Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (often acronymized to PNW) is a Smash region in the United States. The PNW generally refers to the states of Oregon, Washington (which is typically further split into Eastern Washington and Western Washington due to the difficulty of travelling across the state) and the province of British Columbia (BC). Additional regions like Alberta, Idaho and Montana may occasionally be grouped in, but in most cases the region is exclusively the coastal states and provinces.
The Pacific Northwest harbors one of the most active Super Smash Bros. Ultimate scenes in the United States, as well as one of the most active P+ scenes. The scene is most populous in Western Washington. Historically, the region has struggled to obtain mainstream relevancy on the same level as other regions due to a number of factors, from geographic isolation to other regions scheduling larger events over the PNW's own, but has been gaining traction since 2021 and is currently the North American region with the most LumiRank tournaments. Very strong players for all Smash games have come out of the region, including SilentWolf, Bladewise, Ka-Master, Ouch!?, JDV, moxi, Big D, and Pikmon.
The Pacific Northwest has also received a significant amount of direct support and events from Nintendo, as the Nintendo of America headquarters is located in Redmond, Washington. Examples include attending the annual conventions Emerald City Comic Con and Penny Arcade Expo's PAX West with dedicated booths. While not officially affiliated, PAX also has its PAX Arena tournament, which usually features at least one Smash game. Seattle, Washington was also chosen as the location for Nintendo Live 2023, which featured two Smash tournaments. Nintendo also has a traveling booth that they fill with games and events and bring to local festivals like Seafair and the Seattle Street Food Festival. More minor examples include Nintendo sponsoring technology based institutes like Digipen Institute of Technology, but direct support of local competitive tournaments has remained sparse.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Notable players
Globally ranked players
These Pacific Northwest players were ranked on the SSBMRank 2022:
| SSBMRank | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | aMSa  (British Columbia) |
Originally from Kansai. |
| 8 | Plup   (Oregon) |
Originally from Florida. |
| 46 | Aura  (Oregon) |
|
| 51 | FatGoku (Oregon) |
|
| 54 | Panda (Washington) |
Briefly resided in Washington and currently resides in Florida. |
These Pacific Northwest players have been ranked globally in the past; their highest placement is listed:
- Bladewise (Washington): 33rd on the 2014 SSBMRank.
- Blunted_Object10
(British Columbia): 67th on the 2013 SSBMRank. - Chango
(Washington): Originally from Mexico. Honorable mention on the 2019 MPGR. - Eggz (Oregon): 74th on the 2013 SSBMRank.
- Iceman
(Washington): 93rd on the 2017 SSBMRank. - Ka-Master
(Washington): Considered one of the greatest Luigi players of all time. 9th on the RetroSSBMRank 2008. - Rori
(Washington): 8th on the RetroSSBMRank 2004. - Silent Wolf (Washington): 11th on the 2015 SSBMRank.
- Sion (British Columbia): 85th on the 2013 SSBMRank.
- Vish
(Washington): Notable commentator. 84th on the 2013 SSBMRank.
Other notable players
- Amrak (British Columbia)
- Dacky (Washington)
- Elliot (British Columbia)
- Espi (British Columbia)
- Fauxhebro
(British Columbia) - RK (British Columbia)
- Vincessant (Washington)
Super Smash Bros. 4
Notable players
Globally ranked players
These Pacific Northwest players were ranked on Panda's PGR 100:
| PG Ranking | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | Locus  (British Columbia) |
One of best Ryu players in the world. |
| 76 | Konga  (Washington) |
Considered one of the best Donkey Kong players in the world. Ranked #1 on Western Washington All-Time PR. |
| 78 | Captain L   (British Columbia) |
Considered the second best Pikachu player in the world after ESAM. |
These Pacific Northwest players have been ranked globally in the past; their highest placement is listed:
- Cacogen
(Washington): The best player in Washington throughout the first few years of the game and was ranked #2 on the WA All-Time PR. Ranked 46th on the PGR v1.
Other notable players
- Big D
(British Columbia): The best player in British Columbia. - Pandarian
(Washington): The best Meta Knight in the PNW. Finished at #1 in WWA's final PR.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
History and Events
2018-2019
As expected, the Ultimate scene was initially comprised of many Smash 4 veterans, as well as dozens of new players. The Pacific Northwest was one of the first battlegrounds for an Ultimate major, as Don't Park on the Grass 2018 was held only a week after the game's release. Konga would be the highest-placing Pacific Northwest player at 3rd, with Big D, Captain L, and Magister joining him in Top 8.
