Professional Super Smash Bros. competitions involve skilled players competing in the Super Smash Bros. series, which are fighting games that include characters from different video game series published by Nintendo. Organized tournaments began in 2002 with Super Smash Bros. Melee, a game released for the GameCube in 2001. However, in Japan, where the series originated, tournaments for the original Super Smash Bros. game on the Nintendo 64 took place as early as 1999. Later tournaments included other games in the series, with the largest and most popular communities focusing on Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which is played on the Nintendo Switch. Smaller communities exist for the original game and Project M, a fan-created version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii, as well as for Brawl itself to a lesser extent. Major tournaments include events such as GENESIS, Evolution Championship Series (EVO), Super Smash Con, and The Big House annual series. Major League Gaming (MLG) also previously included Super Smash Bros. games in its professional competition circuit.

The competitive Super Smash Bros. community is widely recognized in the fighting game world for being organized by players and fans rather than a central authority. There is no official organization or tournament circuit for professional Super Smash Bros. competitions, which is partly due to Nintendo’s history of not directly supporting the scene.

History of competitiveSuper Smash Bros. Melee

The first public tournaments for Super Smash Bros. Melee in the Western world happened in early 2002. These events were part of the Tournament Go series in California, organized by Matt "MattDeezie" Dahlgren. At that time, there were no official rules agreed upon by all players, so tournaments often had very different rules. Players often argued about whether certain game items or stages were allowed. Over time, a standard set of rules was created. This new system banned all items and limited the number of stages used in competitions. On March 1, 2003, the International Video Game Federation held the first corporate-sponsored Melee tournament, called the IVGF Northwest Regionals. Jeremy "Recipherus" Fremlin won this event.

From 2003 to 2007, this time is known as the "Golden Age" of Melee. During this period, the game was part of the Major League Gaming (MLG) Pro Circuit from 2004 to 2006. Ken Hoang was widely seen as the best player during this time and was called "The King of Smash." Other top players included Christopher "Azen" McMullen, Daniel "ChuDat" Rodriguez, Joel Isai "Isai" Alvarado, Christopher "PC Chris" Szygiel, Daniel "KoreanDJ" Jung, and Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman. Melee was also included in the Evolution Championship Series (EVO) 2007, a major fighting game tournament in Las Vegas. MLG stopped including Melee in its events in 2007, but it still supported some tournaments as part of the underground 2007 Smash Series for one year.

The competitive Melee scene faced challenges in the late 2000s when the game was removed from both the MLG circuit and EVO after the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008. Brawl replaced Melee in many competitions, but many players disliked Brawl because of its slower gameplay and unfair mechanics, like random tripping. In 2010, MLG briefly included Brawl in its Pro Circuit, but Nintendo stopped MLG from streaming Brawl matches live. From 2012 to 2013, this time is called "The Dark Age" of competitive Smash Bros. because Melee’s popularity dropped and Brawl’s popularity also declined. However, major tournaments like the first GENESIS in 2009 and the start of the Apex and The Big House tournament series still happened during this time.

Melee’s popularity grew again after it was included in EVO 2013. This happened because players raised money to decide which game would be in EVO’s lineup, and Melee won. EVO added Melee to its lineup for the next five years because of its large audience. The game’s popularity also increased with the 2013 release of The Smash Brothers documentary series by Travis "Samox" Beauchamp. In 2014, SmashBoards estimated that about 3,242 Smash Bros. events happened worldwide. During this time, new and revived tournament series like GENESIS, Super Smash Con, Community Effort Orlando (CEO), DreamHack, MLG, Shine, and the Smash Summit series became important. Other major tournaments included Apex and The Big House. Apex 2015 was the first event officially sponsored by Nintendo of America. EVO 2016 was the largest Melee tournament ever, with 2,376 players. In 2014, Nintendo held a non-standard ruleset tournament at E3 2014 to promote Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Smash Sisters, a group that supports women in tournaments, held its first all-women bracket at GENESIS 3 in 2016.

From 2013 to 2018, this time is sometimes called "The Platinum Age" or "The Era of the Five Gods," referring to the five most dominant players: Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Joseph "Mango" Marquez, Kevin "PPMD" Nanney, Adam "Armada" Lindgren, and Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma. William "Leffen" Hjelte became the first player to defeat all five of these top players, earning him the nickname "The God Slayer." This made the top six players, including Leffen, known as the "Big 6." In 2017, Justin "Plup" McGrath became the second player in history to defeat all five "Gods" in a tournament, and he was the first player outside the Big 6 to beat Armada in seven years.

