Smasher:ZeRo



ZeRo is a former smasher from Chillán, Chile who currently resides in Florida.

In Smash 4, ZeRo is widely considered to be the best player of all time, being a dominant player up until his retirement from the game in January 2018. With a combination of Diddy Kong and Sheik, he had a record of 56 consecutive tournament wins from the game's release on Wii U in November 2014 until in October 2015, including nationals such as, , , , and. This is the longest such streak of any player in any Super Smash Bros. game. He was also considered the best player in the world, the best  player in the world when he actively used her, and was considered the best  player in the world until summer 2016, when he relegated the character to a secondary in light of her nerfs. He also had strong and  secondaries, with his Captain Falcon often considered to be among the best in the world. ZeRo is ranked 1st on the Panda Global Rankings 100, and was formerly ranked at the 0 position on both the Chicago Smash 4 Power Rankings and SoCal Smash 4 Power Rankings and 1st on the New Jersey Smash 4 Power Rankings.

ZeRo also saw great success in other Smash games. He dominated the Chilean Brawl scene with his and  and rose to fame in the United States as a top player on All is Brawl. Due to consistently great tournament results such as 2nd at and 1st at  and, he was considered to be one of the best players in the world in 2013 and 2014, and was ranked 3rd on the 2014 SSBBRank. In Melee, ZeRo mained and played from 2007 to 2010, and again starting in 2014 after focusing on Brawl in between. After qualifying for and placing 17th at both  and, he was ranked 35th on the 2014 SSBMRank. He was also considered to be the best Project M player in the world during the 3.02 era in 2014, winning CEO 2014,, , and with a combination of  and. In Ultimate, ZeRo did not have a set main but mostly used in tournaments. He was also a notable commentator prior to his retirement as he has commentated at tournaments such as, , and.

Due to his top professional success in multiple Smash games, ZeRo is widely considered to be one of the best overall Smash players of all time, along with, , , and.

On January 12th, 2018, ZeRo announced an indefinite hiatus from competitive Smash 4, citing disillusionment with the game and personal reasons. He since showed a renewed interest in Melee, and was active on Netplay on Anther's Ladder for some time. He also occasionally commentated for Smash 4, doing so at and  after his retirement. In addition, he regularly streamed Ultimate, Melee, and various other games on his Twitch channel and later Facebook Gaming after signing a deal with them in December 2019. ZeRo would return to competitive play for Ultimate at the end of 2018, where he replaced his sponsor TSM with Tempo Storm, but would once again go into hiatus after, instead gravitating towards content creation and streaming. ZeRo would still make appearances at some tournaments for side events and commentary and participated in a few online tournaments during the COVID-19 pandemic, but would never return full-time.

Following accusations of sexual misconduct involving minors in July 2020, ZeRo would be banned from the Smash community and dropped by Tempo Storm.

2006: Early Beginnings
ZeRo has played Smash since the release of Smash 64 in 1999 when he was 4 years old and has had "ZeRo" as his gamertag since 2005. In early 2005, he would attend his first Smash event in Santiago, Chile, but did not compete due to nerves. He began playing competitively in 2006 with Melee. He recalls his first major victory as taking place around 2007 or 2008, when he competed in a league system at a local Akiba Game Store, then proceeded to win the top 32 single-elimination tournament.

2012-2014: International Debut in Brawl
Toward the end of 2012, ZeRo traveled to the United States and remained in the country for several months to compete in national and international Brawl tournaments. His first international tournament was Apex 2012, where he placed 17th in singles and 9th in doubles, teaming with.

His breakout tournament was XSmash in December 2012, where he would shock the world by defeating top professionals such as, , and to claim 1st place in Brawl Singles. He would continue to have strong performances in the following months, placing 9th at Apex 2013, 1st at Rescue 2 after defeating in grands with a bracket reset, and 1st at Outrage after defeating  and. His results led to a rank of 2nd on the March 2013 Tristate Brawl Power Rankings before returning to Chile.

