JustCallMeJon
Smash Lord
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I know this seems out of topic but since this is related to competitive Smash, then I will gladly write my own opinions.
I know I could right this in a different thread but since I generally like this thread despite its decline, I put it anyway. Besides, I want to give you some Smash 4 context before Smash 5!
...
*AHEM*
Since Smash 5 is getting closer and that some Smash 4 players are packing up and waiting for it, I wrote down a general history of Smash in competitive play; I will also focus much more towards Brawl and Smash 4 rather than Melee and Smash 64 due to this post being around Smash 4 criteria. Otherwise, here is the history of the brief history of Melee and Brawl and the main history for COMPETITVE Smash 4...
General History of Smash Brothers 4 (With Some Melee and Brawl History) in Competitive Play
Pre-Golden Age (1999-2003)
Smash Brothers had been released by Masahiro Sakurai in 1999 after wanting to create a fighting where many Nintendo characters duke it out one another. It became a massive hit and because of that, Nintendo released a sequel, Smash Brothers Melee, into the Nintendo Gamecube in 2001. Like its predecessor, Melee became a massive hit and is currently stands as the highest selling game in the Gamecube market. However, despite Sakurai's intentions for Melee to be more "casual party game," this did not halt certain fans from playing Melee at a competitive level. Avid players started to utilize the game's unique physics engine to generate unexpectedly fast movement across the stage, which had never before been seen in the Smash series. As players began newly discovered techniques, many smashers began hosting small tournaments for the first time. These tournaments were held among small groups of smashers in small locations. One year after Smash Melee, Matt Deezie hosted the first real Smash tournament in its history, Tournament Go, on April 2002 in Northern California. This tournament helped bring to attention a standard, unified ruleset of legal stages and tournament procedures that continued to develop and used to the Smash meta to this day. After Tournament Go 6 in 2004, the last tournament in its series, Matt Deezie hosted the first 100-man tournament with the best players from around the United States, such as Ken, Azen, and ChuDat. After many large nationals, such as MELEE-FC and Game Over, the surge of tournament activity paved way for increased support from large video game organizations such as MLG into the Melee scene. MLG's support to Melee scene brought to a sudden "Golden Age" of Melee.
Golden Age (2004-2007)
The "Golden Age" of competitive Smash kicked off with MLG's addition fo the game to its largest tournaments, such as MLG New York 2004. The first tournament brought victory to Ken and grew public interest from many viewers wanting to see Melee more. Because of this, MLG began expanding its presence in the Melee scene, featuring more Nintendo games of its big events. Many teenagers became rising stars in this early Melee meta. Ken, Azen, ChuDat, Isai, PC Chris, KoreanDJ, and Mew2King became a dominant force in this meta but no one had ever match the true peaks and consistency in this history than Ken. Ken, a Marth youngster, was dubbed the "King of Smash" after his incredibly consistent level of dominance at MLG events. However, his consistency brought him less and less enjoyment in the game. As his dominance grew, negative feedback rise to the point that it brought Ken into much stress and anxiety, even declaring to himself that playing Smash competitively and going to tournaments felt more like a job than an enjoyment. Nevertheless, Ken was a master of Marth and revolutionized Marth's meta as he continues to dominate the competitive scene until 2007.
Picture: PC Chris winning MLG Vegas 2006 after defeating KoreanDJ
Melee's last MLG tournament was from MLG Las Vegas 2006 where PC Chris won $10,000 after defeated KoreanDJ. After MLG Vegas 2006, MLG dropped Melee from its tournaments in 2007 and never brought it back until 6 years later where MLG gives Melee community a tournament called MLG Anaheim 2014, One of the final major tournaments during the Golden Age was EVO 2007 where Ken won the tournament after beating HugS. EVO 2007 brought to a rise of one youngster who was a partygoer and alcohol lover, Mang0. However, this age will be a change for the Melee community as Nintendo released a sequel to Melee in 2008, a sequel that brought many rising stars in that new game but brings the Melee community into stagnation.
Melee's Dark Age (2008-2012)
After Nintendo released its newest Smash Bros. game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in March 2008, Melee players questioned the survivability of Melee as much of the community moved on to the new title. Unfortunately, these fears turned out to be correct, as 2008 became completely dominated by the Brawl scene; not a single Melee major was held for around a year, and the tournaments that do focus on Melee, does not have as many entrants and viewers than they had previously. This sudden drop of Melee is simply called the "Dark Age." The Melee scene continued to stay stagnant until Alukard held Revival of Melee in New York in March 2009. This tournament was the first even to feature Melee's best players from across the country: players such as Mew2King, Mango, PC Chris, and Azen attend to this tournament. Revival of Melee was the beginning of a gradual revival in tournament attendance back to pre-Brawl levels (Also, Mew2King vs Zhu was one of the highest viewed Melee matches in YouTube; more than 900,000 viewers watch this video.) The renewed surge in attendance was aided by the fact that many Melee players despised Brawl's mechanics, where it is much slower and less-combo oriented game than to its predecessors. While EVO and MLG added Brawl to their major tournaments, the Melee community held on through a strong grassroots presence. Dedicated Melee communities led to the hosting of bigger tournaments such as GENESIS and Pound 4, and Melee was able to maintain tournaments numbers similar to those of Brawl. This Melee community continued to show its grassroots presence until its massive surge of popularity when a certain tournament was held for Melee in 2013. Before that, Brawl was still on its rise to popularity.
