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[[File:SmashBoardsHome.png|thumb|300px|Homepage]]
[[File:SmashBoardsHome.png|thumb|300px|right|Homepage]]
[[File:SmashBoardsLogo.png|300px|thumb|Current logo of Smashboards.]]
[[Image:SmashBoardsLogo.png|300px|thumb|right|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.  
[http://smashboards.com '''SmashBoards'''], also formerly known as '''Smash World Forums''' and '''SWF''', is a world famous video-game forum, generally used to discuss strategies, as well as find and host [[tournament]]s, for the video games ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'', ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', and ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''. The website has over 170,000 members, making it the most popular ''Smash Bros.'' forum on the internet. In September 2008, [[Major League Gaming]] acquired SmashBoards.com.<ref>[http://www.calvin.edu/enterprise/newsandevents/May%202008.html]</ref> On November 27, 2012, Major League Gaming then sold the website to {{Sm|AlphaZealot}}'s company Xyelot LLC.<ref>[http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=330262]</ref>


==Group Memberships==
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.
On SmashBoards, there are various group memberships that can be joined once certain criteria has been met. Each membership has their own special traits and username colors. In total there are currently 12 groups but there may be new groups added in the future. To join a group, one must meet the criteria for that group and then join it by clicking on Group Memberships in their User Control Panel (User CP). The various groups are as follows:


===Unsubscribed===
==History==
Different ranks are given to unsubscribed SmashBoards members depending on how many posts were made by the member. They serve no purpose other than to show who has contributed their thoughts to the site more.
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.


*Smash Rookie (0-24 posts)
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.
*Smash Cadet (25-74 posts)
*Smash Apprentice (75-199 posts)
*Smash Journeyman (200-499 posts)
*Smash Ace (500-999 posts)
*Smash Lord (1000-1999 posts)
*Smash Champion (2000-2999 posts)
*Smash Master (3000-4999 posts)
*Smash Hero (5000-9999 posts)
*Smash Legend (10000-19999 posts)
*Smash Obsessed (20000+ posts)


===Debaters===
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.  
[[File:SmashBoards Debater.png|thumb]]
The Debaters have posting rights in the Debate Hall, a forum where members can go to debate various subjects to their heart's content. Their username color is pink but it was cyan temporarily. To become a Smash Debater, users must register as a Temporary debater. This will get them access to the proving grounds. The proving grounds are basically a smaller version of the debate hall to test who is ready for the debate hall. If a user passes, he or she is accepted into the debate hall.


===Tournament Directors===
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.
{{Main|Tournament director}}


Tournament Directors have posting rights on the Calendar. There they can advertise any tournaments they may be holding. Their username color is dark blue. To become a Tournament Director, a user must sign up in group memberships with a link to a tourney he or she has hosted or is hosting.
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.


===BRoomers===
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>
[[File:SmashBoards Grimer.png|thumb]]
BRoomer is short for Back Roomer. BRoomers have access to a secret forum called the Back Room. Their username color is green and they have a {{pkmn|Grimer}} icon below their name.


===Brawl Backroomers===
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]].  
[[File:SmashBoards BBR.png|thumb]]
Like the BRoomers, they have their own secret forum but it is dedicated solely to the Super Smash Bros franchise and, in particular, Super Smash Bros Brawl. Every once in a while, M3D creates an admissions thread in the Melee Discussion Room. To get in, a user should be a tournament host, an excellent smasher, and have made notable contributions to the community of Smash. If M3D approves of the user's resume, then he or she will be granted access. Their username color is purple.


===Melee Backroomers===
A sister site to Smashboards, [http://squidboards.com Squidboards], was launched in 2015, serving as a Smashboards-style forum for the {{uv|Splatoon}} community.
[[File:SmashBoards MBR.png|thumb]]
These members are part of the Melee Backroom.


===64 Backroomers===
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.
[[File:SmashBoards 64BR.png|thumb]]
These members are part of the Smash 64 Backroom.  


===Workshop BRoom===
==Forums==
The Workshop Back Roomers dedicate their time to modifying Brawl. Their work ranges from texture hacks, character making, and editing the game engine itself. They have their own subforum in General Brawl Discussion where users can find discussion on what is being done and downloading code sets for them to use. The leaders are Yeroc and Almas.  
As of 2023, the following boards are available on Smashboards. All of them can be immediately posted in, with exception of the Back Rooms.


