Welcome everyone to another year of PMRank! PMRank is a panel-based Power Ranking of the Top 50 Project+ players in North America. We're excited to put together another list of the best performers throughout the 30+ eligible events this year, covering Game 5 in the D #1 through Condo of Blood 2. Initially, 78 players were qualified to be ranked based on their placings and attendance at major Project+ events throughout 2023. Panelists were tasked with reviewing this data and ranking each player in order, from #1 to #78. For each player, the highest and lowest rankings on all panelists’ lists were removed when averaging votes to reduce variance. After an initial ballot, panelists were given time to discuss the aggregated results and move closer to consensus in the case of players with high standard deviations. Then, panelists submitted a second and final ballot to determine the placement of our PMRank Top 50.
This project would not have been possible without the dedicated volunteers who helped us engineer spreadsheets, track down tournament data, construct head-to-head charts, create and revise ranking ballots, write and edit player summaries, and gather photographs. A number of photographers have given us permission to use their high-quality photographs of Project M/+ players for the purposes of this project as well.
Players new and old, North and South, and everywhere in-between make up today's article.
In a year packed to the brim with incredible debuts, one would be remiss to gloss over the PNW paladin Zushi! Returning to the game post-pandemic, this one in a hundred-thousand talent truly embodied his namesake and got to work, diligently and patiently climbing up the ranks in his home state of Washington. After mastering the minutiae of Link and getting his groove back in 2023, Zushi was finally prepared to show off what he learned on a much larger stage – and show off he did. Taking his talents on tour in his first appearances at out of region events, Zushi zair’d through the competition and dthrow dair’d (dubbed ”The Zushi” for those unaware) his way to wins over Ford$, Rise, Sothe, grealy, and perhaps most impressively top IL threat Chaloopy, in doing so finally overcoming the only foe he despises more than the King of the Gerudo: “The Evil Racecar Man”. Even though he returned home with plenty of Knight’s Crests in tow this year, our hero has no intentions of ending his story there. No matter how incredible his results get, you can be sure that he’ll be espousing the mindset that led him there in the first place: training never ends! Osu!
Written By: evil lesbian
Once again, we get to see the dynamic duo dynamo, Serb, back on PMRank taking the solid placement of #39. After sliding on the ice at Smashing Grounds 10th Anniversary, Serb got his bearings and slid right out to Colorado for his annual return at The Bigger Mile High Club. In pools, he used his Squall Hammer to break through meecrobs, Zushi, and Entropy without dropping a single game. In top 32, he was thawed out by Pikmon and Ryzuul, but Serb took a respectable place of 17th at the stacked major. Back in his home state for Terminal Velocity, Serb put ice blocks in just about everyone’s path as he took solid sets off Mr.Watch&Learn, essy, Shadowhawke, and Twisty. Only Flarp managed to navigate Serb’s icy obstacles and double-eliminated him, stopping Serb’s ascent at fourth place. For his last three events of the season, Serb pummeled out victories from Imogen Heat, Mulldrifter and Eden to add to his list of wins. The Ice Climbers main kept up another year of impressive records at all the events he went out to by staying within the top 10 at six of the seven tournaments, with the seventh being a solid 17th out of 134 entrants. We are once again reminded that you can hate Serb but you gotta love Dave and his skillful gameplay.
Written By: Artemis
Some players focus on changing the meta; others focus more on changing their lives. This year, Studebacher Hoch did both, not only taking his talents from DFW to PNW, but also making an appearance on PMRank for the second year in a row, this time at #38. Stude’s unique take on Captain Falcon is a breath of fresh air for those used to the methodical techchasing of Chaloopy juxtaposed with the wild style of ORLY. In a way, Stude almost synthesizes the two, and this allowed him to focus his skills as a dual game threat to reach new heights this past year. After a slow start for everyone’s favorite master of ceremonies at Full Bloom and The Bigger Mile High Club, Stude really found their footing at Smash Camp: New Lands, where he defeated grealy, Magi, and Cloudburst before falling to Pikmon in a close game five set to reach fourth place. From there, Stude showcased remarkable consistency for the rest of the year, with strong performances at Warehouse War 4, Undertow 2024, and Tussleopolis. At these events, Stude was able to defeat strong players such as Comb, PooPoo, Tuck, SoulOfficer, and Whoratio, with extremely close game five losses with Sothe, Dirtboy and evil lesbian proving that Stude is still a threat going into 2025 if raptor boosting to ledge calls to him like the Green Goblin mask enough.
Written By: shad
The second of three Canadians making their PMRank debuts this season, Erg holds down the fort for Mario on PMRank in the absence of The Doctor. For only his third event in the United States, and his first of this season, Erg’s patient and calculated Mario made a huge splash at The Bigger Mile High Club, running through grealy, Mr.Watch&Learn, and contemporary international player Ryzuul to land himself at an unprecedented 13th place as the 42nd seed of the event. The remainder of Erg’s season was quietly consistent, with his worst loss coming at the hands of Canadian brethren Krumpberry. Across his remaining four events, Erg fair-ed well with wins versus Ripple, Lordy, LiteralFraud, and Titanium twice over across the venues of Canada and Michigan. With his notable technical skill and deep knowledge of the game, more experience versus the field seems to have done wonders for Erg in 2024. With potential for more American crossover in the coming year, Erg may be able to level up even higher in the future.