Pre-Historic Smash 4 Community: Brawl Community...
Brawl's Humble Beginnings (2008-2010)
Unlike Melee, Brawl became home to a large and active tournament scene following its release in March 2008, and TOs and players were already familiar with the tournament process thanks to previous experience with Melee. Tournament activity sprung up across the United States. Tristate Area, SoCal, Texas, Maryland/Virginia, and Florida became tournament hotspots for Brawl throughout its lifetime. Early Brawl's tournaments were famous for its frequent 100-man "locals." The more developed Internet of 2008 such as YouTube and Smashboards helped spread the growth of the Smash community quicker than ever before. As previously mentioned, Brawl's release resulted in a sudden temporary dropoff of Melee tournament activity. Many Melee players such as Mew2King actively played Brawl during its early competitive life. However, a year after Brawl, many Melee players leave Brawl and focus more on the Melee scene after their criticisms of Brawl's inferior gameplay. Because of this, the Brawl community consisted mostly of newer players such as ZeRo, Nairo, ADHD, and many others who had just entered the competitive scene. Meta Knight and Snake were considered among the best characters in Brawl and dominated early competitive Brawl. Meta Knight, in particular, was seen as broken by many players due to his over-powered strengths and not glaring weaknesses. Meta Knight was so powerful in the metagame that the Brawl community debated whether or not to ban him but since the Brawl metagame was too early to make big decisions, the Smash Back Room decided to leave Meta Knight alone. At the early lifespan, Mew2King was known as the strongest Brawl player as he placed 1st at almost every large tournament he attended with his Meta Knight. Ally rose to fame as one Mew2King's few potential challengers.
Two years after Brawl's release, MLG picked up Brawl for its 2010 Pro Circuit. Various MLG-hosted nationals were held throughout the eastern half of the USA, attracting attention from across the country. However, Nintendo prohibited MLG from live streaming Brawl matches for unknown reasons. This reinforced Nintendo's lack of support for the competitive Smash community until very recently. Gnes won the circuit final at MLG Dallas 2010 and won $12,500. However, MLG does have some controversies: At MLG DC 2010, there was an infamous splitting incident occurred between Mew2King and ADHD, leading to the two being banned from MLG Dallas 2010. This incident was the reason why MLG dropped Brawl after the circuit ended.
Brawl's Apex, Struggle, and Death (2011-2014)
After MLG, Brawl activity largely centered on the scene's grassroots tournaments just like Melee. The advent of streaming groups such as CLASH Tournaments allowed for footage for Brawl sets, featuring professional commentary for the first time. Around this time, Mew2King lost his status as the undisputed best Brawl player as he was unable to win a national throughout 2012 and 2013, was notorious for getting upset by lower-skilled players such as OCEAN at Apex 2012 and Salem at Apex 2013 and made inconsistent placings. Newer players such as Nairo, ESAM, ZeRo, and Otori began to compete in the race for the title of best Brawl player. Salem became famous for his victory at Apex 2013 while defeated MK players such as Otori and Mew2King using Zero Suit Samus, a rather volitile high tier character who doesnt have much representation compared to other higher tiered characters. Salem's battle and victory against Mew2King became one of the most famous sets in Brawl's history.
Picture: OCEAN defeats Mew2King in Brawl Singles
While Snake lost his dominance and was eventually fell on the tier list, Meta Knight's dominance in Brawl was growing more apparent. As many players began to use Meta Knight in a faster pace, many people debated on Meta Knight's legality waged, as many players complained he was over-centralizing the game. This culminated in the Unity Ruleset Committee banning Meta Knight by the vote in September 2011, taking effect in January 2012. This ban brought a huge split in the Brawl community as some of the best MK players refused to enter an MK banned tourney. It was eventually lifted in April however the dual Meta Knight in doubles is still banned. Outside of MK, Ice Climbers and Olimar also rose on the tier list and became more prominent in the Brawl metagame. These characters were heavily criticized for its campy, cheap and slow gameplay that was considered boring to watch. The Ice Climbers were heavily detested for their overpowered zero-to-death chain grabs on every character, ruining the tournament environment. Many players even claimed that Ice Climbers harm competitive Brawl more dramatically than Meta Knight.
Following Melee's success at EVO 2013 and Brawl's shift towards a more defensive and campy gameplay, Brawl's tournament scene underwent a significant decline, as many newer players shifted to the more faster-paced Melee or Project M. Melee and even Project M's entrants outclassed Brawl's entrants at every large event, and many Brawl nationals such as Apex 2014 became dominated by other faster-paced Smash games while Brawl events remained small and turnouts was significantly lower. With the expected release of Super Smash Bros 4 in late 2014, many Brawl players packed their bags and shut down competitive Brawl as they realized that the game's competitive lifespan was nearing an end. When Smash 4 had been released, Brawl activity disappeared almost entirely, as the vast majority of the Brawl playerbase shifted to the newest iteration of the Smash series. Since then, there are largely nonexistent Brawl locals. Brawl was occasionally featured at Super Smash Con but it is more as a side event and is rarely taken seriously. A few attempts, such as the hosting of Revival of Brawl, have been made to bring the game back into the competitive spotlight but they were unsuccessful as they attracted limited interest from both players and viewers.
