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{{ArticleIcons|series=1|competitive=y}} | {{ArticleIcons|series=1|competitive=y}} | ||
{{disambig2|the competitive tournament scene|the in-game mode|Tourney (disambiguation)}} | {{disambig2|the competitive tournament scene|the in-game mode|Tourney (disambiguation)}} | ||
[[image:LMBMcrowd.jpeg| | [[image:LMBMcrowd.jpeg|Spectators at the [[Let's Make Big Moves]] ''[[Ultimate]]'' tournament hosted by [[Even Matchup Gaming]] in January 2020.|thumb|300px]] | ||
A '''tournament''', or '''tourney''' for short, is a competition involving a group of players competing in a series of games amongst each other to determine who is the best player between them, with there often being some sort of prize for the highest placing players. The format of a tournament varies, though it typically takes the form of a structured bracket where players engage in individual matches to gradually eliminate each other from the tournament until only one player remains. Every game in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series has had an active tournament scene, though the size of each game's scene can fluctuate greatly over the years. | |||
'' | ==Overview by game== | ||
The western tournament scene for the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series was incepted when {{Sm|Matt Deezie}} established the [[Tournament Go]] series in April 2002 with ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''. The game had an active tournament scene in the years following its release, being featured at both grassroots tournaments and events ran by large e-sports groups, most notably [[Major League Gaming]]. Following the release of ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', the ''Melee'' scene experienced a recession as many players moved on to ''Brawl'' or stopped playing ''Smash'' altogether, though it would gradually rebound as many players, both old and new, returned to ''Melee'' after dissatisfaction with ''Brawl'', kickstarted by the success of {{Trn|Revival of Melee}} a year after ''Brawl''{{'}}s North American release. ''Melee'' would then see an explosive growth in popularity in 2013, fueled by the success of [[EVO 2013]] and the documentary, ''[[The Smash Brothers]]'', where ''Melee'' has since remained extremely popular among competitive players over a decade later, with a large and thriving tournament presence far exceeding that of its pre-''Brawl'' days. | |||
Despite the severe dislike that most ''Melee'' players had for ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' and quickly abandoning the game after less than a year, ''Brawl'' would develop its own scene with a mostly distinct playerbase. For four years following ''Brawl''{{'}}s release, its tournament scene was on par with ''Melee''{{'}}s, if not even larger, with ''Brawl'' peaking at {{Trn|Apex 2012}} in January 2012, the tournament that set the record for largest ''Smash'' tournament ever at 400 entrants, a record it would hold until EVO 2013 in July 2013 shattered it with 709 entrants. ''Brawl'' would immediately experience significant decline following Apex 2012 however, due to division over the game's ruleset (most notoriously regarding the legality of {{SSBB|Meta Knight}}), the imminent release of ''Smash 4'', the rise of ''[[Project M]]'', and general growing dissatisfaction with the game; {{Trn|Apex 2013}} and {{Trn|Apex 2014}} would still attract well north of 300 entrants for ''Brawl'', but very few other big tournaments in this time period could break 100 entrants, and several regions had their ''Brawl'' scenes die out. The release of ''Smash 4'' would serve as a killing blow, with the vast majority of remaining ''Brawl'' players moving on to it, but a small group of loyal players would continue to play ''Brawl'', and by the later 2010s, they would establish a niche scene that continues to this day, with ''Brawl'' tournaments sometimes appearing alongside other ''Smash'' games at larger tournaments. | |||
When it was the newest ''Smash'' game, ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' similarly rivaled or even exceeded the size of ''Melee''{{'}}s tournament scene, experiencing the same explosion in size that ''Melee'' did at the time due to the availability of well-developed streaming technology, improved social networking, and other improved tournament infrastructure, in addition to an already-existing ''Brawl'' fanbase that eagerly moved onto the newer game. It also attracted casual players into the competitive ''Smash'' scene to a much greater extent than any of the previous ''Smash'' games, due to the game being designed with a more competitive focus than its predecessor (through game design decisions like faster gameplay and better balancing, and adding competitive-focused [[online]] modes like [[For Glory]]), and competitive ''Smash'' in general being more mainstream than it was at the time of ''Brawl''{{'}}s release. ''Smash 4''{{'}}s tournament scene peaked in 2016, with the ''Smash 4'' bracket at {{Trn|EVO 2016}} setting the record for largest ''Smash'' tournament ever at 2662 entrants, and ''Smash 4'' would have several more tournaments after this that broke the 1000 entrants mark or came close. ''Smash 4'' would start experiencing decline in late 2017 however, with most recurring tournament series seeing substantial drops in their entrant totals from the previous year, due to stagnation and the game's balance being thoroughly upended by {{SSB4|Bayonetta}} and {{SSB4|Cloud}}. This decline would be accelerated once ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'' was revealed at [[E3 2018]] and announced to be releasing in December of that year, though ''Smash 4'' tournaments would still retain respectable entrant numbers to its end, with the ''Smash 4'' bracket at both {{Trn|EVO 2018}} and {{Trn|Super Smash Con 2018}} getting over 1300 entrants. Once ''Ultimate'' released, the tournament scene for ''Smash 4'' has become nearly non-existent as its playerbase near entirely transitioned to ''Ultimate'', with the only ''Smash 4'' tournaments remaining mostly taking place at events that explicitly hosts tournaments for all ''Smash'' games, such as [[Super Smash Con]]. | |||
