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 United States 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 one of the most iconic and prestigious tournament series in Smash history. Outside of GENESIS, however, the region's activity has historically been smaller compared to many of the United States' other large regions, including it's neighbor SoCal. The rise of events held at the Guildhouse venue has somewhat alleviated that, as the venue holds one of the largest pre-major events in the community for the GENESIS series as well as the major invitational series The Throne.

SmashersEdit

See also: Category:Northern California smashers

The following players are currently or were previously ranked. Their highest placement is listed.

Globally ranked playersEdit

Tag Character(s) Best placement Notes
  AV      PMRank 2022: 27th
  Azel      SSBMRank 2022: 50th
  Azusa     SSBMRank 2016: 57th
  Bizzarro Flame     SSBMRank 2014: 94th
  Bob$     SSBMRank 2013: 90th
  Bobby Scar     SSBMRank 2013: 62nd
  Cactuar      SSBMRank 2015: 37th
  Darkatma     SSBMRank 2013: 46th
  Darrell     SSBMRank 2014: 61st
  Hipstur     2018 64 League Rankings: 62nd Moved to NorCal from Nevada in 2016.
  HomeMadeWaffles     SSBMRank 2013: 55th One of the most notable commentators in Melee
  Hyprid     SSBMRank 2014: 95th
  Isai       2023 Smash 64 Power Rankings: 1st
  RetroSSBMRank 2005: 3rd
  Ish      2024 SSBBRank: 17th
  Ito     OrionRank 2016: 31st
  Ivayne      PMRank 2022: 13th
  Justin Junio     RetroSSBMRank 2001-2003: 6th
  Kalamazhu     MPGR 2018: 37th Originally from Michigan and moved to NorCal in 2015.
  Kurama     UltRank 2022: 11th The best Mario player in the world.
  L     SSBMRank 2017: 94th
  Laudandus     SSBMRank 2016: 33rd
  Legit      OrionRank 2018: 91st
  Lord     SSBMRank 2013: 29th
  Lui$       OrionRank 2018: 75th
  OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse: 17th
  Nickemwit     MPGR 2019: 58th
  Nintendude      SSBMRank 2016: 17th Originally from New York and moved to NorCal in 2015.
  PewPewU     SSBMRank 2013: 12th
  Pikmon     PMRank 2019: 8th
  Pink Shinobi     RetroSSBMRank 2009: HM
  PotatoesAreYum      PMRank 2022: 47th
  Ralph      SSBMRank 2022: 55th
  Rocky     MPGR 2018: 51st
  S2J     SSBMRank 2023: 16th Originally from SoCal and moved to NorCal in 2023.
  Sabre     PMRank 2022: 34th
  SFAT     SSBMRank 2016: 7th
  Shaky     PGR v1: 16th Originally from Florida and moved to NorCal by Smash 4'.
  Sho     OrionRank 2017: 71st Moved to New York and began competing from there in 2023.
  Shroomed       SSBMRank 2013: 7th
  SilentSpectre     SSBMRank 2014: 47th
  SipMastah       PMRank 2023: 8th
  Sky Williams      SSBBRank 2014: 83rd Also known for being a controversial content creator, commentator, and tournament organizer.
  Spark      MPGR 2019: 22nd Moved to Arizona in 2022 and was last ranked as a NorCal player in 2019.
  Strong Bad     PMRank 2017 PMRank 2016: 33rd
  Sultan of Samitude     RetroSSBMRank 2001-2003: 5th
  Tafokints     SSBMRank 2013: 61st Notable commentator.
  The Doctor     PMRank 2022: 1st
  The King     RetroSSBMRank 2006: HM
  ThundeRzReiGN     PMRank 2017 PMRank 2017: 1st
  Toph     SSBMRank 2014: 91st
  Trevonte       SSBBRank 2014: 95th
  Umarth     MPGR 2019: 87th
  varun     OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse: 84th
  Xzax      OrionRank 2016: 75th Moved to NorCal from SoCal in mid-2016. Currently banned.
  Zex       SSBBRank 2014: 67th
  Zhu     RetroSSBMRank 2011: 7th

Nationally ranked playersEdit

Tag Character(s) Best placement Notes
  King Koopa     OrionRank North America Top 200: 154th
  Klaatu     OrionRank North America Top 200: 125th
  Legit     OrionRank North America Top 200: 172nd
  Mudomo     OrionRank North America Top 200: 183rd
  Willow     OrionRank 2022 North America: 178th Moved to SoCal in 2022.

