New England
New England is a Smash region located in the Northeastern United States. It corresponds to the general definition of the New England states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Southwestern Connecticut, primarily Fairfield County, also overlaps with the Tristate Area due to being part of the New York City metropolitan area. Within New England, the largest tournament activity can be found in the Boston metropolitan area, although tournament activity exists throughout the region.
Though considered a weaker region compared to the neighboring Tristate region, New England has been home to an active Smash scene since Melee's early years; its earliest-known player was KoreanDJ, one of the best players in the world during the pre-Brawl era, and there were several other notable Smashers during this time that hailed from the region, including Cort and Darc. The scene grew larger during the 2010s, when the region became known for hosting one of the biggest college and university Smash scenes in the country, due to its large student population. New England was the birthplace of The Melee Games and other college Smash events, thanks to the work of dedicated TOs such as MattDotZeb. Their growth culminated in the rise of the Shine series, which was often considered the final major Smash event of the summer. Their rise and the Shine series gave New England a greater presence in the national scene, which only served to improve as the region's two best Smash 4 players, Marss and Light, became one of the greatest players in Ultimate's early metagame.
Following the arrival of the 2020s, however, New England's presence in the more prominent Smash titles shrank, due to the decline of the Shine series leading to its conclusion in 2023 and the region's best players either becoming inactive or having weaker results, with very few newer players making as big of an impact as the veterans. The former left the region without a consistent major tournament series — Ultimate especially did not have a single major tournament in New England during the post-pandemic metagame. Conversely, the Brawl and Project+ scenes remain sizeable, the former due to the metagame's best players originating from New England, such as Cody and Mikeray4, and the latter due to the Blacklisted tournament series being one of the few remaining major Project+ tournament series.
Smashers[edit]
- See also: Category:Connecticut smashers; Category:Maine smashers; Category:Massachusetts smashers; Category:New Hampshire smashers; Category:Rhode Island smashers; Category:Vermont smashers
The following players are currently or were previously ranked. Their highest placement is listed.
Globally ranked players[edit]
| Tag | Character(s) | Best placement | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Also known as Sabre. | |||
| Originally from New York. | |||
| Also known as Koolaid. | |||
| Currently banned. | |||
| Also known as Kumatora. | |||
Nationally ranked players[edit]
| Tag | Character(s) | Best placement | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Currently banned. |
Tournaments[edit]
- See also: Category:Connecticut tournaments; Category:Maine tournaments; Category:Massachusetts tournaments; Category:New Hampshire tournaments; Category:Rhode Island tournaments; Category:Vermont tournaments
Notable tournament series[edit]
Tournament series that have achieved recognition outside their local region.
| Tournament | Games | Type | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blacklisted (Massachusetts) | Annual | Ongoing | |
| CT Gamercon (Connecticut) | Annual | Ongoing | |
| GUMS (Massachusetts) | Monthly | Discontinued | |
| HoG (Connecticut) | Weekly/Annual | Ongoing | |
| Overclocked (Massachusetts) | Unscheduled | Discontinued | |
| Push the Limit (Massachusetts) | Monthly | Ongoing | |
| Return to Subspace (Massachusetts) | Annual | Discontinued | |
| Shine (Massachusetts) | Annual | Discontinued | |
| SYNTHESIS (Connecticut) | Weekly | Discontinued |
Notable tournaments[edit]
Tournaments that featured at least one game at a superregional level.
| Tournament | Date | Supermajor | Major | Superregional | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cataclysm 3 (Massachusetts) | March 3rd-4th, 2007 | — | — | — | |
| Viva La Smashtaclysm (Connecticut) | November 10th-11th, 2007 | — | — | — | |
| S.N.E.S. (Massachusetts) | August 21st-23rd, 2009 | — | |||
| GUTS 3 (Connecticut) | September 19th-21st, 2014 | — | — | ||
| Blacklisted (Massachusetts) | August 15th-16th, 2015 | — | — | — | |
| Blacklisted 2 (Massachusetts) | May 21st-22nd, 2016 | — | — | — | |
| Shine 2016 (Massachusetts) | August 26th-28th, 2016 | — | — | ||
| PAX Arena at PAX East 2017 (Massachusetts) | March 12th, 2017 | — | — | — | |
| Blacklisted 3 (Massachusetts) | July 1st-2nd, 2017 | — | — | — | |
| Shine 2017 (Massachusetts) | August 25th-27th, 2017 | — | — | ||
| Return to Subspace (Massachusetts) | February 3rd, 2018 | — | — | — | |
| Shine 2018 (Massachusetts) | August 24th-26th, 2018 | — | — | — | |
| Blacklisted 4 (Massachusetts) | October 27th-28th, 2018 | — | — | — | |
| Return to Subspace 2 (Massachusetts) | March 9th, 2019 | — | — | ||
| Blacklisted 5 (Massachusetts) | June 22nd-23rd, 2019 | — | — | — | |
| Shine 2019 (Massachusetts) | August 23rd-25th, 2019 | — | |||
| Return to Subspace 3 - A New Era (Massachusetts) | March 7th-8th, 2020 | — | — | ||
| Blacklisted 6 (Massachusetts) | November 6th-7th, 2021 | — | — | — | |
| The Project M Theatre (Connecticut) | March 26th-27th, 2022 | — | — | — | |
| Shine 2022 (Massachusetts) | August 26th-28th, 2022 | — | — | ||
| Blacklisted 7 (Massachusetts) | November 5th-6th, 2022 | — | — | — | |
| Shine 2023 (Massachusetts) | August 25th-27th, 2023 | — | — | ||
| Blacklisted 8 (Massachusetts) | October 28th-29th, 2023 | — | — | — | |
| Wavelength 2024 (Massachusetts) | October 5th-6th, 2024 | — | |||
| CT Gamercon 2025 (Connecticut) | March 15th-16th, 2025 | — | — | ||
| Monarch (Connecticut) | June 20th-22nd, 2025 | — | — | — | |
| VacationLAN 2025 (Maine) | November 1st-2nd, 2025 | — | — |
Largest singles events[edit]
| Rank | Tournament | Date | Game | Attendance | Winner | Character(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shine 2017 | August 25th-27th, 2017 | 1,156 | |||
| 2 | Shine 2016 | August 26th-28th, 2016 | 989 | |||
| 3 | Shine 2018 | August 24th-26th, 2018 | 904 | |||
| 4 | Shine 2019 | August 23rd-25th, 2019 | 882 | |||
| 5 | Shine 2023 | August 25th-27th, 2023 | 683 | |||
| 6 | Shine 2019 | August 23rd-25th, 2019 | 661 | |||
| 7 | Shine 2017 | August 25th-27th, 2017 | 659 | |||
| 8 | Shine 2016 | August 26th-28th, 2016 | 483 | |||
| 9 | Shine 2022 | August 26th-28th, 2022 | 475 | |||
| 10 | Shine 2018 | August 24th-26th, 2018 | 472 |
See also[edit]
- New England Power Rankings
- Connecticut Power Rankings
- Maine Power Rankings
- Massachusetts Power Rankings
- New Hampshire Power Rankings
- Rhode Island Power Rankings
- Vermont Power Rankings
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