Editing SmashBoards

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[[File:SmashBoardsHome.png|thumb|300px|Homepage]]
[[File:SmashBoardsLogo.png|300px|thumb|Current logo of Smashboards.]]
[http://smashboards.com '''Smashboards'''], also formerly known as '''Smash World Forums''' or '''SWF''', is a forum devoted to the {{uv|Super Smash Bros.}} series, allowing users to discuss strategies, as well as find and host [[tournament]]s. In addition to helping players organize tournaments for the games, Smashboards is notably where the most widely-accepted [[tier list]]s are published. 

First opened in 2000, the website has over 250,000 members, making it the most popular ''Super Smash Bros.'' forum on the internet. Despite its age, Smashboards remains popular, though with the rise of other forms of media such as [[Reddit]], [[Twitter]], and [[Discord]], it has had a steady drop in usage, with most remaining users being from outside of the competitive scene.

==History==
Prior to the formation of Smashboards, {{Sm|Gideon}}, a thirteen year old smasher, created [https://web.archive.org/web/20071224064352/http://smashworld.org:80/main.shtml Smash World] in 1999, a website devoted to ''Smash 64''. One year later, he founded Smashboards.com as a companion site, hosted by {{s|wikipedia|UBB.threads}}. Initially referred to as the "Smash World Forums", Gideon founded the site as to help players of ''Smash 64'' talk to one another, as well as allow smashers to discuss the then-upcoming ''Melee'' and his upcoming site, Super Smash Bros. Melee World; Gideon also had one board dedicated to The Battle Arena, a side project of his involving Flash animations he created with his friends.

In addition to its standard boards, a Back Room was also created for certain users who had proved themselves; this Back Room would later go on to form the Back Rooms of later games, which would decide the tournament [[ruleset]]s of games, as well as the [[tier list]]s for the games.

After the release of ''Melee'', the first tournaments were organized on the SWForums, owing to its large playerbase and its ability for any player to potentially view topics about tournaments. Initially starting off as small, local affairs, {{Sm|Matt Deezie}} is generally credited with starting the national scene by using the forum to communicate with players outside of his native California, inviting users from as far away as Illinois to attend his tournaments. The site also allowed users to communicate with overseas players, creating an international scene for the game as players in North America, Europe, and Japan began to invite each other to their respective countries for ''Melee'' tournaments. 

With the continued expansion of ''Melee's'' tournament scene, the game was eventually picked up by [[Major League Gaming]] in 2004, who helped promote the site and further assisted in making Smashboards the world's largest forum and community devoted to ''Smash''. The site continued to rapidly expand following ''Melee's'' inclusion in several MLG events, including the opening of Super Smash Blog, a website devoted to ''Brawl's'' development after its showcase at [[E3 2006]], and opening [[SmashWiki]] in March 2007. 

The MLG kept ''Melee'' in its circuits for many years, only dropping the game in 2007 due to declining interest in the [[Nintendo GameCube]] and the development of ''Brawl'' underway. In September 2008, with ''Brawl'' having been released worldwide and beginning to be analyzed as a tournament game, the MLG purchased the forums from Gideon in September 2008 for an undisclosed sum. While the move allowed Smashboards to gain servers that were less prone to crashing than before, a large number of threads and posts from before 2008 were also lost in the transfer. As a result, information about many tournaments held before 2008, and similar topics, have been lost. Furthermore, the forums's original namesake, Smash World, and all of its variants, were all shut down at this time.

In 2011, the forum was officially renamed Smashboards, after its domain name, though the term "SWF" is still sometimes used as a shorthand for the board. On November 27, 2012, Major League Gaming officially ended its involvement with ''Smash'' by selling the website to {{Sm|AlphaZealot}}'s company Xyelot LLC.<ref>[http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=330262]</ref>

With the upcoming release of ''Smash 4'' in 2014, Smashboards expanded to act as a news network for ''Smash'' in general, covering the release of ''Smash 4'', tournaments for the various games, and promoting videos of players on [[YouTube]]. 

A sister site to Smashboards, [http://squidboards.com Squidboards], was launched in 2015, serving as a Smashboards-style forum for the {{uv|Splatoon}} community.

On June 1st, 2023, AlphaZealot stepped down as the owner of SmashBoards. His company Xyelot, LLC sold SmashBoards to Equistellar Media, Inc, a company owned by {{Sm|Warchamp7}} which will serve as the business entity for SmashBoards and SquidBoards going forward.

Into the 2020s, SmashBoards would see a significant decline in users, posts, and moderator activity, with a brief uptick coming from the popular but short-lived forum game format "SmashBoards Creates", in which users would submit content to a fake game based on a vague prompt and vote on it democratically, with some games such as ''Super Smash Bros. Infinite'' embracing a grounded approach and focusing on realism through direct threadrunner moderation, while the majority embraced chaos and allowed or even enforced unconventional submissions, such as having preschool cartoon characters playable in a fighting game, directly featuring internet memes, or featuring side characters without their protagonists. SmashBoards as it exists today has a somewhat quiet and segregated atmosphere, with a community that tends to be somewhat analytical and to an extent critical of the current state of ''Smash'', with some subsectors of the site sharing a strong sentiment in opposition to character reveal hype culture, or in some extreme cases characters even getting individual reveals as a whole, which could be said carried the website in its "golden years", with many users not even talking about ''Smash'' often, instead just using the website as a generic social media platform to share opinions, jokes, and internet content.

