Apex (tournament) explained

Apex
Sport:	Esports
Game:	Super Smash Bros.
Country:	United States
Founded:	2009
Manager:	Andre "Bifuteki" Augustin
Founder:	Johnathan Lugo (resigned)

Apex is an annual esports tournament held in New Jersey that is focused on Super Smash Bros. The event's first incarnation was in 2009 with Jesus "Jman" Fernandez as the champion of Super Smash Bros. Melee and Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyarce as champion of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Each year the event grew with more competitors entering. Apex 2014 garnered 629 entrants and was the 2nd largest tournament for Melee at the time after EVO 2013. Though the tournament initially focused on Brawl, the feature game has since switched to Melee due to its popularity.^[1] In 2010, an event for Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 was added. In 2014, the fan modification of Brawl, Project M was added for singles only. Project M has recently been removed as an official event out copyright concerns under Nintendo of America^[2] sponsorship and Third Party relations.

Apex 2015 was officially sponsored by Nintendo of America^[2] and was the largest tournament for Super Smash Bros. in history until it was surpassed by EVO 2015.^{[3] [4]} Apex has been described as the "Super Bowl of 'Super Smash Bros.'" by Ben Lindbergh of sports website Grantland.^[5]

History

Apex was founded in 2009 by Johnathan Lugo, known by his alias "Alex Strife", as a Super Smash Bros. tournament. The tournament also hosts side events which include fighting games such as Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Tekken, and others.

2009

Apex 2009 was hosted at the Clarion Hotel Palmer Inn in Princeton, New Jersey. The tournament featured Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Melee, and Brawl+. Melee singles was won by Jman and doubles was won by Mew2King and Jman. Brawl singles was won by Ally and doubles was won by Ally and Mew2King. Brawl+ singles was won by ChuDat. In Brawl crews, MD/VA won.

Place	Player	Alias	Character(s)
1st	Jesus Fernandez	Jman	Fox
2nd	Jason Zimmerman	Mew2King	Marth, Sheik, Fox
3rd	Daniel Rodriguez	ChuDat	Ice Climbers
4th	Aziz Al-Yami	Hax	Captain Falcon
5th	Roustane Benzeguir	Kage	Ganondorf
5th	Charles Meighen	Cactuar	Fox
7th	Bobby Scarnewman	Scar	Captain Falcon
7th		Hazz	Fox

Place	Player	Alias	Character(s)
1st	Elliot Carroza-Oyarce	Ally	Snake
2nd	Jason Zimmerman	Mew2King	Meta Knight
3rd		lain	Ice Climbers
4th	Jason Bates	Anti	Meta Knight
5th	Trevor Hirschen	Atomsk	King Dedede
5th	Kelvin Quezada	Ksizzle	Meta Knight
7th	Wyatt Beekman	ADHD	Diddy Kong
7th	Antoine Sledge	Anther	Pikachu

2010

Apex 2010 was hosted in New Brunswick, New Jersey at Rutgers University–New Brunswick's College Avenue Student Center. It featured Melee, Brawl, and Super Smash Bros. 64. It also featured the Brawl mods Brawl+ and Brawl-.

Place	Player	Alias	Character(s)
1st	Juan Debiedma	Hungrybox	Jigglypuff
2nd	Adam Lindgren	Armada	Peach
3rd	Jason Zimmerman	Mew2King	Sheik, Marth, Fox
4th	Kevin Nanney	Dr. PeePee	Falco
5th	Jeffrey Williamson	Axe	Pikachu
5th	Robert Wright	Wobbles	Ice Climbers
7th	Jesus Fernandez	Jman	Fox
7th	Julian Zhu	Zhu	Falco

Place	Player	Alias	Character(s)
1st	Larry Holland	DEHF	Falco
2nd		Brood	Olimar
3rd	Jason Zimmerman	Mew2King	Meta Knight
4th	Lee Martin	Lee Martin	Lucario, Meta Knight
5th	Elliot Carroza-Oyarce	Ally	Snake
5th		lain	Ice Climbers
7th	Tetsuhisa Kosaka	RAIN	Falco, Meta Knight
7th	Trevor Hirschen	Atomsk	King Dedede, Ice Climbers, Wario

Place	Player	Alias	Character(s)
1st	Will Engel	Sensei	Fox
2nd	Michael Brancato	Nintendude	Captain Falcon
3rd	Joe Franks	m3gav01t	Captain Falcon
4th	Jerry Liu	valoem	Pikachu

