Northern California

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Northern California, commonly abbreviated as NorCal, is a Smash region located in the United States. It covers the northern half of the state of California, including the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country. While most regions are divided by state, California is split into northern and southern portions, as the state's large size has resulted in the development of two largely independent centers of Smash activity.

With a huge concentration of young people and college students, NorCal has been one of the most active Smash regions in the U.S. since the series' competitive beginnings. Matt Deezie's Tournament Go series, considered the first major Smash tournaments, were held here, and thus the region can be considered the birthplace of competitive Smash. NorCal is at present most famous for the GENESIS tournaments, considered the premiere grassroots Smash supermajor today and one of the most iconic and prestigious tournament series in history. Its Melee scene is dominated by the "NorCal trio", consisting of three of the best players in the United States: PewPewU, SFAT, and Shroomed.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Notable players

Nationally ranked players

See also: NorCal Power Rankings and Category:Northern California smashers

These NorCal players are ranked on Melee It On Me's 2016 SSBMRank.

SSBMRank Name Characters Notes
17 Nintendude Ice Climbers (SSBM) Known as the current best Ice Climbers player in the world; originally from New York, but currently lives in NorCal.
31 Zhu Falco (SSBM) One of the best Falcos in the United States.
33 Laudandus Sheik (SSBM)
57 Azusa Peach (SSBM)
71 Kalamazhu Peach (SSBM) Originally from Michigan, but currently lives in San Francisco.
72 Darkatma Sheik (SSBM)Peach (SSBM)
78 Frootloop Fox (SSBM) Originally from Wisconsin, but currently lives in the Bay Area.
80 HomeMadeWaffles Fox (SSBM)Falco (SSBM) More famous as one of the most iconic commentators of the grassroots Melee scene.
91 Phil Fox (SSBM)
92 Darrell Samus (SSBM)
93 NMW Captain Falcon (SSBM)

Major tournaments hosted

See also: Category:Northern California tournaments

A list of significant regional and national Melee events hosted in NorCal; nationals are highlighted in bold.

Name Entrants Date Notes
Tournament Go 1 April 6th, 2002 The first tournament in the historic Tournament Go series; considered the very first Melee major and one of the first organized Smash tournaments.
Tournament Go 2 June 15th, 2002
Tournament Go 3 ~20 August 24th, 2002
Tournament Go 4 ~90 January 19th, 2003 Marked the first appearance of Ken at major NorCal tournament, despite Ken being from SoCal.
Tournament Go 5 ~90-110 August 2nd-3rd, 2003 One of the first two-day Smash tournaments; Maryland/Virginia player Azen notably flew to the West Coast for the event, marking one of the first cross-country travels for a Smash tournament.
Tournament Go 6 112 August 21st-22nd, 2004 The last tournament in the Tournament Go series; notably featured international competition, with Captain Jack and Takuto travelling to the U.S. from Japan for the event.
MLG San Francisco 2004 50 September 11th-12th, 2004
MLG San Francisco 2005 100+ February 26th-27th, 2005
NorCal Tournament 2 129 October 28th, 2006
GENESIS 290 July 10th-12th, 2009 Considered the first-ever "supermajor," drawing huge international attendance for both Melee and Brawl; at the time, the largest Melee tournament ever. Mango's grand finals victory over Armada has helped shape one of the most famous rivalries and storylines in Smash.
R3 70 December 19th-20th, 2009
Good Shit German 84 July 24th-25th, 2010
Don't Go Down There Jeff 108 December 18th-19th, 2010
GENESIS 2 228 July 15th-17th, 2011 A Smash supermajor; Armada defeated Mango in grand finals, a reversal of the previous GENESIS.
Rule 6: NorCal Regional 92 July 29th, 2012
NorCal Regionals 2013 73 April 26th-28th, 2013
The Next Episode 147 March 22nd-23rd, 2014
NorCal Regionals 2014 52 April 18th-20th, 2014
NorCal Regionals 2015 77 April 3rd-5th, 2015
I'm Not Yelling! 316 April 11th-12th, 2015
HTC Throwdown 386 September 19th-20th, 2015
GENESIS 3 1,828 January 15th-17th, 2016 The largest grassroots Smash tournament and the third-largest Melee tournament of all time; replaced Apex as the premiere Smash series international tournament. Originally scheduled for 2013, but postponed due to conflicting interest with EVO 2013.
NorCal Regionals 2016 38 March 25th-27th, 2016
SSS: Blood For Blood 443 October 15th, 2016
GENESIS 4 1,704 January 20th-22nd, 2017