==Forums==
As of 2023, the following boards are available on Smashboards. All of them can be immediately posted in, with exception of the Back Rooms.

*Smash World Network
**News
**Welcome Center / Meet & Greet

*''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''
**General Discussion
**Character Discussion
**Competitive Discussion
**Online Discussion
**Videos, Livestreams and Other Media

*Platform Fighter Hub
**''Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl''
**''Multiversus''
**Platform Fighter General

*Community VIP
**Community Discussion

*{{forwiiu}} / ''[[Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS|3DS]]
**General Discussion
**Competitive Discussion
**Character Discussion
**[[Online play|Online]] Discussion
**Videos, Livestreams, and Other Media

*''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''
**Melee Discussion
**Melee Character Discussion
**Melee Videos, Livestreams, and Other Media

*''[[Project M]]''
**General Discussion
**Character Discussion
**Help and Support
**Customized Content
**''Project M'' Videos, Livestreams, and Other Media

*''[[Super Smash Bros. 64]]''
**Smash 64 Discussion
**Character Discussion
**Videos
**Online Events

*''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''
**Brawl General Discussion
**Brawl Competitive Discussion
**Brawl Character Discussion
**Brawl Videos, Livestreams, and Other Media

*''Smash'' [[Tournament]]s
**Tournament Discussion
**Tournament Listings
**Regional Zones
**Online Tournament Listings
**Rankings & Results

*[[Mod|Smash Workshop]]
**Developer Studio
**''Melee'' Workshop
**''Brawl'' Workshop

*Smasher's Hangout
**Light House
**Pool Room
**NintenZone
**Forum Games
**Decisive Games
**Smashboards Creates
**Arts and Entertainment
**Debate Hall
**Serious Discussion

*Archives
**Public Archive

===Smash Back Rooms===
In addition to the above categories, a further category of forums are present on Smashboards, the '''Smash Back Rooms'''. The Back Rooms are only accessible to specific users who must apply to be able to view and post in these forums; a majority of users of the Back Rooms are generally highly-regarded [[tournament organiser]]s or high-level professional smashers. The Back Rooms can be considered somewhat of a central governing body for competitive ''Smash'' in North America and Europe, and the Back Rooms produce the most widely-accepted [[tier list]]s and publish the official tournament [[ruleset]]s for the games. The Back Rooms also made the official [[character matchup|matchup charts]] for the games, though the last matchup chart to be released was ''Brawl's'' in 2013.

''Smash 64'', ''Melee'', ''Brawl'', and ''Smash 4'' all have their own dedicated Back Rooms, as does ''Project M''. The ''Brawl'' Back Room also formerly featured its own offshoot, the [[Unity Ruleset Committee]], which attempted to create a universal ruleset for ''Brawl'' tournaments. Initially accepted, the URC's [[Meta_Knight_(SSBB)#Ban_from_competitive_play|decision to ban Meta Knight from ''Brawl'' tournaments]] later led to fractures in the ''Brawl'' competitive community, and the URC later disbanded in April 2012, owing to its failure to create or foster a truly universal ruleset for ''Brawl''.

''Ultimate'' does not have a dedicated back room, only having the standard publicly available forums. No official statement has been given on its lack of creation, though the decision was likely influenced by a combination of a general decline in usership and those that would otherwise be in a backroom electing to do business elsewhere.

==April Fools' Day gags==
In 2015, Smashboards became Shaqboards, which made everyone's profile picture into images of {{s|wikipedia|Shaquille O'Neal}} while character mains became emoticons of Shaq. Tier Lists for the game {{s|wikipedia|Shaq Fu}} were posted as well as a guaranteed {{SSB4|Luigi}} [[Green Missile|misfire]] tech being discovered.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20150402002455/http://smashboards.com/</ref>

In 2016, Smashboards would become Emblemboards as an inside joke to the huge amount of {{uv|Fire Emblem}} characters present in the [[Super Smash Bros. (series)|Super Smash Bros. series]]. It made everyone's picture into images of characters from the ''Fire Emblem'' franchise as well as turning character mains into emoticons of characters from said franchise. Users notably tiered ''waifus'' and ''husbandos'' during this day.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20160401233156/http://smashboards.com/</ref>

In 2017, Smashboards became Knucklesboards as an inside joke to [[Knuckles the Echidna]], who was intended for inclusion in ''[[Project M]]'' before development of the mod ceased in 2015. Each user had their picture changed into artwork of Knuckles from various {{uv|Sonic the Hedgehog}} games, while character mains became an emoticon of Knuckles. Tier lists were notably based on Knuckles' appearances in ''{{s|wikipedia|Sonic the Fighters}}'' and ''{{s|wikipedia|Sonic Battle}}''.<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20170401154240/https://smashboards.com/</ref>

In 2018, Smashboards became Ridleyboards, as a reference to the continued popularity and inside jokes surrounding the Metroid character [[Ridley]]. On April Fools, each user had their avatars replaced with images of the beast, which were oversized to the point where only portions of the actual character could be seen, as a reference to the recurring "Ridley is too big" comments when discussing his potential as a playable character. On top of this, the forum's text became purple and was enlarged, once again to reference the inside joke.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20180401040512/https://smashboards.com/</ref> Ridley would be revealed as a playable character for ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' two months afterwards.