A new documentary, Smash 3, talks about Brawl's competitive history and it is currently in development.
While Melee and Smash 4 are only continuing to grow, Brawl is now nonexistent and was never revived, unlike Melee. Everyone who played Brawl focused in Smash 4. Brawl may have been burnt hot but it slowly withers away... Right now, Brawl was now remembered for MK's dominance and its "casual gameplay."
Early Smash 4: Smash 4 Invitational, ZeRo's Dominance and Balance Patches (2014-2015)
Before Smash 4's released in both Wii U and 3DS, Nintendo announced an invitational for the Smash professionals. Many professionals such as ZeRo, Hungrybox, Ken, KoreanDJ, PPMD, aMSa, and many others were invited in to win the invitational. Unlike any tournament, this invitational focused on a more casual direction as they introduced items, free-for-alls, and many stages that were obviously deemed illegal by competitive standpoint. Nonetheless, many viewers were very excited to see some Smash 4 action while crossing their fingers to determine whether their favorite players will make it into Grand Finals. At the end ZeRo won his first ever tournament, defeating Hungrybox with Zero-Suit Samus.
Picture: ZeRo winning Smash 4 Invitational after defeating Hungrybox.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS had a small amount of time in the limelight from September 12th until the end of December. Since the 3DS game started with version 1.0.0., it initially had a plethora of bugs, some of which was either an enhancement or was a deterrence to the competitive scene. DACUS was still in from Brawl, but only on 3DS. DACUS was eventually patched out. The vast majority of the competitive scene now utilizes the Wii U game, as it allows for superior viewing quality and far better control capabilities. Besides online play, the 3DS version of the game has fallen into obscurity. The Umebura tournament series was among the only national level tournaments ever held for 3DS until it was obscured once again.
2015 marks the first year of Smash 4 Wii U's competitive timeline. This Smash game had a unique start compared to previous iterations of the Smash series. Players were able to "hit the ground running" going into the new year. Infamously, Diddy Kong's powerful throw combos called the "Hoo-Hah", dominated competitive play, and Diddy dittos were common, much to the disapproval of spectators. However, Diddy Kong was eventually nerfed incoming patches. Many balance patches and five new DLCs characters released in 2015 resulted in an unstable metagame. There was even once a debate over the legality of custom moves, which were allowed at EVO 2015, but banned in most tournaments soon afterward.
Throughout 2014-2015, one Chilean player named ZeRo was widely considered the undisputed best. Formerly a Brawl Meta Knight main, ZeRo co-mains Diddy and Sheik and dominate every tournament he entered. ZeRo's dominance led to him taking majors such as Apex 2015, EVO 2015, and The Big House 5. He was very famous for his infamous 56-streak wins throughout 2 years. ZeRo even became the first person at EVO to not lose a single game. Because of his undisputed dominance, some may call him "The Only God of Smash" while others heavily criticized him for ruining the meta. His dominant 56-streak, however, ended when Nairo finally beat ZeRo and win MLG World Finals 2015. Nairo became the only player to eliminate ZeRo in a Smash 4 tournament in 2015.
The Middle Ground of Smash 4: Rise to the Underdogs and the Rise of Non-American Players (2016)
This year saw the release of the last two DLC characters, Corrin and Bayonetta. Bayonetta was seen as a highly controversial character, due to her powerful combo game, allowing her to zero-death many characters, and Witch Time giving her one of the strongest punish games in Smash 4. Ironically, Bayonetta was notably banned from Europe, whom they voted Bayonetta as the highest voted character in the Smash Ballot. However, significant nerfs, most notably patch 1.1.6., brought Bayonetta on the more even ground with other characters, and the bans were mostly lifted. The lack of any patches after 1.1.6. finally gave the metagame time to develop without any interruptions.
While last year has some notable non-American players such as ZeRo, Mr. R and Ally dominating the early-Smash 4 game, the American smashers were faced with the significantly more apparent non-American players, especially Japan. Starting with Genesis 3, this tournament featured Japan's greatest players at that time such as Ranai, komorikiri, Abadango, and many other Japanese players who wanted to compete for their country. ZeRo vs. Ranai was heavily anticipated as many Smashers heavily debated whether ZeRo could handle the greatest Japanese player. ZeRo and Ranai eventually met and, in a tense match, led to ZeRo making a fantastic victory against Ranai 3-2. ZeRo eventually won GENESIS 3 while defeating Dabuz.
Picture: ZeRo and Ranai preparing to battle in Genesis 3 while the crowd watches in anticipation.
After completing a few matches, ZeRo takes a brief absence from the competitive scene due to medical issues. With ZeRo's absence and Nairo unable to maintain the consistency he had the previous year, the meta gave way for players ranked below both of them to rise. Abadango showed dominance with his Mewtwo after his won Pound 2016, Hyuga showing some upsets in multiple tournaments, alongside Ally growing much stronger, it seems that ZeRo may have been few steps behind. Upon ZeRo's return to the scene in May, ZeRo was no longer the dominant force he was previously, with a wider array of players defeating him compared to before the hiatus. Ally notably holds a positive record over ZeRo since the onset of patch 1.1.6. as a result, defeating him at Get On My Level 2016, Smash 'N' Splash 2, and Super Smash Con 2016. The 2016 summer season was defined as the rise of Mario in the metagame as ANTi won CEO 2016 and Ally won EVO 2016 with using mostly Mario.