He would continue to travel to the US throughout 2013 and 2014 to participate in national tournaments, consistently placing within top 5 in nationals, and placing 1st or 2nd in smaller tournaments. These strong results qualified him for MLG Anaheim 2014, where he placed 17th. SSBBRank 2014 would rank ZeRo as the 3rd best Brawl player known to the scene in the United States.

ZeRo was signed by CLASH Tournaments in June 2014, but would leave the org five months later.

In December 2013, he also began to enter Melee and Project M events at the tournaments he attended. He was consistently top 24 at Melee in national tournaments. His Project M results would rise to consistently placing 1st in national tournaments in 2014.

ZeRo was also the winner of the promotional tournament held by Nintendo at E3 2014, playing as  against Hungrybox as  in grand finals.

2015-Early 2016: Breaking Records: 56-Streak and Undisputed Smash 4 Dominance
ZeRo was widely considered to be the best Smash 4 player in the world, soon starting a streak of winning every single Smash 4 tournament that he entered. He was so dominant that Smashboards joking placed a "bounty" on his head at CEO 2015, offering $500 for his defeat or $100 to any Smasher who could take one set off of him; however, once again, he won the tournament without dropping down to losers bracket. A month later at EVO 2015, he took 1st place without losing a game, the first time that had been achieved in Smash history--and he only used his main, Diddy Kong, in grand finals.

Although ZeRo hadn't entered a Melee tournament all through 2015, Armada drafted him for his crew in the FC Smash 15XR: Return crew battle. ZeRo faced and was subsequently three stocked.

On August 1st, 2015, with his tournament win streak at 43, ZeRo was signed on by Team SoloMid.

At The Big House 5, ZeRo suffered a shocking loss in Round 2 Pools against, leading many to believe that the undisputed #1 player would finally be defeated. However, ZeRo would end up easily going through the losers bracket, defeating 2-0,  2-0,  2-0,  3-0,  3-1,  3-0, and  3-1. Finally, he was put up against in losers semifinals, but despite being down 2-1 against 's Mario, he brought it back in a very close set to win 3-2. After 3-0'ing in losers finals, he would go on to face long-time rival. ZeRo would 3-0 in the first set to cause a reset, after  was playing secondaries in an attempt to avoid his ZSS being downloaded. In the second set of grand finals, with playing Zero Suit Samus, ZeRo was down 2-1 to , marking the second time in the tournament that he was just one game away from losing his streak. In the end, ZeRo brought it back once again, defeating 3-2 and completing one of the greatest losers bracket runs in Smash history.

ZeRo's 56-tournament winning streak was finally ended at MLG World Finals 2015, where beat him 3-2 and then 3-1 in grand finals. Nevertheless, he continued to win many SSB4 tournaments in the years that followed.

ZeRo went on a hiatus due to medical issues and could not attend tournaments during the spring of 2016.

2016: Post-Hiatus, Sudden Decline and Slow Resurgence
After initially dropping out of registration, ZeRo competed at Get On My Level 2016, the first tournament he has attended since 2GGT: EE Saga, as Zinoto was unable to attend and vacated his spot for ZeRo. Performing well up until winners quarters, mostly using Diddy Kong over Sheik, Mew2King's Cloud defeated both of his characters in a 3-0 upset. However, ZeRo managed to advance to the loser's side of grand finals, defeating 3-0 to get into top 8 and Mr. R 3-2 in losers eighths. In losers quarters, he fought in a highly anticipated set which he won 3-2. He continued his losers run, defeating Nairo 3-0 in losers semis, and 3-2 in losers finals. In grand finals, ZeRo lost to Ally 2-3, placing 2nd at the tournament with his sixth ever set loss and only second ever tournament loss since his streak ended at MLG World Finals 2015.