In the late 2010s, the "Five Gods" nickname became less relevant as many of these players left full-time competition. PPMD took a break in 2016 due to health issues, Armada retired from singles competition in 2018, and Mew2King semi-retired to focus on content creation and coaching. Leffen faced visa problems that made it hard for him to compete in the U.S. This time is sometimes called "The Chaos Age" because newer players like Zain Naghmi, Jeffrey "Axe" Williamson, and Cody Schwab began to dominate tournaments. Plup’s win at GENESIS 5 in 2018 was the first major tournament victory by someone outside the Big 6 in several years.

The competitive scene was greatly affected in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic, which stopped most in-person tournaments. However, a major development happened in 2020 with the creation of rollback netcode for Project Slippi, a fan-made version of Melee. This allowed online matches with very low delays for the first time. While this helped players compete during the pandemic, it also caused legal issues. The Big House 10 tournament in 2020 was canceled after Nintendo sent a cease and desist notice about using Project Slippi. This caused strong reactions from the community, and the hashtag "#FreeMelee" became popular on Twitter. In 2021, Panda and Nintendo announced an official licensed Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament circuit for 2022. The Big House 10 became part of the Panda Cup and was held that year. Masaya "aMSa" Chikamoto won the event, beating Mango and Hungrybox, and this was the first major victory for Yoshi in the game’s history.

The relationship between the community and Panda became tense after Nintendo allegedly forced the cancellation of the Smash World Tour in December 2021. Panda’s CEO, Alan "Dr. Alan" Bunney, was accused of sabotaging the event. Statements from Panda and Nintendo were criticized for being unclear, leading players like aMSa and Hungrybox to leave the Panda Cup Finale as a protest. Sponsored players like Cody Schwab and Plup also left Panda. In response, Panda removed Dr. Alan as CEO and postponed the Panda Cup Finale due to security concerns.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimateand other games

Competitive play has been part of every game in the Smash Bros. series. The two most popular modern versions are Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Both games share similar rules and are often played together in tournaments, but differences in speed, advanced techniques, and character matchups have created separate but connected competitive communities for each game. Leonardo "MkLeo" Perez is widely recognized as the top player in Ultimate, along with other skilled players such as Edgar "Sparg0" Valdez, Gavin "Tweek" Dempsey, Sota "Zackray" Okada, and William "Glutonny" Belaïd.

Smaller competitive communities exist for the original Nintendo 64 version of Smash Bros. and for Project M /Project+, a fan-made modification of Super Smash Bros. Brawl that changes the game to resemble the faster style of Melee. Competitive play was active in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008-2014) and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014-2018), but many players have since moved to Ultimate. In Norway, Brawl events remain as large as Melee and Ultimate events. Many top players from Brawl and Wii U have transitioned to Ultimate, with some now competing at the highest level in the game.

Relationship with Nintendo

The competitive Smash Bros. scene has had a tense relationship with Nintendo, the company that owns and publishes the game. IGN journalist Matt Kim explained that, unlike companies such as Riot or Blizzard, which help manage competitive play for their games, Nintendo has kept a distance from the competitive Smash Bros. community and has even worked against it. Nintendo has threatened legal action against major Smash Bros. tournaments, including EVO 2013 and The Big House 10, often due to issues like livestreaming rights or the use of game modifications, such as Project M or Project Slippi. These actions have led to negative reactions from players, sometimes causing tournaments to stop livestreaming or be canceled. While Nintendo has occasionally supported smaller tournaments and held its own events with unique rules, it has never officially licensed a Smash Bros. tournament or funded prize money. This lack of support has made the competitive Smash Bros. community appear more grassroots and driven by fans. However, in November 2021, Nintendo and Panda Global announced the first officially licensed Smash Bros. tournament circuit for North America in 2022. Separately, a grassroots tournament series called Smash World Tour took place in 2022, with planned finals in December. However, legal action from Nintendo and possible interference from Panda Global led to the finals being canceled three weeks before their scheduled date, causing organizers to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The competitive Smash Bros. scene has also faced criticism from Masahiro Sakurai, the game’s creator, who believes competitive play moves away from his original goal of connecting casual and skilled players. Sakurai’s preference for casual gameplay influenced the design of Brawl, the game that followed Melee, which many competitive players disliked for being slower and less intense. This dissatisfaction led to the creation of Project M/Project+, a fan-made modification that changed Brawl’s gameplay to resemble Melee. However, Nintendo has taken legal action against Project M/Project+ due to copyright concerns, sending legal notices to tournaments that included the mod.

Former Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé explained that Nintendo prefers to support grassroots efforts rather than large-scale competitive leagues or big upfront payments.