In a similar vein to ''Smash 4'', the release of ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'' would see another explosion in the size of the competitive scene, due to the game being developed significantly more competitively-minded than ''Smash 4'', and ''Ultimate'' itself having a far larger pool of potential players, since it outsold all prior ''Smash'' games by a massive margin. Immediately in its first year, ''Ultimate'' established the largest competitive scene of any ''Smash'' game to date with over a half-dozen 1000+ entrant tournaments, including shattering the all-time record for largest ''Smash'' tournament, with {{Trn|EVO 2019}} having 3534 entrants for its ''Ultimate'' bracket. ''Ultimate'' would suffer a serious setback however with the 2020 [[COVID-19 pandemic]], that completely shutdown any large inperson ''Smash'' tournaments for over a year. As regulations regarding social events relaxed and inperson tournaments could start occurring again, ''Ultimate'' would start gradually rebounding, and by 2023, its tournament activity would come close to its 2019 peak, with forty tournaments that year reaching [[List of major tournaments (SSBU)#2023|major status]] and eight of them breaking 1000 entrants, while peaking post-Covid with 2607 entrants at {{Trn|Super Smash Con 2023}}. | |||
''[[Project M]]'', a ''Brawl'' mod featuring design and gameplay like that of ''Melee''{{'}}s, has also seen a number of tournaments dedicated to it. Beginning in 2013, the game saw a rapid rise in popularity and was increasingly featured at ''Smash'' tournaments, including supermajors such as [[Apex 2014]]. Initially restricted to a side | Competitive ''[[Smash 64]]'' never had a time as the premier ''Smash'' game, due to the foundations for competitive ''Smash'' not being established until over a year into ''Melee''{{'}}s release. Nonetheless, with its unique gameplay that's very distinct from all other ''Smash'' games, ''Smash 64'' has maintained a small devoted following since the release of ''Melee'', establishing a niche tournament scene in the later 2000s that persists to this day. In addition to the traditional in-person tournaments, competitive play also frequently takes place online through services like [[Kaillera]]. | ||
''[[Project M]]'', a ''Brawl'' mod featuring design and gameplay like that of ''Melee''{{'}}s, has also seen a number of tournaments dedicated to it. Beginning in 2013, the game saw a rapid rise in popularity and was increasingly featured at ''Smash'' tournaments, including supermajors such as [[Apex 2014]]. Initially restricted to a [[side event]] at many tournaments, ''Project M'' later developed its own unique tournament scene, with some tournaments being devoted almost solely to the game. However, since ''Project M'' is not endorsed by [[Nintendo]], many major e-sports organizations and large grassroots tournaments excluded PM from their lineups, and many streaming groups also refuse to stream ''PM'' tournaments altogether, due to fears of legal issues over the mod. Although these blows have caused the game to lose significant ground to ''Melee'', ''Ultimate'', and formerly ''Smash 4'', it still maintains a distinct scene to this day, often hosting its own tournaments that can attract over a hundred entrants. | |||
==Locations and sizes== | ==Locations and sizes== | ||
{{redirect| | {{redirect|Major tournament|a list of major tournaments|List of major tournaments}} | ||
Tournaments are held regularly in many regions all over the world, with the largest community centered in the United States, which has not only the largest and generally most talented playerbase, but also the largest tournaments, | Tournaments are held regularly in many regions all over the world, with the largest overall community centered in the United States, which has not only the largest and generally most talented playerbase, but also the largest tournaments, most notably {{Trn|GENESIS|series}} and {{Trn|EVO}}, which attract competition from all over the world. Japan also features a thriving competitive scene, and in recent years has become one of the largest competitive scenes for the most recent ''Smash'' titles. Canada, Mexico, and northern and western Europe (in particular the Scandinavian countries) also feature large, high level competitive ''Smash'' scenes, while Australia, Latin America, south Asia, and South America have smaller but still notable scenes, and even smaller scattered scenes exist throughout the rest of the world. | ||
Various terms exist for describing the size, frequency, and intent of a tournament. These include but are not limited to the following: | Various terms exist for describing the size, frequency, and intent of a tournament. These include but are not limited to the following: | ||
