

There are moves that are completely useless in a 1v1 battle, but in a four-player free-for-all those moves might prove quite useful. Therefore, if I played only one kind of battle, the game would feel very slanted towards a particular style of play...

Click to expand...

Everyone paying attention to Smashboards last week should have noticed a preview article for Sumabato 9 that went up courtesy of @FeS | Smapps. Sumabato 9 was hosted in Osaka by @SHIG | 9B last weekend. The event had a lot of upsets, a new Sumabato Champion, and multiple insanely high-level matches despite its rule set favoring newer players. Before moving forward, however, I suggest taking a quick look over both my previous article, "Japan's Top 3 Wii U Tournament Series", and the preview article for Sumabato 9 to get an understanding of the context of Sumabato 9 and Sumabato as a series, as their way of running tournaments is vastly different from the standards of North America.

Episode 19 comes in hot with a special Pro Play from FOW. Alongside this are crazy Greninja combos, Captain Falcon action, and some good ol' fashioned Ganondorf destruction. What is a Smash Short? As the name suggests, it's a quick moment or series of events in Smash that is so good, you have to share it with someone.

There's a level of artistry to Addy's play. A reflection of days spent training, practicing and honing his skills, not to optimize his play but to ensure he'll always have the upper hand on his opponent. His relentlessly aggressive style, impeccable punish game and uncanny ability to read his opponents make him a force to be reckoned with, and a terrifying prospect to face in bracket.

As a Shulk main, many can find it a struggle to keep up with higher tiers, let alone win. With the help of the channel apathy, it can be slightly easier. They just released a brand new video showing the use of guaranteed locks involving footstooling as well as some great mixups to put your opponent on edge. Check out this video on basic footstooling with Shulk!

Japanese players show a tenacity and ferocity in Smash 4 that is unrivaled by many other regions. With Sumabato 9 taking place this Saturday, April 9th, another opportunity is available for fans of Smash to see some of their finest come together and play. The stream will begin at around 7pm Pacific/10pm Eastern time and will be provided by SHI-Gaming. Ready to see the big players set to compete? Read on and learn more about Japanese Smash 4.

Palm trees, stunning beaches, surfing, pineapples, and hula dancing. These are all things that come to mind when people think of Hawaii. Well, it's time to add one more thing to Hawaii's repertoire: Smash! Tonight, April 8th, beginning at 3 pm PST, Hawaii will have to prove itself against the mainland at Kawaii Kon 2016! The event will span over three days with events ranging from FFA to 2v2, 1v1, and even Hawaii Crew Battles. Some top players are also set attend, including Larry Lurr, NinjaLink, Zigsta, 6WX, Mike Kirby, and VoiD, with the stream being provided by TheOdoFaction. Ready to dive into the storylines for this event? Read on!

As the doors of the limited express closed and the train departed for its two hour journey from Osaka to Nagoya excitement began to overwhelm me. Finally, I would have the opportunity to experience the Japanese Smash 4 metagame first hand. This time we set our sights on Earth's Karisuma tournament series located in the Chubu region of Japan. Lengthy discussions over Twitter regarding tournament philosophy and rule sets with Earth made this journey about more than just reporting its results to the world. It was a lesson all tournament organizers could learn from.

Pound 2016 will be remembered as one of the wildest tournaments in Smash 4’s history. The 513-man bracket saw several incredible upsets and many players having success with unusual characters. We witnessed several heavy hitters such as Nairo, False, and MVD get eliminated on Saturday while lesser known players such as ScAtt, K.I.D. Goggles, and Saj surprise many by surviving into the top-16. Despite all of the chaos, the Pound staff was able to run the enormous tourney relatively smoothly with mostly volunteers who were kind enough to lend their time and help out. When the dust settled, the crowd focused their attention on the remaining field of 8 players and it was anyone’s guess who would be left standing at the end of the day.