Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, sometimes abbreviated as Smash 4, is a crossover fighting video game for the Wii U. Players control one of 58 characters drawn from Nintendo and third-party game franchises, and try to knock their opponents out of an arena. Each player has a percentage meter which rises as they take damage; characters become easier to knock into the air or out of bounds as the percentage increases.

While Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS is in many ways the same game, the Nintendo 3DS being a handheld system severely limits its viability as both a competitive game and a spectator sport. While the game was played competitively for a few months before the Wii U version's release, there have been few if any serious competitions for it since.

Overview Games in the Super Smash Bros. series have been played competitively since the early 2000s, but the inclusion of Super Smash Bros. Melee at the 2013 edition of Evolution Championship Series (EVO), a major multi-game tournament, was seen as a turning point; after EVO 2013, competitive Smash saw an increase in tournaments, media coverage, and attention from Nintendo. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the fourth Smash Bros. title; all four have been played competitively, as has a fan-made mod of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Project M. While Smash for Wii U tournament rules initially varied, by 2016 they had standardized; the first player to knock their opponent out of the arena twice within a six-minute match timer wins the set. Matches are played as best-of-three sets in early rounds of the tournament and best-of-five sets in later rounds. Tournaments use the double-elimination format; after their first loss players are sent to a lower bracket to compete against other players on their first loss, and following their second loss players are eliminated from the competition.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U was released in North America and Europe in November 2014 and in Japan the following month. The game was both a critical and commercial success; it received strong reviews, and became the fastest-selling Wii U game in the United States, with almost half a million copies sold within its first three days. As of March 2020, it sold over 5.3 million copies. However, despite the game's popularity, prize pools for Smash tournaments were well below those of other esports. Unlike many other developers, Nintendo does not contribute to tournament prize pools. At EVO 2017, Smash for Wii U had 1,515 competitors and a prize pool of $15,150, funded entirely from entrance fees. At the same tournament, Injustice 2 had a prize pool of $50,000, despite having around half as many competitors, due to funding from its publisher, Warner Bros. Interactive. Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios, widely considered the greatest Smash for Wii U player of all time, stated in 2018 that one could earn more by working at McDonald's than by winning EVO, and that he had earned only $45,000 for winning a world record 56 consecutive tournaments across 2015 and 2016.

Smash Bros. tournaments are generally seeded so that the best players do not face off against each other until the later stages of an event. The most authoritative ranking of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U players is the Panda Global Rankings (PGR). Five editions of the PGR rankings were released, covering tournaments held between 2015 and 2018. The PGR 100, a ranking of the 100 best Smash for Wii U players of all time, was released after the last regular ranking, and factored six more major tournaments into the rankings. In late 2018, the next Super Smash Bros. title, Ultimate, was released, and the PGR shifted to cover that game; since then, there have been very few Smash for Wii U tournaments, and none of comparable size/prestige to when it was the newest instalment. In the first two rankings, covering 2015 and 2016, the PGR designated a combined 13 tournaments as major events with increased influence on the rankings. Beginning with the third edition of the PGR, tournaments were grouped into one of four tiers – S, A, B, and C – based on the number of competitors with S being the most prestigious tier and C the least. In the fifth PGR, S was replaced with A+. This list contains all PGR majors, S-tier, A+-tier, and A-tier events from the release of Smash for Wii U through the end of the PGR in 2018.

PGR major tournaments

The following is a list of results from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournaments in 2015 and 2016 considered major by the Panda Global Rankings.