Other notable playersEdit

Tag Character(s) Notes
  Boback   One of the TOs for GENESIS.
  Dr. Z   One of the TOs for GENESIS.
  Germ   One of the best Link players in the world.
  Tang   One of the members who participated in the Wombo Combo.

TournamentsEdit

See also: Category:Northern California tournaments

Notable tournament seriesEdit

Tournament series that have achieved recognition outside their local region.

Tournament Games Type Status
GENESIS       Annual Ongoing
Guildhouse   Weekly/Monthly Ongoing
NorCal Regionals   Annual
The Throne   Annual Ongoing
Tournament Go   Unscheduled Discontinued
Who's Your Pappy    Unscheduled

Notable tournamentsEdit

Tournaments that featured at least one game at a superregional level.

Tournament Date Entrants Supermajor Major Superregional Other
Tournament Go 4 January 19th, 2003 ~90  
Tournament Go 5 August 2nd-3rd, 2003 ~90-110  
Tournament Go 6 August 21st-22nd, 2004 112  
MLG San Francisco 2004 September 11th-12th, 2004 50  
MLG San Francisco 2005 February 26th-27th, 2005 100+  
NorCal Tournament 2 October 28th, 2006 129  
AxisGaming August 30th, 2008 303+  
West Coast Smash League December 20th-21st, 2008 180+    
GENESIS July 10th-12th, 2009 290   
Good Shit German July 24th-25th, 2010 84+    
Don't Go Down There Jeff December 18th-19th, 2010 108  
GENESIS 2 July 15th-17th, 2011 300+      
Rule 6: NorCal Regional July 29th, 2012 92  
NorCal Regionals 2013 April 26th-28th, 2013 73  
The Next Episode March 22nd-23rd, 2014 147  
NorCal Regionals 2014 April 18th-20th, 2014 52+  
Do You Fox Wit It? November 15th-16th, 2014 211+    
NorCal Regionals 2015 April 3rd-5th, 2015 200+     
I'm Not Yelling! April 11th-12th, 2015 372  
HTC Throwdown September 19th, 2015 514  
Oaklands Very Own January 2nd, 2016 100  
FinalBOSS January 9th-10th, 2016 174  
GENESIS 3 January 15th-17th, 2016 3,592    
SSS: Blood For Blood October 15th, 2016 502  
Norcal Validated January 14th, 2017 183  
Cashed Out January 21st, 2017 28  
GENESIS 4 January 20th-22nd, 2017 3,575    
GENESIS: RED July 9th, 2017 279  
Who's Your Pappy 10 October 22nd, 2017 191  
Fair and Balanced November 18th, 2017 98  
GENESIS 5 January 19th-21st, 2018 2,031    
Noods Noods Noods: Oakland Edition April 7th, 2018 343   
Super Smash Sundays 64 - The Return April 29th, 2018 149  
Wombo Combo: 10 Year Anniversary December 8th, 2018 220  
Neon Genesix Evangelion February 1st, 2019 32  
GENESIS 6 February 1st-3rd, 2019 2,775    
GENESIS 7 January 24th-26th, 2020 2,639     
GENESIS 8 April 15th-17th, 2022 3,464     
GENESIS 9 January 20th-22nd, 2023 2,407     
GENESIS: BLACK at Guildhouse December 2nd-3rd, 2023 316    
Watch The Throne December 8th-10th, 2023 16  
GENESIS X February 16th-18th, 2024 3,021       
The Throne II November 8th-10th, 2024 16  

Largest singles eventsEdit

Rank Tournament Date Game Attendance Winner Character(s)
1 GENESIS 6 February 1st-3rd, 2019   2,105   MkLeo   
2 GENESIS 8 April 15th-17th, 2022   1,959   MkLeo   
3 GENESIS 3 January 15th-17th, 2016   1,828   Armada   
4 GENESIS 4 January 20th-22nd, 2017   1,704   Armada  
5 GENESIS 7 January 24th-26th, 2020   1,699   Marss  
6 GENESIS 8 April 15th-17th, 2022   1,552   Zain  
7 GENESIS X February 16th-18th, 2024   1,544   Cody Schwab  
8 GENESIS X February 16th-18th, 2024   1,506   Zomba  
9 GENESIS 5 January 19th-21st, 2018   1,365   Plup   
10 GENESIS 9 January 20th-22nd, 2023   1,253   Jmook  

See alsoEdit