===Writers===
*Smash World Network
[[File:SmashBoards Writer.png|thumb]]
**News
These members do not receive any rights other than bragging rights. It recognizes said member as a writer. To obtain the title of Smash Writer, a user submits an entry to one of the Write With Your Power Contests and if the user reaches 3rd place or higher, he or she will receive it. Their username color is gold and they have a quill icon below their name. A user may also obtain this title by contributing some sort of writing service to the Smash community, such as writing for Show Me Your News.
**Welcome Center / Meet & Greet


===Premium Members===
*''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''
[[File:SmashBoards Premium.png|thumb]]
**General Discussion
If a user pays premium ranging from 1 month to 1 year, he or she will instantly gain certain powers and privileges not granted to regular members. They have the ability to create their own custom title or avatar, post polls, post attachments, gain access to the Disco Room, etc. They do not have a title specific to their group but they do have a mushroom icon below their name. Premium Memberships are once again available at SmashBoards, and can also "Premium Prank" other members. Once a member is premium pranked, their username color changes to pink and they get the custom title of "Prank'd".
**Character Discussion
**Competitive Discussion
**Online Discussion
**Videos, Livestreams and Other Media


===Moderators===
*Platform Fighter Hub
This group is unavailable to join in Group Memberships. Instead, they are hand selected to join. They have powers in the rooms they are assigned to. Among these powers are the abilities to edit, close, and move threads. They also gain almost immediate access to the Staffer Shack. Their username color is red.
**''Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl''
**''Multiversus''
**Platform Fighter General


===Super Moderators===
*Community VIP
They are the same as moderators in their powers but they are not assigned to a particular room. Instead, they have powers in all rooms. Their username color is same as moderators, except slightly darker.
**Community Discussion


===Senators===
*{{forwiiu}} / ''[[Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS|3DS]]
Refers to a super moderator with access to the Smash Senate. In the Senate, administrators and senators discuss major issues about the forums.
**General Discussion
**Competitive Discussion
**Character Discussion
**[[Online play|Online]] Discussion
**Videos, Livestreams, and Other Media


===Administrators===
*''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''
The highest level members on the boards. They have access to all rooms and they also have an Admin Control panel along with a Moderator Control panel. They decide all of the boards' major projects or changes, moderate all rooms, and edit and change designs or codings. Their username color is dark grey and in italics.
**''Melee'' Discussion
**''Melee'' Character Discussion
**''Melee'' Videos, Livestreams, and Other Media


===Itty Bitty Welcoming Committee===
*''[[Project M]]''
[[File:SmashBoards Heart.png|thumb]]
**General Discussion
The newest usergroup. Members, like moderators, are hand-selected to join. They are in charge of the information center. They have all the powers of moderators, sans the ability to give infractions. Their username color is pale yellow.
**Character Discussion
**Help and Support
**Customized Content
**''Project M'' Videos, Livestreams, and Other Media


===Smash Researchers===
*''[[Super Smash Bros. 64]]''
[[File:SmashBoards Researcher.png|thumb]]
**''Smash 64'' Discussion
Smash Researchers have cyan names. These members have access to the Smash Lab, a sub-forum in Competitive Brawl Discussion. Other members cannot see the Smash Lab. The Researchers are responsible for finding and naming new advanced techniques, general study into the game's mechanics, and a variety of other research. The moderator in charge of the Smash Lab and all admissions is currently DeLux.
**Character Discussion
**Videos
**Online Events


===Smash Developers===
*''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''
Smash Developers have purple names. They have access to the Workshop Developers Corner and are generally the most experienced users when it comes to hacking and modding Brawl.
**''Brawl'' General Discussion
**''Brawl'' Competitive Discussion
**''Brawl'' Character Discussion
**''Brawl'' Videos, Livestreams, and Other Media


===Pokémon Researchers===
*''Smash'' [[Tournament]]s
Located in the Pokémon Center. They have posting rights in the Pokémon Research subforum, a room focused on movesets of Pokémon in the competitive scene. Other members are allowed to view the room to gain information on good movesets for different purpose Pokémon. Each Pokémon is given 3+ movesets for different purposes.
**Tournament Discussion
**Tournament Listings
**Regional Zones
**Online Tournament Listings
**Rankings & Results