+Tournament LocationDateEntrantsPrize pool1st2nd3rd4thAPEX 2015Somerset, New Jersey, United StatesJanuary 30–February 1, 2015734$15,055 ZeRo Dabuz Mr. R 6WXCEO 2015Orlando, Florida, United StatesJune 26–28, 2015512 ZeRo Nairo Dabuz Larry LurrEVO 2015Las Vegas, Nevada, United StatesJuly 17–19, 20151,926 ZeRo Mr. R Nairo AbadangoParagon Los Angeles 2015Ontario, California, United StatesSeptember 5–6, 2015505 Nairo Dabuz MVD AllyThe Big House 5Dearborn, Michigan United StatesOctober 2–4, 2015512$6,120 ZeRo Nairo Dabuz ANTiGENESIS 3San Jose, California, United StatesJanuary 15–17, 20161,096$13,930 ZeRo Dabuz Ranai VoiDPound 2016McLean, Virginia, United StatesApril 2–3, 2016513 Abadango Ally Marss Mr. RCEO 2016Orlando, Florida, United StatesJune 24–26, 2016906 ANTi Zinoto Dabuz AbadangoEVO 2016Las Vegas, Nevada, United StatesJuly 15–17, 20162,662$26,620 Ally Kameme ZeRo VoiDSuper Smash Con 2016Chantilly, Virginia, United StatesAugust 11–14, 20161,272 Nairo Dabuz Mr. R VoiDThe Big House 6Dearborn, Michigan, United StatesOctober 7–9, 2016777 ZeRo ANTi Komorikiri Mr. RUGC Smash OpenCollinsville, Illinois, United StatesDecember 2–4, 2016205$15,000+ ZeRo Abadango ESAM Nairo2GGT ZeRo SagaLas Vegas, Nevada, United StatesDecember 16–18, 2016361$10,000+ MkLeo Larry Lurr VoiD ZeRo

PGR S-tier and A+-tier tournaments

The following is a list of results from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournaments considered S-tier or A+-tier by the Panda Global Rankings. +TournamentLocationDateEntrantsPrize pool1st2nd3rd4thGENESIS 4San Jose, California, United StatesJanuary 20–22, 20171,010 MkLeo Ally ZeRo CaptainZack2GGC: Civil WarSanta Ana, California, United StatesMarch 24–26, 2017573$15,000 Dabuz Fatality T CaptainZack2GGC: Nairo SagaSanta Ana, California, United StatesJune 10–11, 2017485$20,000 ZeRo Salem MkLeo NairoCEO 2017Ontario, California, United StatesJune 16–18, 2017611 ZeRo MkLeo Larry Lurr NairoEVO 2017Las Vegas, Nevada, United StatesJuly 14–16, 20171,515$15,150 Salem ZeRo Larry Lurr TweekDreamHack Atlanta 2017Atlanta, Georgia, United StatesJuly 21–23, 2017393$10,000 Salem VoiD Tweek NairoSuper Smash Con 2017Chantilly, Virginia, United StatesAugust 10–13, 20171,531 Nairo ZeRo MkLeo Mr. R2GGC: SCR Saga Santa Ana, California, United StatesAugust 19–20, 2017301$3,000+ ZeRo MkLeo Larry Lurr MistakeShine 2017Boston, Massachusetts, United StatesAugust 25–27, 2017659 ZeRo Tweek Nairo SalemGame Tyrant Expo 2017Salt Lake City, Utah, United StatesSeptember 29–October 1, 2017332$30,000 MkLeo Elegant ZeRo Larry LurrThe Big House 7Detroit, Michigan, United StatesOctober 6–8, 2017512 Dabuz Marss Cosmos ZeRo2GGC: Fire Emblem SagaSanta Ana, California, United StatesOctober 14–15, 2017351 Salem Nairo Komorikiri Tweek2GGC: MkLeo SagaSanta Ana, California, United StatesNovember 4, 2017313 Tweek KEN MkLeo Nairo2GG ChampionshipSanta Ana, California, United StatesDecember 1–3, 201720$50,000 MkLeo ZeRo Salem Dabuz2GG: Hyrule SagaLong Beach, California, United StatesJune 23–24, 2018780 Tweek Mr. R Dabuz ANTiCEO 2018Orlando, Florida, United StatesJune 29–July 1, 2018679 MkLeo Tweek Cosmos CaptainZackEVO 2018Las Vegas, California, United StatesAugust 3–5, 20181,358 Lima CaptainZack Nietono MistakeSuper Smash Con 2018Chantilly, Virginia, United StatesAugust 9–12, 20181,380 MkLeo Samsora Tweek Cosmos