2012

After a one-year hiatus, Apex 2012 returned to New Brunswick, New Jersey at Rutgers University's College Avenue Student Center. It featured Melee, Brawl, and 64. Melee Singles was won by Armada and doubles by Armada and Mew2King. Brawl was won by Otori in singles and Otori and Kakera in doubles. Smash 64 was won by SuPeRbOoMfAn and doubles was won by Isai and Nintendude. In Melee USA v the World, USA won by a massive 8 stocks. Brawl was set to have a crew battle, but it was cancelled due to time constraints. The tournament was criticized because Brawl did not have enough setups, causing delay in pool matches and necessitating the cancellation of the crew battle.

Place	Player	Alias	Character(s)
1st	Adam Lindgren	Armada	Peach, Young Link
2nd	Juan Debiedma	Hungrybox	Jigglypuff
3rd	Joseph Marquez	Mango	Falco, Fox
4th	Javier Ruiz	Javi	Fox
5th	Kevin Nanney	Dr. PeePee	Falco
5th	David MacDonald	KirbyKaze	Sheik
7th	Aziz Al-Yami	Hax	Captain Falcon
7th	DaJuan McDaniel	Shroomed	Dr. Mario

Place	Player	Alias	Character(s)
1st	Ishikawa Kenta	Otori	Meta Knight
2nd	Yuta Uejima	Nietono	Olimar
3rd	Nairoby Quezada	Nairo	Meta Knight
4th	Eric Lew	ESAM	Ice Climbers, Pikachu
5th	Elliot Carroza-Oyarce	Ally	Snake
5th	Ishikawa Shota	Kakera	Meta Knight
7th	Timothy Campos	UltimateRazer	Snake
7th	Wyatt Beekman	ADHD	Diddy Kong

Place	Player	Alias	Character(s)
1st	Daniel Hoyt	SuPeRbOoMfAn	Captain Falcon, Fox
2nd	Isai Alvarado	Isai	Link
3rd	Jaime Rodriguez	JaimeHR	Captain Falcon, Fox, Samus
4th		Kefit	Pikachu
5th	Michael Brancato	Nintendude	Pikachu, Mario
5th	Will Engel	Sensei	Pikachu, Fox
7th	Joe Franks	m3gav01t	Captain Falcon
7th	Julius Vissing	King Funk	Captain Falcon

2013

Apex 2013 was again hosted in the College Avenue Student Center at Rutgers University featuring Melee, Brawl, and 64. It also featured USA v The World crew battles for both Melee and Brawl. In addition, Melee had The Links v The Stinks crew battle, in which a team of seven Links challenged team of six well known low tier mains and were joined by "The Final Boss," Kage, to a crew battle.

