The premier Super Smash Bros. fan mod, Project M, celebrated its 14th anniversary a few months ago. In that time, it has seen many changes, overcame unthinkable obstacles, and boasted a thriving competitive scene going strong to this very day. Due to its complicated history, the many eras of Project M are concretely split and the many talented players throughout the game's lifespan are not often recognized or celebrated as much as they deserve. In an attempt to bring visibility back to the underground smash game’s history, the Plus Side team is proud to present the Top 100 Project M/+ Players of All Time! For more information on the methodology behind this list, please check out our introduction article.
Kycse has always been a bastion of consistency in the Project M scene. After debuting at #44 in 2016, he would go on to threepeat as the #12 player in 2017-2019 before finally reaching top 10 in 2022 and 11 in 2023. In a similar demonstration of consistency, Kycse played for the entirety of his notable playing career using only Charizard, a character generally considered to be in the bottom half of the cast in every edition of the modern game. He would terrorize New England and Tri-state, dominating the East Coast with well placed nairs, surgical edgeguards, and a brutal punish game. The rest of the country was not safe, however, as Kycse would end up as one of the most well traveled players, attending majors in nearly every major PM region at some point and doing well at many of them. Almost single-handedly driving North America’s Charizard metagame, especially in the late 3.6/early P+ era, Kycse continuously pushed the imaginative limits of what Charizard is capable of.
This list focuses on singles performances, but it would be a crime to speak on Kycse’s legacy without mentioning his place among the elite of Project M’s doubles players. Kycse, alongside fellow top player Flipp, was ranked number 8 on Sabre’s unofficial top ten 3.6 doubles teams. Kycse was a proud and passionate doubles player who still found time to dominate singles, making him one of the best double threats to ever touch the game.
Written by: Serb
To those that haven’t watched the brilliantly crafted video (in my own humble opinion) about the history of Diddy Kong, BaconPancakes was the premier pilot of the monkey throughout the later 3.6 era. Developing an innovative, brutal punish game on top of an already strong neutral game, BP started placing top 8’s at majors as early as 2016. In a back and forth rivalry with Switch at the Smash Con series, Beeps would come out on top in 2019, among other regional victories in 2018 and 2019.
While BaconPancakes is retired from the game at this point, he left a huge positive mark on the scene with his insightful innovation to the metagame, and impressive performances.
Written by: Tuck
The year is 2015. The venue is the Ontario Convention Center in Los Angeles. The tournament is Paragon. Sitting on one side of Grand Finals is Oracle, a long time competitor who was on a surprise Grand Finals run himself. His opponent, coming from Winners side, is a young man barely able to legally drive. That player's name is Forrest, formerly Mr. Lz, and he is about to take the Project M world by storm.
Forrest went on to handily win his set against Oracle, taking the tournament with other wins over Seagull Joe, Machiavelli, and Hungrybox as well. He would also win Smash ‘n’ Splash 2 in 2016, contributing to his 6th place finish on the inaugural PMRank 2016 list. However, just as quickly as he appeared in the scene, our young prodigy would move on to other games like Melee, where he employed (and still occasionally employs to this day!) some of the flashiest Marth gameplay any Smash game has ever seen. Few other modern players dominated the game so handily before simply walking away almost entirely, but despite the brevity of his stay, there’s hardly an old head around who doesn’t remember what it was like seeing a young Forrest completely demolish grown men and women at their favorite game.
Written by: Serb
HyperFlame gained his Hyperfame playing this Hypergame, and for good reason. As one of the many strong players to come out of MD/VA, HyperFlame had a quick rise to prominence throughout 2015, and was winning notable tournaments by 2016. After taking Shuffle VIII over ThundeRzReiGN, BaconPancakes, and Anther, the 3.6 Lucas posterchild became a mainstay in the tippy-top level of competition.
This would come to a head at his biggest tournament win ever, Blacklisted 3, where he won the incredibly stacked national over Boiko, Kumatora, Flipp, and Malachi twice. Other wins over Kycse, Lunchables, Emukiller, SipMastah, and many more cemented his place as one of the greatest players of the 3.6 era.