Characters who were once inferior to most of the cast were given a fantastic push thanks to efforts from their dedicated players. Abadango used Mewtwo, who was placed 37th in the first tier, to win Pound 2016. Kameme used Mega Man, a middle tier character, to place 2nd at EVO 2016. Mr. E used Marth to win countless upsets, greatly helped Marth as he rose from low tier to a high tier character. Marth rose even further as MKLeo used him to not only win countless upsets but also win tournaments, solidifying him as top tier. Taiheita used Lucas with force in Smash Con and Umebura Majors. Even Heavyweights such as Bowser was also given a fantastic push thanks to the efforts of Nairo, Larry Lurr, and Tweek. Because of this, many people began to realize that many characters in this game are not as inbalance than they thought. Later dedicated players also pushed many characters to their best.
MKLeo, who was well known for defeating Mr. R at Smash Factor 4 a year prior, secured a US visa in October 2016, allowing him to enter tournaments in the United States. This led him to win his first American major by the end of the year: 2GGT: ZeRo Saga, defeating a wide array of players such as ANTi, Ally, ZeRo, VoiD and Larry Lurr while using Marth, in which led to his massive rise in the metagame, rising from simply a low tier to a top tier in just a year.
Despite heavy losses, ZeRo has slowly regained his momentum over the game, albeit not to an extent as pre-hiatus, with him winning 2GGT: Abadango Saga, The Big House 6, and UGC Smash Open. In the end, ZeRo secured his status as the best Smash 4 player in 2016.
Smash 4's Peak and Big Controversies (2017)
Throughout early 2018, the Smash 4 community saw itself on a peak in viewership and popularity. One such example is Genesis 4, where it spikes in 100K viewers. MKLeo took ZeRo's crown and won Genesis 4. Frostbite 2018's viewership was great as it peak around 40K viewers. This tournament brought an unexpected introduction to Tsu- whom he almost win the tournament but lost to ZeRo in an intense match. The ZeRo vs Tsu- match is widely considered to many Smash 4 community as among the greatest Grand Final matches in Smash 4 history. Tsu-'s dominance brought Lucario to a big rise and secure his status as a high tier character.
After Frostbite, there was another tournament that anticipates many Smashers, 2GGC: Civil War. This international tournament brought most top-level players attended, by 47 out of the 50 players listed on PGR v2. This tournament was further hyped by its story-line: Following ZeRo's unprecedented tournament losses to Ally, a strong rivalry arose between Ally and ZeRo, leading to many instances of trash talk and creation of the Twitter hashtags which were used at large by the Smash community to represent which of the two players they supported. Civil War was revealed to be one of its season finale events alongside 2GG Championship Series. Throughout Civil War, its viewership skyrocket by over 50K, many upsets occurred (e.g. ZeRo lost to Luhtie, Ally lost to Locus/ESAM, and MKLeo lost to AC), and many newer and more diverse players enter to top 8 such as Fatality, T, HIKARU, Locus, CaptainZack, etc. Because of this, it was widely considered to be one of the most important and hardest Smash 4 events of all time. In the end, Dabuz finally won 2GGC: Civil War after defeating Fatality.
Picture: A poster display both Ally and ZeRo alongside some crew members at 2GGC: Civil War.
However, after Civil War and some other tournaments, viewership in Smash 4 decline as many majors were held every week. Many players grew tired from the oversaturation of tournaments and many viewers grew more bored as they watch every tournament in every week. To make things worse, Bayonetta, despite being heavily nerfed, was able to steadily resurge back to the best character in the game widely thanks to CaptainZack, Salem, Mistake, and Lima. Because of this, more Bayonettas appeared in tourneys and many viewers grew sick of it. The oversaturation of tournaments and the Bayonetta controversy brought the Smash 4 community into an issue that they cannot resolve it. Many people debated whether Bayonetta should be banned alongside other controversial issues in this community such as Cloud in doubles and Lylat as a legal stage.
Despite this, Smash 4 headways to many rising stars. Salem, Fatality, Locus, CaptainZack, Elegant, and many others made unexpected yet fantastic performances throughout 2017. CaptainZack made his unexpected comeback at Genesis, Civil War, and CEO where he placed top 8 at all three of them. Fatality placed 2nd at both Civil War and MomoCon. Elegant's performance randomly burst at GTX and Championship. Salem, who at first place average placings in early 2017, later became the 2nd best after his EVO win alongside many others afterward.
...
My view in 2018 Smash and onward
2018 is going right now and as I look at it, the Smash 4 community is growing more and more paranoid as its viewership is on a decline, many players quit until Smash 5's release, and Bayonetta controversy grew much stronger thanks to increasing amounts of Bayonetta players. While I am not going to talk about 2018 issue in much information, I can tell that Smash 4's future will depend on how they will survive after Smash 5 and how dedicated the TOs and the smashers will be after Smash 5. Future of Smash 4 can go in two ways: decline but resurge like Melee or decline and dissolve like Brawl.
Otherwise, we will wait and see what will Smash 4 holds in the future.
That's it for now, I may not chat in this thread frequently because I am relaxing after all the stress I suffered throughout the school year. (I made 160,000-word outline about all the history of the world which is really hard). However, I will look and discuss anything about Ness related or tournament related. Otherwise, see yall later!
