News

From March 17th - March 19th, twenty of Melee's best will face off in the most exciting invitational the game has ever seen: Battle of the Five Gods. Taking place at the world famous South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Texas, gods and god-slayers alike will be competing for $25,000 in prize money. Here is everything you need to know about Battle of the Five Gods.

February 2016 has come to pass, and it was quite the month for Smash 4. With plenty of interesting and smaller events occurring this month, as well as plenty of community developments (and controversies), there's quite a bit to talk about. As per usual with the series, the State of Smash 4 takes an in-depth, comprehensive look into Smash 4's competitive metagame (and community developments) of the past month. With that out of the way, it's time to get started with February 2016's events.


At the beginning of the month, on February 3rd, a new patch dropped, potentially the final patch of the game. This new patch's major additions were Corrin, Bayonetta, and the Umbra Clock Tower stage. However, there were plenty of balance changes as well. Here's a few of the major ones:

• Massive buffs to Lucina and Marth's ranges...

Latin American communities are not as notable as those of America or Europe; but Venezuela, a country full of beauties and several struggles, still manages to have great events on the table to keep the community alive. Last year, there were several Smash tournaments that stood out, three of them to be specific. All of them are receiving new editions in the course of the next 2 months, starting with The Controller Ep III.

Welcome to the 43rd edition of the Weekend Watchlist: now with a new format! We have the streams and times from the hottest events each weekend as found on our Smashboards Event Posts. This week we have a Smash 4 focused event in Glitch, Do or DI with spectacular talent, and many more wonderful events. Want to see the rest of these great Smash events this weekend? Let's get started with some of the other heavy hitters!

A $4000 pot bonus for Smash 4 singles, $2000 pot bonus for Melee Singles and a $500 pot bonus for Project M singles all provided by Hitbox.tv. A live stream provided by HitboxArena and HBAPM. Top tier talent like Hax, The Moon, Nintendude, Chillindude for Melee and Nairo, Dabuz, 6WX, ANTi, Salem, Tweek, and Hyuga for Smash 4. This just scratches the surface of Do or DI, a major taking place this weekend at the luxurious Trump Taj Mahal.

After the enormous success that was Battle Arena Melbourne 7 (BAM), the series is back for 2016 and with it comes a slew of international stars. This time, however, it’s Smash for Wii U’s turn. Having huge names including C9 | Mang0, TSM | Leffen and S2J come to Australia was massive for the scene, giving the often ignored Australians a place in the international spotlight. The hype for BAM 7 was real, especially with Southern Hemisphere hero Spud knocking Alex19 out of the tournament.

Japan always manages to have massive talent and character variety at events and Sumabato 8 is no different. Two hundred thirty-eight competitors and some of Japan's finest will be coming out to compete. Ready to see the incoming talent? Smashboards user @Djent has written up the biggest names competing. Give it a look!

The professional team Counter Logic Gaming sign long-time smasher and commentator Keitaro as their new Video Specialist, joining his crewmate Nakat in the CLG house.

This Saturday, Xanadu will be the site of a Smash 4 only tournament event named Glitch that is sure to be one a kind. Glitch is an ambitious event to say the least, with 4 different tournaments being run in the same day within the small confines of a local game store. Glitch originally was seen as just another large regional tournament, but has now managed to attract top-tier talent from around the country such as LLL|Mr. R, PG|MVD, VS|NickRiddle, 2GG|VoiD, and more. MD/VA will be hard pressed to defend its region against these top players, but they will have their own local powerhouses ready to take on the challenge.

While character variety is quite impressive at majors for Melee, certain characters are undeniably seen more often than others. Fox, Falco, and Marth are among the top tiers and commonly seen while one top tier character is seen much less so: Jigglypuff. Althought she is considered among the top five characters in the game only four of the Melee It On Me top 100 use her. At super majors Hungrybox, a 'God of Melee', is frequently the only Jigglypuff player in the top 8. Is Jigglypuff destined to be incredibly uncommon? Will she slowly fall down the tier lists with less representation? We asked three up and coming Jigglypuff players, Dr. Z, s0ft, and GG | Prince Abu to weigh in on Jigglypuff's future in Melee.

Connor “CDK” Nguyen has been signed by True Ambition! He is currently ranked as 11th on the SoCal Power Rankings as well as 72nd on the MeleeItOnMe SSBMRank. "Happy to announce that I am now sponsored by the True AmBition" he said on Twitter. He will be bringing his Fox and Peach onto the battlefield for his new team. Having jumped up 20 places since the last MIOM SSBMRank he is sure to keep improving in the coming year.

Have any of you guys ever heard of Team Fortress 2?

Of course you have. Everyone who's been into gaming for any significant amount of time has heard of TF2. Its arguably one of the most addictive online shooters out there, and its built up a momentous fanbase over it's almost ten years of existence. Chances are if you haven't played it, you've at least seen it, and acquired a significant level of knowledge through osmosis alone.

Need to sate a craving for Smash during the week? Smashboards is here with this week's edition of the Weekday Watchlist! We've combed through the Smashboards Event System to help Smash fans find something to watch with their favorite game every day of the week. We have the stream, the time it starts, and all the information a fan could need right here. Ready to see the best action available this week? Let's get started!

Soma and the Source Gaming team have translated an interview between aMSa and Famitsu Weekly.

In this interview, aMSa discusses his daily routine, and how he manages to incorporate training into his busy workday.

By day, he’s an office worker at an IT company. “On weekdays, I watch VODs on my commute, and after I get home, I practice tech skill for about an hour,” he says. He prepares for his work the next day, and goes to sleep by at least 1AM. He practices heavily on weekends, going to a fellow Smasher’s house. He says that “on intense days, we might even play for upwards of 12 hours.”

Click to expand...

With the competitive Smash scene growing in popularity, the community has seen its tournaments become more widely accepted and viewed by the general public. From ESPN testing the waters with Smash coverage to major companies like HTC hosting tournaments and sponsoring content, the future of Smash Bros. as a major competitive e-sport has never looked brighter. Earlier today, another major entity announced it would be helping Smash take a step further into the public eye.

Last year, we witnessed the fifth installment in The Big House tournament series. Many top Melee players attended, hoping to win the big prize of more than $18,000 for singles. Now, Last Stock Legends brings us a mini series focusing on two of those players

Pound 2016 has already solidified itself as a premiere national on the Smash Bros. calendar year. Big names such as Mango, Hungrybox, ZeRo, ESAM, Dabuz, SFAT, and others already registered for the competition, and the Ritz-Carlton is likely to be one of the swankiest venues that smashers will see this year. The triumphant return of this MD/VA tournament series is also incorporating a unique way of funding its side events, which could set an important precedent for the nationals that follow it.

While #MiiWiik has passed here on Smashboards, a lot of discussion is still happening regard how Miis should be treated in Smash 4's ruleset. It has been suggested that they should be banned or be made altogether legal, and in a majority of discussions and polls have agreed that the 1-1-1-1 option currently used is not the best. GimR, owner of VGBootcamp, has created a video breaking down his own personal reasoning on why people should #FriiTheMiis. Give it a watch!

Welcome to this edition of the Weekday Watchlist! Need a tournament to watch during the week? We've hunted down the best events from Monday through Friday that have a stream and a Smashboards Event Post to spotlight so readers can get their Smash on every day! Ready to see our Weekday Watchlist? Let's get started!

The world-famous European eSports festival DreamHack announced that Super Smash Bros. Melee will be returning to three more DreamHack events!