Written By: Motobug
Sometimes when you play a fighting game you really connect with your character. You find your “soul main” so to speak. Pull up in Erich “Shenanigans” Weaver’s driveway and you’ll see a custom license plate that says “PMKIRBY,” so it’s safe to say that he falls under that category. Shenanigans has been a bit of a P+ journeyman this year, attending seven PMRank qualified events, and he made big splashes at each of them. He started the season off strong at Full Bloom with an incredibly impressive fifth place finish as the 24th seed with wins on Not Chris, Studebacher Hoch, Michael, and very narrowly falling in a game five loss to Chaloopy and a 1-3 loss to ~CP9~. He didn’t slow down going into The Bigger Mile High Club, where he placed a respectable 25th place at one of the most stacked events of the year, collecting more notable wins on the likes of sfy bees and ilikepizza107. He mostly stuck around the South for the rest of the season with placements at: 13th at local major Warehouse War 4, fourth at Ripped Off, second at Beachin’, and fifth at cardd’s basement, notably narrowly losing a game five banger of a Kirby ditto with his main competition for #1 Kirby in the world, Av. Finally, the last big event for Shenanigans was a strong 17th place showing at Undertow, knocking out both Melee threats in Sirmeris and Ashashi, but also other PMRank contenders such as Kendrick and grealy. Shenanigans seems determined going into the 2025 season to attain the title of best Kirby in the world, and as long as he can shut out the Green Goblin mask whispers of “Just send Side Cutter,” he might just claim it.
Written By: Rooster
My name is Tyler Cox, and I am the ADVOCATE for the REIGNING. DEFENDING. UNDISPUTED. PROJECT PLUS CHAMPION of Tennessee: Chase “Xtreme” Harrell! 2024 was the year Tennessee finally got to show its stuff on the P+ national stage, and their #1 Project+ player for almost five years running, Xtreme, and his R.O.B. had an explosive start to the year that really exemplified that. He started off the season with a strong ninth place finish at Full Bloom, knocking down the Ganondorf duo of Joey and Che (in which Xtreme’s former main, Wario, had to make a rare appearance), only to completely blow the doors off the season with a Cinderella run at Ripped Off, taking down Jagz$ 3-2 in Winners Semis and Chaloopy 3-1 in Winners Finals, before facing Jagz$ again in Grand Finals 一 The winner of this contest, and NEW Ripped Off Champion, Xtreme! Xtreme made the R.O.B.-Marth matchup look unwinnable for the swordsman in the 3-0 victory over Jagz$. He followed this up with a 17th at local major Warehouse War 4 citing “TO Johns” as he handled running the P+ bracket while still getting some solid wins on MachineDynamics as well as Alabama hidden boss Kendo64. He finished off his season with a fifth place finish at cardd’s basement, picking up a win on grealy, but falling to the other Lucas in attendance, essy, as well as a last hit, last stock game five clencher with another Southeast hidden boss in Dingo. Xtreme has proven himself to be able to hang with the best of the best and even bring home a trophy in the process, so with a little more national-level experience, don’t be surprised to see this Tennessee ROB add more Championship Titles to his trophy case.
Written By: Rooster
Sophie, “Sobie,” “Soapy,” “Ay yo, Soup,” SoulOfficer skillfully cypher'd her way onto 2024’s PMRank with her expertise in “sticky-ing” people with C4 and DACUSing them to take her placement at #34. Her unique playstyle with Snake has led her to push the meta with a character long thought of as being “gutted” in P+ and helped her secure a myriad of impressive tournament results including top 10 at seven of the ten events she went to with four of those placements being in the top 8. Sophie’s year started out strong at Full Bloom 2024, as she achieved her highest peak at a PMRank bracket up to that point by triumphing in a set versus Tennessee R.O.B. phenom Xtreme. From there, SoulOfficer would rocket (and mortar) into the upper echelons of competitive players, piercing the heavens and clutching out wins over the likes of Mulldrifter, Shenanigans, Wombat, Titanium, Xtreme (again), and Chaloopy. Her season culminated in her peak performance at Five Nights at Fingy’s 2, where, after an early loss to community veteran and legendary AZ Lucario TRai, she tore through Losers bracket, earning herself a clean Predator Missile by knocking out former PMRank Luigi ilovebagelz, PNW Dedede player Lamboa, tournament organizer and AZPR player Dox, PMRank 2023’s #24 Sheik Suvir in an anxiety-inducing reverse 3-0, and TRai in a game five runback before placing a respectable fourth place falling to fellow IL player evil lesbian in a matchup the Midwest knows as “The RPM Classic.” Despite Snake’s long-standing reputation for being boring, SoulOfficer’s innovation with Tranquilizer in the punish game has made even being put to sleep look cool. The combination of her creative gameplay, her sweet, earnest disposition and her wholehearted, unabashed love for the game has quickly led to her becoming a fan favorite player.
