The Pacific Northwest (often referred to as the PNW) continues to be one of the largest and most active regions in competitive Super Smash Brothers. Melee and Project M are expectedly large in the area, but the region also boasts a large and talented Smash 4 scene as well as a very active and devoted Smash 64 scene. The region’s major monthly, Chris Anderson’s Gameclucks, continues to show increasing numbers, breaking the 100+ entrant mark for Melee singles in November 2014, and the success of the national events hosted by Northwest Majors is a testament to the growth of Smash in the Northwest. Composed of Washington, Oregon and British Columbia, the region hosts many players capable of competing at a national level, but unfortunately are noticeably absent in many discussions regarding the most talented regions in Smash. For whatever reason, many players don’t travel to national or international events, leaving things like the MIOM top 100 barren of Northwest players. Although a perfectly acceptable policy for ranking purposes, the region’s pool of talent still deserves to have some light shed on it. Even the region’s top two players, who were ranked this year, are often not given as much recognition due to them not travelling as frequently as some other top tier players do. So without further adieu, here’s an inside look at the hidden bosses of the Northwest.

Due to the nature of this article, a lot of statements are speculative. However, that can’t be helped when discussing “hidden bosses” as these players do not generally attend tournaments outside of their local scene, giving them the label in the first place.

Bird – Paul Niman | Portland, Oregon | Melee Main: Luigi | Local Rank: 5

Thanks to Reddit, Bird might actually be one of the better known players on this list. His recent Luigi exploits at the Pacific Northwest Regional have put him on the front page of /r/smashbros, and his impressive play in teams versus Alan and HomeMadeWaffles caught the attention of many spectators. Exciting to watch and extremely talented, Bird is someone to watch in the coming years.

OMGage – Gage Hanna | Portland, Oregon | Melee Main: Jigglypuff | Local Rank: N/A (formerly 3)

Gage was considered inactive for the majority of 2014 and was the third best player in Oregon before being removed from the rankings. However, in 2015 he decided to return to Melee. He is now actively participating in Oregon’s local scene and is quickly returning to his old form. Hopefully he makes a commitment in 2015 to attend a few national events, as he plays an extremely capable and persistent Jigglypuff.

FoosJr – Zach Barnett | Milwaukie, Oregon | Melee Main: Sheik | Local Rank: 3

The Oregonian Sheik is a strong presence at any PNW tournament he attends. FoosJr is currently considered the third best player in Oregon and has made a name for himself in the Northwest with his consistent top 6 placings at local and regional tournaments.

Iceman – Evan Tice | Tukwila, WA | Melee Main: Marth | Local Rank: 4

@Tuk_Basement

The “up and coming” Marth main from Washington seems to only get better. Over the past few years, Washington has seen Evan Tice climb his way up the Washington PR. He currently holds 4th place, and seems to have no signs of slowing down his progress, continually training with the “Tuk” crew. At EVO 2014 he would knock Puerto Rican Peach player Excel Zero into losers side of his pool, only to lose in their losers finals set later on. He’s also known to have beaten talented players like Vish, FoosJr, Yakal and has had very close sets with out-of-region players like Laudandus.

Yakal – Yakal Watson | Vancouver, British Columbia | Melee Main: Fox, Falco | Local Rank: 3

This talented spacie main (sometimes seen under the tag Dio Brando) is best known for his performance at The Big House 3 where he placed 13th. Since then he hasn’t attended many nationals besides EVO 2013 (where he placed 65th), but he’s continued to level up his play locally. His placement at Northwest Majors 6 and other large regional tournaments have made him notable among his peers and easily a contender for top 10 in the entire PNW.

Fat Goku – Steven Callopy | Portland, Oregon | Melee Main: Fox | Local Rank: 2

Another rising star in the Northwest, Fat Goku’s improvement over the past year has been shocking, but perhaps not unexpected. Although he’s been known to be an impressive Oregon player for a long period of time, his recent performances have shown he’s a contender for top 10 in the entire Northwest. He’s beaten FoosJr and Gage several times recently, two players formerly considered to be above him in the Oregon scene. He’s also had impressive sets against Washington’s best and against Norcal’s HomeMadeWaffles.