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*'''STD''': "Smash 'Til Dawn", An overnight tournament or smashfest where the goal is to keep playing until the sun rises (or later). [[Smash the Record]] is a very large example of this. | *'''STD''': "Smash 'Til Dawn", An overnight tournament or smashfest where the goal is to keep playing until the sun rises (or later). [[Smash the Record]] is a very large example of this. | ||
*'''Weekly/Biweekly/Triweekly/Monthly''': Repeating tournaments, usually in the same venue. Usually feature a regular group of players each iteration. Depending on size as well as player strength, certain monthly events can also be classified as Regional Tournaments if not larger (such as Mayhem in California and the monthly ''Smash 4'' events at Xanadu) | *'''Weekly/Biweekly/Triweekly/Monthly''': Repeating tournaments, usually in the same venue. Usually feature a regular group of players each iteration. Depending on size as well as player strength, certain monthly events can also be classified as Regional Tournaments if not larger (such as Mayhem in California and the monthly ''Smash 4'' events at Xanadu) | ||
*'''Circuit event''': Part of a regional circuit of tournaments, such as the | *'''Circuit event''': Part of a regional circuit of tournaments, such as the {{Trn|2GG Championship Series}}, {{Trn|Smash World Tour}}, or {{Trn|Panda Cup}}. Winners are usually given points based on their placings, and the top point earners on the leaderboards are invited to a finale tournament, or an overall points winner at the end of the season is given some sort of prize. | ||
*'''Regional tournament''': A large tournament that draws significant attendance from neighboring regions | *'''Invitational''': A short list of players are invited to the tournament to compete, instead of registration being open to anyone. Players can be invited in a variety of ways: being directly invited by the tournament organizers, qualifying for the tournament by achieving a top placement in a predetermined tournament or a Last Chance Qualifier tournament, or voted in through crowdfunding. Invitationals will often have a large prize pool in place of being generated by entry fees. {{Trn|Smash Summit|series}} tournaments are the most prominent example of this. | ||
*'''Major tournament''' or '''national tournament''': A larger tournament that draws an extraordinary amount of attendance from the broader region as a whole. In North America, these tournaments attract players from across the United States and Canada, while European majors feature smashers from across the continent. Majors can draw attendance from different continents; for example, European and Japanese players often fly in to large American tournaments. | *'''Pre-local''': A local or tournament that takes place prior to a larger tournament, usually a major, and as such often feature players from outside the region. Due to the nature of these events, they are often not tiered on global rankings even if the tournament attendance is large enough to reach a major or supermajor level. | ||
*'''Supermajor''': The most prestigious tournaments in the Smash scene, featuring a huge amount of the best players from around the world. Supermajors are considered to be the most important gatherings for players in the scene, and attract the most viewership and publicity, not only from within the Smash community, but also from the larger fighting game and esports communities. Examples of current ''Smash''-centered supermajor series include | *'''Regional tournament''': A large tournament that draws significant attendance from its hosting region, as well as attracts attendance from neighboring regions. On most global rankings, regional tournaments are tiered as C-tier. Especially stacked regionals that attract significant attendance from outside the hosting region, and have multiple top players in attendance, are referred to as "superregionals", and are often tiered as B-tiers on most global rankings. | ||
*'''Major tournament''' or '''national tournament''': A larger tournament that draws an extraordinary amount of attendance from the broader region as a whole. In North America, these tournaments attract players from across the United States and Canada, while European majors feature smashers from across the continent. Majors can draw attendance from different continents; for example, European and Japanese players often fly in to large American tournaments. Most global rankings tier majors as A-tiers. | |||
*'''Supermajor''': The most prestigious tournaments in the Smash scene, featuring a huge amount of the best players from around the world. Supermajors are considered to be the most important gatherings for players in the scene, and attract the most viewership and publicity, not only from within the Smash community, but also from the larger fighting game and esports communities. Examples of current ''Smash''-centered supermajor series include {{Trn|GENESIS|series}}, {{Trn|Super Smash Con|series}}, and {{Trn|The Big House|series}}; many tournaments held by larger fighting game organizations, such as {{Trn|CEO}}, have also become supermajors in the ''Smash'' community. {{Trn|EVO}}, [[MLG]], {{Trn|Apex}}, and {{Trn|Pound|series}} have previously been recognized as supermajor series. Tournaments can also be labeled as supermajors based on the extreme level of player talent; for example, in ''Melee'', {{Trn|Get On My Level 2016}}, as well as {{Trn|Smash Summit|series}} and other invitationals, are often considered "supermajors" due to the fact that so many top 20 players attended, despite having fewer entrants than the other tournament series listed. Most global rankings tier supermajors as S-tiers, with some rankings tiering particularly large supermajors as P-tiers. | |||
