Brawl Central (website): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 15:10, April 24, 2024

Not to be confused with Team:Brawl Central.

Brawl Central banner.

Brawl Central (later known as Nintendo Hub, VGDistrict, and finally Smash Bros Central) was an unofficial Super Smash Bros. Brawl fansite that was created on November 16th, 2006 by "Chris". "The Buzz Saw" would join Chris shortly after to help with programming and backend assistance with the site. Brawl Central acted like the Smash Bros. DOJO!! by providing information related to Super Smash Bros. Brawl and translating sources from Japanese magazines and forums. The website, under its final name Smash Bros Central, was shut down in 2014.

HistoryEdit

Nintendo Hub in 2008.

Brawl Central was started and run by Smash Bros. players and Smash World Forums (SWF) members "Chris" and "the Buzz Saw". At some point, 3 other admins ("T3h Kaiser", "Pumpkins", and "NGW") were appointed, with Buzz retiring. The main website featured many different pieces of information and news of Nintendo and other video game related news, constantly being updated by news editors. News editors included NGW, Kagato, Ferret, Xiammes, Kirby173, and Rocky. Brawl Central would later broaden itself and include a forum for community discussion on January 15th, 2008. The forum's section had members gather and discuss topics ranging from video games to questions and forum games. The administrators and moderators kept the site clean, although members sometimes got to "vote" in regards to whether or not something should be deleted. The forum would include many character-specific clans for Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Some of the clans included "The Aura Wielders" (Lucario), "K.I.N.G.S" (King Dedede), "Aethercide" (Ike), "The Galaxian Enforcers" (Metaknight), "FALCON PAWNCH!" (Cpt. Falcon), etc.

Brawl Central hosted many elaborate Wi-Fi tournaments during its tenure. The big tournaments were Brawl Central Tournament 1, Brawl Central Tournament 2, and Brawl Central Tournament 3. Notable players who attended these tournaments include RedHalberd, Yonex204, UltimateRazer, CO18, Fatal, FIERCE, Snap, Thulius, ridleynkrool, and boomshakalaka. Many tournament matches remain available on Brawl Central's old YouTube channel.

In 2008, Brawl Central rebranded to Nintendo Hub. Many of the Brawl-related features were kept, such as character boards and competitive Brawl forums. However, the site had expanded to encompass many more series, with over 20 forums related to game series, mostly those from first-party Nintendo franchises. Examples of non-Nintendo brands include the Guitar Hero / Rock Band forum, and the Gears of War and Halo forums. It later rebranded to VGDistrict.

VGDistrict's appearance.

On November 2009, T3h Kaiser and other admins, moderators, and forum members were tired with the way that the admin Chris ran VGDistrict and thus left to make Xugo Gaming. VGD was set to close down later that month, but on November 24th, Chris decided to keep the site open and used cheaper hosting to help try to secure the site's financial stability. On Friday, December 11th, 2009 VGDistrict was revamped and all previous members and posts were deleted. One of the most notable changes from the switch to VGDistrict, besides veering away from the Nintendo-centric branding, was the revamped homepage. The homepage now featured dedicated sections for featured members, gaming news, sponsors, gaming tournaments, and a link to VGD's new gaming podcast, the D-cast, run by forum members RnR and Adamated87.

VGDistrict ran until around June 2013, where it shut down, rebranded, and began redirecting to Smash Bros Central, which added features such as a wiki and tournaments.^[1] The pivot from VGDistrict to Smash Bros Central was an effort by Chris to capitalize on the hype of the upcoming Super Smash Bros. 4. One of SBC's new moderators, Proto Man, would post daily Miiverse updates from Masahiro Sakurai to Smash Bros Central's homepage. Smash Bros Central also started its own podcast, called "The Smash Bros Central Podcast." The SBC podcast would have standalone episodes with set Nintendo topics, and special episodes with Nintendo Direct/E3 Reactions.^[2] Podcast hosts/guests included: GSNinja, Lauren, Proto Man, SilverX, Ismar, PK_Awesome, Karazure, Liam, Scan, Rocky, Logshot, and Genow. Smash Bros Central would remain active until around January 2014, where the site would no longer run, effectively ending the website's overall existence.

Domain Post-ShutdownEdit

The Smash Bros. Central website, dated May 29th 2020.

Archives of the domain show activity in,^[3] and soon after, the domain would be taken up by a business company,^[4] containing dozens of articles relating to business studies. Tab names would simply be labelled "Business". This would continue being used until around March of 2018, where the website would be open for purchase again.