PGR A-tier tournaments

The following is a list of results from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournaments considered A-tier by the Panda Global Rankings. +TournamentLocationDateEntrantsPrize pool1st2nd3rd4th2GGC: Genesis SagaSanta Ana, California, United StatesJanuary 14, 2017466$2,000+ ZeRo Komorikiri VoiD Tweek2GGC: Midwest Mayhem SagaSanta Ana, California, United StatesFebruary 11, 2017331$2,000+ ZeRo Tweek Komorikiri NedFrostbite 2017Ann Arbor, Michigan, United StatesFebruary 25–26, 2017342 ZeRo Tsu Nairo DabuzFrame Perfect Series 2Orlando, Florida, United StatesMarch 18–19, 2017208$1,500+ Kirihara ZeRo MkLeo KomorikiriCEO DreamlandOrlando, Florida, United StatesApril 14–16, 2017376 ZeRo Mr. R Nairo DabuzDreamHack Austin 2017Austin, Texas, United StatesApril 28–30, 2017313$10,000 ZeRo MkLeo Ally Larry LurrUmebura Japan MajorTokyo, JapanMay 6–8, 2017478 MkLeo KEN Choco 9BRoyal Flush 2017Atlantic City, New Jersey, United StatesMay 12–14, 2017146$5,000 ZeRo Mr. R Tweek VoiD2GGC: Greninja SagaSanta Ana, California, United StatesMay 20, 2017350$5,000+ Ally Larry Lurr Komorikiri ANTiMomoCon 2017Atlanta, Georgia, United StatesMay 25–28, 2017 286$5,000+ Nairo Fatality ZeRo Larry LurrSmash'N'Splash 3Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, United StatesJune 2–4, 2017444 ZeRo Ally Larry Lurr Tweek2GGC: Arms SagaSanta Ana, California, United StatesJuly 8–9, 2017200$1,500+ Dabuz ZeRo KEN VoiDPAX Arena at PAX West 2017Seattle, Washington, United StatesSeptember 1–4, 201712 ZeRo Nairo Salem Ally2GGC: West Side SagaSanta Ana, California, United StatesSeptember 9, 2017300$2,000+ ZeRo Tweek Shuton KENIBP Masters ShowdownSanta Ana, California, United StatesNovember 11–12, 2017131$10,000 MkLeo Larry Lurr KEN KomorikiriGenesis 5Oakland, California, United StatesJanuary 19–21, 2018674 MkLeo Mistake Salem NairoFrostbite 2018Dearborn, Michigan, United StatesFebruary 9–11, 2018866 Dabuz Tweek Mistake SalemSML: Battle for VegasLas Vegas, Nevada, United StatesMarch 24–27, 2018154$25,000 Nairo MkLeo Mistake FatalitySwitchFestLong Beach, California, United StatesApril 21–22, 2018162 MkLeo Nairo Larry Lurr KomorikiriGet On My Level 2018Mississauga, Ontario, CanadaMay 18–20, 2018446 MkLeo Nairo Mistake KomorikiriMomoCon 2018Atlanta, Georgia, United StatesMay 24–27, 2018353$5,000 Tweek Salem Komorikiri NairoSmash'N'Splash 4Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, United StatesJune 1–3, 2018527$5,000+ VoiD Salem MkLeo LightSmash SoundsBrooklyn, New York, United StatesJuly 7–8, 2018261 Dabuz Abadango Shuton LightShine 2018Boston, Massachusetts, United StatesAugust 24–26, 2018472 Salem Mistake Tweek LightThe Big House 8Detroit, Michigan, United StatesOctober 5–7, 2018281 Cosmos ESAM Tweek yetiDreamHack Atlanta 2018Atlanta, Georgia, United StatesNovember 16–18, 2018280 Tweek Dabuz VoiD Wrath

Notes

References