Hoping to bring a spotlight to Canada’s Melee community, Red Bull eSports and Last Stock Legends have released a new documentary series called “A New Level”, centered around the events of Get On My Level 2017. Acting as Canada’s most illustrious Melee major, GOML has built up quite a legacy, both for the players attending and the community hosting.
The first episode is not directly about Canada though, it is about Red Bull’s own Leffen. GOML 2016 acted as the first step in Leffen’s return to competitive Smash, following his visa issues. Focusing on his path back to the top and his relationship to the other Gods of Melee, this episode acts as a suitable coda for Red Bull’s previous documentary about Leffen.
Shifting from players to tournament organizers, A New Level’s second episode is about Joe Cribani — or Toronto Joe as he’s known in the Melee scene. Focusing on the stresses and strains of organizing a major event like GOML, this episode follows Joe as he and his team put on the best show possible.
As the final part of this documentary trilogy, A New Level’s third episode interviews three Canadian players who have left an indelible mark on the Melee world — Kirbykaze, Kage the Warrior and n0ne. Not only have these players pushed the meta for each of their respective characters, they have all defeated a God in bracket. Looking at their successes and the community that kept them going, this final part shows that Canada is not to be slept on.
While younger sibling Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is going gangbusters, Japan’s Melee scene is struggling to keep up with the rest of the world. Hoping to explain the unique challenges facing the Japanese community, Japanese TO Watch has written a blog post which lays out the major roadblocks which are restricting the growth of the scene.
Japan’s strict anti-gambling laws are a big factor, as TOs cannot provide cash prizes generated from the tournament’s venue fees. The only way a cash prize can be given out is through a third party sponsor that is no way linked to the running of the event. Sponsors may be prosecuted if they are found to benefit from the tournament and even then, the upper limit on cash prizes is a measly $1000.
The Melee scene is Japan is also very small, with Watch estimating there to be 500 players in the whole of the country. Out of those 500, only 200 of them attend tournaments or Smashfests regularly. Japan does not have the wealth of streamers, writers, content creators and TOs to support a thriving scene. When you also factor in Japan’s strict work culture that bars many players from taking time off to attend events, the community is in a tight spot.
Watch is nevertheless optimistic and has set out a plan of action to grow Japan’s Melee scene. Along with increasing viewership for Japanese events, Watch wants to run a major Japanese tournament — similar in size to Smash 4’s Umebura Anniversary events — where overseas players are invited to play. He also wants more Japanese players to practice abroad, to increase their skills and bring more attention to the community.
This approach has certainly worked with the Japanese Smash 4 scene, which regularly has players traveling to and from Japan to compete. If US and European community leaders and organizations like smash.gg can rally support for Watch’s mission, Japan’s Melee scene could grow into something special.
In a story of Biblical proportions, the Malaysian government has blocked citizens from accessing Steam, in order to stop people playing Fight of Gods. This comes after the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission called for the ban and removal of the heavenly fighter from Steam.
In a statement issued by publisher PQube, the Malaysian government has made no attempt to contact either them or developer Digital Crafter over Fight of Gods, with them only learning about the Steam block via secondary sources. While both PQube and Digital Crafter are of course disappointed by the ruling, they are currently working with Steam to resolve the issue and hopefully, get the service unblocked. You can read the full statement below:
Fight of Gods is a video game that takes a humorous approach to religion in the same way that other entertainment formats have – across television, film, books and theatre. The game is not promoting any religious agenda and is not designed to offend.
The description of the game on the digital platforms through which it is distributed provide clear guidance on the nature of the game and its content so that people can freely choose whether or not to play it. We fully respect the choice of those who would not wish to play it. We are disappointed that such freedom of choice is not given to everyone and in particular that the game has been forcibly removed from sale in Malaysia, although no direct communication has been received by us as to the reasons for this.
Nevertheless we respect any rules and censorship imposed in any given territory. We have reached out to Steam and are working with them to resolve the situation as soon as possible.
With an anime-esque reveal trailer, Beyond the Summit has announced the fifth iteration of its illustrious Super Smash Bros. Melee invitational. Running from November 2nd to 5th, Smash Summit 5 will see 16 players battling it out to stop Armada winning for the fifth time in a row.