In June of 2018, Smash Bros Central's website returned with a black screen saying "Soon...". It once again sported the Smash Bros Central name on tabs, implying an intention to return. As of 15th April 2024, however, the same screen remains.

The domain for VGDistrict would not see use after January 2014 until July 2017, where it became a redirect for SSBWorld.^[5] On April 22nd, 2020, the domain name for VGDistrict expired and was auctioned on GoDaddy's website.^[6] The domain name was valued at $1,305 USD based on domains of similar naming conventions, but ended with no sale. In September of 2020, it was sold by a Chinese vendor, though the resultant website was taken down.

GalleryEdit

VGDistrict Logo
VGDistrict's abbreviated logo.
Nintendo Hub Banner - Ness.
Nintendo Hub Banner - Samus.
Nintendo Hub Halloween Theme.
Smash Bros Central's appearance.
VGDistrict pre-launch
Clan Banners from the Brawl Central era.
Brawl Central banner featuring Sonic and Wolf.

TriviaEdit

Brawl Central's YouTube channel produced several famous moveset swapping videos in 2008, the first of which heavily contributed to the notoriety of Pikaman. Said video has since garnered over 6 million views.

ReferencesEdit

[1] Last archive of Smash Bros Central

[2] DBC Podcast E3 Episode

[3] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20150726025324/http://smashbroscentral.com/

[4] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20160518040156/http://smashbroscentral.com/

[5] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20170705131505/vgdistrict.com