The next few tournaments began a streak of losses for ZeRo, placing 2nd at three more tournaments after Get On My Level 2016, usually losing two sets in grand finals. He lost to twice at 2GGT: Mexico Saga (2-3 both sets),  twice at Wednesday Night Fights 2016 2.5 (1-3 and 0-3) and  twice at Smash 'N' Splash 2 (1-3 both sets). Many felt this was indicative of his dominance in the SSB4 scene finally starting to slip.

He ended his short losing streak by defeating twice at Low Tier City 4 3-2 and 3-1 in winners finals and grand finals, respectively.

However, ZeRo ended up on another losing streak throughout the summer. ZeRo placed 9th at CEO 2016 after getting upset by 's Palutena 0-2 in winners semis of his pool and Larry Lurr 0-3 in losers, marking the first time he was eliminated before top 8. At WTFox 2, ZeRo placed 3rd, losing to 2-3 in winners finals and  1-3 in losers finals. At EVO 2016, ZeRo was upset again, this time by. However, this time he managed to make top 8. He proceeded to defeat Larry Lurr, Abadango, and VoiD all 2-0 but lost to 0-3 in losers finals, placing 3rd. However, ZeRo again placed outside of top 8 at Super Smash Con 2016, placing 13th after getting upset by 1-2 in winners and  1-3 in losers.

Endgame would mark the beginning of ZeRo's return to dominance as he took the tournament. Though he lost to Mew2King 2-3 in winners finals, he beat Ally 3-1 in losers finals, marking his first win over him in 2016. He proceeded to defeat Mew2King 3-1 in both sets of grand finals, with a JV-3 stock in the final match. He attended Shine 2016 the following weekend and took the tournament without dropping a set, defeating 3-1 and 3-0 in winners finals and grand finals, respectively.

After winning The Big House 6, only losing to ANTi in winners finals 1-3 but 6-0'd him in grand finals, ZeRo would not attend another tournament until KTAR XIX, which he solidly took. Winners finals pitted him against MkLeo in a rematch from Get On My Level 2016. ZeRo won the set 3-2 then beat Salem 3-1 in grand finals. He then won UGC Smash Open without dropping a single set, defeating Abadango 3-0 and 3-2 in winners finals and grand finals, respectively. ZeRo was then invited to attend Smash City LA, which he again won without dropping a set, defeating Larry Lurr 3-1 and 3-2 in winners finals and grand finals, respectively.

However, his short winning streak ended at, ironically, his namesake tournament: 2GGT: ZeRo Saga, in which he lost to 2-3 in winners quarters and  0-3 in losers semis, placing 4th and perpetuating the 2GGT "saga curse".

Nevertheless, his results were strong enough to still earn him the #1 spot on the PGR v2.



2017: Securing Dominance During His Final Year
ZeRo's first tournament he attended in 2017 was 2GGC: GENESIS Saga. ZeRo solidly took his pools without dropping a single set, defeating and  on the way. He made to top 8 after defeating and, both 3-1 and defeated  in Winner Semis 3-2 in a close set. He then 3-0d in winners finals and took the tournament 3-1 over  in grand finals, also qualifying him for the final 2GG Championships in December.

At GENESIS 4, ZeRo suffered a huge upset in round 2 pools, losing to 's Duck Hunt 1-2. However, ZeRo still managed to make top 32 losers after defeating 2-0. ZeRo went through the losers bracket defeating and  both 3-2,  3-1 and VoiD 3-2 advancing to Top 8. He proceeded to defeat (although it was later discovered that their set had accidentally been played with a launch rate of 0.9) and  3-1 each and  3-0, but narrowly lost to  2-3 in a very close set using Cloud in losers finals, placing 3rd.

ZeRo was invited to PAX Arena at PAX East 2017, and he took the tournament in a dominant fashion, defeating 3-1 in winners finals and Dabuz 3-1 in grand finals.