I know I could right this in a different thread but since I generally like this thread despite its decline, I put it anyway. Besides, I want to give you some Smash 4 context before Smash 5!
...
*AHEM*
Since Smash 5 is getting closer and that some Smash 4 players are packing up and waiting for it, I wrote down a general history of Smash in competitive play; I will also focus much more towards Brawl and Smash 4 rather than Melee and Smash 64 due to this post being around Smash 4 criteria. Otherwise, here is the history of the brief history of Melee and Brawl and the main history for COMPETITVE Smash 4...
General History of Smash Brothers 4 (With Some Melee and Brawl History) in Competitive Play
Pre-Golden Age (1999-2003)
Smash Brothers had been released by Masahiro Sakurai in 1999 after wanting to create a fighting where many Nintendo characters duke it out one another. It became a massive hit and because of that, Nintendo released a sequel, Smash Brothers Melee, into the Nintendo Gamecube in 2001. Like its predecessor, Melee became a massive hit and is currently stands as the highest selling game in the Gamecube market. However, despite Sakurai's intentions for Melee to be more "casual party game," this did not halt certain fans from playing Melee at a competitive level. Avid players started to utilize the game's unique physics engine to generate unexpectedly fast movement across the stage, which had never before been seen in the Smash series. As players began newly discovered techniques, many smashers began hosting small tournaments for the first time. These tournaments were held among small groups of smashers in small locations. One year after Smash Melee, Matt Deezie hosted the first real Smash tournament in its history, Tournament Go, on April 2002 in Northern California. This tournament helped bring to attention a standard, unified ruleset of legal stages and tournament procedures that continued to develop and used to the Smash meta to this day. After Tournament Go 6 in 2004, the last tournament in its series, Matt Deezie hosted the first 100-man tournament with the best players from around the United States, such as Ken, Azen, and ChuDat. After many large nationals, such as MELEE-FC and Game Over, the surge of tournament activity paved way for increased support from large video game organizations such as MLG into the Melee scene. MLG's support to Melee scene brought to a sudden "Golden Age" of Melee.
Golden Age (2004-2007)
The "Golden Age" of competitive Smash kicked off with MLG's addition fo the game to its largest tournaments, such as MLG New York 2004. The first tournament brought victory to Ken and grew public interest from many viewers wanting to see Melee more. Because of this, MLG began expanding its presence in the Melee scene, featuring more Nintendo games of its big events. Many teenagers became rising stars in this early Melee meta. Ken, Azen, ChuDat, Isai, PC Chris, KoreanDJ, and Mew2King became a dominant force in this meta but no one had ever match the true peaks and consistency in this history than Ken. Ken, a Marth youngster, was dubbed the "King of Smash" after his incredibly consistent level of dominance at MLG events. However, his consistency brought him less and less enjoyment in the game. As his dominance grew, negative feedback rise to the point that it brought Ken into much stress and anxiety, even declaring to himself that playing Smash competitively and going to tournaments felt more like a job than an enjoyment. Nevertheless, Ken was a master of Marth and revolutionized Marth's meta as he continues to dominate the competitive scene until 2007.
Picture: PC Chris winning MLG Vegas 2006 after defeating KoreanDJ
Melee's last MLG tournament was from MLG Las Vegas 2006 where PC Chris won $10,000 after defeated KoreanDJ. After MLG Vegas 2006, MLG dropped Melee from its tournaments in 2007 and never brought it back until 6 years later where MLG gives Melee community a tournament called MLG Anaheim 2014, One of the final major tournaments during the Golden Age was EVO 2007 where Ken won the tournament after beating HugS. EVO 2007 brought to a rise of one youngster who was a partygoer and alcohol lover, Mang0. However, this age will be a change for the Melee community as Nintendo released a sequel to Melee in 2008, a sequel that brought many rising stars in that new game but brings the Melee community into stagnation.
Melee's Dark Age (2008-2012)
After Nintendo released its newest Smash Bros. game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in March 2008, Melee players questioned the survivability of Melee as much of the community moved on to the new title. Unfortunately, these fears turned out to be correct, as 2008 became completely dominated by the Brawl scene; not a single Melee major was held for around a year, and the tournaments that do focus on Melee, does not have as many entrants and viewers than they had previously. This sudden drop of Melee is simply called the "Dark Age." The Melee scene continued to stay stagnant until Alukard held Revival of Melee in New York in March 2009. This tournament was the first even to feature Melee's best players from across the country: players such as Mew2King, Mango, PC Chris, and Azen attend to this tournament. Revival of Melee was the beginning of a gradual revival in tournament attendance back to pre-Brawl levels (Also, Mew2King vs Zhu was one of the highest viewed Melee matches in YouTube; more than 900,000 viewers watch this video.) The renewed surge in attendance was aided by the fact that many Melee players despised Brawl's mechanics, where it is much slower and less-combo oriented game than to its predecessors. While EVO and MLG added Brawl to their major tournaments, the Melee community held on through a strong grassroots presence. Dedicated Melee communities led to the hosting of bigger tournaments such as GENESIS and Pound 4, and Melee was able to maintain tournaments numbers similar to those of Brawl. This Melee community continued to show its grassroots presence until its massive surge of popularity when a certain tournament was held for Melee in 2013. Before that, Brawl was still on its rise to popularity.