==Prices and fees== | ==Prices and fees== | ||
Most tournaments require an entry fee from participants to play. These prices vary by region and tournament size, and differ for each type of event being entered; a typical entry fee amount for smaller tournaments is $5, while larger tournaments run $10, with it being uncommon even for the largest supermajors to have an entry fee over $10. Entry fees go into a "pot" for an event and are awarded to the winners of that event in pre-announced amounts, usually a percentage of the pot (for example a common payout split at small tournaments is 60% for first, 30% for second, and 10% for third, though the exact splits and how deep the payouts go vary greatly across tournaments). Tournament directors will usually charge an extra amount, commonly referred to as a venue fee, to help pay for the costs to use the venue, equipment, paying others for various tourney-related services, and for their own time. Venue fees usually cost between $5 to $10, though larger tournaments will frequently charge more, especially for nationals that last multiple days, where venue fees can run potentially up to the $100+ range. Often TOs will offer discounts on the venue fee for doing things that help run the tourney, such as supplying a setup and volunteering to help the TO, and larger tournaments will often charge a lower venue fee to players that pre-register early, while charging a higher venue fee to those who register late. | Most tournaments require an entry fee from participants to play. These prices vary by region and tournament size, and differ for each type of event being entered; a typical entry fee amount for smaller tournaments is $5, while larger tournaments run $10, with it being uncommon even for the largest supermajors to have an entry fee over $10. Entry fees go into a "pot" for an event and are awarded to the winners of that event in pre-announced amounts, usually a percentage of the pot (for example a common payout split at small tournaments is 60% for first, 30% for second, and 10% for third, though the exact splits and how deep the payouts go vary greatly across tournaments). Tournament directors will usually charge an extra amount, commonly referred to as a venue fee, to help pay for the costs to use the venue, equipment, paying others for various tourney-related services, and for their own time. Venue fees usually cost between $5 to $10, though larger tournaments will frequently charge more, especially for nationals that last multiple days, where venue fees can run potentially up to the $100+ range. Often TOs will offer discounts on the venue fee for doing things that help run the tourney, such as supplying a setup and volunteering to help the TO, and larger tournaments will often charge a lower venue fee to players that pre-register early, while charging a higher venue fee to those who register late. | ||
==Legal issues involving the exchange of money== | ===Legal issues involving the exchange of money=== | ||
Some public venues like schools and places of worship consider gaming tournaments a form of gambling and ban it as such. All tournament directors are encouraged to check with potential venues to make sure they are tolerant of players paying to enter. Several well-known tournaments have had to cancel events when a public official discovered that money was changing hands between players at the event. | Some public venues like schools and places of worship consider gaming tournaments a form of gambling and ban it as such. All tournament directors are encouraged to check with potential venues to make sure they are tolerant of players paying to enter. Several well-known tournaments have had to cancel events when a public official discovered that money was changing hands between players at the event. | ||
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===Round Robin=== | ===Round Robin=== | ||
Round Robin is a tournament format where every player in the tournament plays every single other player. There are no brackets and no eliminations; everyone keeps playing until every matchup has been played. | Round Robin is a tournament format where every player in the tournament plays every single other player. There are no brackets and no eliminations; everyone keeps playing until every matchup has been played. Round Robin is most commonly used in major invitationals and is only occasionally used in open brackets, usually in events with a small entrants count. | ||
====Advantages==== | ====Advantages==== | ||
