The revival of one of the greatest Smash Bros tournaments has just happened and my god, what a resurrection. We have upsets across the board, nail biting sets and Oddshots up the wazoo, as Smashers from all over the world clashed in 3 different games for the title of Genesis champion. To recap absolutely everything that happened during Genesis would be a Herculean task, so I will just be focusing on the main storylines and upsets that played out during the course of the 3 day event. I will no doubt miss out that really hype Round 2 pools match that was shown on stream at the dead of night in the UK so do comment below with your favourite sets so others can find the lesser known bits of excitement that were happening all around the San Jose Convention Centre.

For Smash 4, Genesis 3 was the moment when the rest of the world came out in force to try and take the crown away from North America and more importantly, TSM ZeRo. The main threat coming into Genesis was the Japanese contingent, comprising mainly of Ranai, the Villager god and number 1 Japanese player, Komorikiri, the world’s best Cloud and Sonic, Earth, the Brawl stalwart and best Pit in the world as well as 9B, widely regarded as one of Japan’s best Ryu players. There were other threats like Rain, Ryuji, Salena and of course Abadango but many of the main Japanese threats were dispatched before Top 8, leaving Ranai as the only surviving Japanese player to make it to the final day and luckily, in Winners Side. In doubles, Japan had already triumphed, with the team of Ranai’s Villager and Komorikiri’s Cloud besting Nairo and ZeRo’s ZSS and Sheik even after the US team had reset the bracket in Grands, the Japanese still claimed victory, thanks to a humiliating double up smash from Komorikiri’s Cloud to take out both ZeRo and Nairo. The question was, was Japan actually going to take Genesis and finally show themselves as the most dominant region?

Well, after Ranai defeated FoW’s Ness (who had a fantastic showing after a brief hiatus from tournaments), it was time for the ultimate showdown between ZeRo and Ranai. It was an absolute corker of a set, with momentum switching back and forth as each player tried to download the other and claim the victory. The set went to game 5, with ZeRo eventually winning out in what was ‘the most difficult set I have ever played’ according to him in a post-match tweet. Ranai then had to face down Dabuz, who had put on the best performance of his career taking out fan favourite to win, Team Liquid’s Nairo, in another tense match. Dabuz did go on to defeat the Villager God in Losers’ Finals and fought ZeRo to game 5 in the first set of Grands, where the reigning champ was still able to clutch out a victory. While ZeRo’s reign did hold, Dabuz put on a fantastic showing and while he did not win, Ranai will no doubt come back stronger and with the fire in his pocket to triumph.

While the grander storyline of ZeRo versus Ranai captivated many, the run up to Top 8 was fraught with upsets and clashes between nations. The Mexican players really put a dent in the USA’s top players, with Toon Link specialist Hyuga knocking Nairo into Losers’ bracket, as well as causing quite the commotion in the crew battle tournament for Smash 4. 9B, a fearsome Japanese Ryu, was dispatched by Angel Cortes, the Peach master Umeki was taken out by Cacogen and Abadango was sent out of the tournament by Zinoto. The USA did a great job of either gatekeeping or simply besting many of Japan’s top players and silenced many US doubters who claimed that Japan would steamroll through the Genesis 3 bracket. The pride of the UK did fairly well for our first major US outing, with all UK players making it through to round 2 pools. They did not break through to Top 32 however, with Cong and C.R.Z going out to Regi from Mexico and Dainosuke from Japan. Ixis, the UK’s number 1, went a little further than his compatriots, unfortunately losing to Nick Riddle and not quite overcoming his Zero Suit Samus demon. While the UK did pretty well, there is still a massive gap between us and the rest of the world and hopefully, this trip will help give local players the push to travel further and train harder to prove themselves on the world stage.

Speaking of Zero Suit Samus, the breakout performance of Genesis 3 has to go to Marss, a fairly unknown 17 year old from New England, who made his way all the way to Top 8 despite no-one really knowing of him before the event. New England is not held up as a great Smash 4 region, like MD/VA or Socal is but this man put in work, both in singles and doubles. In doubles, Marss and his brother Pugwest put both Nairo and ZeRo, Dabuz and Hyuga into Losers, with the oft seen team of ZSS and Marth. If this is what New England has to offer, keep on the lookout for these two players at future events.

For Melee, the Mango versus Armada rivalry was core to the marketing of this Genesis, with one of the taglines for the event being ‘the set is tied 1-1’. Many were thus expecting the prophecy to be fulfilled, with there being a Mango versus Armada grand finals to see who would finally take the lead. However, due to recent problems in Mango’s private life, it was up for debate whether the GOAT was even going to make it to Genesis to defend the States from the current Rank #1 Melee player. Luckily, Mango was able to attend and even after being put into Losers’ Bracket by Axe just before top 8, the Kid was not to be slept on and stormed his way to Grands, knocking out Plup, Nintendude (who had a great showing at Genesis, even taking out Mew2King on the way to top 8), PPMD and rank #2 Hungrybox for the final showdown with Armada.

The Grand Finals was phenomenal, commentated by HMW and Phil to make it just like old times, the GOAT looked like he was going to finally ascend his throne, successfully resetting bracket against Armada with a 3-1 score and bringing it to one final set. However, Armada did prove why he is the best Melee player in the world, answering right back and taking the Genesis crown with a 3-1 victory. This rivalry will go to a best of 5 however, with Genesis 4 being the true decider as to whether Armada will be made the Greatest of All Time, or if Mango is still the GOAT.

For the biggest Smash 64 tournament of all time, it would only make sense that the supposed titan of Smash Isai, would enter the tournament and show the world how good he really is after all these years out of the limelight. This would not be an easy task, as he would have to take on threats from Mexico, Japan and Canada in order to prove his worth as Smash 64 champion. For all the hype surrounding Isai’s return, he was just there having fun by the looks of it. Chuckling at opponents’ cool combos, smiling even if he was in a bad spot, Isai seemed happy just to be playing Smash 64 than trying to win the tournament.

He did not win in the end, he was taken out by best Jigglypuff Wangera in Losers’ Semifinals, which left SuperBoomFan to face down the two remaining Japanese players in Losers and Grand Finals. Boom beat Wangera 3-1 and after defeating Wario 3-0 in the first set of Grands, it looked like that Boom was set to become Isai’s successor as the king of 64. Wario was having none of it, he had been brought over to Genesis 3 by the fans to win and that’s exactly what he did by defeating Boom with a 3-0 of his own in the final set of Grand Finals. Wario returns to Japan as Genesis champion and arguably the best Smash 64 player in the world, as this victory arguably puts him ahead of Jouske who is often ranked either equal or above Wario.

No matter what game you follow or play, Genesis 3 was probably the best Super Smash Bros tournament in series history and does kick off 2016 as a fantastic year for competitive Smash. The next big supernational is Beast 6 in February, which takes place in Armada’s home town of Gothenburg. Will the Americans mount a counter invasion to combat the Swedish dominance of Melee? Will Leffen finally get on the board after a series of tournament absences and will Europe actually defend the house in Smash 4?