Written By: Artemis & evil lesbian
It’s always interesting to see how newly ranked players will do in the year after they debut. Will they falter to pressure and lose the ranking they worked so hard for? Or will they… “Rise” to the occasion… Wait! Don’t leave! I promise I’m done with the puns this year! For the most part.
IL, Georgia, Connecticut and KoF players alike all rejoiced as Ricky “Rise” resplendently returned to form in 2024. After a tough year end in 2023 where the fearsome flatman was knocked out early at Honeypot 6 by fellow Chicago staple Comb, Ricky showed up to Frosty Faustings XVI ready to prove it was merely a misstep by beating Comb in the runback. But Rise, a gentleman and a scholar, saw no reason to halt his ascent there, instead making his way through Yung Quaff, Twisty, and Yung Quaff again to become the 2024 Frosty Faustings Champion and net his first ever gold medal at a PMRank event. When he wasn’t busy winning brackets, this kind-hearted man demonstrated the depths of his magnanimity, doling out protein-packed hot breakfasts to friends in need including Marcato, mawwwk, Titanium, Erg, natebug01, SoulOfficer, and Michael. With an unshakable mindset and his lucky hammer by his side, Rise has once again proved himself capable of scaling the highest peaks this game has to offer. If he can harness that same energy consistently in 2025, who knows how far this 2D top player can go?
Written By: evil lesbian
After securing 38th on PMRank 2023, evil lesbian lightning kicked the competition again in 2024 to jolt her way to #32 on PMRank 2024. Rye, AKA “evil lesbian,” AKA “sinister sapphic,” AKA “Mitch McConnell: ***** Destroyer,” returned to Colorado this year as “d~ike.” Starting at The Bigger Mile High Club, d~ike had to take on a whole team of California players on her way to top 32 including: YadoR, SipMastah, LoyaL, and Ivayne. She took a win off of the old-time Kirby main, Yador, before losing a tight game three set against PMRank 2023’s #8, SipMastah. In the lower bracket, she glided her way past the Mario main, LoyaL, and ended her run with a close set against Ivayne. From there, “the villain” traveled out to Ohio where she not only secured her first ever national level top 8 at the incredibly stacked Undertow, but she also became the first Zelda main to make a top 8 in the P+ era. She tore through pools beating meecrobs and flatline to make it into the top 32. After losing a game five set with Morsecode762, a Din’s Fire lit inside her. In the lower bracket, she dash danced her way past Vaporeon, Krumpberry, and Studebacher Hoch, to secure a seventh place finish. Undertow wasn’t her only top 8 placement of the season as she traveled down to Arizona for Five Nights at Fingy’s 2 as “bit.ly/51MFoEnY” showing that she's never gonna give it up. She took wins off of AZ_Rocky, Suvir, essy, as well as SoulOfficer in an Illinois classic set in Losers Semis to take home third in the Valley of the Sun. Warping her way to one of her best placements to date with her stylish gameplay and love of the game, it's no surprise the Madam of Monikers solidified her placement at #32.
Written By: Artemis
As the new king of Connecticut following Kycse’s move to Washington, Shadowhawke makes his second PMRank in a row at #31. Starting his season off at SG 10th Anniversary, the solo Lucas DACUS’d Kumatora, Prince Fluff, and ~CP9~ on his way to the silver medal at the event. At his first major of the year, The Bigger Mile High Club, he went head-to-head with one of his greatest inspirations, Hyperflame, and Shadowhawke took the set 3-1. His next big event, Warehouse War 4, was his most prolific, eliminating the Illinois duo of ORLY and SoulOfficer to earn fifth place out of 140 entrants. Hawke remained in New England for the rest of the season while his attention was split with Rivals 2, though he still took down Twisty, sfy bees, Mulldrifter, and harrow across his remaining three events for the year. While he may be grinding his trusty Wrastor primarily at the moment, it’d be no surprise to see Shadowhawke make frequent appearances and deep bracket runs at Project+ events as well next season.
Written By: Motobug
Other PMRank 2024 Articles
1/27/2025 - PMRank 2024: The Edge of Glory
1/28/2025 - PMRank 2024: 50-41
1/29/2025 - PMRank 2024: 40-31
1/30/2025 - PMRank 2024: 30-21
1/31/2025 - PMRank 2024: 20-11
2/3/2025 - PMRank 2024: 10-7
2/4/2025 - PMRank 2024: 6-4
2/5/2025 - PMRank 2024: 3-1
2/6/2025 - PMRank 2024: Recap
1/28/2025 - PMRank 2024: 50-41
1/29/2025 - PMRank 2024: 40-31
1/30/2025 - PMRank 2024: 30-21
1/31/2025 - PMRank 2024: 20-11
2/3/2025 - PMRank 2024: 10-7
2/4/2025 - PMRank 2024: 6-4
2/5/2025 - PMRank 2024: 3-1
2/6/2025 - PMRank 2024: Recap
Last Year's Rankings
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
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
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
Editors:
- “CND”
- Paul "Motobug" Canavan
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