Pre-Historic Smash 4 Community: Brawl Community...
Brawl's Humble Beginnings (2008-2010)
Unlike Melee, Brawl became home to a large and active tournament scene following its release in March 2008, and TOs and players were already familiar with the tournament process thanks to previous experience with Melee. Tournament activity sprung up across the United States. Tristate Area, SoCal, Texas, Maryland/Virginia, and Florida became tournament hotspots for Brawl throughout its lifetime. Early Brawl's tournaments were famous for its frequent 100-man "locals." The more developed Internet of 2008 such as YouTube and Smashboards helped spread the growth of the Smash community quicker than ever before. As previously mentioned, Brawl's release resulted in a sudden temporary dropoff of Melee tournament activity. Many Melee players such as Mew2King actively played Brawl during its early competitive life. However, a year after Brawl, many Melee players leave Brawl and focus more on the Melee scene after their criticisms of Brawl's inferior gameplay. Because of this, the Brawl community consisted mostly of newer players such as ZeRo, Nairo, ADHD, and many others who had just entered the competitive scene. Meta Knight and Snake were considered among the best characters in Brawl and dominated early competitive Brawl. Meta Knight, in particular, was seen as broken by many players due to his over-powered strengths and not glaring weaknesses. Meta Knight was so powerful in the metagame that the Brawl community debated whether or not to ban him but since the Brawl metagame was too early to make big decisions, the Smash Back Room decided to leave Meta Knight alone. At the early lifespan, Mew2King was known as the strongest Brawl player as he placed 1st at almost every large tournament he attended with his Meta Knight. Ally rose to fame as one Mew2King's few potential challengers.
Two years after Brawl's release, MLG picked up Brawl for its 2010 Pro Circuit. Various MLG-hosted nationals were held throughout the eastern half of the USA, attracting attention from across the country. However, Nintendo prohibited MLG from live streaming Brawl matches for unknown reasons. This reinforced Nintendo's lack of support for the competitive Smash community until very recently. Gnes won the circuit final at MLG Dallas 2010 and won $12,500. However, MLG does have some controversies: At MLG DC 2010, there was an infamous splitting incident occurred between Mew2King and ADHD, leading to the two being banned from MLG Dallas 2010. This incident was the reason why MLG dropped Brawl after the circuit ended.
Brawl's Apex, Struggle, and Death (2011-2014)
After MLG, Brawl activity largely centered on the scene's grassroots tournaments just like Melee. The advent of streaming groups such as CLASH Tournaments allowed for footage for Brawl sets, featuring professional commentary for the first time. Around this time, Mew2King lost his status as the undisputed best Brawl player as he was unable to win a national throughout 2012 and 2013, was notorious for getting upset by lower-skilled players such as OCEAN at Apex 2012 and Salem at Apex 2013 and made inconsistent placings. Newer players such as Nairo, ESAM, ZeRo, and Otori began to compete in the race for the title of best Brawl player. Salem became famous for his victory at Apex 2013 while defeated MK players such as Otori and Mew2King using Zero Suit Samus, a rather volitile high tier character who doesnt have much representation compared to other higher tiered characters. Salem's battle and victory against Mew2King became one of the most famous sets in Brawl's history.
Picture: OCEAN defeats Mew2King in Brawl Singles
While Snake lost his dominance and was eventually fell on the tier list, Meta Knight's dominance in Brawl was growing more apparent. As many players began to use Meta Knight in a faster pace, many people debated on Meta Knight's legality waged, as many players complained he was over-centralizing the game. This culminated in the Unity Ruleset Committee banning Meta Knight by the vote in September 2011, taking effect in January 2012. This ban brought a huge split in the Brawl community as some of the best MK players refused to enter an MK banned tourney. It was eventually lifted in April however the dual Meta Knight in doubles is still banned. Outside of MK, Ice Climbers and Olimar also rose on the tier list and became more prominent in the Brawl metagame. These characters were heavily criticized for its campy, cheap and slow gameplay that was considered boring to watch. The Ice Climbers were heavily detested for their overpowered zero-to-death chain grabs on every character, ruining the tournament environment. Many players even claimed that Ice Climbers harm competitive Brawl more dramatically than Meta Knight.
Following Melee's success at EVO 2013 and Brawl's shift towards a more defensive and campy gameplay, Brawl's tournament scene underwent a significant decline, as many newer players shifted to the more faster-paced Melee or Project M. Melee and even Project M's entrants outclassed Brawl's entrants at every large event, and many Brawl nationals such as Apex 2014 became dominated by other faster-paced Smash games while Brawl events remained small and turnouts was significantly lower. With the expected release of Super Smash Bros 4 in late 2014, many Brawl players packed their bags and shut down competitive Brawl as they realized that the game's competitive lifespan was nearing an end. When Smash 4 had been released, Brawl activity disappeared almost entirely, as the vast majority of the Brawl playerbase shifted to the newest iteration of the Smash series. Since then, there are largely nonexistent Brawl locals. Brawl was occasionally featured at Super Smash Con but it is more as a side event and is rarely taken seriously. A few attempts, such as the hosting of Revival of Brawl, have been made to bring the game back into the competitive spotlight but they were unsuccessful as they attracted limited interest from both players and viewers.