===Unity Ruleset Committee Members===
*[[Mod|Smash Workshop]]
[[File:SmashBoards URC.png|thumb]]
**Developer Studio
These users are members of the [[Unity Ruleset Committee]]. They have a bracket icon under their names.
**''Melee'' Workshop
**''Brawl'' Workshop


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


The depth of this game has led to the development of a large, devoted tournament community. SmashBoards slowly grew into the home for these competitive players. In 2002 and 2003, the first tournaments began appearing on SmashBoards. Many of these tournaments were held in a member's basement, and open invitations were placed on the website. Early on, some people would drive 5–6 hours to get to a location where there might only be 10 players.
*Archives
**Public Archive


The scene began to transform with the arrival of the [[Tournament Go]] (TG) series of tournaments, hosted by a moderator with the handle of {{sm|Matt Deezie}}. At the time, Matt Deezie had been placing very high in California tournaments, and also placed in the Top 3 at the IGVF Seattle Smash national tournament. He invited anyone who would attend to come out to California, and he both rented out the building for the tournament out of his own pocket and allowed everyone who came to stay at his personal residence. The series quickly grew, and soon, one of the top 2 smashers in the Midwest, {{sm|Eddie}}, traveled from Chicago to California for it, setting the precedent for the TG series as the unofficial national championships of ''Super Smash Bros. Melee''.
===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.


The TG series had six incarnations, the last being in the summer of 2004. In addition to Midwest players such as Eddie, TG tournaments attracted players from the East Coast such as members of H2yl and DA. The TG series has contributed much to the development of the nationwide community. The community has grown from perhaps 100 traveling members to over 1500. The end of this tournament series was not the end of competitive ''Smash'' by far, though.
''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''.


In the same summer as TG6, the [[Ship of Fools]], a crew located in Mishawaka, Indiana, hosted [[MELEE-FC]] - Misunderstood Enthusiasts Living an Extraordinary Existence, For Cash. Though the name was humorous in nature, the tournament was promoted heavily due to the fact that TG5 was supposed to be the last of the series. Even the late announcement of TG6 did not prevent this tournament from being the largest to date. Its central location and hospitable environment attracted players from all over the country. Around the same time, [[Major League Gaming]] added ''Smash'' to its tournament line-up, offering thousands of dollars in prize money.
''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.


The first and second MLG seasons have concluded successfully, with {{Sm|Ken}}, generally acknowledged as the best player in the world, winning both titles, over notable players such as {{Sm|Isai}}, {{Sm|ChuDat}}, {{Sm|PC Chris}}, {{Sm|Azen}}, {{Sm|Chillin}}, and even over {{Sm|Captain Jack}} from Japan. The second FC, hosted in July 2005, was the among the largest tournaments to date, with 186 entrants for singles. It also was the site for the first Regional Crew Battle, when the East Coast, West Coast, South, and Midwest brought some of their top players and competed. Even with Ken (winner of FC's singles tournament) on the West Coast team, the East Coast managed to squeak by their rivals in the crew battles, beating the West Coast by 5 stock and winning the first Regional Crew Battle. This tournament has recently been surpassed by its most recent incarnation FC6 which had 205 entrants for singles.
==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>


[[Zero Challenge 2]] is the second big tournament of 2006 that followed FC6.  It had almost two hundred entrants, and prominent Japanese players traveled in for the first time in numbers.  [[MELEE-FC6]] was held in the same summer, and had 205 entrants for singles, the current record for any independent tournament.
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>


MLG discontinued ''Smash'' from the pro tour, but corporately sponsored ''Smash'' tournaments continue to exist. The independent scene also thrives, with many regions hosting monthly tournaments, and the next incarnation of [[MELEE-FC]] on the horizon.
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>


==April Fool's gags==
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 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 Emblem Boards 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 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==
==Trivia==
*Players first discovered and discussed [[wavedash]]ing on Smashboards. Its use as a technique was widely attributed to a SmashBoards user named {{Sm|Toadbanjoconker}}, who posted a video of him performing it back in April 3, 2002.
*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.
*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.
*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.
==Offshoots==
*In 2006, Smashboards launched [http://smashbrawl.com Smashbrawl.com], which served as a blog for information on ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''. However, the site was shut down.
*On April 23, 2015, a sister site, named [http://squidboards.com Squidboards], launched, serving as a SmashBoards-style forum for the {{uvm|Splatoon}} community.