Place	Player	Alias	Character(s)
1st	Adam Lindgren	Armada	Peach, Young Link
2nd	Kevin Nanney	Dr. PeePee	Falco, Marth
3rd	Jason Zimmerman	CT.EMP|Mew2King| Marth, Sheik|-| 4th| Joseph Marquez| Mango| Fox, Falco|-| 5th| Juan Debiedma| Hungrybox| Jigglypuff|-| 5th| DaJuan McDaniel| Shroomed| Dr. Mario|-| 7th| Aziz Al-Yami| Hax| Captain Falcon|-| 7th| David MacDonald| KirbyKaze| Sheik|} Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Saleem Young Salem Zero Suit Samus 2nd Jason Zimmerman CT.EMP|Mew2King| Meta Knight|-| 3rd| Ishikawa Kenta| Otori| Meta Knight|-| 4th| Nairoby Quezada| Nairo| Meta Knight|-| 5th| Jason Bates| Anti| Meta Knight|-| 5th| Takeshi Gomota| Mikeneko| Marth|-| 7th| Samuel Buzby| Dabuz| Olimar|-| 7th| Ramin Delshad| Mr. R| Marth|} Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Nico Watanabe Kikoushi Kirby 2nd Isai Alvarado Isai Mario 3rd Daniel Hoyt SuPeRbOoMfAn Captain Falcon, Fox, Pikachu 4th Akio Tamowo Ruoka Dancho Captain Falcon, Luigi 5th Jaime Rodriguez JaimeHR Captain Falcon, Fox 6th Hugo Morgan Sensei Pikachu, Fox, Captain Falcon 7th Dennis Keith Kefit Pikachu 8th Nangoku Ness 2014 Apex 2014 was hosted at the DoubleTree hotel in Somerset, New Jersey featuring Melee, Project M, Brawl, and 64. Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Kevin Nanney VGBC|Dr. PeePee| Falco, Marth|-| 2nd| Jason Zimmerman| CT.EMP|Mew2King Sheik, Marth, Fox 3rd Joseph Marquez MIOM|Mango| Falco, Fox|-| 4th| William Hjelte| Leffen| Fox|-| 5th| Juan Debiedma| CT|Hungrybox| Jigglypuff|-| 5th| Colin Green| Colbol| Fox|-| 7th| Joshua Davis| SS|s0ft Jigglypuff 7th Shephard Lima Fiction Fox Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Nairoby Quezada Nairo Meta Knight 2nd Gonzalo Barrios CT|ZeRo| Meta Knight|-| 3rd| Eric Lew| ESAM| Pikachu, Ice Climbers|-| 4th| Jason Zimmerman| CT.EMP|Mew2King| Meta Knight|-| 5th| Elliot Carroza-Oyarce| Ally| Meta Knight, Snake|-| 5th| Wyatt Beekman| ADHD| Diddy Kong|-| 7th| Eric Legesse| Tyrant| Meta Knight|-| 7th| Vincent Cannino| Vinnie| Ice Climbers|}	Pit
2nd	Jason Zimmerman	CT.EMP|Mew2King| Fox, Marth, Mewtwo|-| 3rd| Larry Holland| DEHF| Falco, Fox|-| 4th| Brandon Nunnenkamp| Rolex| Snake|-| 5th| Jeremy Westfahl| Fly Amanita| King Dedede|-| 5th| Alexander Maguire| Sethlon| Roy|-| 7th| Elliot Carroza-Oyarce| Ally| Ike|-| 7th| Rob Dickson| Oracle| R.O.B.|}	Falco, Marth
2nd	Adam Lindgren	[A]|Armada| Peach, Fox|-| 3rd| William Hjelte| Leffen| Fox|-| 4th| Joseph Marquez| C9|Mango	Fox, Falco
5th	Masaya Chikamoto	VGBC|aMSa| Yoshi|-| 5th| Juan Debiedma| Liquid|Hungrybox	Jigglypuff
7th	David MacDonald	EMG|KirbyKaze| Sheik|-| 7th| DaJuan McDaniel| Shroomed| Sheik|} Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Gonzalo Barrios ZeRo Diddy Kong 2nd Samuel Buzby PL.XFIRE|Dabuz| Olimar, Rosalina and Luma|-| 3rd| Ramin Delshad| LLL|Mr. R Sheik 4th Wesley Alexander 6WX Sonic 5th Yuta Uejima DtN|Nietono| Sheik|-| 5th| Jason Zimmerman| PL.MVG|Mew2King Diddy Kong 7th Yuta Kawamura Abadango Pac-Man 7th Jestise Negron AO.CT|MVD| Duck Hunt, Little Mac|} Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Daniel Hoyt TEG|SuPeRbOoMfAn Captain Falcon, Pikachu 2nd Eduardo Tovar tacos Yoshi, Kirby, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff 3rd Justin Hallett COG|Wizzrobe| Yoshi|-| 4th| Arturo Hernández| Mariguas| Pikachu, Kirby, Captain Falcon|-| 5th| Abacus Zilch| TR3G|LD Fox 5th KeroKeroppi Kirby, Pikachu 7th Yoshua Castillo SF|Dext3r| Pikachu|-| 7th| Javier Romero| Fireblaster| Yoshi, Mario|} Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Elliot Carroza-Oyarce Boreal|Ally| Snake|-| 2nd| Nairoby Quezada| Nairo| Meta Knight|-| 3rd| Jestise Negron| AO.CT|MVD Snake 4th Saleem Young CT|Salem| Zero Suit Samus|-| 5th| Vishal Balaram| V115| Zero Suit Samus|-| 5th| Vincent Cannino| PL.XFIRE|Vinnie| Ice Climbers|-| 7th| Ufuk Fidan| cyve| Diddy Kong|-| 7th| Takeshi Shimizu| Shimitake| Pikachu|} 2016 After the controversies surrounding the 2015 event, there were doubts over the future of the Apex tournament. However Andre "Bifuteki" Augustin announced that the event would continue under his leadership.^[16] Apex 2016 was the seventh edition of the Apex series which took place on June 17–19, 2016 under the new management of the Bifuteki crew.^[17] The event was considerably smaller the previous incarnation and even had to cancel its Brawl event due to low turnout.^[18] Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Samuel Buzby Dabuz Rosalina 2nd James Makekau-Tyson CLG|VoiD| Sheik, Mewtwo, Fox|-| 3rd| Yuta Uejima| DNG|Nietono| Diddy Kong|-| 4th| Jason Zimmerman| FOX.MVG|Mew2King Cloud 5th Tyler Martins Marss Zero Suit Samus 5th Kelsy Medeiros Circa.HoHSuperGirlKels Sonic 7th Gavin Dempsey DMG|Tweek| Cloud|-| 7th| James Wade| DMG|James| Cloud, Diddy Kong, Luigi|}