In 2019, Smashboards became Reggieboards, dedicated to the then-Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé. The site's banner, background, and users' avatars were replaced with images of Reggie.<ref>http://archive.is/VcoiS</ref> (Note: only the banner and title are archived.) A facetious article was also written, saying that he had signed onto [[Team Liquid]].<ref>https://smashboards.com/threads/reggie-joins-team-liquid.481280/</ref>

In 2020, Smashboards became Crashboards, in reference to a common criticism of the site's fragile servers. Playing on this, the site became themed around the ''Crash Bandicoot'' franchise, and all user icons were changed to various images of the series' titular protagonist.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20200401224528/https://smashboards.com/</ref>

In 2021, Smashboards became FighterZboards, themed after ''{{iw|wikipedia|Dragon Ball FighterZ}}''. Users' avatars were changed into various ''Dragon Ball'' characters.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20210401222041/https://smashboards.com/</ref> A facetious article was written saying that [[Mario]] had died on March 31st (referencing the discontinuation of various ''Mario'' products as the {{s|mariowiki|Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary}} celebration ended) and that [[Luigi]] had used the Dragon Balls to summon {{iw|wikipedia|Shenron}} to wish Mario back to life.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20210401222153/https://smashboards.com/threads/mario-has-been-revived-using-the-dragon-balls.512863/</ref>

In 2022, Smashboards became Nickboards, with a theme from ''{{iw|wikipedia|Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl}}''. Users' avatars were changed into various Nicktoons characters featured in the game at that point.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20220401155610/https://smashboards.com/</ref> A joke article was written in the "Setting the Stage" series of hypothetical stage design articles theorizing the concept of a stage from ''{{iw|wikipedia|Dora the Explorer}}'', a cartoon that has a controversial status in ''All-Star Brawl'' speculation due to its non-violent nature and a debunked theory from the game's pre-launch relating to Dora potentially appearing on a silhouetted box art. <ref>[https://smashboards.com/threads/sliming-the-stage-1-troll-bridge.517418/]</ref>

In 2023, Smashboards became Prattboards, themed after {{iw|wikipedia|Chris Pratt}} for his controversial starring role as Mario in ''{{iw|wikipedia|The Super Mario Bros. Movie}}''. Users' avatars were replaced with photos of the actor. While a Chris Pratt-themed article was not written, an article in the "Smash Speculation Corner" series was written about {{iw|wikipedia|Shrek}}, the titular protagonist of the CGI film series, referencing both his longstanding meme status in ''Smash'' speculation, and a SmashBoards in-joke relating to series side character Puss in Boots' name being automatically censored as "**** in Boots". <ref>https://smashboards.com/threads/shrek-takes-ogre-smash-speculation-corner-shrek-edition.518608/</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20230401191308/https://smashboards.com/</ref>

In 2024, Smashboards did not feature an April Fool's theme which, to many, was a signal that the long-running website was in decline. There were some who thought the April Fool's joke was there was no joke. Regardless, a lack of an April Fool's theme plus decline in membership, activity from staff, and amount of posts per day has, for many, been a signal that the site was in decline. Common posts during this time revolved around waiting for an April Fool's joke, people make their one jokes, and people celebrating the holiday elsewhere. [https://smashboards.com/threads/new-smash-bros-game-may-be-announced-alongside-switch-successor-reveal.522454/ One thread] was made by user [https://smashboards.com/members/sonicmetaphor.225447/ SonicMetaphor] though the thread did not record any comments the whole day during which it was open.

==Trivia==
*Players first discovered and discussed [[wavedash]]ing on Smashboards, with it first being discussed in this [https://smashboards.com/threads/new-strategy-easter-egg-all-reader.12593/ thread].
*During December 2005, Grimer icons started to appear on people's avatars and signatures.
*To turn his website into a business, the owner of the forums, {{Sm|Gideon}}, started to sell "Premium Memberships", in which members would pay to get special avatars and custom titles. The highest price (Diamond Membership) even got members into the Back Room at one time.

==Gallery==
<center><gallery>
Smashboards.jpg|Former logo
SWF Mobile.png|The previous mobile version of Smashboards
SWF.png|The 2011-2012 version of Smashboards
SWF old.png|The 2005-2011 version of Smashboards
Smashboards2002-05.png|The 2002-2005 version of Smashboards
Smashboards2001-02.png|The 2001-2002 version of Smashboards
</gallery></center>
==References==
{{reflist}}

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