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*One rare but potential danger to Round Robin tournaments is the possibility of a tie. Round Robins are not assured to have a clearly cut winner like brackets do. For example, let there be 3 players, A, B, and C. A beats B, B beats C, and C beats A. Then A, B, and C all beat everyone else in the tournament. A, B, and C are then each in a three-way tie for first place. This principle is not limited to 3 players, though; it is completely possible that everyone in the entire tournament ties for first and last simultaneously. | *One rare but potential danger to Round Robin tournaments is the possibility of a tie. Round Robins are not assured to have a clearly cut winner like brackets do. For example, let there be 3 players, A, B, and C. A beats B, B beats C, and C beats A. Then A, B, and C all beat everyone else in the tournament. A, B, and C are then each in a three-way tie for first place. This principle is not limited to 3 players, though; it is completely possible that everyone in the entire tournament ties for first and last simultaneously. | ||
*[[Bracket manipulation]] is much more probable in a Round Robin, as it's significantly more feasible for a higher level player to afford intentionally losing a match or two to friends to boost their placing, while not harming their own placing. | *[[Bracket manipulation]] is much more probable in a Round Robin, as it's significantly more feasible for a higher level player to afford intentionally losing a match or two to friends to boost their placing, while not harming their own placing. | ||
*"Meaningless matches" | *"Meaningless matches" will occur, when players are mathematically eliminated from a money placing, or in the case of Round Robin pools, mathematically eliminated from advancing to the next round of pools or bracket, before finishing all their matches. All remaining matches of theirs become "meaningless", as the match outcome will have no impact on their capability to win money or secure a spot to advance farther in the tournament. As a result, these players may not care about their remaining matches if they do not care enough about bolstering their final placing, and either drop out (thus automatically forfeiting all remaining matches), or play their remaining matches with half-hearted effort (thus lose matches they would win otherwise). This in turn will inflate the placings of other players they were set to play after being knocked out of contention by essentially giving them "free wins", potentially [[bracket manipulation|disrupting the tournament]] by allowing an undeserving player to win money or advance over a better player, and overall undermining the advantages a round robin brings. Even in the case where no player's placing gets unfairly inflated in a tournament by this, players are generally less enthusiastic about playing "meaningless matches" than bracket matches with clear progression on the line. | ||
*The lack of a clear Finals set can hurt spectatorship, as those sets are typically the mostly highly viewed sets during tournament streams, and make the tournament feel less conclusive for both players and spectators, especially if one player wins enough to secure first place before all sets are played. | *The lack of a clear Finals set can hurt spectatorship, as those sets are typically the mostly highly viewed sets during tournament streams, and lacking a clear Finals set can make the tournament feel less conclusive for both players and spectators, especially if one player wins enough to secure first place before all sets are played. To alleviate this issue however, tournaments may instead have the two highest ranking players in the Round Robin play one more set at the end against each other to determine the winner, and can even emulate a Grand Finals set by requiring the second place player to win two sets to win the tournament. Alternatively, the Round Robin may be split into two separate groups to begin with, where then the highest finishing player of the two groups face off in a Finals set at the end. | ||
===Pools=== | ===Pools=== | ||
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Players are assigned matches in the first round either randomly or based on some method of seeding (an attempt to rank players in order of skill before the tournament starts). Winning this set gives a player 1 "point", and losing does not give any points. Each successive round involves pairing two players with the same number of points (attempting to avoid repeat matchups), playing out those matches, assigning points, and repeating for the next round. Swiss systems generally run until only a single person has no losses; this will occur after ''R'' rounds, where ''R'' is the base-2 logarithm of the total number of entrants, rounded upwards. Swiss brackets are sometimes run for a pre-determined number of rounds, with the winner being the person with the most points overall. | Players are assigned matches in the first round either randomly or based on some method of seeding (an attempt to rank players in order of skill before the tournament starts). Winning this set gives a player 1 "point", and losing does not give any points. Each successive round involves pairing two players with the same number of points (attempting to avoid repeat matchups), playing out those matches, assigning points, and repeating for the next round. Swiss systems generally run until only a single person has no losses; this will occur after ''R'' rounds, where ''R'' is the base-2 logarithm of the total number of entrants, rounded upwards. Swiss brackets are sometimes run for a pre-determined number of rounds, with the winner being the person with the most points overall. | ||