With a legacy this long and successful, some would be satisfied. HyperFlame, however, still competes to this day, snagging a top 15 spot on the 2024 rankings, even taking a tournament over the year’s #3 player, Dirtboy. Even while mostly shifting his focus to Rivals 2 for the moment, HyperFlame still enters Project+ events when available, continuing his decade-long career.
Written by: Motobug
The second half of a money match that would inspire generations of players to pick up Snake, Professor Pro was doing it big in the early days of Project M, being the front-runner and trendsetter for the retooled legendary mercenary’s meta. Throughout his many travels to the United States, Prof would pick up wins on the likes of Leffen, M2K, ZeRo, Mango, Jaden, and Junebug (multiple times!), placing top 2 in 9/16 tournaments in our dataset from 2014 - 2016. His biggest win would be taking Tipped Off 11 over Forrest, Strong Badam, and Junebug, clutching out the tournament with a solid 3-0 after shutting down the momentum Junebug carried in the previous 3-2 grands reset.
Prof would make occasional appearances in the United Kingdom in the post-covid era, and even placed #1 in the 2022-2023 UK Project+ Power Rankings before his retirement at the end of 2023. While we may not ever see that leopard printed mercenary grace the CRTs again, Prof’s legacy as one of the best Snakes to do it will not fade from memory anytime soon.
Written by: ilikepizza107
Throughout PM’s entire lifespan, there have been a consistent handful of players that have stuck it out at a high level for many years. Through multiple eras of the game, multiple patches and landscapes, there’s a small group of people who have persevered. Fast forwarding to the modern era in 2025, it’s clear who the longest-standing high level player is - Dirtboy.
Starting his career of incredibly strong with an upset win over then-top 5 player Ally in 2015, into not missing a single iteration of PMRank, and topping it off by reaching a peak of #3 in the world this past year, Dirtboy is unparalleled in his dedication to the game. He is the greatest Squirtle player of all time, and has certainly earned his place near the top of this list.
Written by: Tuck
One of the best Snakes of all time, Flipp would frequently turn heads when he initially started playing with his over the top combo videos and top placements on Anther’s Ladder. The grandeur of both online achievements would finally take form in the real world starting at Shots Fired 2, where he would only be felled by the dominant Junebug and Professor Pro, ending his breakout performance at 4th place. Flipp was just getting started, though, and proceeded to win SuperNova and place 2nd at The Bigger Balc, following those up with unwavering consistent top 4 placements at 2017 supermajors such as The Flex Zone 2, The Bigger Balc, Blacklisted 3, SuperNova 2, and Salty Juan’s 4.
Things have been relatively quiet from the CT legend in the post-covid era of Project+, with only an online tournament and a local to his name. A combination of the changes to Snake in Project+’s patches and a waning interest in competing seem to be the main causes, though despite this, you can still catch Flipp playing the game every now and again on his Twitch, in between Dead by Daylight runs, of course.
Written by: ilikepizza107
Rongunshu is a player whose gameplay seeps finesse. Whether it’s extensively labbed, mind boggling conversions with Lucario or clinical yet expressive strings with Marth, the king of the North is one of the masters of this game. While he may have had humble beginnings in his first excursions to the United States, a second place finish at Frozen Phoenix 2018 and an astonishing breakout run at Smash ‘N’ Splash 4 put Rongunshu on the map as a major tournament threat.
By the next year, he was already knocking on the door of a major tournament win with a run to 2nd over Flipp and Switch at Resting Stitch Face 2. His return to tournaments in the 2022 season was where Brad truly started to shine, though, winning both Invincible VI and Undertow 2022, the latter being one of the greatest losers runs of the modern era. His final tournament win at Mile High Club was a dominant display over all of his competition, dismantling SipMastah and breaking The Doctor’s months-long winning streak. Although Rongunshu now may be focused on starting a new storyline to the top in Rivals 2, he still shows up to Canadian P+ events from time to time to see his longtime friends of the scene. If we’ve learned anything from Rongunshu’s time in Project+, it’s this: don’t be surprised when you see him at the top of the podium at a Rivals 2 major in the near future.
Written by: Motobug
One of my most memorable moments of my time in PM is when a mystery person playing Ike showed up to our small local one day a year or two ago. Trouncing all of us and leaving soon after, we were all dumbfounded about who this player was. It wasn’t until we were on our way home that one of us pinpointed that it was Emukiller, under a different tag - making a quick visit in our area and showing us who’s boss.
