The top echelon of Australian Project+ earn their top spots today.
Welcome everyone to another year of PMRank! This year, we are highlighting players from not only North America, but from across the world! We have coordinated with representatives of Australia, Europe, and Japan to make rankings for each of their regions. The rankings themselves are done by the representatives of each region, while the PMRank team handles the graphic design and publishing portions of each ranking.
Australia's Project+ scene is a tight-knit group of players spread across the country, and we're happy to give them a platform for this year's PMRank. If you are an Australian player looking to connect with the AUS Project+ scene, you can join their Discord at https://discord.gg/smash.
Photo Credit: N/A
Nido has been competing in PM/P+ for over 10 years and has always been a dominant and hilarious addition to our scene. Nido started out his career playing Ness, but moved over to ROB in 2017 and hasn’t looked back since. Nido is known for more than just his impressive top-level performances at every major, however, as he is one of our most creative players when it comes to creating fun and refreshing versus challenges that are always a blast to play and a spectacle for onlookers.
Nido has been a frequent and strong presence at all four majors in 2023. Starting the year off strong with a 5th place finish at The Action with solid wins over Lewdelli and Mask1n. He carried this momentum into BAM13, where he secured a nice 3rd place, triumphing over players such as Amph and Luma, and having 2 incredibly close sets with Tyler but narrowly falling short. At MMC4, Nido picked up a major set win over Star in pools, setting him up for a strong run that had him finish in 5th. At MMC4 he would also get notable set wins over RNG and Baker. His final major appearance for the year was at Pissmas 4, where he would continue his usual solid performance to a 4th place finish, notably defeating Baker and Naga before falling to Star and Tyler.
Nido is an impressively consistent competitor that didn’t fall short of an at least 5th place finish at every major tournament of 2023, where some others in the top 10 had some inconsistencies. Nido is also well regarded as a great source of fun and entertainment for the Australian scene and we would lose a massive part of our identity without him.
Written By: Amph
Photo Credit: N/A
Star has been a central pillar of Australian PM/P+ for as long as the scene has been around. Still to this day, Star has continued to be a consistent top player within Australia and strived to prove his skills on a variety of characters. Star is most well-known for his long history of maining Sonic, but since 2020 he has made an effective swap to Link, still managing to find the same success as before.
Star’s most impressive showings in 2023 came at the start and end of the year. His first great performance was at The Action in January 2023, one of the most stacked brackets in Australian history. Star utilised a mix of Link and Sonic to get far in the bracket and pick up nice wins on Nido and Baker and also impressively took a game off of Ryzuul in Winners Semis before falling to Joshman in Losers Semis for a very solid 4th place finish. Star’s other amazing showing came from Pissmas 4 in December of 2023, where he took down Nido, Amph and Baker to secure 3rd place using Link. Star also had arguably the closest set of the year with Tyler in Losers Finals, unfortunately falling in a last stock last hit situation in game 5.
Star is not just a strong presence within Australia however, he is also our most well-travelled player showing off his talents in other scenes over the years, such as an appearance at Smash’N’Splash 3 in 2016 and The Bigger Balc in 2017. His most recent travels found him mixing in with the Japanese scene in December of 2022, where he fought valiantly against their best players. At Smashing Saga 9 he would get strong victories over top Japanese players bnd and Massun, but unfortunately falling just short of 1st with a close game 5 loss to TEITO in grands.
Star will be forever immortalised within Australian PM/P+ history as he has been the driving force behind the passion and growth for the game and this amazing community. Australia owes a lot to Star and we couldn’t be more proud to have someone representing us like he does both on and off the controller.
Written By: Amph
Photo Credit: N/A
Tyler has been steadily improving every year and with this past year reaching his highest point on the national rankings, slotting into our #3 spot. Tyler came from humble beginnings in 2014, equipped with a Wii Classic Controller and 3.02 Pit. He had a strong start at his first tournament placing top 16 and continuing that momentum into 3.5 where he swapped mains to his infamous Snake. Solidifying his spot as Victoria’s strongest player, dominating his local scene, consistently placing well at majors and being ranked in the top 5 from 2016 til 2021 and swapping mains to Wolf shortly after 3.6’s release.
When in-person P+ tournaments returned in 2021, Tyler would stick it out with Wolf until BAM 2022, where he fell out of love with the character and decided to swap mains to his current day main, Zero Suit Samus. This swap didn’t come with the same growing pains as Wolf though, as he ranked 4th that same year. He'd come out the gates swinging in 2023, having amazing performances at The Action placing 3rd, with an upset win on Joshman in the process. He would continue his top 3 placement streak with an impressive 3rd place at Mega Metal Cavern 4 with wins on Lux and Nido and finally after nail biter game 5 with Star, he would secure 2nd at Pissmas 4, his first top 2 performance at a stacked major in his career.
Tyler has displayed an incredible amount of perseverance throughout his smash journey, willing to take the steps necessary to keep improving year after year and has displayed the adaptability to continue performing well regardless of character. He has reached a new level of consistency that could take him to the very top in 2024 and we look forward to seeing what’s next!
