SmashBoards
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SmashBoards, also formerly known as Smash World Forums (or SWF for short), is a world famous video-game forum, generally used to discuss strategies, as well as find and host tournaments, for the Super Smash Bros. series. The website has over 240,000 members, making it the most popular Super Smash Bros. forum on the internet. In September 2008, Major League Gaming acquired SmashBoards.com.[1] On November 27, 2012, Major League Gaming then sold the website to AlphaZealot's company Xyelot LLC.[2]
Group Memberships
On SmashBoards, there are various group memberships that can be joined once certain criteria has been met. Each membership has their own special traits and username colors. In total there are currently 12 groups but there may be new groups added in the future. To join a group, one must meet the criteria for that group and then join it by clicking on Group Memberships in their User Control Panel (User CP). The various groups are as follows:
Unsubscribed
Different ranks are given to unsubscribed SmashBoards members depending on how many posts were made by the member. They serve no purpose other than to show who has contributed their thoughts to the site more.
- Smash Rookie (0-24 posts)
- Smash Cadet (25-74 posts)
- Smash Apprentice (75-199 posts)
- Smash Journeyman (200-499 posts)
- Smash Ace (500-999 posts)
- Smash Lord (1000-1999 posts)
- Smash Champion (2000-2999 posts)
- Smash Master (3000-4999 posts)
- Smash Hero (5000-9999 posts)
- Smash Legend (10000-19999 posts)
- Smash Obsessed (20000+ posts)
Debaters
The Debaters have posting rights in the Debate Hall, a forum where members can go to debate various subjects to their heart's content. Their username color is pink but it was cyan temporarily. To become a Smash Debater, users must register as a Temporary debater. This will get them access to the proving grounds. The proving grounds are basically a smaller version of the debate hall to test who is ready for the debate hall. If a user passes, he or she is accepted into the debate hall.
Tournament Directors
Tournament Directors have posting rights on the Calendar. There they can advertise any tournaments they may be holding. Their username color is dark blue. To become a Tournament Director, a user must sign up in group memberships with a link to a tourney he or she has hosted or is hosting.
BRoomers
BRoomer is short for Back Roomer. BRoomers have access to a secret forum called the Back Room. Their username color is green and they have a Grimer icon below their name.
Brawl Backroomers
Like the BRoomers, they have their own secret forum but it is dedicated solely to the Super Smash Bros franchise and, in particular, Super Smash Bros Brawl. Every once in a while, M3D creates an admissions thread in the Melee Discussion Room. To get in, a user should be a tournament host, an excellent smasher, and have made notable contributions to the community of Smash. If M3D approves of the user's resume, then he or she will be granted access. Their username color is purple.
Melee Backroomers
These members are part of the Melee Backroom.
64 Backroomers
These members are part of the Smash 64 Backroom.
Workshop BRoom
The Workshop Back Roomers dedicate their time to modifying Brawl. Their work ranges from texture hacks, character making, and editing the game engine itself. They have their own subforum in General Brawl Discussion where users can find discussion on what is being done and downloading code sets for them to use. The leaders are Yeroc and Almas.
Writers
These members do not receive any rights other than bragging rights. It recognizes said member as a writer. To obtain the title of Smash Writer, a user submits an entry to one of the Write With Your Power Contests and if the user reaches 3rd place or higher, he or she will receive it. Their username color is gold and they have a quill icon below their name. A user may also obtain this title by contributing some sort of writing service to the Smash community, such as writing for Show Me Your News.
Premium Members
If a user purchases a Premium membership ranging from 1 month to 1 year, he or she will instantly gain certain powers and privileges not granted to regular members. They have the ability to upload larger avatars, create their own custom titles, gain access to the Disco Room (a sub-forum exclusive to users who have purchased a Premium membership), etc. They do not have a user title specific to their group, but they do have a blue ribbon featuring the word "Premium" below their username. By using a Premium membership, a user can "prank" regular members. Once a member is pranked, their username color changes to magenta, and they get the custom user title of "Pranked!" for a month.
Moderators
This group is unavailable to join in Group Memberships. Instead, they are hand selected to join. They have powers in the rooms they are assigned to. Among these powers are the abilities to edit, close, and move threads. They also gain almost immediate access to the Staffer Shack. Their username color is red.
Super Moderators
They are the same as moderators in their powers but they are not assigned to a particular room. Instead, they have powers in all rooms. Their username color is same as moderators, except slightly darker.
Senators
Refers to a super moderator with access to the Smash Senate. In the Senate, administrators and senators discuss major issues about the forums.
Administrators
The highest level members on the boards. They have access to all rooms and they also have an Admin Control panel along with a Moderator Control panel. They decide all of the boards' major projects or changes, moderate all rooms, and edit and change designs or codings. Their username color is dark grey and in italics.
Itty Bitty Welcoming Committee
The newest usergroup. Members, like moderators, are hand-selected to join. They are in charge of the information center. They have all the powers of moderators, sans the ability to give infractions. Their username color is pale yellow.
Smash Researchers
Smash Researchers have cyan names. These members have access to the Smash Lab, a sub-forum in Competitive Brawl Discussion. Other members cannot see the Smash Lab. The Researchers are responsible for finding and naming new advanced techniques, general study into the game's mechanics, and a variety of other research. The moderator in charge of the Smash Lab and all admissions is currently DeLux.
Smash Developers
Smash Developers have purple names. They have access to the Workshop Developers Corner and are generally the most experienced users when it comes to hacking and modding Brawl.