Dieslow – Tony Le | Surrey, British Columbia | Melee Main: Fox | Local Rank: N/A (formerly 1)

In the past Dieslow was considered to be the best player in BC, capable of beating players like Blunted Object and Sion. That isn’t the case anymore. His commitment to Melee has wavered in the past year as he has delved into competitive poker, but is still a definite threat at any tournament he decides to attend.

[62-Bit] Vish – Vish Rajkumar | Lake City, Washington | Melee Main: Captain Falcon | Local Rank: 3

@ViciousVish

Although sometimes overshadowed by the presence of Silent Wolf and Bladewise, Washington’s third best player is no slouch and is no doubt one of the best players in the entire PNW. His performance at national tournaments continues to get better, and he consistently places in stronger and stronger positions at Northwest events. At the Washington Gameclucks monthly Vish has taken out Toph, Sheridan and pushed both Norcal Samus Darrell and Bladewise to game 5. Vish also beat Westballz at EVO 2013. More recently at the Pacific Northwest Majors he had close sets with both Sion and Mew2King.

Shunsuke – Shunsuke Ogawa | Victoria, British Columbia | Melee Main: Sheik | Local Rank: 1

Shunsuke is perhaps the greatest hidden boss in the entire PNW. Although it’s unlikely he is a stronger player than Chip, even less people know of his existence. Originally from Japan, he has resided on Vancouver Island for the last few years and was attending Camosun College. He is considered to be the best player on the island, but has only attended one Vancouver mainland event. At that event however, he earned a strong 4th, placing only below Silent Wolf, Bladewise and Blunted Object. Along the way he would defeat the top players from BC, Sion and Dieslow, making him a debatable 2nd place in all of BC and top 5 in all of the Northwest. He also recently attended Apex 2015, beating Alan in losers side of round 1 pools to secure a spot in round 2 before losing a tight to set to Redd. He has gone to Japan since Apex and is expected to return to Vancouver Island in September.

Chip – Brendan Duffey | Spokane, Washington | Melee Main: Marth | Local Rank: 1

Residing in Spokane is one of the most talented Melee players in the world, and no one knows it. Chip’s attendance has been limited to only the Eastern Washington scene since early 2014, where he is considered “untouchable” by the rest of the EWA community, even with other talented local players around such as Alien and Kamaji. Chip’s absolutely dominating performance in his local scene and his performances against Silent Wolf and Bladewise lead many who know him to believe that he would be in a shoe in for top 50 in the world. Eastern Washington eagerly awaits the chance for Chip to prove his skill to the community at large, if he ever decides to do so.

Eggz – Shane Walter Johns | Portland, Oregon | Melee Main: Fox | Local Rank: 1

The second top tier Northwest Fox main hasn’t traveled much in the past year, but is still very active within his local scene. Although his performances at nationals like EVO 2013/2014 display some inconsistency, he continues to be far and away the best player in Oregon. A focused Eggz is a fearsome competitor capable of taking multiple games off of Bladewise and Silent Wolf in bracket, and is definitely a worldwide top 80 player.

Sion – Evan Rodriguez | Vancouver, British Columbia | Melee Main: Falco | Local Rank: 2

@Esofor

For a period of time Sion was hands down the best player in the entire Pacific Northwest. Although players like Silent Wolf and Blunted Object have risen over him as time has passed, he remains the solid number 4 in the entire region. Melee has taken a backseat in his life recently due to work and his interest in anime fighting games, but he still boasts impressive performances at the tournaments he does attend. After narrowly losing to Vish at Pacific Northwest Regionals, he moved on to face a motivated Laudandus where he would lose an extremely close set.

Blunted_Object10 – Eric Currie Brown | Burnaby, British Columbia | Melee Main: Falco | Local Rank: 1

The third best player (and most likely a MIOM top 60 player if he traveled more) in the Northwest is an extremely strong Falco main and one of the famous Brown brothers. Blunted Object’s play is full of aggressive, fast and well spaced combos. He’s convincingly defeated players like Toph and S2J, has pushed Silent Wolf and SFAT to last game last stock, and has been the dominating force in BC Melee for the past several years. Unfortunately he rarely leaves BC any more for tournaments as he devotes more time to his personal life and other Smash games, but he still occasionally showcases his impressive play at Northwest Majors to the surprise of many outside of the region.