Written By: Ryzuul
Photo Credit: bluerosetori
An Australian PM veteran and now ranked top 20 in the world in Melee, Joshman once again proves he’s still got what it takes in 2023 when playing Project+. For 9 years, Josh has competed in Project M brackets in Australia, primarily in his original state of NSW, maining Fox, Mario and Donkey Kong, being consistently ranking in the top 3 in Australian national power rankings. Josh began to travel overseas regularly in 2018, showing the world his Melee prowess but still continues to enter Project+ major brackets when returning to his home country, playing sets against his historic foes.
Josh first competed in Project+ again in January 2023 at The Action in Canberra, which had a wealth of attendance from the majority of Australia’s best. Josh used Marth at this tournament, slicing through the likes of Baker, Nido and Star. In a surprise upset, Josh was knocked to losers by Tyler’s ZSS, but it wasn’t long before Josh evened the set count back in Losers Finals, knocking Tyler out of the tournament. Josh successfully won the first set of Grand Finals against Ryzuul, but ultimately lost in the bracket reset, earning a respectable 2nd place at this major.
Josh would once again enter Project+ at The Big Cheese 4 in South Australia in October, taking down Dekar and Microsoft J on his way to Winners Finals where he once again met Ryzuul in bracket. Josh used his outstanding Fox to take the victory this time, beating Ryzuul in both Winners Finals and Grand Finals to take home the 1st place trophy.
Josh has proven time and time again when returning for Project+ brackets in Australia that he’s got what it takes to beat the very best in this country and his results prove that. Aussie P+ players are 100% behind Josh doing our country proud overseas in Melee and we’re always here to welcome him home and play a few games of P+ when we can!
Written By: Star
Photo Credit: N/A
Australia’s undisputed number 1 player Ryzuul came into 2023 ready to dominate the scene once again and promptly delivered, winning all but one of the tournaments he entered this year. It was a gradual build up to being ranked first in the country being placed 5th overall at the end of 2016 but after claiming his first major tournament victory at Expand Gong 2 in 2017 he claimed the title of best and never looked back.
The year started off big for Ryzuul at The Action in Canberra, cleanly sweeping his pool. Bracket would continue to look effortless claiming dominant wins over Naga, Amph, Star and Tyler until a scare in Grand Finals dropping the first set 1-3 to a storming Joshman’s Marth from being upset earlier, despite the scare a fiery 3-0 in the reset would seal the deal and win himself the first tournament of the year. Ryzuul would enter 2 smaller majors in the following months being BAM13 absolutely waxing the competition not dropping a game all tournament and Big Cheese 4 which would see him lose the tournament to his closest competition Joshman in two close sets.
Mega Metal Cavern 4 would be the highlight of an already incredible year for Ryzuul with the attendance of PMRank 2022's #28 Motobug. Ryzuul would storm through the Australian competitors to meet Moto in Winners Finals, where our hero would lose a tight 2-3 and need to climb back to Grand Finals for another chance at victory. Climb back he did, winning sets one and two 3-1 to defend his home turf and further cement his spot as our number 1, but also putting himself on the map to international onlookers.
With the year winding down to the last major for the year Pissmas 4, Ryzuul would once again claim first place over the rest of Australia’s best in the usual fashion, only losing a single game all bracket to Tyler. Ryzuul continues to march on as the premier Ness Australia has to offer, and there are no signs of him slowing down while he looks to have another fantastic year in 2024.
Written By: Nido
We'd also like to highlight PM Pals: Australia, a combo video featuring many players of the Australian Project+ scene created by Ronan. Watch the video below!
Congratulations to all of the players who made PMRank 2023 Australia!
Other PMRank 2023 Articles
1/29/2024 - PMRank 2023: The Edge of Glory
1/29/2024 - PMRank 2023: In The Margins
1/30/2024 - PMRank 2023: 50-41
1/31/2024 - PMRank 2023: 40-31
2/1/2024 - PMRank 2023: 30-21
2/2/2024 - PMRank 2023: 20-11
2/5/2024 - PMRank 2023: 10-7
2/6/2024 - PMRank 2023: 6-4
2/7/2024 - PMRank 2023: 3-1
2/8/2024 - PMRank 2023: Recap
1/29/2024 - PMRank 2023: In The Margins
1/30/2024 - PMRank 2023: 50-41
1/31/2024 - PMRank 2023: 40-31
2/1/2024 - PMRank 2023: 30-21
2/2/2024 - PMRank 2023: 20-11
2/5/2024 - PMRank 2023: 10-7
2/6/2024 - PMRank 2023: 6-4
2/7/2024 - PMRank 2023: 3-1
2/8/2024 - PMRank 2023: Recap
2/19/2024 - PMRank 2023: AUS 10-6
Credits
PMRank Staff:
- Che “Che” Woodson
- Brennan “FlashingFire” Connolly
- Paul “Motobug” Canavan
- Peter “Pikmon” Woodworth
Graphic Design and Character Renders:
- Paul "Motobug" Canavan
- Cosmetic Standardization Project (CSProject) & the Project+ Development Team
In-Region Coordinator:
- Rohan "Star" Baird
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