The Swiss format can also be run in pools instead of the traditional bracket and round-robin formats, such as was done at | The Swiss format can also be run in pools instead of the traditional bracket and round-robin formats, such as was done at {{Trn|Smash 'N' Splash 5}} and {{Trn|Ludwig Smash Invitational}}. Though like with running Swiss format tournaments, this format is rarely used in pools due to its complexity and large amount of matches created. | ||
===Single elimination bracket=== | ===Single elimination bracket=== | ||
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Single elimination tournaments are the least common of the four formats for ''Super Smash Bros.'' and video games in general. Despite this, tournaments sometimes use them for side events like [[crew battle]]s to save time. Despite single elimination's flaws, [[Tournament legal (DSB)|Japanese ''Smash 64'' tournaments]] often use the single elimination format, even in large, national tournaments. Some early ''Melee'' tournaments used single elimination. | Single elimination tournaments are the least common of the four formats for ''Super Smash Bros.'' and video games in general. Despite this, tournaments sometimes use them for side events like [[crew battle]]s to save time. Despite single elimination's flaws, [[Tournament legal (DSB)|Japanese ''Smash 64'' tournaments]] often use the single elimination format, even in large, national tournaments. Some early ''Melee'' tournaments used single elimination. | ||
In a single elimination bracket, players are arranged into | In a single elimination bracket, players are arranged into a hierarchical structure where matches are played between two entrants; the winner advances to play another player the next round, and the loser is eliminated from the tournament. The player who wins the very last match of the bracket, after all other entrants have been eliminated, is the winner of the event, and the person who loses the final match finishes in second place. Most sports tournaments (like the [[Wikipedia:NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship|NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship]]) use a single elimination format. | ||
Single elimination brackets are often described in terms of the number of entrants playing in the bracket. Because half the remaining players are eliminated during each round of the bracket, the total number of rounds is based on the [[Wikipedia:logarithm|base-2 logarithm]] of the entrant count (rounded upwards). A three-round bracket is used for 8 players, four rounds for 9 to 16 players, five rounds for 17 to 32 players, and so on. A bracket's ''size'' is usually defined as the smallest power of two that is greater than or equal to the number of entrants. Thus, a bracket with 47 entrants is referred to as a ''64-man bracket'', because 64 is the smallest power of two which is greater than 47. The size of the bracket also reflects the total number of matches throughout the entire bracket: for an ''n''-size bracket, ''n-1'' matches must be played in total. | Single elimination brackets are often described in terms of the number of entrants playing in the bracket. Because half the remaining players are eliminated during each round of the bracket, the total number of rounds is based on the [[Wikipedia:logarithm|base-2 logarithm]] of the entrant count (rounded upwards). A three-round bracket is used for 8 players, four rounds for 9 to 16 players, five rounds for 17 to 32 players, and so on. A bracket's ''size'' is usually defined as the smallest power of two that is greater than or equal to the number of entrants. Thus, a bracket with 47 entrants is referred to as a ''64-man bracket'', because 64 is the smallest power of two which is greater than 47. The size of the bracket also reflects the total number of matches throughout the entire bracket: for an ''n''-size bracket, ''n-1'' matches must be played in total. | ||
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===Arcadian format=== | ===Arcadian format=== | ||
An Arcadian is a tournament format where all the ranked players from a specific region are banned from participating, therefore only allowing the unranked players to participate, giving the unranked players a chance at winning money and the glory of winning a tournament that they would typically have no realistic chance at. Arcadians still feature the same rulesets as other tournaments, however. Most Arcadians also disallow players from outside the tourney's region from participating, | An Arcadian is a tournament format where all the ranked players from a specific region are banned from participating, therefore only allowing the unranked players to participate, giving the unranked players a chance at winning money and the glory of winning a tournament that they would typically have no realistic chance at. Arcadians still feature the same rulesets as other tournaments, however. Most Arcadians also disallow players from outside the tourney's region from participating, but TOs may screen out-of-region players to determine if they're eligible instead of banning OoR players wholesale. Arcadians may additionally have a clause to allow TOs to bar entry to any technically unranked player that would be deemed too good to enter, such as a player who was only unranked for failing to reach a PR's attendance requirement rather than from a lack of ability. Arcadians are most common at local and regional tournaments, and most regions periodically run Arcadians, typically once per a ranking season. Notably, {{Trn|2GG: Breakthrough 2019}} holds the record for the largest Arcadian tournament within the ''Smash'' series. | ||