The Pacific Northwest continued a largely quiet existence separated from the rest of the national scene, with occasional trips to majors made by the scene's most prominent players at the time, namely moxi, Big D, and Captain L, all of which would eventually earn a PGRU spot. Battle of BC 3 and Port Priority 5 were the largest events held in the northwest since DPG, reaching over 400 entrants each. 2019 also saw an anticpated rise from those who joined the scene after the release of Ultimate, including Ouch and Mystery Sol.
2020
With the Smash World Tour marking Port Priority 6 as a Gold-tier event and Emerald City 9 looking to pull more national talent from out of region including the likes of Elegant and Scend, the Pacific Northwest was projected to have a greater spotlight on it compared to previous years. However, the COVID-19 Pandemic quickly halted any offline activity on the global scale, forcing Emerald City 9 to cancel only a few days before the event, and relegating all Smash competition to online events.
The Pacific Northwest was unique among other regions participating in the WiFi-era, the biggest difference being that players largely participated in tournaments region-locked to the PNW region rather than nationwide events like Mega Smash Mondays, The Box or Smash @ Xanadu, causing the scene to become more isolated than ever. Additionally, numerous power-ranked players rarely or entirely refused to participate in wifi tournaments, opening the door for quickly improving players like rm8, Justice and JDV to gain lots of tournament experience over quarantine.
2021
The first half of 2021 largely continued on the same path as 2020 had ended. The initial seeding for the SWT: NA Northwest Ultimate Online Qualifier came under scrutiny for the local playerbase as the seeding team weren't aware of the PNW's habit of only participating in region-locked wifi events, leading to questionable seeding. With the help of local wifi TOs including Cube, this problem was quickly resolved, and the tournament is noteworthy for being among the least upset-prone major Ultimate events ever.
Local tournaments began to resurface around the summer. Within only a few tournaments, players dedicated to online play began to perform exceptionally well, with JDV winning the first Western Washington tournament back, Ouch winning Pinnacle 2021 & dominating the British Columbian scene, and Domnique securing the #1 spot in Oregon.
Due to US/Canada land border complications, Canadian participation in American tournaments has plummeted dramatically - and vice versa, with the only player regularly crossing the border being Capsize. This also led to numerous BC players being unable to attend Port Priority 6, the Pacific Northwest's first truly undisputed major for Ultimate with over 600 entrants.
2022
2022 saw more activity, both in tournaments and in player performance. After travel restrictions loosened for Canada, Big D would emerge from Get On My Level 2022 as a top level threat, following it up with a top 8 finish at Ludwig Smash Invitational and 3rd at Mainstage 2022. Ouch!? broke out at 3rd place during Battle of BC 4, defeating several top players and remaining a consistent threat at majors. From Oregon, jaredisking1 would place 5th at Rise n Grind and become Oregon's best player. Justice placed Top 8 at Port Priority 7, becoming Washington and the Pacific Northwest's first player to do so at the tournament series since Port Priority 4.
Western Washington experienced multiple shifts near the end of 2022, including several high level players moving or having extended leaves. H4 and Ludo would travel to Japan and Europe respectively for several months, while moxi and Justice would move for school. In the power vacuum, JDV would emerge as Seattle's best player.
2023
2023 started off strong, with 6 players placing in the top 64 of GENESIS 9 and 6 more finishing at 65th.[1]
Battle of BC 5 emerged as one of 2023's strongest and most important Ultimate tournaments, named a P-tier by LumiRank. MAJOR UPSET and Port Priority 8 reached major and supermajor status, respectively, giving all three primary regions a major in the same year.
Notable players
Globally ranked players
These Pacific Northwest players were ranked on the UltRank 2022 and/or the OrionRank 2022.
| UltRank | OrionRank | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 33 | Big D  (British Columbia) |
The best Ice Climbers player in the world. |
| 43 | 46 | Ouch!?  (British Columbia) |
The best Wolf player in Canada and one of the best in the world. |
| 51 | 66 | jaredisking1  (Oregon) |
The best Shulk player in the United States |
| — | 132 | JDV  (Washington) |
|
| — | 143 | Justice  (Washington) |
These Pacific Northwest players have been ranked globally in the past; their highest placement is listed:
- Captain L
(British Columbia): 50th on the Spring 2019 PGRU. - moxi
(Washington): 33rd on the Fall 2019 PGRU. Currently resides in Georgia.