Notes and References

1. Web site: The battle for best brawler continues at Apex 2015. Chris Higgins. Red Bull. 26 January 2015. 2015-01-27.
2. Web site: Nintendo Sponsoring Smash Bros. Tournament. Steve Watts. IGN. 2015-01-09. 2015-01-27.
3. Web site: Super Smash Bros. Tournament start date Jan. 30; : Nintendo to sponsor Apex 2015 tournament. Omar Sohail. Christian Today. 2015-01-16. 2015-01-27.
4. Web site: Super Smash Bros Tournament Endorsed by Nintendo. Rob Crossley. GameSpot. 2015-01-12. 2015-01-27.
5. Web site: Fight Club: Catching a Beating at the Super Bowl of 'Super Smash Bros.'. Lindbergh . Ben. Grantland. 2015-02-18. 2015-04-07.
6. Web site: Apex 2015 Will Be the Biggest Super Smash Bros. Melee Tournament Yet. Garrett Jutte. Guardian Liberty Voice. 2015-01-25. 2015-01-27.
7. Web site: Rumor Patrol: Nintendo to Show Off Surprise Game at Apex 2015?. Jason Gallagher. Game Rant. 2015-01-21. 2015-01-27.
8. Web site: Project M expunged altogether from Apex 2015, including Salty Suite. Joe LoGuidice. November 17, 2014. Esports Heaven. January 27, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150202002001/http://www.esportsheaven.com/news/view/64618. 2015-02-02. dead.
9. Web site: Super Smash Bros. Fan Project Told Not To Stream During Apex 2015. Chris Priestman. Siliconera. 2015-01-26. 2015-01-27.
10. Web site: Apex 2015 Becomes Largest Super Smash Bros. Melee Tournament of All Time, Registration Extended One Day. Ian Walker. Shoryuken. 2015-01-12. 2015-01-27. 2015-01-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20150120123357/http://shoryuken.com/2015/01/12/apex-2015-becomes-largest-super-smash-bros-melee-tournament-of-all-time-registration-extended-one-day/. dead.
11. Web site: Fighting game organizer targeted with death threats. Ian J. Barker. The Daily Dot. 2014-11-10. 2015-01-27.
12. Web site: Melee It On Me – Alex Strife steps down from Apex. Daniel Lee. MeleeItOnMe. 2015-01-20. 2015-01-27.
13. Web site: Smash Tourney Organizer Steps Down Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations. Schreier . Jason. Kotaku. 2015-01-20. 2015-01-27.
14. Web site: Smash Tournament Relocates After Hotel Violates Safety Codes. Kotaku. Schreier. Jason. 2015-01-30. 2015-01-30.
15. Web site: Apex 2015 video gaming tourney moved after Secaucus hotel cited for fire code violations. Wilson Conde. 2015-01-30. NJ.com. 2015-01-31.
16. Web site: Bahn . Chris . Why Does Everyone Still Hate Apex? An Interview with Bifuteki . . 2016-06-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160818231406/https://pvplive.net/c/bifuteki-to-fgc-alex-is-no-longer-with-apex . 2016-08-18 . dead .
17. Apex will go down this summer June 17th - 19th.. Apex Series. apex_series. 691697031467896832. 2016-01-25. 2016-02-08.
18. News: Jurek . Steven . Apex cancels Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament due to lack of entrants . . May 29, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160704081956/http://www.dailydot.com/esports/apex-2016-super-smash-bros-brawl-cancellation/ . July 4, 2016.