Pokémon Researchers
Located in the Pokémon Center. They have posting rights in the Pokémon Research subforum, a room focused on movesets of Pokémon in the competitive scene. Other members are allowed to view the room to gain information on good movesets for different purpose Pokémon. Each Pokémon is given 3+ movesets for different purposes.
Unity Ruleset Committee Members
These users are members of the Unity Ruleset Committee. They have a bracket icon under their names.
Tournaments
The depth of this game has led to the development of a large, devoted tournament community. SmashBoards slowly grew into the home for these competitive players. In 2002 and 2003, the first tournaments began appearing on SmashBoards. Many of these tournaments were held in a member's basement, and open invitations were placed on the website. Early on, some people would drive 5–6 hours to get to a location where there might only be 10 players.
The scene began to transform with the arrival of the Tournament Go (TG) series of tournaments, hosted by a moderator with the handle of Matt Deezie. At the time, Matt Deezie had been placing very high in California tournaments, and also placed in the Top 3 at the IGVF Seattle Smash national tournament. He invited anyone who would attend to come out to California, and he both rented out the building for the tournament out of his own pocket and allowed everyone who came to stay at his personal residence. The series quickly grew, and soon, one of the top 2 smashers in the Midwest, Eddie, traveled from Chicago to California for it, setting the precedent for the TG series as the unofficial national championships of Super Smash Bros. Melee.
The TG series had six incarnations, the last being in the summer of 2004. In addition to Midwest players such as Eddie, TG tournaments attracted players from the East Coast such as members of H2yl and DA. The TG series has contributed much to the development of the nationwide community. The community has grown from perhaps 100 traveling members to over 1500. The end of this tournament series was not the end of competitive Smash by far, though.
In the same summer as TG6, the Ship of Fools, a crew located in Mishawaka, Indiana, hosted MELEE-FC - Misunderstood Enthusiasts Living an Extraordinary Existence, For Cash. Though the name was humorous in nature, the tournament was promoted heavily due to the fact that TG5 was supposed to be the last of the series. Even the late announcement of TG6 did not prevent this tournament from being the largest to date. Its central location and hospitable environment attracted players from all over the country. Around the same time, Major League Gaming added Smash to its tournament line-up, offering thousands of dollars in prize money.
The first and second MLG seasons have concluded successfully, with Ken, generally acknowledged as the best player in the world, winning both titles, over notable players such as Isai, ChuDat, PC Chris, Azen, Chillin, and even over Captain Jack from Japan. The second FC, hosted in July 2005, was the among the largest tournaments to date, with 186 entrants for singles. It also was the site for the first Regional Crew Battle, when the East Coast, West Coast, South, and Midwest brought some of their top players and competed. Even with Ken (winner of FC's singles tournament) on the West Coast team, the East Coast managed to squeak by their rivals in the crew battles, beating the West Coast by 5 stock and winning the first Regional Crew Battle. This tournament has recently been surpassed by its most recent incarnation FC6 which had 205 entrants for singles.
Zero Challenge 2 is the second big tournament of 2006 that followed FC6. It had almost two hundred entrants, and prominent Japanese players traveled in for the first time in numbers. MELEE-FC6 was held in the same summer, and had 205 entrants for singles, the current record for any independent tournament.
MLG discontinued Smash from the pro tour, but corporately sponsored Smash tournaments continue to exist. The independent scene also thrives, with many regions hosting monthly tournaments, and the next incarnation of MELEE-FC on the horizon.
April Fools' Day gags
In 2015, SmashBoards became ShaqBoards, which made everyone's profile picture into images of Shaquille O'Neal while character mains became emoticons of Shaq. Tier Lists for the game Shaq Fu were posted as well as a guaranteed Luigi misfire tech being discovered. [3]
In 2016, SmashBoards would become EmblemBoards as an inside joke to the huge amount of Fire Emblem characters present in the Super Smash Bros. series. It made everyone's picture into images of characters from the Fire Emblem franchise as well as turning character mains into emoticons of characters from said franchise. Users notably tiered waifus and husbandos during this day. [4]
In 2017, SmashBoards became KnucklesBoards as an inside joke to Knuckles the Echidna, who was a finished character ready for the Super Smash Bros. Brawl mod Project M before he was scrapped due to legal issues. Each user had their picture changed into artwork of Knuckles from various Sonic the Hedgehog games while character mains became an emoticon of Knuckles. Tier lists were notably based on Knuckles' appearances in Sonic the Fighters and Sonic Battle.[5]
Trivia
- Players first discovered and discussed wavedashing on Smashboards. Its use as a technique was widely attributed to a SmashBoards user named Toadbanjoconker, who posted a video of him performing it back in April 3, 2002.
- During December 2005, Grimer icons started to appear on people's avatars and signatures.
- To turn his website into a business, the owner of the forums, Gideon, started to sell "Premium Memberships", in which members would pay to get special avatars and custom titles. The highest price (Diamond Membership) even got members into the Back Room at one time.
Offshoots
- In 2006, Smashboards launched Smashbrawl.com, which served as a blog for information on Super Smash Bros. Brawl. However, the site was shut down.
- On April 23, 2015, a sister site, named Squidboards, launched, serving as a SmashBoards-style forum for the Splatoon community.
Gallery
Former logo
The previous mobile version of Smashboards
The 2011-2012 version of Smashboards
The 2005-2011 version of Smashboards
The 2002-2005 version of Smashboards
The 2001-2002 version of Smashboards