After a close 2nd place finish at Frame Perfect Series 2, ZeRo went on to attend 2GGC: Civil War, a tournament highlighting his rivalry with Ally. However, perpetuating the "curse", he was upset twice, first by 1-2 in his pool, and then by  2-3 in losers, and placed 49th, his lowest placement in his entire Smash career.

Despite the unprecedented loss, ZeRo would go on a short tournament winning streak, winning KTAR XX (defeating Tweek 3-1 in the second set of grand finals after initially losing the first set 2-3), Midwest Mayhem 8 (defeating 3-1 and 3-0 after initially losing to  2-3 in winners quarters), CEO Dreamland (defeating  3-2), DreamHack Austin 2017 (defeating MkLeo 6-0 after initially losing to Ally 1-3 in winner semis) and Royal Flush (tournament) (defeating Mr. R 3-2 in the second set of grand finals after initially losing the first set 2-3).

After placing 9th at 2GGC: Greninja Saga and 3rd at MomoCon 2017, the latter in which he lost to Nairo in winners finals for the first time since MLG World Finals 2015, ZeRo attended Smash 'N' Splash 3. He made top 8 winner side without dropping a game, defeating and MVD 3-0 each. He then defeated Tweek 3-0 but lost to Ally 0-3 in winners finals. He 3-0d Larry Lurr in loser finals then defeated Ally 3-1 and 3-2 in grand finals to take the tournament (using Diddy Kong instead of Lucina). Carrying this winning momentum, he won 2GGC: Nairo Saga the following weekend, not dropping a game to make top 8. In top 8, he defeated Nairo 3-0 in winners semis, MkLeo 3-2 in winners finals, and Salem 3-2 in grand finals to win the tournament. At CEO 2017, ZeRo made top 8 winners after defeating 3-0. He then defeated 3-2 in winners semis, Larry Lurr 3-0 in winners finals, and MkLeo 3-1 in grand finals to take the tournament.

Following a win at Midwest Mayhem 9, ZeRo would have a temporary fallout, as he placed 2nd at 2GGC: ARMS Saga (losing to 1-3 in winners finals and 0-3 in grand finals despite resetting the bracket 3-2), 2nd at EVO 2017 (losing to  2-3 twice in grand finals), 9th at DreamHack Atlanta 2017 (losing to  2-3 in an upset in winners, then  2-3 in losers), 2nd at Low Tier City 5 (losing to  1-2 in an upset in winners quarters, then  1-3 in grand finals), and 2nd at Super Smash Con 2017 (losing 2-3 twice to Nairo in grand finals). Despite these losses, ZeRo managed to win 2GGC: SCR Saga, defeating 3-0 in winners finals and  3-2 in grand finals. Continuing this success, he defended his title at Shine 2017, defeating 3-1 in winners finals, and  3-1 in grand finals.

ZeRo was invited to PAX Arena at PAX West 2017 and won the tournament in a dominant fashion, winning every set in his round robin pool (only dropping one game to Ally) to be seeded in winners semis of top 8, then defeating Salem 3-2 and Nairo 3-0 in both winners finals and grand finals.

At GameTyrant Expo 2017, ZeRo was upset by 1-2 in his pool, entering top 48 losers side. He went through the bracket, defeating and  3-0 each, then Tweek 3-1,  3-0 and qualified to Top 8 losers after defeating Salem 3-1. ZeRo then defeated Darkshad 3-0 in a runback, 3-1 in losers quarters,  3-0 in losers semis but lost to MkLeo (using Meta Knight) 1-3 in losers finals for the first time since 2GGT: ZeRo Saga, placing 3rd.

At The Big House 7, ZeRo solidly took his pools and made top 32 winners after defeating 2-0. In top 32 he was upset by 0-3 and sent to the losers side. ZeRo however went through the bracket defeating and  both 3-0, then qualified for top 8 losers after narrowly defeating  3-2. He beat Larry Lurr and Salem 3-1 each, but lost to 0-3 in losers semis, placing 4th.