[6] uction page

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{cleanup|needs more order}}
+{{ArticleIcons|ssbb=y}}
-Brawl Central is an unofficial Super Smash Bros Brawl fansite. It acts like the Smash Bros. DOJO!! by providing information related to Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but it also has legitimate sources from Japanese forums (translated).
+:''Not to be confused with [[Team:Brawl Central]].''
+[[File:BrawlCentralBanner2.png|thumb|350px|Brawl Central banner.]]
+'''Brawl Central''' (later known as '''Nintendo Hub''', '''VGDistrict''', and finally '''Smash Bros Central''') was an unofficial ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' fansite that was created on November 16th, 2006 by "Chris". "The Buzz Saw" would join Chris shortly after to help with programming and backend assistance with the site. Brawl Central acted like the [[Smash Bros. DOJO!!]] by providing information related to ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' and translating sources from Japanese magazines and forums. The website, under its final name '''Smash Bros Central''', was shut down in 2014.
+<!--
+Past members remain active in a Discord channel, accessible [http://discordapp.com/users/119171308754960384 here]. this link doesn't work, leaving here in case someone wants to do that
+-->
+==History==
+[[File:NintendoHub1.png|thumb|200px|Nintendo Hub in 2008.]]
+Brawl Central was started and run by Smash Bros. players and [[SmashBoards|Smash World Forums]] (SWF) members "Chris" and "the Buzz Saw". At some point, 3 other admins ("T3h Kaiser", "Pumpkins", and "NGW") were appointed, with Buzz retiring. The main website featured many different pieces of information and news of Nintendo and other video game related news, constantly being updated by news editors. News editors included NGW, Kagato, Ferret, Xiammes, Kirby173, and Rocky. Brawl Central would later broaden itself and include a forum for community discussion on January 15th, 2008. The forum's section had members gather and discuss topics ranging from video games to questions and forum games. The administrators and moderators kept the site clean, although members sometimes got to "vote" in regards to whether or not something should be deleted. The forum would include many character-specific clans for Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Some of the clans included "The Aura Wielders" (Lucario), "K.I.N.G.S" (King Dedede), "Aethercide" (Ike), "The Galaxian Enforcers" (Metaknight), "FALCON PAWNCH!" (Cpt. Falcon), etc.
-Brawl Central is run by known Smash Bros. players Chris and the Buzz Saw. The main website features many different pieces of information of Brawl though it is still under development. The forum's section is where all the members gather and discuss topics ranging from, "I've found the Brawl Wavedash!" to "Is Pokemon Trainer really Ash Ketchum?" The Administrators and their horde of moderators help keep things in line, though some responsibility is left to the members to decide whether is is appropriate to post subjects like, "I've got Brawl and I think that Sonic sucks." Brawl Central may not say so directly, but sometimes hints at being site rivals with Smash World Forums. With over 9,000 members, it isn't hard to always find someone to play Brawl with and even other games such as Mario Kart Wii.
+Brawl Central hosted many elaborate [[Wi-Fi]] tournaments during its tenure. The big tournaments were {{Trn|Brawl Central Tournament 1}}, {{Trn|Brawl Central Tournament 2}}, and {{Trn|Brawl Central Tournament 3}}. Notable players who attended these tournaments include {{Sm|RedHalberd}}, Yonex204, {{Sm|UltimateRazer}}, {{Sm|CO18}}, {{Sm|Fatal}}, FIERCE, {{Sm|Snap}}, {{Sm|Thulius}}, ridleynkrool, and boomshakalaka. Many tournament matches remain available on Brawl Central's old [https://www.youtube.com/@BrawlCentralVideos/videos YouTube channel].
-A ranking system, similar to the one employed by Smash World Forums, is based off of the tier list from Super Smash Bros Melee.
+In 2008, Brawl Central rebranded to Nintendo Hub. Many of the Brawl-related features were kept, such as character boards and competitive Brawl forums. However, the site had expanded to encompass many more series, with over 20 forums related to game series, mostly those from first-party Nintendo franchises. Examples of non-Nintendo brands include the Guitar Hero / Rock Band forum, and the Gears of War and Halo forums. It later rebranded to VGDistrict.
--99 posts = Bottom tier
+[[File:VGDistrict2.png|200px|thumb|VGDistrict's appearance.]]
+On November 2009, ''T3h Kaiser'' and other admins, moderators, and forum members were tired with the way that the admin ''Chris'' ran VGDistrict and thus left to make ''Xugo Gaming''. VGD was set to close down later that month, but on November 24th, ''Chris'' decided to keep the site open and used cheaper hosting to help try to secure the site's financial stability. On Friday, December 11th, 2009 VGDistrict was revamped and all previous members and posts were deleted. One of the most notable changes from the switch to VGDistrict, besides veering away from the Nintendo-centric branding, was the revamped homepage. The homepage now featured dedicated sections for featured members, gaming news, sponsors, gaming tournaments, and a link to VGD's new gaming podcast, the D-cast, run by forum members RnR and Adamated87.
--499 posts = Lower Tier
+VGDistrict ran until around June 2013, where it shut down, rebranded, and began redirecting to Smash Bros Central, which added features such as a wiki and tournaments.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150102010921/http://smashbroscentral.com:80/forums/ Last archive of Smash Bros Central]</ref> The pivot from VGDistrict to Smash Bros Central was an effort by Chris to capitalize on the hype of the upcoming ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''. One of SBC's new moderators, Proto Man, would post daily [[Miiverse]] updates from Masahiro Sakurai to Smash Bros Central's homepage. Smash Bros Central also started its own podcast, called "The Smash Bros Central Podcast." The SBC podcast would have standalone episodes with set Nintendo topics, and special episodes with Nintendo Direct/E3 Reactions.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ElCxPJUpwE&t=2471s DBC Podcast E3 Episode]</ref> Podcast hosts/guests included: GSNinja, Lauren, Proto Man, SilverX, Ismar, PK_Awesome, Karazure, Liam, Scan, Rocky, Logshot, and Genow. Smash Bros Central would remain active until around January 2014, where the site would no longer run, effectively ending the website's overall existence.