[62-bit] Bladewise – Teddy Seybold | Renton, Washington | Melee Main: Peach | Local Rank: 2

@bladewise00

Bladewise is the other common national competitor from the PNW. A top 30 player, he has a very strong and methodical Peach game, and is biting at the heels of MacD for the best Peach this side of the Atlantic. Bladewise is known for his consistent placings at national tournaments, getting 25th at The Big House 4, EVO 2014 and Apex 2015 where he beat players such as Professor Pro, Zhu and KDJ. However his strongest recent performance was at Northwest Majors 6, where he would defeat long time rival Silent Wolf in losers bracket and ran all the way to Grand Finals where he then lost to Mew2King.

GC | Silent Wolf – Otto Bisno | Tukwila, Washington | Melee Main: Fox | Local Rank: 1

@SilentWolf444

By far the best player in the PNW and debatably top 10 in the world, Silent Wolf is one of the few players from the Northwest who is a continuing threat at national tournaments. This year would see Silent Wolf defeat Leffen at EVO 2014 for a spot in top 8, as well as a 2nd place finish at Do You Fox Wit It in Norcal where he would push tournament victor Hax to game 5 twice in some of the best Fox dittos Melee has ever seen. He has also been travelling to Norcal more in general, going to several Smash at the Foundry tournaments where he’s placed 2nd at all four events he’s attended. Washington awaits the next true international tournament to be held in Norcal (Boback just host Genesis 3 for christs sake), as it seems Silent Wolf is guaranteed to place 2nd at any Norcal event he goes to regardless of its attendees.

Community Figures

Behind every local scene there are people that are integral to its success and growth, and the Pacific Northwest is no exception. Here’s five the most helpful and devoted people from the PNW scene.

Gimpyfish62 – Tony Dennis | Edmonds, Washington | Melee Main: Bowser

Gimpyfish is an old school smasher known for his amazing Melee Bowser. He doesn’t play competitively anymore and has entered very few tournaments over the past several years, but he’s very involved in the Northwest scene. He is the owner and founder of 62-Bit Gaming and travels around the region streaming Smash tournaments and events, as well as Let’s Plays during the weeks. Without him the majority of VoDs for PNW players would not exist, as well as several local player sponsorships. Check out his stream at http://twitch.tv/62bitgaming

Chris Anderson | Lynwood, Washington

Chris is a major figurehead in not only the Northwest Smash community, but the FGC community as well. For the past 8+ years Chris has been hosting Smash monthlies at his LAN center Gameclucks. This recurring tournament is the major meet up for players across the entire region and has seen massive growth over the past couple years, with players coming from as far as Norcal to attend. Chris also hosts all Northwest Majors events, including the Pacific Northwest Regional. Northwest Majors has seen a lot of growth over the last several years as well, becoming a Capcom Tour stop, hosting more than 10+ fighting games each event, and seeing players from all over the world attend. Northwest Majors 7 looks to be the largest event in the PNW yet. The Pacific Northwest Smash scene owes a lot of its growth and success to this man.

Mofat – Kiff McFast | Portland, Oregon

A popular streamer from Oregon, he streams almost all of Oregon’s major tournaments as well as some Northwest Majors events. He is also a very talented commentator, often appearing on the mic for larger PNW events. Mofat is a major factor in helping the Oregon local scene grow and gain more exposure to the Smash community at large.

Jamnt0ast – Ben Marks | Cheney, Washington | Melee Main: Falco

Eastern Washington has always been cut off from the rest of the Northwest, but that hasn’t stopped its local scene from developing and growing. Jamnt0ast has not only helped the EWA scene grow, but flourish. He helps TO and stream their popular monthly Black Wolf while also helping with the Gameclucks monthly when he makes the trip over to Western Washington. He also plays a decent Falco in Melee, and is one of the best Smash 4 players in the entire Pacific Northwest.

Firefly – Jake Turner | Coquitlam, British Columbia | Melee Main: Marth

Perhaps the best TO in the entire region, Firefly has ran many of BC’s largest tournaments (sometimes singlehandedly) and has assisted in the success of other regional tournaments. While the former group Play-For-Keeps (P4K) has come under fire recently due to controversy surrounding its owner Ben Rees, other members of P4K like Firefly put a lot of work in over the course of 2014 to grow the BC Smash community. BC events are known to be very inclusive for every Smash game and is a leading example for the One Unit concept. Firefly himself plays Melee, Project M, Brawl, and Smash 4, the last two of which he is extremely proficient in and would be among the top 10 best in the PNW for.