Along with the eight invitees and the six fan-voted players, Beyond the Summit will invite two wildcards to this season’s event. The highest placing, non-invited player at either The Big House 7 or GT-X will be automatically invited to Smash Summit 5, skipping the stressed voting stage.
Seeing as he is on the cusp of a five-peat, Armada is naturally the first invitee for Smash Summit 5. Beyond the Summit will be announcing the remaining seven invitees over the next week or so, with the opt-in stage of player voting beginning on September 20th.
With the release of Fight of Gods into Steam Early Access this week, players have been diving into this heavenly fighter to see if it has any depth at all. While it may not be the best-looking fighter on the market, it’s got infinites, 100% combos, and crazy corner setups that will have you praying for the sweet release of death. As so much wild stuff has been found, here is our first (and possibly only) round-up for Digital Crafter’s Fight of Gods.
To open today’s sermon, we have some readings from the gospel of pat7286. Along with headbutt loops with Moses and a 872-damage combo with Amaterasu, pat has discovered a Jesus infinite.
Now if you turn to page 236 in your prayer books, you’ll find some combos from JimmyBones. These include a 760 damage combo with Sif and a command grab reset with Anubis.
And finally to end today’s service, please rise for this Jesus CMV by TheBlackHylian. Our Lord and Savior truly brings new meaning to the phrase “god tier.”
With patch 3.9 rolling out for Killer Instinct, players may begin to notice a new feature when setting up exhibition matches. As well as the usual “Allow Crossplay” toggle which allows Xbox One and Windows 10 players to face off against each other, an “Allow Cross-Network” switch has also been added. While it isn’t active yet, this switch confirms that the upcoming Steam release of Killer Instinct will have cross network play between Steam, Xbox One and Windows 10 players.
According to Killer Instinct community manager Rukari Austin, this feature may appear and disappear intermittently, as the teams at Microsoft and Iron Galaxy put the finishing touches on the Steam version of KI. The feature will not affect your matchmaking experience at this point in time, so don’t worry about toggling it on or off.
Killer Instinct‘s Steam version is set to launch within the next few weeks and there are more features to be announced, so keep an eye out for more information. As someone who has bought everything on Xbox One, I hope one of the features will give current KI players access to the Steam version with all of the characters unlocked.
As well as being on the mic for the whole of Street Fighter V‘s top 8 at this year’s Evo, Sajam has decided to go back over Tokido’s legendary run to find out how he pulled it off. Starting with his intense fight against Filipino Champ, Sajam has gone through and analyzed some of Tokido’s sets in great detail, in order to see how he adapted and overcame his opponents.
Next up is his analysis of Tokido’s match versus Capcom Cup 2016 champion, Nuckledu. This is one of the wilder sets of the top 8, with both players adapting to their opponent’s strategies mid-set. Keep in mind this was only a best of three, so Tokido and Nuckledu had to be firing on all cylinders.
And to finish off, we have Tokido’s blowout set versus Punk. This set is a prime example of retaking momentum from Losers’ side and dismantling your opponent in the second set. Sajam even throws some commentary pointers in for good measure.
Learning match-ups is pretty important to improving as a player. In Smash 4 — where the roster contains 58 different characters — you’ve got a lot of data to memorize. Hoping to create a “comprehensive” match-up chart, based off opinions gathered from over 250+ top players, Reddit user inktivate has put together the definitive Smash 4 match-up chart.
Listing over 3025 different match-ups (the list excludes the Mii Fighters), this chart gives players a decent idea of the best and worst characters in Smash 4 — at least on paper. According to the opinions gathered by inktivate, Sheik is currently the best character with 47 winning matches, eight even matches and not a single bad match-up. On the other end of the spectrum, Jigglypuff is the out and out worst character, with only two even match-ups and 53 losing ones. If you compare these ratings to the current Smash 4 Backroom Tier List, this places Sheik four points higher, while Jigglypuff is still dead last.
This list isn’t perfect of course, as there are less match-up charts for lower tier characters and also greater room for disagreement. Little Mac has the most variance when it comes to his match-up spread, while there seems to be a general consensus when it comes to Sheik’s match-ups.
