SmashBoards

Smash World Forums, also known as SmashBoards and SWF, is a world famous video-game forum, generally used to discruss stratagies, as well as find and host tournaments, for the video game Super Smash Bros. Melee. The website has over 45,000 members, making it the most popular SSBM forum on the internet.

Tournaments

The depth of this game has led to the development of a large, devoted tournament community. Smash World Forums, or 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 "MattDeezie." At the time, MattDeezie 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 (MLG) 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 Hoang, generally acknowledged as the best player in the world, winning both titles, over notable players such as Isai, Chu Dat, PC Chris, Azen, ChillinDude829 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 195 entrants for singles.

Zero Challenge 2, 0C2, is the second big tournament of 2006 following FC6, it is expected to have double the amount of visitors of its predecesor 0C with over 220 comfirmed entrants. This tournament will have singles, doubles, and regional crew battles with a high possibility of a japanese crew.

MLG continues to run corporately sponsored Smash tournaments, with USA Network carrying their events this coming season.[3] It was confirmed at MLG NY 2006, that SSBM will be aired. The independent scene also thrives, with many regions hosting monthly tournaments, and the next incarnation of MELEE-FC on the horizon.

Techniques

Smashboards is also the area where the SSBM technique, known as Wave Dashing, was first discovered, and is now one of the main arsenals of those who compete. Wave Dashing is a sort of glitch, in which the player's character seems to "glide" across the terrain. The website is also known as the birth place of many other advanced techniques.

Wave Dashing

Wave Dashing is where the player jumps and uses an ariel dodge, while pointing the joystick diagonly in the direction the player wants to go. If done successfully, the player can constantly use this to glide across the screen incredibly fast. Each of the 26 characters used in the video game has their own timing for Wave Dashing, making it an advanced technique. This was originally found by a smashboard member named Toadbanjoconker, who posted a video of him performing it back in April 3, 2002

Trivia

• SmashBoards hosts a secret room known as the Back Room, normally shorten to the BRoom. Very few members are admitted into this secret room, and it has grown into a sort of cult in the minds of those not admitted.
• During December 2005, Grimer started to appear on people's avatars and signatures. The Grimer plague spread, and soon a token resistance was started. But the Grimer's overcame all who opposed them, before eventually leaving on their own terms. Since then, Grimer has been considered a minor diety.
• To help with the bandwith cost, the owner of the forums, Gideon, started to sell "Premium Memberships", in which you would pay to get special avatars and custom titles. The highest price (Diamond Membership) even got you into the Back Room at one time.

Offshoots

• In 2006, Smashboards launched Smashbrawl.com, which serves as a blog for information on Super Smash Bros. Brawl