At 2GGC: MkLeo Saga ZeRo solidly took his pools without dropping a single game defeating 2-0 on the way. In Top 32 he was upset by 1-3 and sent to the losers bracket. He went through the losers bracket defeating 3-1 but narrowly lost to  2-3 in a close set placing 13th.

At the 2GG Championship, ZeRo solidly won in his group, defeating Elegant 3-1, Larry Lurr 3-2 and 3-0 to qualify for the championship bracket. In winners quarters, he defeated 3-0 but fell to  0-3 in winners semis. ZeRo however managed to make it out of the losers side, defeating and Dabuz both 3-0 and Salem 3-1 in losers finals. In Grand Finals ZeRo did a bracket reset to MkLeo 3-2 in an extremely close set but lost in the second set 1-3 placing 2nd.

ZeRo was invited to attend Smash 4 Boot Camp where after winning to and  both 2-1, he lost to  0-2 and qualifying to the Top 16 losers. ZeRo however went through the losers bracket defeating Elegant, Tweek both 3-0, 3-2,  3-1 but lost to Salem 0-3 placing 4th.

2018: First Retirement, Smash Invitational 2018, and Return
On January 12, 2018, ZeRo announced via a tweet that he would no longer be competing in Smash 4 tournaments, in order to focus on other life goals. In said tweet, ZeRo said he would return to competitive Smash when a new trend surfaces on the Smash scene. After his retirement, ZeRo commentated for the Top 8's of Midwest Mayhem 11 and Smash 'N' Splash 4. On April 14, he released an update video addressing his satisfaction with his retirement, and said his days as a full-time competitor were very unlikely to be revived, even with the new Smash game being announced the month prior. He did, however, express interest in creating content with the new title, including tutorials and stream highlights.

On May 9, 2018, ZeRo was revealed to be one of the players invited to Nintendo's invitational for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at E3 2018, expressing in a tweet that he would be coming out of retirement solely for the tournament. At the, ZeRo first teamed with and defeated  &  with  to advance to winner semis. ZeRo then beat Armada's with  to advance to winners finals, where he faced. ZeRo clutched out the match with over MkLeo's Solid  to move on to grand finals, which was best of 3. ZeRo would face MkLeo again but this time he lost 0-2 in the first set to MkLeo's and. However, ZeRo managed to win 2-1 in the second set with Mario over MkLeo's Sonic to take his second invitational win, defending his title from E3 2014.

On November 7, 2018, ZeRo announced that he was signed by Tempo Storm and would be coming out of retirement to compete in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

On December 25, 2018, ZeRo announced an update to his competitive return, saying he will no longer be "chasing the rankings", preferring to create content for Ultimate and stream the game on Twitch instead of competing at tournaments to be ranked 1st, only choosing to compete at a few select major events like EVO.

2019-2020: Return to Competition and Second Retirement
ZeRo's first event back to competition was confirmed to be on January 5th. At the tournament, ZeRo solidly made top 48 winners side, defeating everyone in his pool 2-0. After defeating Rideae 3-0, he lost to 2-3 and  0-3, placing 9th. ZeRo also competed at the, placing 13th in Singles and 5th in random 1v1's.

After Smash Ultimate Summit, ZeRo would not participate in another offline tournament, instead streaming on Facebook Gaming and creating content for his YouTube channel. However, ZeRo has made appearances at a few tournaments, most notably, where he won the Smash Masters side tournament over Larry Lurr. He has stated multiple times that he has no intention of returning to competitive play anytime soon, citing mostly the immense amount of hate he got during his reign in the previous installment as well as being intimidated by the high expectations that were expected of him due to him being the undisputed best player in Smash 4. However, he has commentated at a few events, most notably at.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, ZeRo began entering online tournaments after a year-long hiatus from competition, although he was more focused on enjoying the game rather than the actual competition. In his first appearance in, ZeRo didn't drop a single game until top 96, where he lost to and , both 3-1, knocking him out of the tournament at 33rd place. He has since participated in 4 other online tournaments, placing 129th at, 65th at both and , and 257th at. ZeRo stopped competing after King of WiFi Random Characters, stating that he didn't want to return to a competitive lifestyle and reiterating that he has no plans on competing at offline tournaments.

