In January of 2016, its third installment was hosted with much success, blowing open the gates for the international community and showcasing that there was much to be seen in the world of Smash.
Arguably the most important Smash Wii U tournament to date, let’s take a look back at how big of an impact Genesis 3 had on the growing and thriving scene of Smash Wii U.
The Global Rumble
Genesis 3 hosted what would be remembered as the first truly international crew battle at a Smash Wii U major. Various regions of the United States had players representing them and while international players were no strangers to the main stage, both Japan and Mexico were fully represented by teams of players from their respective regions as well. For many spectators, this was their first time seeing how players like Rei “2GG | Komorikiri” Furukawa of Japan or Alejandro “Regi Shikimi” Martinez of Mexico performed.
Through a daunting 10 crew single elimination bracket, it was ultimately the Japan Crew who came out on top of the world.
Credit to SmashWiki for results image
Pools Without Floats
Genesis 3 was and still remains one of the largest Super Smash Bros. tournaments to date, boasting a grand total of 3,592 entrants across all three games it held events for. Due to the intense numbers they had to deal with, the Genesis 3 staff had originally intended to float the top 64 seeds in Melee and top 32 seeds in Smash Wii U past the first round of pools. While this was generally agreed to be a fair decision for the Melee community, there was immediate backlash from the Smash Wii U community.
The Genesis 3 team promptly made a public statement reversing their decision to float Smash Wii U players:
“To diminish the overwhelming concern of the Smash 4 community, the Genesis team has unanimously decided to revert the idea of sending top 32 directly into round 2 of pools. This idea, although yielding some benefit, has been rejected by the greater community and therefore warranted an adjustment.” - Jonathan Silva
The decision to cancel player floating proved to be a positive one for the outcome of the tournament’s brackets in terms of narrative value. Many top players were knocked into the loser’s bracket or outright eliminated early on, like Yuya “9B” Araki being sent into loser’s by Angel Cortes and knocked out of bracket by Anthony “Zex” West.
The idea of these being upsets set the tone for what would come to be commonly expected in Smash Wii U: no one was safe at the top.
Genesis 3 and onward, newer names such as Tyler "Marss" Martins and Carrington "Wrath" Osborne rose to international relevance, proving that players couldn’t grow complacent with their skills and tactics. Those at the top were given a reminder that they needed to adapt to the ever-evolving metagame in order to maintain their stature.
In reference to the minor debacle caused by the previous decision, the Genesis 4 team has publicly stated that they have no intentions of floating Smash Wii U players for now.
Setting the Bar High
Through all of the hard work the event organizing team had put in, Genesis 3 provided the Smash Wii U scene with a springboard to success in 2016. The top-notch quality that the event possessed raised many Smashers' standards for the better. Many events soon followed suit with maintaining the high expectations set by the Genesis 3 team, much to the benefit of both players and viewers.
Genesis is often regarded as one of the Smash community's most important event series. With everything it has brought to the scene-at-large, it isn't hard to see why.
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Genesis 4 is fast approaching and the Smashboards team is looking forward to covering every bit of it right here and on Twitter. Stay tuned.
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