The year is 2016,Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U is approaching its 2 years from release. The last DLC for this game was released. Patches for the game stopped.Two Tier Lists were released. The advance of the metagame was beginning to be move at light speed.
2016 was a year full of surprises for Smash Wii U players. That is why we Smashboards are bringing you what we think were the most memorable moments of the year.
Top 50 Smash Wii U Plays of 2016 Finale
Beginning of 2016
Starting 2016, we encountered our first Smash Wii U major tournament of the year, Genesis 3 (you can see previews for Latin American, European, Japanese, and Australian players who attended this tournament). The tournament was caught in the middle of the "Cloud-mania", having this character just been released. There was an euphoria among top-players using this soon-to-be top tier character.
This "Cloud-mania" was boosted with the release of the first 4BR Tier List, in which Cloud was ranked 12th.His popularity at Genesis 3 was the first major showing of his potential; but this was soon overshadowed with the release of Corrin and Bayonetta.
The latter quickly released an enourmous debate over her possible banning from tournaments. Her amazing combo potential ignited the possibility of a prohibition, but this wouldn't last long.
Spring of 2016
The first tournament of this time period was Pound 2016, which was marked by the amazing showcase of Mewtwo by Japanese player Abadango, who would go on to win the tournament. Get On My Level 2016 was another milestone during Spring, with the victory of Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyarce over who would become his rival for the rest of the year, Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios.
Over the span of May, we saw Bayonetta being hit by the nerf hammer in the 1.1.6 version of the game; which ended the debate over her seemingly unfair strength, although she is still considered a force to be reckoned with. This patch would be the last released for Smash Wii U and 3DS.
The Month of Rivalries
With EVO 2016, the same scenario as GOML 2016 would repeat. The Canadian star Ally would take the championship over the Chilean powerhouse, ZeRo. Not only that, but the Mega Man from Japan, Kameme would take the runner-up title, pushing ZeRo to the third position. At this tournament, which has become one of the staples in the Smash community, EVO Japan was announced, with the intention of bringin the excitement that the EVO series generates over to the Land of the Rising Sun.
Another legendry rivalry would surge from July, as a hard-hitting incident would set the precedent of being one of the most hard times to the Smash community. During Smash Factor 5, all VGBootCamp videos were re-named to a fight between players Serge and Darkfall. This incident would eventually be overcome, not without leaving a wound to the video publishing organization.
A Cloudy August
August's tournament lineup was one to remember. Road to Shine was a major revolution, as it was one of the biggest online qualifiers ever done. The winner would have the chance to attend to New England's first major Smash Wii U major,.Shine
Astra was also in the spotlight. By joining the stars from all over Latin America, and by doing an amazing effort to join the Latin communities, Astra managed to draw attention to the Spanish-speaking communities. The Venezuelan Sonic main, Joshua "8A" Requena would be the winner among the Latin American players, with a nail-biting fourth game against the Peruvian Sergio "Axl-4J" Buleje.
Super Smash Con returned for its second iteration. The amazing community work gathered players from around the world to celebrate the Super Smash Bros saga. In addition to having tournaments for ALL four iterations of the game, Super Smash Con had amazing turnouts to both Super Smash Bros 64 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Super Smash Con showed the community that these games still have a strong competitive community.
After winning the 2016 Rio Olympic eGames, the rise of Ally became notable. For the first time in his career, he was sponsored by notable eSports organization Cloud9, joining Super Smash Bros. Melee legend Joseph Mango Marquez under their banner.
The progress and evolution of the metagame would come to the public eye with the release of the second 4BR Tier List. Surprises like the rise of Cloud, the below-expectations placing of Bayonetta after her nerf, and most important, the dethroning of Sheik by Diddy Kong after an almost year-long dominance in fan tier lists.
The Final Countdown
The last quarter of 2016 started with Key to the PG House, another succesful online qualifier which would award the champion with a "temporal sponsorship" by Panda Global to attend to The Big House 6. Ramin "Mr R" Delshad would be announced the winner of the qualifier.
Finishing the year with a gold seal, 2GGaming dedicated their last tournament of the year to the one who reigned Smash Wii U tournaments for almost a year. 2GGT: Zero Saga hosted a "Runback", wherein Zero would fight against his past demons, along side its traditional Wii U Singles; the former of which Zero would win with authority, but the latter would be taken by the Mexican prodigy Leonardo "MKLeo" Lopez Perez. This amazing performance recently earned him a contract with Echo Fox, the same organization that teamed with Melee legend, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman.
The end of 2GGT: Zero Saga left a huge cliffhanger among the fans, with the announcement of a 2GG Champioship Circuit with over 100,000 dollars in prizes, and the announcement of the date of tha fan awaited 2GGT: Civil War.
Top 5 Most Watched Articles of 2016
Let's have a quick throwback at our most watched Smash Wii U related articles of 2016 :
Smash 4BR Tier Lists v.1 and v.2 - by Marc and Liberation. It was to be expected that such influential articles would take over the views. The change between both versions only show how much we have advanced as community as a whole.
Comedy Corner (Christmas Edition) - by wncozens. Every Smasher's nightmares and misadventures told by our satire writer also drew a lot of attention, so much that they have turned out to be among the most watched articles repeatedly. However, this Christmas edition was the most watched, in the shortest amount of time, too!
Tafokints and Omni Discuss Tensions Between the Melee and Smash Wii U Communities - by Smapps. Both communities are among the biggest in the saga. And many times both have had some impasses with each other. Both YouTubers discuss this phenomenon.
How Smash Influenced Other Series - by Diosdi. Smash is a series that brings many other sagas together; it doesn't come as a surprise that occasionally these games see a relevant effect from Super Smash Bros.
Update 1.1.6 and the Bayonetta Nerf - by STOB. As the "hype-train" was coming to an end, the emotions and nostalgia grew stronger. The last patch and its effects over the Umbra Witch were a notable event that caught the eye of many fans
Author's Note:2016 was a great year for the Smash community. Most of the depicted events not only marked the year, but may have an effect on the community.
It has been almost a year since I started writing for Smashboards, which is why 2016 was big for me! Let us know in the comments why 2016 was important to you, or a relevant event you think was fundamental for the Smash community
Be sure to stay tuned to Smashboards for more Smash related content, and to follow it on Twitter @Smashboards, and while you are doing that, also follow me on Twitter @DiosdiSSB
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