Sexual harassment allegations
On July 2nd, 2020, amidst a wave of sexual harassment allegations in the community, artist Jisu posted a tweet where she called out ZeRo for showing her hentai and explicit Craigslist ads when she was 15. ZeRo later responded, admitting that he looked at hentai but denied that he had shown it to her, nor would he show it to an entire room of people. He also denied showing her the ads. Following this defense, many people started to target Jisu for "clout-chasing", causing several players such as and  to post TwitLongers in Jisu's defense. Leffen also told his experience with ZeRo and how he would show people hentai in public, a statement that was backed up by a screenshot from an anonymous user later sent to Leffen. Finally, would also come out with his own statement accusing ZeRo for twisting the situation.

Around the same time, another user, Katie, came out with her own statement where she accused ZeRo for having sexually harassing her when she was 14 and ZeRo was 19. ZeRo would make a response to that accusation on July 3rd, stating that, at that time, he didn't know Katie was 14, and when she told him he cut off contact with her immediately. However, later evidence came forward to reveal that this statement by ZeRo was a lie. He then addressed the hentai accusations and his awkwardness in handling the situation, stating that it was due to a rough childhood filled with abuse and bullying, and mentioning that he was permanently banning himself from the Smash scene. Many people, however, pointed out that ZeRo failed to address the most explicit accusation. Eventually, on July 4th, ZeRo made a final TwitLonger confirming Katie's accusations, including the explicit accusation, as well as an experience he had with another underage girl.

The following day, Jisu posted a Google Document filled with evidence and screenshots from all of ZeRo's victims, including the girl brought up in ZeRo's final statement. She accused ZeRo of lying about her, Katie, and the third girl's situation.

Both Tempo Storm and Facebook Gaming have since cut ties with ZeRo. Twitch also permanently banned ZeRo on July 22nd, 2020, with his channel and videos being permanently deleted from the platform.

Mental health and attempted suicide
On March 25th, 2021, Vanessa posted a tweet stating that ZeRo had attempted suicide 2 days prior and was sent to the hospital.

Following an outpour of support from the community, a month later, he posted an update on Instagram, stating that he felt guilty about what he had done. He later made a followup during an interview with, where he discussed his history of mental health issues, stating that he had contemplated suicide several times at a young age, as well as talking about an injury involving a motocross bike around Fall of 2020, which was part of a driving point for his suicide attempt. He also stated that he originally planned to take his life the day that he posted his final message on Twitter. However, despite the video saying that the interview had no intention of bringing ZeRo back into the Smash community, it received negative reception from the community, simply due to ZeRo's presence, which prompted EE to take it down the same day he uploaded it. However, it has since been reuploaded by other YouTube channels.

Challenges to the allegations
On June 25th 2021, made a YouTube video on Sky Williams where he challenged the vast majority of Jisu's allegations towards ZeRo. In the video, he interviewed ZeRo, who stated that he did not remember anything that Leffen or Jisu had accused him of, and that he felt pressured to admit to the allegations, which created a false agenda that he was guilty. The specific part of the video received a polarizing reception in the community; several people praised him for scrutinizing Jisu's allegations, pointing out the hypocrisy in the Smash community, and providing another point-of-view to the allegations against ZeRo. Detractors, on the other hand, accused Technicals for building a narrative that manipulated the facts. In particular, a screenshot on a Discord DM between Technicals and ZeRo led many people to accuse the two for attempting to manipulate the narrative. Both Jisu and Leffen have yet to publicly address Technicals's claims.

