Northern California, commonly abbreviated as NorCal, is a Smash region located in the United States. It covers the northern half of the state of California, including the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country. While most regions are divided by state, California is split into northern and southern portions, as the state's large size has resulted in the development of two largely independent centers of Smash activity.
With a huge concentration of young people and college students, NorCal has been one of the most active Smash regions in the U.S. since the series' competitive beginnings. Matt Deezie's Tournament Go series, considered the first major Smash tournaments, were held here, and thus the region can be considered the birthplace of competitive Smash. NorCal is at present most famous for the GENESIS tournaments, considered the premier grassroots Smash supermajor today and one of the most iconic and prestigious tournament series in history. Its Melee scene is dominated by the "NorCal trio", consisting of three of the best players in the United States: PewPewU, SFAT, and Shroomed.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Notable players
Nationally ranked players
See also: NorCal Power Rankings and Category:Northern California smashers
These NorCal players are ranked on Melee It On Me's 2015 SSBMRank.
| SSBMRank | Name | Characters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Shroomed |   |
Known as the best Dr. Mario in the world before switching to Sheik in 2014. |
| 13 | SFAT |  |
One of the best Foxes in the country; also known for teaming with PewPewU, forming one of the most dominant doubles teams in the world. |
| 14 | PewPewU | |
Considered one of the best Marth mains in the United States; also known for teaming with SFAT, forming one of the most dominant doubles teams in the world. |
| 25 | Nintendude |   |
Known as one of the best Ice Climbers players in the world; originally from New York, but currently lives in NorCal. |
| 29 | Zhu |  |
One of the best Falcos in the United States. |
| 49 | Frootloop | |
Originally from Wisconsin, but currently lives in the Bay Area. |
| 56 | Darkatma | |
|
| 57 | Kalamazhu | |
Originally from Michigan, but currently lives in San Francisco. |
| 59 | Laudandus | |
|
| 64 | HomeMadeWaffles | |
More famous as one of the most iconic commentators of the grassroots Melee scene. |
| 76 | Ralph | |
|
| 83 | Darrell |  |
|
| 89 | Azusa | |
|
| 92 | Phil | |
|
| 97 | Toph | |
Known as a commentator and host for Melee It On Me. |
| 98 | Bizzarro Flame |  |
Known as a fan-favorite Ganondorf, one of the best in the United States. |
Other top players
- Recipherus : Known as one of the best players on the West Coast in Melee's early competitive history; considered Ken's main competition in California.
Major tournaments hosted
See also: Category:Northern California tournaments
A list of significant regional and national Melee events hosted in NorCal; nationals are highlighted in bold.
| Name | Entrants | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament Go 1 | April 6th, 2002 | The first tournament in the historic Tournament Go series; considered the very first Melee major and one of the first organized Smash tournaments. | |
| Tournament Go 2 | June 15th, 2002 | ||
| Tournament Go 3 | ~20 | August 24th, 2002 | |
| Tournament Go 4 | ~90 | January 19th, 2003 | Marked the first appearance of Ken at major NorCal tournament, despite Ken being from SoCal. |
| Tournament Go 5 | ~90-110 | August 2nd-3rd, 2003 | One of the first two-day Smash tournaments; Maryland/Virginia player Azen notably flew to the West Coast for the event, marking one of the first cross-country travels for a Smash tournament. |
| Tournament Go 6 | 112 | August 21st-22nd, 2004 | The last tournament in the Tournament Go series; notably featured international competition, with Captain Jack and Takuto travelling to the U.S. from Japan for the event. |
| MLG San Francisco 2004 | 50 | September 11th-12th, 2004 | |
| MLG San Francisco 2005 | 100+ | February 26th-27th, 2005 | |
| NorCal Tournament 2 | 129 | October 28th, 2006 | |
| GENESIS | 290 | July 10th-12th, 2009 | Considered the first-ever "supermajor," drawing huge international attendance for both Melee and Brawl; at the time, the largest Melee tournament ever. Mango's grand finals victory over Armada has helped shape one of the most famous rivalries and storylines in Smash. |
| R3 | 70 | December 19th-20th, 2009 | |
| Good Shit German | 84 | July 24th-25th, 2010 | |
| Don't Go Down There Jeff | 108 | December 18th-19th, 2010 | |
| GENESIS 2 | 228 | July 15th-17th, 2011 | A Smash supermajor; Armada defeated Mango in grand finals, a reversal of the previous GENESIS. |
| Rule 6: NorCal Regional | 92 | July 29th, 2012 | |
| NorCal Regionals 2013 | 73 | April 26th-28th, 2013 | |
| The Next Episode | 147 | March 22nd-23rd, 2014 | |
| NorCal Regionals 2014 | 52 | April 18th-20th, 2014 | |
| NorCal Regionals 2015 | 77 | April 3rd-5th, 2015 | |
| I'm Not Yelling! | 316 | April 11th-12th, 2015 | |
| HTC Throwdown | 386 | September 19th-20th, 2015 | |
| GENESIS 3 | 1,828 | January 15th-17th, 2016 | The largest grassroots Smash tournament and the third-largest Melee tournament of all time; replaced Apex as the premiere Smash series international tournament. Originally scheduled for 2013, but postponed due to conflicting interest with EVO 2013. |
| NorCal Regionals 2016 | 38 | March 25th-27th, 2016 | |
| SSS: Blood For Blood | 443 | October 15th, 2016 |