Competitive format

Games with competitive rules usually use lives, called "stocks," a set timer, and items turned off. These games are played in either a Double-elimination format or a bracket that starts with groups of players.

The original Super Smash Bros. begins with four stocks and an eight-minute timer (the timer was added by players because the base game had no timer option). Melee and Project M also start with four stocks and an eight-minute timer. Brawl begins with three stocks and an eight-minute timer. The 3DS/Wii U version starts with two stocks and a six-minute timer. Ultimate begins with three stocks and a seven-minute timer.

If time runs out, the player with more stocks wins. If both players have the same number of stocks, the one with the lower damage percentage wins. If both players have the same number of stocks and damage, the match is replayed or a shorter match with one stock each is played. In competitive play, Sudden Death is usually not used if the match ends in a tie.

Pausing can interrupt the game. If a player pauses during a match to gain an advantage, they must lose a stock or the game. In stricter tournaments, players must lose a stock even if they did not gain an advantage. Pausing is often disabled in these tournaments. Starting with Melee, each game includes a ruleset option to allow or disable pausing.

Most matches are played in best-of-three sets. Best-of-five sets are used in higher-level tournaments, such as top 32 to grand finals.

Tournament organizers choose legal stages, called starter stages. Before a match, players pick stages they do not want to play on until one is left. In the first match, players choose characters without the other player knowing. After the first match, the losing player can choose a starter stage or a counterpick stage, like Pokémon Stadium. In best-of-three sets, the winner can ban one stage so the losing player cannot choose it. Players generally cannot select a stage they previously won on, a rule called "Dave's Stupid Rule" or the "Stage Clause." Most Melee tournaments use this rule, while Ultimate tournaments use a modified version called "modified Dave's Stupid Rule" (mDSR). In mDSR tournaments, players can only avoid the last stage they won on in that set. Tournaments may allow players to skip these rules if both agree, known as the "gentlemen's clause." Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma is a well-known player who uses the gentlemen's clause in competitive Melee.

Competitive play can be singles or doubles. In singles, two players compete. In doubles, two teams of two players fight. Teams can share stocks, and friendly fire is allowed, meaning teammates can damage or help each other. This ensures fairness and prevents unfair advantages. For example, if a Jigglypuff player uses the "Rest" move, a teammate could attack her with a weak move to stop opponents from dealing more damage. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U includes an 8-player mode, allowing teams of three or four players, though these tournaments are rare. Ultimate tournaments sometimes use a mode called "Squad Strike," where players fight in teams of three or five.

A player may get port priority if they win a best-of-one match, often decided by rock-paper-scissors. Smasher Mew2King discovered that the player who is Player 1 or closest to Player 1 has priority in attacks or grabs that happen at the same time. A neutral start may be used if a player requests it.

In some Brawl rulesets, Meta Knight is banned on certain stages or entirely from tournaments because his attacks are too strong. In doubles rulesets, certain team combinations, like double Cloud in Wii U or double Meta Knight in Brawl, are banned due to overpowered attacks or strategies.

Wombo Combo meme

"Wombo Combo" is an Internet meme from a December 2008 Melee doubles match at the SCSA West Coast Circuit tournament. The match included Jeff "SilentSpectre" Leung and Mitchell Tang on one team and Julian Zhu and Joey "Lucky" Aldama on the other. During the match, as Lucky lost all his lives, SilentSpectre and Tang quickly performed several moves together, leaving Zhu unable to respond. The match commentators—Brandon "HomeMadeWaffles" Collier, Phil DeBerry, and Joseph "Mang0" Marquez—said, "Happy Feet, Wombo Combo. That ain't Falco." They then shouted excitedly as SilentSpectre and Tang trapped Zhu in a winning combo. The meme is featured in a short film and appears in the Wii U eShop game Meme Run. It has also been used in many "MLG Montage" parody videos.

Sexual abuse allegations

In July 2020, several well-known members of the Super Smash Bros. competitive community, including top players and commentators, were accused of different types of sexual misconduct. These included claims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, and child grooming. The series of accusations resulted in the banning of several important community members from tournaments. Many organizations also ended their sponsorship deals with players who were accused, including Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios, who was considered the best Super Smash Bros. for Wii U player of all time. Nintendo released a statement addressing the accusations, stating that they oppose any violence, harassment, or exploitation against people and that they support victims.

Tournament results

• Brawl game
• Melee (a type of fighting game)
• Project M (a modified version of Super Smash Bros. Melee)
• Super Smash Bros. (a popular fighting game series)
• Ultimate (the latest version of Super Smash Bros., used in important competitions)
• Wii U (a gaming console used in important competitions for Super Smash Bros.)