On November 16, 2021, ZeRo uploaded a video to YouTube, stating that he was returning to creating and uploading content the following day, and retracting his previous admission to the accusations, claiming he confessed under duress.

On November 19, 2021, ZeRo filed a lawsuit against Jisu on the grounds of defamation and having lost his career due to Jisu's videos accusing ZeRo of sexual misconduct. ZeRo's claims are that Jisu knowingly lied about the age difference between himself and Vanessa when the two started dating, about ZeRo physically abusing Vanessa (additionally claiming this to be libel), about her accusations of ZeRo seeking to fly a 14-year-old child to meet in a hotel for sexual activity (but did not deny similar sexting allegations), and about her claims that ZeRo showed her sexually explicit Craigslist ads and hentai. ZeRo further claimed that Jisu is legally responsible for Tempo Storm and Facebook Gaming terminating their contracts with him, said to be worth over $2 million. The lawsuit seeks a currently unknown amount in damages for "defamation and emotional distress".

On September 9, 2022, ZeRo published a video giving an update on his situation. First, he and Jisu made a joint statement stating that the lawsuit had concluded. Both parties called for their audience to cease harassment towards each other, and requested publications and any other YouTube commentary content creators referencing the event to respect the parties' wishes in that regard. He talked about how both parties came to an understanding of their shortcomings: ZeRo regrets his role in Jisu's experience in the Sky House as he had exacerbated it in online public discussions, while Jisu apologized and retracted the statements she made regarding Vanessa. Ultimately, both parties agreed to resolve the litigation and move on.

In addition, ZeRo stated that he plans on appealing his Twitch ban, and has reiterated that he had no intentions on returning to competitive Smash as he did not feel welcomed by the scene. In turn, ZeRo accused the community of maintaining an inconsistent bias and having a disregard for the law with its handling of these cases, noting that he felt the higher-ups of the community never liked him, and pointed out how they're trying to stop him from producing content by coercing other players and content creators from collaborating with him or acknowledging him in any capacity, with the threat of being banned from Smash events or losing their sponsor (ZeRo alleged this had happened to a close friend of his after they played Valorant together offstream) whilst allowing other controversial figures to be collaborated without repercussion.

Lastly, he accused Leffen as the biggest instigator during the allegations made against him, as he claimed Leffen lied about a story regarding ZeRo sharing hentai with Leffen and Japanese players when they housed together for, and also accused ZeRo for exchanging hentai with fans without verifying their age. Both the Japanese players and the the fan have since denied Leffen's claim or retracted their statement. ZeRo ultimately accused Leffen for profiting off the drama while tarnishing ZeRo's name in the process.

Playstyle
Across all Smash games, ZeRo is a very methodical and theoretical player, focusing on having solid fundamentals and a commanding neutral game that can allow him to completely control the match after one mistake from his opponents. Due to this, he is considered to have the strongest neutral game in the world in Smash 4, and is one of the most adaptive players in all games. He is known to memorize percents, setups, and any other info that can improve his gameplay.

In Smash 4
His playstyle varies depending on whom he is facing. At times, ZeRo plays very proactively, inducing pressure on his opponents with precise hits, simple but effective punishes, and strong stage control. At other times, ZeRo plays more reactively and will not approach at all, preferring to camp most of the time and bait out mistakes from his opponent.

In Melee
ZeRo plays very defensively overall, preferring to camp opponents with Fox's Blaster and only approach when provoked to in the beginning of the set. This is to gain information on the opponent so that he can adjust his playstyle according to the habits that he picks up from his opponents during the course of the match.

In addition, his ledge pressure is very overwhelming, often being able to inflict large amounts of percent while the opponent is trying to recover or even kill early. His spacing in these interactions also makes it very difficult for his opponents to attempt a reverse edge guard.

