Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest (often acronymized to PNW) is a Smash region in the United States. The PNW generally refers to the states of Oregon, Washington (which is typically further split into Eastern Washington and Western Washington due to the difficulty of travelling across the state) and the province of British Columbia (BC). Additional regions like Alberta, Idaho and Montana may occasionally be grouped in, but in most cases the region is exclusively the coastal states and provinces.

The Pacific Northwest harbors one of the most active Super Smash Bros. Ultimate scenes in the United States, as well as one of the most active P+ scenes. The scene is most populous in Western Washington. Historically, the region has struggled to obtain mainstream relevancy on the same level as other regions due to a number of factors, from geographic isolation to other regions scheduling larger events over the PNW's own, but has been gaining traction since 2021 and is currently the North American region with the most LumiRank tournaments. Very strong players for all Smash games have come out of the region, including, , , , , , , and.

The Pacific Northwest has also received a significant amount of direct support and events from Nintendo, as the Nintendo of America headquarters is located in. Examples include attending the annual conventions Emerald City Comic Con and 's PAX West with dedicated booths. While not officially affiliated, PAX also has its PAX Arena tournament, which usually features at least one Smash game. Seattle, Washington was also chosen as the location for Nintendo Live 2023, which featured two Smash tournaments. Nintendo also has a traveling booth that they fill with games and events and bring to local festivals like Seafair and the Seattle Street Food Festival. More minor examples include Nintendo sponsoring technology based institutes like Digipen Institute of Technology, but direct support of local competitive tournaments has remained sparse.

Globally ranked players
These Pacific Northwest players were ranked on the SSBMRank 2022: These Pacific Northwest players have been ranked globally in the past; their highest placement is listed:
 * (Washington): 33rd on the 2014 SSBMRank.
 * (British Columbia): 67th on the 2013 SSBMRank.
 * (Washington): Originally from Mexico. Honorable mention on the 2019 MPGR.
 * (Oregon): 74th on the 2013 SSBMRank.
 * (Washington): 93rd on the 2017 SSBMRank.
 * (Washington): Considered one of the greatest Luigi players of all time. 9th on the RetroSSBMRank 2008.
 * (Washington): 8th on the RetroSSBMRank 2004.
 * (Washington): 11th on the 2015 SSBMRank.
 * (British Columbia): 85th on the 2013 SSBMRank.
 * (Washington): Notable commentator. 84th on the 2013 SSBMRank.

Other notable players

 * (British Columbia)
 * (Washington)
 * (British Columbia)
 * (British Columbia)
 * (British Columbia)
 * (British Columbia)
 * (Washington)

Globally ranked players
These Pacific Northwest players were ranked on 's PGR 100: These Pacific Northwest players have been ranked globally in the past; their highest placement is listed:
 * (Washington): The best player in Washington throughout the first few years of the game and was ranked #2 on the WA All-Time PR. Ranked 46th on the PGR v1.

Other notable players

 * (British Columbia): The best player in British Columbia.
 * (Washington): The best Meta Knight in the PNW. Finished at #1 in WWA's final PR.

2018-2019
As expected, the Ultimate scene was initially comprised of many Smash 4 veterans, as well as dozens of new players. The Pacific Northwest was one of the first battlegrounds for an Ultimate major, as was held only a week after the game's release. would be the highest-placing Pacific Northwest player at 3rd, with, , and joining him in Top 8.

The Pacific Northwest continued a largely quiet existence separated from the rest of the national scene, with occasional trips to majors made by the scene's most prominent players at the time, namely, , and , all of which would eventually earn a PGRU spot. and were the largest events held in the northwest since DPG, reaching over 400 entrants each. 2019 also saw an anticpated rise from those who joined the scene after the release of Ultimate, including and.