Data is likely to change, and inktivate encourages decorated mains of specific characters to come forward to help flesh out the chart. Hopefully, this chart will be an evolving document as the Smash 4 meta evolves. For all the stats, methodology and other information on this gargantuan match-up chart, check out the Reddit thread.
Last weekend saw the Melee pantheon descend from its position atop Mount Sakurai for Red Bull’s first major Smash event, Red Bull Gods and Gatekeepers. Rather than having the gods and gatekeepers fighting in a straight tournament, they had the players selecting three team members from a pool of “Chosen Ones,” decided by a separate open bracket. The top 16 from this open bracket would make up this crew draft, while the remaining 16 battled it out in a “Forsaken” double-elimination bracket. (If I were to give Red Bull one main place to improve, it would be using a less arcane ruleset for the next edition of Gods and Gatekeepers.)
With the Chosen Ones decided, it was up to the Gods and Gatekeepers to pick their teams. The final rosters were as follows:
Team Leffen – Ice, Lucky, and Bladewise
Team Mango – S2J, Eddy Mexico, and n0ne
Team Mew2King – Duck, Shroomed, and Zhu
Team Axe – aMSa, Medz, and Tai
Team SFAT – PewPewU, Ryan Ford, and Army
Team ChuDat – Westballz, Mike Haze, and Fiction
Team Wizzrobe – Druggedfox, MacD, and HugS
Team Plup – Swedish Delight, Crush, and Santiago
The format for the crew battle bracket was not typical either. Rather than sharing a pool of stocks and battling over an ever-changing stage list, the first four matches would take place on a specific stage — with the team captains having to pick their best player for that stage. If a team did not win in those first four matches, game five would be a doubles match between each team captain and a player of their choice. It’s a strategic twist on the crew battle format, and one that awarded stage and counterpick knowledge, rather than brute forcing a win by sending your best player in first to gain an early lead.
With the teams locked in, it was time for these Gods and demi-gods to clash. Team Plup and Team Mango were the first to fall, with Team Mango being dispatched by the Godslayer Leffen and his compatriots. Mango did at least contribute one of the most exciting matches of Gods and Gatekeepers, as he fought against world’s best Yoshi aMSa.
Team Mew2King had to claw their way through the lower bracket to reach Grand Finals, after narrowly losing 3-2 to Team Wizzrobe in round 1. Their spirits did not falter though, with the King of the Mews leading his team to victory against Plup, ChuDat, Axe and Wizzrobe, allowing them to avenge their previous loss. With momentum on their side, Mew2King and his team mounted a clean 6-0 victory over Team SFAT, allowing Mew2King to retake the throne at the top of the Melee pantheon — at least until Armada comes back to the USA.
Despite the confusing format, the reception to Gods and Gatekeepers has been extremely positive, with players and viewers praising the production and organization that went into this event. While the Gods had their place, it was a tournament that gave other players a chance to shine on the big stage, and I hope other events follow suit with draft-style side tournaments.
RESULTS:
1. Team Mew2King (Duck, Shroomed, and Zhu)
2. Team SFAT (PewPewU, Ryan Ford, and Army)
3. Team ChuDat (Westballz, Mike Haze, and Fiction)
4. Team Wizzrobe (Druggedfox, MacD, and HugS)
5. Team Leffen (Ice, Lucky, and Bladewise)
5. Team Axe (aMSa, Medz, and Tai)
7. Team Plup (Swedish Delight, Crush and Santiago)
7. Team Mango (S2J, Eddy Mexico, and n0ne)
If you’re a traditional fighting game player, you’ll have basic knowledge of what a cross-up is. In the Super Smash Bros. series, cross-ups work a little differently as shields cover a character’s whole body. Rather than messing up your opponent’s block direction, cross-ups in Smash try to make your opponent drop their shield so you can start a combo.
In their continuing mission to inform Smash 4 players, the Beefy Smash Doods have made a video which shows all the ways a player can cross-up their opponent. These include using attacks which can cause a player to pass through an opponent’s shield, attacks which push the opponent in the opposite direction even when shielding, and aerial attacks which knock their opponent in a number of different directions.
The latter category of attacks are called “DI Cross-ups”, as they can cause your opponent to DI in the wrong direction and die earlier than expected.
