2015 has been a great year for Smash, with the ever-increasing popularity of Melee and the influx of new fans to the community with the release of Smash 4, resulting in a big tournament almost every month and the continued growth of the competitive scene. It’s not even 2016 yet and it is already looking like it will be ‘the’ year of Smash, with the number of supermajors that will be going on during the year. So far, BEAST 6, Pound 2016, EVO 2016, the rebirth of APEX and Super Smash Con 2016 have all been announced to be happening this year, with many more tournaments like MLG Finals, Paragon and The Big House yet to be revealed.
Before all of this however, is the return of the Genesis series with Genesis 3 being held in San Jose, California from the 15-17th of January. Genesis 1 and 2 are seen as landmark tournaments for Melee especially, with Genesis 2 starting the now storied rivalry between Mango and Armada, as well as being Armada’s first major tournament victory on US soil. Genesis 3 hopes to live up to that legacy, by being hosting some of the biggest brackets ever for SSB64, Melee and Smash 4. So far, Genesis 3 has broken the record for being the largest SSB64 tournament in history, being the 2nd largest Melee tournament behind EVO 2015 by only 140 players and being the 2nd Smash 4 tournament to break 1000 attendees. In terms of sheer size, Genesis 3 is set to be a belter of a tournament.
Looking into those attendance numbers, you’ll see that Genesis 3 is also set to be the most stacked tournament ever for all 3 games. For Smash 64, you have Isai, Wario and SuPeRbOoMfAn in attendance, who are regarded as possibly the 3 best Smash 64 players in the whole world. For Melee, all 6 gods are in attendance as well as many of the new heroes of Melee which will make top 64 an absolute bloodbath. In Smash 4, you have ZeRo trying to re-establish his dominance after his only loss of last year, along with many of the US’ top contenders ready to battle it out. You also have the Japanese invasion which is coming to take names in Smash 4, with players like Ranai, 9B, Abadango and Nietono traveling to take the Genesis crown back to Japan. On a local level, the UK’s very own IxisNaugus is heading over to California, hoping to put the UK on the map and show the world why he should be regarded as one of the best Sonics out there.
Besides the main events, there is a Genesis 3 Salty Suite taking place to settle some notable feuds between players. Leffen (if he has his visa sorted out) is set to play Westballz in a $1000 money match, after Leffen previously destroyed SFAT in a $1000 MM at Dreamhack Winter. Westballz did beat Leffen at Dreamhack in a great set but will he be able to defeat the Godslayer on home turf and playing on NTSC? Other rumoured matches are HugS versus ChuDat, S2J versus Abate as a result of that crazy set at The Big House 5 as well as TripleR versus CerealRabbit for the title of best Kirby in Melee. Keep in mind, those last 3 matches are not confirmed as of yet but we will have confirmation of all the Salty Suite matches very soon.
For more details on Genesis 3, including player lists, brackets and how to donate to the Genesis 3 Compendium, head over to the official smash.gg page to see all the information you could ever want about this historic tournament. I cannot wait for this tournament and hopefully, it will set the tone for what could be the greatest year in Smash’s competitive history. If this has got you all excited for Smash, make sure to read our article about what a cracking year 2015 has been for Smash 4. Get hype!