A new documentary, Smash 3, talks about Brawl's competitive history and it is currently in development.
While Melee and Smash 4 are only continuing to grow, Brawl is now nonexistent and was never revived, unlike Melee. Everyone who played Brawl focused in Smash 4. Brawl may have been burnt hot but it slowly withers away... Right now, Brawl was now remembered for MK's dominance and its "casual gameplay."
Early Smash 4: Smash 4 Invitational, ZeRo's Dominance and Balance Patches (2014-2015)
Before Smash 4's released in both Wii U and 3DS, Nintendo announced an invitational for the Smash professionals. Many professionals such as ZeRo, Hungrybox, Ken, KoreanDJ, PPMD, aMSa, and many others were invited in to win the invitational. Unlike any tournament, this invitational focused on a more casual direction as they introduced items, free-for-alls, and many stages that were obviously deemed illegal by competitive standpoint. Nonetheless, many viewers were very excited to see some Smash 4 action while crossing their fingers to determine whether their favorite players will make it into Grand Finals. At the end ZeRo won his first ever tournament, defeating Hungrybox with Zero-Suit Samus.
Picture: ZeRo winning Smash 4 Invitational after defeating Hungrybox.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS had a small amount of time in the limelight from September 12th until the end of December. Since the 3DS game started with version 1.0.0., it initially had a plethora of bugs, some of which was either an enhancement or was a deterrence to the competitive scene. DACUS was still in from Brawl, but only on 3DS. DACUS was eventually patched out. The vast majority of the competitive scene now utilizes the Wii U game, as it allows for superior viewing quality and far better control capabilities. Besides online play, the 3DS version of the game has fallen into obscurity. The Umebura tournament series was among the only national level tournaments ever held for 3DS until it was obscured once again.
2015 marks the first year of Smash 4 Wii U's competitive timeline. This Smash game had a unique start compared to previous iterations of the Smash series. Players were able to "hit the ground running" going into the new year. Infamously, Diddy Kong's powerful throw combos called the "Hoo-Hah", dominated competitive play, and Diddy dittos were common, much to the disapproval of spectators. However, Diddy Kong was eventually nerfed incoming patches. Many balance patches and five new DLCs characters released in 2015 resulted in an unstable metagame. There was even once a debate over the legality of custom moves, which were allowed at EVO 2015, but banned in most tournaments soon afterward.
Throughout 2014-2015, one Chilean player named ZeRo was widely considered the undisputed best. Formerly a Brawl Meta Knight main, ZeRo co-mains Diddy and Sheik and dominate every tournament he entered. ZeRo's dominance led to him taking majors such as Apex 2015, EVO 2015, and The Big House 5. He was very famous for his infamous 56-streak wins throughout 2 years. ZeRo even became the first person at EVO to not lose a single game. Because of his undisputed dominance, some may call him "The Only God of Smash" while others heavily criticized him for ruining the meta. His dominant 56-streak, however, ended when Nairo finally beat ZeRo and win MLG World Finals 2015. Nairo became the only player to eliminate ZeRo in a Smash 4 tournament in 2015.
The Middle Ground of Smash 4: Rise to the Underdogs and the Rise of Non-American Players (2016)
This year saw the release of the last two DLC characters, Corrin and Bayonetta. Bayonetta was seen as a highly controversial character, due to her powerful combo game, allowing her to zero-death many characters, and Witch Time giving her one of the strongest punish games in Smash 4. Ironically, Bayonetta was notably banned from Europe, whom they voted Bayonetta as the highest voted character in the Smash Ballot. However, significant nerfs, most notably patch 1.1.6., brought Bayonetta on the more even ground with other characters, and the bans were mostly lifted. The lack of any patches after 1.1.6. finally gave the metagame time to develop without any interruptions.
While last year has some notable non-American players such as ZeRo, Mr. R and Ally dominating the early-Smash 4 game, the American smashers were faced with the significantly more apparent non-American players, especially Japan. Starting with Genesis 3, this tournament featured Japan's greatest players at that time such as Ranai, komorikiri, Abadango, and many other Japanese players who wanted to compete for their country. ZeRo vs. Ranai was heavily anticipated as many Smashers heavily debated whether ZeRo could handle the greatest Japanese player. ZeRo and Ranai eventually met and, in a tense match, led to ZeRo making a fantastic victory against Ranai 3-2. ZeRo eventually won GENESIS 3 while defeating Dabuz.
Picture: ZeRo and Ranai preparing to battle in Genesis 3 while the crowd watches in anticipation.
After completing a few matches, ZeRo takes a brief absence from the competitive scene due to medical issues. With ZeRo's absence and Nairo unable to maintain the consistency he had the previous year, the meta gave way for players ranked below both of them to rise. Abadango showed dominance with his Mewtwo after his won Pound 2016, Hyuga showing some upsets in multiple tournaments, alongside Ally growing much stronger, it seems that ZeRo may have been few steps behind. Upon ZeRo's return to the scene in May, ZeRo was no longer the dominant force he was previously, with a wider array of players defeating him compared to before the hiatus. Ally notably holds a positive record over ZeRo since the onset of patch 1.1.6. as a result, defeating him at Get On My Level 2016, Smash 'N' Splash 2, and Super Smash Con 2016. The 2016 summer season was defined as the rise of Mario in the metagame as ANTi won CEO 2016 and Ally won EVO 2016 with using mostly Mario.