Other notable players
- Fizzmint (Washington): Eastern Washington's best player.
- Deci
(Washington): One of the best Robin players in the United States. - Domnique
(Oregon): the best R.O.B. player in the PNW and Oregon's #1 player for most of 2021. - JeJaJeJa
(Oregon): The best Kirby in the United States. - JoJoDaHoBo
(Washington): One of the best Toon Link players in the United States. - Konga
(Washington): One of the best Donkey Kong players in the United States prior to his retirement. - Lemmon
(British Columbia), the best Joker player in Canada. - Ludo
(Washington): the best Mario player in the PNW. - Mystery Sol
(Washington): One of the best Incineroar players in the United States. - pokepen
(Washington): Regularly stayed within the top 3 of Western Washington power rankings with an army of characters.
Project M/Project+
Globally ranked players
These Pacific Northwest players were ranked on the PMRank 2022.
| PMRank | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Pikmon    (Washington) |
|
| 44 | PwrUp!  (Washington) |
|
| 45 | Qtip (Washington) |
These Pacific Northwest players have been ranked globally in the past; their highest placement is listed:
- Akimi
(Washington): 28th on the PMRank 2018. - Chevy
(Washington): 29th on the PMRank 2017.
Instances of overlapping major events with other regions/organizations
Pacific Northwest events have been prone to being scheduled over by other larger organizations or events, creating conflicts for players and often splitting or crushing viewership for the affected PNW events.
| PNW Event | Overlapped by | Date(s) | Game(s) affected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don't Park on the Grass | 2GGT: ZeRo Saga | December 16th-18th, 2016 | Smash 4 | ZeRo Saga was announced well after DPG. Due to the higher stakes, many high level players cancelled on DPG, reducing the relevance of the Smash 4 bracket. |
| Port Priority | MomoCon 2017 | May 27th, 2017 | Smash 4 | |
| Port Priority 2 | IBP Masters Showdown | November 11th, 2017 | Smash 4 | IBP Masters was announced 2 weeks before Port Priority 2's event date, causing a few prominent out of region players to cancel. The $10,000 pot bonus and short notice sparked heated discourse on social media. |
| Emerald City 6 | 2GGC: West Side Saga | September 9th, 2017 | Smash 4 | 2GG offered spots on the compendium to Oregon/Washington players after complaints that a tournament called "West Side Saga" did not consider all west coast states. |
| Don't Park on the Grass 2018 | Sky Ultimate Invitational | December 15th, 2018 | Ultimate | Sky Williams donated $2,500 to the prize pool of DPG18 as compensation for scheduling conflicts. |
| Emerald City 8 | MomoCon 2019 | May 25th, 2019 | Ultimate | |
| Don't Park on the Grass 2020 | Smash World Tour 2020 Finals | December 17th-20th, 2020 | Melee, Ultimate | Although both events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, SWT was announced well after the announcement for DPG20, making it the third time in DPG's history that a larger event was scheduled over it well after its announcement. |
| Port Priority 7 | Ultimate Fighting Arena 2022 | November 11th-13th, 2022 | Ultimate | Ultimate Fighting Arena (UFA) announced an Ultimate event with a 10,000€ prize pool without placing itself on the Smash Calendar in advance, which Port Priority did in October of 2021. While not detrimental to attendance and likely not detrimental to viewership, it did reserve the weekends of multiple top players Port Priority was seeking, diminishing its prestige. |
| Domino Effect 2023 | GENESIS: BLACK at Guildhouse | December 2nd, 2023 | Ultimate, Melee | A miscommunication on the Smash Calendar had both events occurring on the same day, resulting in multiple previously-confirmed notable players cancelling to go to California. |
See also
Power rankings:
Smashers:
Tournaments:
References
- ^ In top 64: Ouch!?, Big D, Justice, moxi, JDV, jaredisking1. At 65th: JoJoDaHoBo, FireThePyro, SPARKLE, Pacstreet, Major, H4.
