Northern California

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

These NorCal players are ranked on the 2019 MPGR.

SSBMRank	Name	Notes
22	Spark
24	PewPewU	Considered one of the best Marth mains in the United States; also known for teaming with SFAT, forming one of the most dominant doubles teams in the world.
30	Shroomed	Known as the best Dr. Mario in the world before switching to Sheik in 2014.
57	Kalamazhu	Originally from Michigan, but currently lives in San Francisco.
58	Nickemwit
81	Nintendude	Originally from New York, but currently lives in NorCal.
87	Umarth
92	Rocky

Major tournaments hosted

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
The Holiday Bash Smash Invitational	14	December 15th-17th, 2017
GENESIS 5	1,365	January 19th-21st, 2018
Noods Noods Noods: Oakland Edition	182	April 7th, 2018
Wombo Combo: 10 Year Anniversary	202	December 8th, 2018
Pre-Genesix	169	January 31st, 2019
GENESIS 6	1,113	February 1st-3rd, 2019
GENESIS 7	1,110	January 24th-26th, 2020

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Notable Players

Notable Player in the Northern California region, as of 2021, includes Lui$, Kurama (formally known as Prodigy), Versed Ace, Varun, Legit, Sho, Klaatu, PureSalt, Scion, Infamous, Mind, Vermillion, the Gonza brothers, Moonboyjosh, and many more.

Nationally Ranked Players

These players are ranked on the Fall 2019 PGRU.

PG Ranking	Name	Characters	Notes
39	Lui$		One of the best Fox players in the world and formerly the best Dr. Mario in the world. Notably placed 7th at Super Smash Con 2019.

Other notable players

Kurama : The best Mario in the world and formerly ranked 37th on the Spring 2019 PGRU. Notably defeated MkLeo at Frostbite 2020. Formally known as Prodigy.
varun : One of the best Wii Fit Trainer players in the world.
Legit : One of the best Diddy Kong players in the United States.

Project M

Notable Players

Nationally Ranked Players

These players are ranked on the PMRank 2017.

PMRank	Name	Notes
1	ThundeRzReiGN	The best player in the world, having multiple national wins.
17	Boringman	Is Power Ranked in both NorCal and SoCal.
23	The Doctor
26	Pikmon	Formerly lived in Washington, but now lives in NorCal.
44	Strong Bad	Formerly lived in the DFW region, but moved to NorCal for Wavedash Games.