Emukiller is one of the first top players in PM history that was truly that: a PM player. He wasn’t like Mew2King, coming from Melee, or Reflex, coming from Brawl - he was a newcomer, taking out all these pros at the height of 3.0 in 2014. The famous “woop woop” Grand Finals at SKTAR 3 against M2K cemented him as one of the handful of major winners, and it wouldn’t be his last. What separates Emukiller among the top players of 3.0 is that he adapted well into the next patch. Picking up Meta Knight in 2015, it would only take him another year to win another large tournament, We Tech Those 2. Despite it being his last major victory, he stayed as a high level threat all the way until 2019, taking out many top 10 players along the way.
Written by: Tuck
Mew2King is a player that needs absolutely no introduction. Perhaps the greatest “overall” Smash Bros. player of all time, his talents translated to PM in the early years very effectively. He solidified himself as a top 5 player as early as 2013, with victories at multiple large events like Pound V.5 and FORTE. This carried over into 2014 as well, where he might’ve been less dominant than players like Emukiller and Armada, but still placed consistently very high with his iconic Mewtwo.
In his final year of consistent PM competition, 2015, he had an incredibly solid case of being the #1 player. In a fierce rivalry with Junebug, Mew2King would come out on top in the first half of the year, winning tournaments like Paragon Orlando and Smash n’ Splash. While his venture into major PM competition ended at the end of 2015, his top level play for over 3 years earned his name to be listed among the greatest to touch this game.
Written by: Tuck
When it comes to players who exemplify what it means to be a Project M player, few are better representations of the essence of our game than Switch. Switch was active from 2016-2019 and then met ranking criteria again in 2023 and 2024, despite never completely walking away from the game during that hiatus period. Following in the footsteps of MDVA’s Chillindude, Switch picked up Wolf early on and never looked back, and today, he is the only ranked player left standing still playing Wolf. Among his many high placements, the 1st place trophy he took home at We Tech Those 3 over Malachi, Smash N Splash 3 over Malachi, and Blacklisted 4 over Filthy Casual. Despite juggling other games like Melee, Rivals of Aether, Omega Strikers, Valorant and more, Switch never completely abandoned the game he loved and always found time to play at least a little but of Project M.
Switch’s accomplishments in game are enough to earn him the 10th spot on this list, and yet pale in comparison to the kind of person Switch is outside of the game. From carrying the mid 2010’s NYNJ scene on his back by piling the entirety of the region into the famous Switch van (which had no business putting on as many additional miles as these trips surely caused) and driving them to events, to offering his home (and even his literal bed) up to anyone who needed a place to stay, to taking the time to give feedback to new players fresh off a double 4-stock. It is no exaggeration to say that Switch was the lifeblood of NYNJ when it needed it, and to this day, is one of the best human beings to ever touch the sticks. If you can’t answer an enthusiastic “Yes!” to the question “Have you seen me?”, then it might be time to drop whatever you’re doing and change that.
Written by: Serb
Junebug is a player with one of the most iconic careers in Project M. Starting off by slowly taking over the MDVA scene in 2013 and 2014, he was at the helm of Project M Diddy Kong during the 3.0 era. Going toe to toe with PM’s best, he rounded out as a solid top 10 player, with multiple major Top 8’s. But it wasn’t until 2015, in version 3.5, where Junebug took over the game. In the latter half of the year, Junebug would begin a dominant reign over the tournament scene that lasted midway through 2016.
While his smash career has shifted to rewriting melee history piloting a different primate, the PM community will always cheer on June’s new accomplishments as a member of our community.
Written by: Tuck
For many of the players on their list, their stories of Project M have a concrete beginning, middle, and end. But after 7 straight years of climbing the national rankings, that storyline does not seem to apply to SipMastah. The current #1 player in the world after an absolutely dominant 2024 has shown no signs of stopping, and with his ever growing cast of main characters, there have been few that have succeeded in slowing down his reign on modern day P+. While this list only includes results up to the end of 2024, it’d be a shame to exclude the fact that SipMastah’s 2025 is already off to an equally impressive start, winning Uprooted without dropping a set.
SipMastah, in interviews and in conversation at tournaments, is an incredibly positive representative of the scene - pushing both the game’s meta, and the people participating in it, forward.