==Gallery==
==Gallery==
Line 130: Line 148:
==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Websites]]
[[Category:Websites]]

Revision as of 12:21, April 6, 2024

Homepage
Current logo of Smashboards.

Smashboards, also formerly known as Smash World Forums or SWF, is a forum devoted to the Super Smash Bros. series, allowing users to discuss strategies, as well as find and host tournaments. In addition to helping players organize tournaments for the games, Smashboards is notably where the most widely-accepted tier lists 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, Gideon, a thirteen year old smasher, created Smash World in 1999, a website devoted to Smash 64. One year later, he founded Smashboards.com as a companion site, hosted by 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 rulesets of games, as well as the tier lists 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, 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 AlphaZealot's company Xyelot LLC.[1]

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, Squidboards, was launched in 2015, serving as a Smashboards-style forum for the 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 Warchamp7 which will serve as the business entity for SmashBoards and SquidBoards going forward.

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
  • Project M
    • General Discussion
    • Character Discussion
    • Help and Support
    • Customized Content
    • Project M Videos, Livestreams, and Other Media
  • Super Smash Bros. Brawl
    • Brawl General Discussion
    • Brawl Competitive Discussion
    • Brawl Character Discussion
    • Brawl Videos, Livestreams, and Other Media
  • Smash Tournaments
    • Tournament Discussion
    • Tournament Listings
    • Regional Zones
    • Online Tournament Listings
    • Rankings & Results
  • 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 organisers 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 lists and publish the official tournament rulesets for the games. The Back Rooms also made the official 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 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 Shaquille O'Neal while character mains became emoticons of Shaq. Tier Lists for the game Shaq Fu were posted as well as a guaranteed Luigi misfire tech being discovered.[2]

In 2016, Smashboards would become Emblemboards as an inside joke to the huge amount of Fire Emblem characters present in the 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.[3]

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 Sonic the Hedgehog games, while character mains became an emoticon of Knuckles. Tier lists were notably based on Knuckles' appearances in Sonic the Fighters and Sonic Battle.[4]

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.[5] 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.[6] (Note: only the banner and title are archived.) A facetious article was also written, saying that he had signed onto Team Liquid.[7]

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.[8]

In 2021, Smashboards became FighterZboards, themed after Dragon Ball FighterZ. Users' avatars were changed into various Dragon Ball characters.[9] A facetious article was written saying that Mario had died on March 31st (referencing the discontinuation of various Mario products as the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary celebration ended) and that Luigi had used the Dragon Balls to summon Shenron to wish Mario back to life.[10]

In 2022, Smashboards became Nickboards, with a theme from Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. Users' avatars were changed into various Nicktoons characters featured in the game at that point.[11] A joke article was written in the "Setting the Stage" series of hypothetical stage design articles theorizing the concept of a stage from 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. [12]

In 2023, Smashboards became Prattboards, themed after Chris Pratt for his controversial starring role as Mario in 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 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". [13][14]

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. One thread was made by user SonicMetaphor though the thread did not record any comments the whole day during which it was open.

Trivia

  • Players first discovered and discussed wavedashing on Smashboards, with it first being discussed in this 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, 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

  • Former logo

    Former logo

  • The previous mobile version of Smashboards

    The previous mobile version of Smashboards

  • The 2011-2012 version of Smashboards

    The 2011-2012 version of Smashboards

  • The 2005-2011 version of Smashboards

    The 2005-2011 version of Smashboards

  • The 2002-2005 version of Smashboards

    The 2002-2005 version of Smashboards

  • The 2001-2002 version of Smashboards

    The 2001-2002 version of Smashboards

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20150402002455/http://smashboards.com/
  3. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20160401233156/http://smashboards.com/
  4. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20170401154240/https://smashboards.com/
  5. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20180401040512/https://smashboards.com/
  6. ^ http://archive.is/VcoiS
  7. ^ https://smashboards.com/threads/reggie-joins-team-liquid.481280/
  8. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20200401224528/https://smashboards.com/
  9. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20210401222041/https://smashboards.com/
  10. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20210401222153/https://smashboards.com/threads/mario-has-been-revived-using-the-dragon-balls.512863/
  11. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20220401155610/https://smashboards.com/
  12. ^ [2]
  13. ^ https://smashboards.com/threads/shrek-takes-ogre-smash-speculation-corner-shrek-edition.518608/
  14. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20230401191308/https://smashboards.com/
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