Crew battle

This article or section may require a cleanup. The editor who added this tag believes this page should be cleaned up for the following reason: Needs more information and a clearer breakdown of how it works, regional differences, etc. You can discuss this issue on the talk page or edit this page to improve it.

Hello stupid user. I'm so sorry but I have to interrupt your work. Cause I hate this crappy website. Click Random Page to continue.

History

The Smashboards crew battle is a variant of "team" battles found in many Japanese 2D fighting games. Traditionally, each player will select 3-5 characters to play, and they must play through the other player's line-up before they lose all of their own characters. KishSquared, a member of the crew "Ship of Fools", located in South Bend, Indiana, decided to try to apply these mechanics found in other fighting games to Melee.

One of the first crew battles in the United States actually followed this format very closely, and it did not track stocks between matches. It occurred in August, 2003 at the "Midwest Challenge", held by the Ship of Fools, between the Ship and a crew consisting of Eddie (BigGMan) and 4 Ohio players. The Ship of Fools' Ignatius proceeded to defeat four members of the opposing crew, helped greatly by the fact that he regained all his stocks between matches. Finally, Eddie went in and proceeded to defeat each member of the Ship - and regained all of his stocks between matches - before losing to KishSquared.

The flaws of the original crew battle were obvious - whoever won the match of "best vs best" would win the entire crew battle, regardless of the skill levels of the other players. The best player on each crew would sweep through the rest without taking any damage. KishSquared offered a new suggestion: tracking stocks between sets and having one player jump off the stage as needed before the match began, which was soon implemented.

Crew battles did not gain much popularity until July of 2004, when the first national crew battle was held at MELEE-FC. Ken and Isai formed a crew and outplayed the other seven crews, laying a seed for the following year.

MELEE-FC3 is perhaps best known for the regional crew battle that was held. The entrants included the West Coast, the East Coast, the South, and the Midwest. The major players were the East and West Coasts, who used this opportunity to settle a rivalry that had existed for years. Wes and Ken were the organizers of this event, and KishPrime set some new rules for counterpicks and character selections.

The FC3 regional crew battle set the precedent for nearly every crew battle that followed, and those rules are still used today. The rules were largely designed by the Ship of Fools with minor influences from other parties.

Today, crew battles are still commonly held at large tournaments, though they are now considered more of a side event instead of serious competition.

In Japan

Japanese tournaments follow similar rules, though crews are usually limited to three members. Another difference is that crew battles are still considered a tournament format, with some tournaments consisting of only a single-elimination crews bracket.