Written by: Tuck
Out of the many players on this list, DVD is one of only a handful to be pioneers of two different character’s metagames. DVD’s Toon Link, his first solo main, appeared on a major stage in early 2015 and he firmly found himself inside major top 8’s almost immediately. His debut at #16 on PMRank 2016 would prove to be his lowest ever, as he turned in top 10 placements in 2017 and 2018 before taking a hiatus from nationals heading into 2019. DVD pushed Toon Link, a character with a resume that was built almost entirely on his (and Lunchables’) back, but eventually hit a wall locally during quarantine where he firmly decided that solo Toon Link was untenable if he wanted to achieve his remaining goals for the game.
Following the return to events in 2021, At Blacklisted 6, DVD debuted a methodical, positionally-focused, risk averse Sheik that took home 3rd place and revealed what DVD is capable of when playing a well practiced high tier. He would continue this upward climb, traveling all across the country, taking down the best of the best on his way with set wins over Lunchables, Malachi, Shiny Zubat, Kycse and many more until he was crowned P+’s number 1 player in 2023. Few players have ever achieved the success that DVD achieved in his early days, and he may be the only player to achieve so much success, and then one up himself so drastically with a new character without missing much of a beat at all.
Written by: Tuck
Trimming down Lunchables’ incredible PM career to just a few sentences is an impossible task, as the Texas-turned-Wisconsin swordmaster has been slashing through multiple generations of Project M’s best. After blasting into the national spotlight in at the beginning of 2016 by reading M2K’s soul at Super Bit Wars 4, he would go on to place at least top 4 at 4 different majors that year, most impressively placing 2nd at the circuit finale Olympus over Sosa, Gallo, and taking a set off of ThundeRz. After a quieter 2017, he would finally earn that coveted major win at Smash ‘N’ Splash 4, in one of the most intense Grand Finals of all time vs. Switch.
With his in-and-out history of competing throughout 3.6, few were expecting Lunch to come out of the COVID era just as strong as before. Placing 2nd at the first post-covid major, Undertow 2021, then going on to dominate the summer of 2023 with back-to-back wins at Invincible and Warp Zone 2 with his new Meta Knight, Lunchables has truly stood the test of time, blossoming from a prodigy to an established legend.
Lunchables hasn’t entered a major tournament in over a year, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. From absolutely dominating the doubles scene in 2024 with ORLY, as well as attending majors as a spectator and to host out of region travelers, Lunchables still makes a positive impact to this day.
Written by: Tuck
If there’s one player that could be considered the face of the modern era of Project+, it’s The Doctor. While quite a strong player before the 2020s, Undertow 2021 was his true breakout to become one of the tippy-top players of the scene. Outside of an uncharacteristic 9th place finish at The Project M Theatre, The Doctor only placed within the top two of any event he attended for the next two years.
What makes this streak even more impressive is that after an “early” loss to Malachi in the winners bracket of Blacklisted 7, The Doctor ran through his competition, winning the runback versus Malachi, 3-0ing dvd, and 6-0’d Stango in Grand Finals. Starting from his 3-0 over dvd, The Doctor won HELLBREAK, Exodus 2023, and made it to Winners Semis of Mile High Club without dropping a single game. These tournaments weren’t free, either - Sneez, Cloudburst, Dirtboy, Av, Stango, and Jonny Sosa all fell to an untouchable Mario. The Doctor may be busy being Kevin these days (as getting married and buying a house can do), but his passion for Project M is still very much present. When he’s ready, his new development in Dedede might start another new era of dominance for the best player of the modern era.
Written by: Motobug
Ice Climbers Prodigy, techboy, burst onto the scene in a major way, debuting on PMRank in 2017. He took the 8th spot in that years rankings and never fell out of the top 10 for any rankings from 2017-2023, including back to back #2 placements in 2022 and 2023. Utilizing a unique approach to the game characterized by continuously reinventing the Ice Climbers gameplan, choosing to play with the climbers synchronized and relying on read based punishes and never before seen technically demanding throw sequences that were unlike anything else being done by other Ice Climber players at the time. Techboy’s most impressive tournament victory came at the PM Theatre, where he beat the best of the best, rather convincingly, on his way to the top of the podium at PM’s most ambitious and competitive invitational.