+{{clr}}
--999 posts = Middle Tier
+===Domain Post-Shutdown===
+[[File:Smashbroscentral29-5-20.png|thumb|300px|The Smash Bros. Central website, dated May 29th 2020.]]
+Archives of the domain show activity in,<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20150726025324/http://smashbroscentral.com/</ref> and soon after, the domain would be taken up by a business company,<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20160518040156/http://smashbroscentral.com/</ref> containing dozens of articles relating to business studies. Tab names would simply be labelled "Business". This would continue being used until around March of 2018, where the website would be open for purchase again.
--2,499 posts = High Tier
+In June of 2018, Smash Bros Central's website returned [https://web.archive.org/web/20180622165627/http://smashbroscentral.com/ with a black screen saying "Soon..."]. It once again sported the Smash Bros Central name on tabs, implying an intention to return. As of 15th April 2024, however, the same screen remains.
-,500- 4,999 posts = Top Tier
+The domain for VGDistrict would not see use after January 2014 until July 2017, where it became a redirect for [[SSBWorld]].<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20170705131505/vgdistrict.com</ref> On April 22nd, 2020, the domain name for VGDistrict expired and was auctioned on GoDaddy's website.<ref>[https://uk.godaddy.com/domain-auctions/vgdistrict-com-325414162 auction page]</ref> The domain name was valued at $1,305 USD based on domains of similar naming conventions, but ended with no sale. In September of 2020, it was sold by a Chinese vendor, though the resultant website was taken down.
+{{clr}}
-,000+ posts = god Tier. (So far only one member named RinneganGod has reached this rank, though member Ryuutakeshi is almost there)
+==Gallery==
+<gallery>
+VGDistrictLogo1.png|VGDistrict Logo
+VGDistrictLogo2.png|VGDistrict's abbreviated logo.
+NintendoHub2.png|Nintendo Hub Banner - Ness.
+NintendoHub3.png|Nintendo Hub Banner - Samus.
+NintendoHub4.png|Nintendo Hub Halloween Theme.
+SmashBrosCentral1.png|Smash Bros Central's appearance.
+SmashBrosCentral2.png
+VGDistrict1.png|VGDistrict pre-launch
+ClanBannersBrawlCentral.png|Clan Banners from the Brawl Central era.
+BrawlCentralBanner1.png|Brawl Central banner featuring Sonic and Wolf.
+</gallery>
+==Trivia==
+*Brawl Central's YouTube channel produced several famous [[moveset swap]]ping videos in 2008, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZDgjjDnWLM the first of which] heavily contributed to the notoriety of [[Pikaman]]. Said video has since garnered over 6 million views.
-One unique thing about Brawl Central is the character clan section. Starting with the popular Aethercide clan, every character has had a clan started based off of them. Most clan's focus on the one character they are based on, though some clans, like Team R.E.D., focus on all characters. Another clan, named after a famous quote from the Dojo, titled Real Men Use Items is a clan that is based on item use. Other clans, such as KoU (Knights of Underground) simply use all characters of a specific style of expertise, in this example KoU focuses primarily on sword wielders. Clans are also sometimes placed into catagories that include, but are not limited to, "Mainless" (R.E.D.), "Fanclubs" (RPG), "Character" (THE ELITE FOUR), "Specific" (REAL MEN), and even "Gameless" (Mario Kart & R.E.D.).
+==See also==
+*[https://www.youtube.com/@BrawlCentralVideos/videos Brawl Central's YouTube Channel]
+*[https://www.youtube.com/@SmashBrosCentral/videos Smash Bros Central's YouTube Channel]
-Alliances are formed between these clans, although so far there has been no need for such alliances. Originally clans could have as many allies and rivals as they wanted but it ended up in a big jumbled mess. Member CO18 wrote up rules regarding clans which have, for the most part, been followed to this day. One such example of a Brawl Central clan alliance is Pokemon: Din's Fire Version, which is an alliance between the Elite Four (Pokemon Trainer clan), Electric Hunters(Pikachu clan), Balloon Fighters (Jigglypuff clan), and the Enforcers of Light (Zelda only clan). Also, opposed to alliances some clans have rivalries such as that between the Galaxian Enforcers(Meta Knight clan) and the Aritian Slashers(Marth clan). Clans with rivalries may host tournaments against eachother to test their skills and in general they are friendly rivalries.
+==References==
+{{reflist}}
-Although clans may appear as "copies" and "useless" it's surprising to note that KoU, now the second largest clan, started out as nothing more but a "worthless" clan. Currently all clans are given a chance to begin recruitment (memberships) and are only locked if the thread appears as either Flame or SPAM. However, most, if not all clans, that pass beyond the 5 page mark are usually titled dead and are referred to as being in the "clan abyss".
+[[Category:Defunct websites]]
-PSI Rockin' = #1 Clan; Leader = Chrono
-Knights of Underground = #2 Clan; Leader = Phazon9
-R.evolution of E.lite D.efectives = #3 Clan; Leader = Dark
-The Aura Wielders = #4 Clan; Leader = SilverX
-Heroes of Wind = #5 Clan; Leader = Toon Link
-Snap is currently the best ike user of KoU and BC.
-IsmaR is currently the member in the most clans.
-Lance130 is currently the member who has created the most clans.
-Lance130 is currently the member with the most locked clans.
-Chrono is currently the most popular member on Brawl Central. His best BC Friend is Finman702, great and all, they Own at doubles, as Fin says "They PWN Da NUBZ"
-npjpkac, Chrono's other co-leader, is extraordinarily sexy and incredible at signature making, unlike Finman702.
-RinneganGod is currently the member with the most posts.
-Phazon9 is currently the member with the most events and tourneys.
-Dark is currently the most popular clan creator.
-==External Links==
-[http://www.brawlcentral.com/ Brawl Central homepage ]
-{{stub}}
-[[Category:Websites]]
-FIN
-KELSO(NPJPKAC)