Characters who were once inferior to most of the cast were given a fantastic push thanks to efforts from their dedicated players. Abadango used Mewtwo, who was placed 37th in the first tier, to win Pound 2016. Kameme used Mega Man, a middle tier character, to place 2nd at EVO 2016. Mr. E used Marth to win countless upsets, greatly helped Marth as he rose from low tier to a high tier character. Marth rose even further as MKLeo used him to not only win countless upsets but also win tournaments, solidifying him as top tier. Taiheita used Lucas with force in Smash Con and Umebura Majors. Even Heavyweights such as Bowser was also given a fantastic push thanks to the efforts of Nairo, Larry Lurr, and Tweek. Because of this, many people began to realize that many characters in this game are not as inbalance than they thought. Later dedicated players also pushed many characters to their best.
MKLeo, who was well known for defeating Mr. R at Smash Factor 4 a year prior, secured a US visa in October 2016, allowing him to enter tournaments in the United States. This led him to win his first American major by the end of the year: 2GGT: ZeRo Saga, defeating a wide array of players such as ANTi, Ally, ZeRo, VoiD and Larry Lurr while using Marth, in which led to his massive rise in the metagame, rising from simply a low tier to a top tier in just a year.
Despite heavy losses, ZeRo has slowly regained his momentum over the game, albeit not to an extent as pre-hiatus, with him winning 2GGT: Abadango Saga, The Big House 6, and UGC Smash Open. In the end, ZeRo secured his status as the best Smash 4 player in 2016.
Smash 4's Peak and Big Controversies (2017)
Throughout early 2018, the Smash 4 community saw itself on a peak in viewership and popularity. One such example is Genesis 4, where it spikes in 100K viewers. MKLeo took ZeRo's crown and won Genesis 4. Frostbite 2018's viewership was great as it peak around 40K viewers. This tournament brought an unexpected introduction to Tsu- whom he almost win the tournament but lost to ZeRo in an intense match. The ZeRo vs Tsu- match is widely considered to many Smash 4 community as among the greatest Grand Final matches in Smash 4 history. Tsu-'s dominance brought Lucario to a big rise and secure his status as a high tier character.
After Frostbite, there was another tournament that anticipates many Smashers, 2GGC: Civil War. This international tournament brought most top-level players attended, by 47 out of the 50 players listed on PGR v2. This tournament was further hyped by its story-line: Following ZeRo's unprecedented tournament losses to Ally, a strong rivalry arose between Ally and ZeRo, leading to many instances of trash talk and creation of the Twitter hashtags which were used at large by the Smash community to represent which of the two players they supported. Civil War was revealed to be one of its season finale events alongside 2GG Championship Series. Throughout Civil War, its viewership skyrocket by over 50K, many upsets occurred (e.g. ZeRo lost to Luhtie, Ally lost to Locus/ESAM, and MKLeo lost to AC), and many newer and more diverse players enter to top 8 such as Fatality, T, HIKARU, Locus, CaptainZack, etc. Because of this, it was widely considered to be one of the most important and hardest Smash 4 events of all time. In the end, Dabuz finally won 2GGC: Civil War after defeating Fatality.
Picture: A poster display both Ally and ZeRo alongside some crew members at 2GGC: Civil War.
However, after Civil War and some other tournaments, viewership in Smash 4 decline as many majors were held every week. Many players grew tired from the oversaturation of tournaments and many viewers grew more bored as they watch every tournament in every week. To make things worse, Bayonetta, despite being heavily nerfed, was able to steadily resurge back to the best character in the game widely thanks to CaptainZack, Salem, Mistake, and Lima. Because of this, more Bayonettas appeared in tourneys and many viewers grew sick of it. The oversaturation of tournaments and the Bayonetta controversy brought the Smash 4 community into an issue that they cannot resolve it. Many people debated whether Bayonetta should be banned alongside other controversial issues in this community such as Cloud in doubles and Lylat as a legal stage.
Despite this, Smash 4 headways to many rising stars. Salem, Fatality, Locus, CaptainZack, Elegant, and many others made unexpected yet fantastic performances throughout 2017. CaptainZack made his unexpected comeback at Genesis, Civil War, and CEO where he placed top 8 at all three of them. Fatality placed 2nd at both Civil War and MomoCon. Elegant's performance randomly burst at GTX and Championship. Salem, who at first place average placings in early 2017, later became the 2nd best after his EVO win alongside many others afterward.
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My view in 2018 Smash and onward
2018 is going right now and as I look at it, the Smash 4 community is growing more and more paranoid as its viewership is on a decline, many players quit until Smash 5's release, and Bayonetta controversy grew much stronger thanks to increasing amounts of Bayonetta players. While I am not going to talk about 2018 issue in much information, I can tell that Smash 4's future will depend on how they will survive after Smash 5 and how dedicated the TOs and the smashers will be after Smash 5. Future of Smash 4 can go in two ways: decline but resurge like Melee or decline and dissolve like Brawl.
Otherwise, we will wait and see what will Smash 4 holds in the future.
That's it for now, I may not chat in this thread frequently because I am relaxing after all the stress I suffered throughout the school year. (I made 160,000-word outline about all the history of the world which is really hard). However, I will look and discuss anything about Ness related or tournament related. Otherwise, see yall later!
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