Techboy was far from a one hit wonder, also winning Blacklisted 6, Honeypots 4 and 6, Undertow 2023, the PM Symphony, and more. His list of wins include nearly every top player of the modern P+ scene, and the lasting impact he had on the Ice Climbers metagame cannot be overstated.
Written by: Serb
Jonny Sosa is a Project M icon. When one gazes up at the SoCal Mount Rushmore of Project M, it would be criminal not to recognize the Wario wonder amid the absolute best of the best.
The list of SoCal fighters that have bested the beast at his peak is indeed so short that simply having conquered him once has been considered a career-making feat, and through his travels globally his savagery has known no bounds. Though his persona could be considered antagonistic, as we would learn the year he was #1 in the world, he simply holds others to the same lofty standards he holds for himself. The people love Sosa, and we are the people.
Written by: Frequency
It’s difficult to fully encapsulate the scope of Malachi’s longevity and impact on the game. No other player on this list’s top five had more than 5 years of activity, but Malachi was active continuously from 2015-2023 with no breaks of significant length. He also never placed outside the top 10 of any PMRank iteration, was ranked 1st in 2019 and 2nd in 2017. His mastery over efficient punishes, superior movement, and unwavering confidence that the next choice he makes will be the right one, are just a few of the things that separate Malachi as a competitor. He was the premier Peach and Sheik in the 3.5/3.6 era, won Blacklisted 5 with Bowser simply to highlight issues he had with the character design in early P+, and later switched to Zero Suit Samus to show off how strong a character he felt had been overlooked in the meta. His tournament resume includes dozens of first places including Smash N Splash 5, The Flex Zone 2, Low Tier City 5, Blacklisteds 2, 5, and 8, and so many more.
In many ways, Malachi’s reserved nature was the perfect juxtaposition to ThundeRzReiGN’s bubbly frivolity and Jonny Sosa’s heel like tendencies, letting his gameplay do most of the talking. Malachi did, however, also give us memorable moments outside of the game including the infamous “no shirt” grand finals against ThundeRzReiGN, being a part of the shinobi invasion at Blacklisted 7, or flexing with the Flex Zone 2 trophy in an iconic photo from that era. Whichever version of Malachi comes to mind for you first, it’s safe to say that his consistency across eras and characters cements Malachi as one of the best to ever do it, and one of a few players who could meaningfully make a bid for the best of all time.
Written by: Serb
There is only one player so unanimously loved and adored enough to be considered the heart and soul of Project M. A titan whose every input is a thing of beauty, ThundeRzReiGN epitomizes the blend of cerebral forethought and raw creative passion indicative of the complete package of peak gameplay.
The winner of Project M's largest tournament of all time amongst many other prestigious showdowns, the few who have ever bested the PM protagonist liken the victory to toppling a Goliath-like obstacle. The only multi-time #1 player in the world, ThundeRzReiGN's triumphs will always be considered essential history to the scene, and every subsequent viewing of such displays is guaranteed to move the faithful.
Written by: Frequency
Thank you all for reading! This has been a pleasure to bring to you all, and the team is so happy to see all of the positive feedback towards this project. Long live Project M!
Other Top 100 Articles:
4/18/2025 - Project M/+ All Time Top 100: Intro and HMs
4/21/2025 - Project M/+ All Time Top 100: #100-81
4/22/2025 - Project M/+ All Time Top 100: #80-61
4/23/2025 - Project M/+ All Time Top 100: #60-41
4/24/2025 - Project M/+ All Time Top 100: #40-21
4/25/2025 - Project M/+ All Time Top 100: #20-1
4/21/2025 - Project M/+ All Time Top 100: #100-81
4/22/2025 - Project M/+ All Time Top 100: #80-61
4/23/2025 - Project M/+ All Time Top 100: #60-41
4/24/2025 - Project M/+ All Time Top 100: #40-21
4/25/2025 - Project M/+ All Time Top 100: #20-1
Credits:
Project Lead: Tuck
Graphic Design: Motobug
Renders: RedipsTheCooler, tyleto, VirtualBeef, CSProject, and the Project+ Development Team
Writers: Frequency, ilikepizza107, Motobug, Serb, shad, Tuck
Special Thanks: Sabre
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