==In-game Tournament Mode== | |||
{{main|Tournament Mode (SSBM)|Tourney (SSBB)|Tourney (SSB4-Wii U)|Tourney (SSBU)}} | |||
Although each game since ''Melee'' has included a Tournament Mode for local play and ''Smash Ultimate'' features an online tournament mode, the in-game mode is rarely, if ever, used in actual competitive play, due to a variety of limitations of the mode relative to the rather complex structures that serious tournaments require: | |||
*Tournament matches are played in a best of 3 or 5 format, while Tournament Mode only allows single-game sets. | |||
*Tournament matches allow players to use any character for any game in any match, while Tournament Mode forces players to remain a single character for the entire tournament. | |||
*Tournaments almost never use a single-elimination bracket, which is the only bracket type available in Tournament Mode. | |||
*Tournaments require their brackets to be properly [[seeding|seeded]] for reasonably accurate results, while Tournament Mode gives no control over seeding and forces a randomized bracket (outside of ''Ultimate''). | |||
*Tournaments don't often enforce a limit to the maximum number of players and can contain hundreds of participants, while Tournament Mode cannot handle more than a very limited 64 (in ''Melee'') or 32 (in ''Brawl'' and ''Ultimate''). | |||
*Tournaments require multiple setups to be run efficiently, while Tournament Mode can only exist on a single setup. Using Tournament Mode to simply keep track of brackets is additionally a very slow process given only one match can be edited at a time, any errors made cannot be corrected without redoing the whole tournament mode and each console used could instead be used as a setup players play on to progress the tournament. | |||
For this reason, external tournament management systems are the norm in competitive play. The in-game tournament modes are more frequently used for casual play, as these limitations are less impactful on lower-stakes games played quickly between casual players of varying skill levels, and because the in-game tournament modes offer a variety of quality-of-life features, such as in-game bracket management, in-game button-mapping, and dynamic controller assignment, that would otherwise be tedious or difficult to manage for the casual player. | |||
== | ==Cheating== | ||
Due to the competitive nature of tournaments and the stakes involved with winning and losing, parties attempting to cheat is an inevitability. Cheating is defined as one or more individuals conspiring to break the agreed upon rules or finding loopholes in said rules to gain an unfair advantage or some other illicit benefit. | |||
Cheating can take many forms, each varying in severity, subtlety, and goal. An obvious form of cheating is outright breaking the rules. This can include attempting to play in an environment outside of the typical structure without the consent of all other involved parties, intentionally performing actions that are explicitly banned, or hacking the game to play differently. | |||
More subtle forms of cheating that reach a realm of ambiguity include intentionally playing worse than expected or convincing an opponent to play worse, often referred to as "[[sandbagging]]," as well as intentionally losing games to avoid certain players and having an overall easier time in a tournament, sometimes referred to as "match fixing" or "bracketology." While these do not necessarily break the rules, they are generally frowned upon and will lead to disciplinary action if proven to have occurred. | |||
Cheating is usually punished if discovered, though not every situation is black and white. Not all cases of cheating are created equal, and punishments are often more or less severe because of it. Less consequential instances like [[pausing]] during a match may result in forfeiting a stock at most, while something more severe like fixing matches may result in disqualification from the tournament and a ban from all future events. There are also cases of genuine mistakes or "act of God" situations where no one party is at fault, which is usually dealt with on a case by case basis by the tournament organizer. | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
*[[Side events]] | |||
*[[Tournament legal]] | |||
*[[Tournament organizer]] | |||
*[[List of national tournaments]] | *[[List of national tournaments]] | ||
*[[List of largest Smash tournaments]] | *[[List of largest Smash tournaments]] | ||
*[[Super Smash Bros. in competitive play|''Super Smash Bros.'' in competitive play]] | *[[Super Smash Bros. in competitive play|''Super Smash Bros.'' in competitive play]] | ||
*[[Super Smash Bros. Melee in competitive play|''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' in competitive play]] | *[[Super Smash Bros. Melee in competitive play|''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' in competitive play]] | ||
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*On [[Smashboards]]: | *On [[Smashboards]]: | ||
**[http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=95636 The ABC's of Tournament Hosting] | **[http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=95636 The ABC's of Tournament Hosting] | ||
[[Category:Tournaments|*]] | [[Category:Tournaments|*]] | ||
[[Category:Competitive play|* ]] | [[Category:Competitive play|*]] | ||