2020
With the Smash World Tour marking as a Gold-tier event and Emerald City 9 looking to pull more national talent from out of region including the likes of  and, the Pacific Northwest was projected to have a greater spotlight on it compared to previous years. However, the COVID-19 Pandemic quickly halted any offline activity on the global scale, forcing Emerald City 9 to cancel only a few days before the event, and relegating all Smash competition to online events.

The Pacific Northwest was unique among other regions participating in the WiFi-era, the biggest difference being that players largely participated in tournaments region-locked to the PNW region rather than nationwide events like, or , causing the scene to become more isolated than ever. Additionally, numerous power-ranked players rarely or entirely refused to participate in wifi tournaments, opening the door for quickly improving players like, and  to gain lots of tournament experience over quarantine.

2021
The first half of 2021 largely continued on the same path as 2020 had ended. The initial seeding for the came under scrutiny for the local playerbase as the seeding team weren't aware of the PNW's habit of only participating in region-locked wifi events, leading to questionable seeding. With the help of local wifi TOs including, this problem was quickly resolved, and the tournament is noteworthy for being among the least upset-prone major Ultimate events ever.

Local tournaments began to resurface around the summer. Within only a few tournaments, players dedicated to online play began to perform exceptionally well, with JDV winning the first Western Washington tournament back, Ouch winning & dominating the British Columbian scene, and  securing the #1 spot in Oregon.

Due to US/Canada land border complications, Canadian participation in American tournaments has plummeted dramatically - and vice versa, with the only player regularly crossing the border being. This also led to numerous BC players being unable to attend, the Pacific Northwest's first truly undisputed major for Ultimate with over 600 entrants.

2022
2022 saw more activity, both in tournaments and in player performance. After travel restrictions loosened for Canada, would emerge from  as a top level threat, following it up with a top 8 finish at  and 3rd at. Ouch!? broke out at 3rd place during, defeating several top players and remaining a consistent threat at majors. From Oregon, would place 5th at  and become Oregon's best player. placed Top 8 at, becoming Washington and the Pacific Northwest's first player to do so at the tournament series since Port Priority 4.

Western Washington experienced multiple shifts near the end of 2022, including several high level players moving or having extended leaves. and would travel to Japan and Europe respectively for several months, while  and  would move for school. In the power vacuum, would emerge as Seattle's best player.

2023
2023 started off strong, with 6 players placing in the top 64 of and 6 more finishing at 65th.

emerged as one of 2023's strongest and most important Ultimate tournaments, named a P-tier by LumiRank. and reached major and supermajor status, respectively, giving all three primary regions a major in the same year.

Globally ranked players
These Pacific Northwest players were ranked on the UltRank 2022 and/or the OrionRank 2022. These Pacific Northwest players have been ranked globally in the past; their highest placement is listed:
 * (British Columbia): 50th on the Spring 2019 PGRU.
 * (Washington): 33rd on the Fall 2019 PGRU. Currently resides in Georgia.

Other notable players

 * (Washington): Eastern Washington's best player.
 * (Washington): One of the best Robin players in the United States.
 * (Oregon): the best R.O.B. player in the PNW and Oregon's #1 player for most of 2021.
 * (Oregon): The best Kirby in the United States.
 * (Washington): One of the best Toon Link players in the United States.
 * (Washington): One of the best Donkey Kong players in the United States prior to his retirement.
 * (British Columbia), the best Joker player in Canada.
 * (Washington): the best Mario player in the PNW.
 * (Washington): One of the best Incineroar players in the United States.
 * (Washington): Regularly stayed within the top 3 of Western Washington power rankings with an army of characters.

Globally ranked players
These Pacific Northwest players were ranked on the PMRank 2022. These Pacific Northwest players have been ranked globally in the past; their highest placement is listed:
 * (Washington): 28th on the PMRank 2018.
 * (Washington): 29th on the PMRank 2017.

Instances of overlapping major events with other regions/organizations
Pacific Northwest events have been prone to being scheduled over by other larger organizations or events, often splitting or crushing viewership for the affected PNW events.