However, ZeRo's tendency to resort to defensive play can hurt him sometimes, as he will play too safely and will not go for kill confirms on the verge of overextending. Although he is one of the most adaptive players across the span of a set, he can still struggle to bring back a set where his opponent has overwhelmed him, which is more prevalent in Melee where the micro-adaptations that are necessary within a game are far more emphasized.

Trivia

 * ZeRo says "So a lot of people have been wondering..." at the beginning of many of his YouTube videos, with said phrase having become a meme in the Smash 4 community.
 * At, ZeRo did not lose a single game, making him the first competitor to do so for any game at EVO.
 * The only players that ZeRo holds a negative record against in Brawl are (3-5),  (0-1), and  (0-1).
 * The only players that ZeRo holds a negative record against in Smash 4 are, , (all 0-1), and  (1-2).
 * The only players that ZeRo holds a tied record against in Smash 4 are, , , , , , , and (all 1-1).
 * When both Melee and Smash 4 were announced to be at EVO 2015, ZeRo announced that he would shift his focus on Melee exclusively for at least one year if he won Smash 4 at that tournament, citing as his inspiration. He eventually decided against it despite taking EVO 2015 without even dropping a game, stating "when I feel like playing [Melee], I'll play it. That's all there is to it." ZeRo has not attended a single Melee tournament since then. However, he competed in a Melee event for the first time in years at 's Smash Masters event.
 * ZeRo learned English by playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time when he was four years old by using a dictionary with the help of his mother.
 * His mother gave him his signature white scarf when he left Chile.
 * ZeRo is an avid fan of Xenoblade Chronicles, having a pocket and desiring a high-quality replica of the Monado for himself. Various songs from the game occasionally serve as the background music in his videos, and he has featured gameplay of its sequel, Xenoblade Chronicles X, on his YouTube channel as well.
 * On April 1st, 2016, ZeRo made an April Fools' Day video called where he "announced" that he would be maining Shulk and using him in tournaments.
 * ZeRo never placed below 2nd at any Smash 4 singles tournament he entered for nearly two years. However, this ended with his 9th place finish at.
 * is currently his worst Smash 4 tournament and his worst tournament overall across all games, placing 49th after both and  defeated him in dramatic upsets.
 * Similarly, stands as ZeRo's worst Smash 4 doubles tournament and his worst doubles tournament overall across all games, winning a single set and placing 17th with.
 * In 2016, ZeRo was entered into the Guinness World Records for Video Games 2017 because of his winning streak of 53 consecutive victories between 2014 and 2015 . He, however, claimed that he had 56 consecutive wins.
 * Similarly to 's "Scorpion Master" alter ego, ZeRo developed one named PersistentBlade, a "Wi-fi warrior" main who was at the highest rank on Smash Ladder. After attending and winning  #76 using almost exclusively Lucina, it was revealed that he was, indeed, PersistentBlade . Following this revelation, PersistentBlade has officially become an alter ego for ZeRo in the Smash community, in which fans and even ZeRo jokingly insist that they are separate people.
 * This joke has spread even to the point of PersistentBlade having their own Twitter account.
 * ZeRo is the only Smash 4 player to have made more than $100,000.
 * ZeRo hired a bodyguard for whenever he goes to a tournament. This is because he has received personal attacks and at least ten death threats which are mainly associated with his near-perfect Smash 4 tournament record.
 * ZeRo was the first top professional Smash Bros. YouTuber to gain a million subscribers on YouTube. However, he has since dropped under one million.
 * He also was the second overall Smash-centered YouTuber to reach one million subscribers, the first being.
 * ZeRo has become infamous in the community for discovering Smash Bros. prodigies and playing with them in several of his videos, which has become a running joke in the community where he would be called a 'father figure' to them.
 * He played with a 13-year-old player named, who has secondaries such as  and ; a 12-year-old Pichu player named rat; a 15 year old named  and a 13 year old named , who play  and , respectively.

Smash 4

 * E3 Nintendo Smash Bros Invitational Grand Finals - ZeRo vs Hungrybox