One other yr, one other missed Combo Contest. I’ve sadly determined to go to Monterey Automobile Week this summer time, which suggests I received’t be capable of attend the newly expanded Supernova (aka Smash Con) and watch my favourite tourney of all time: the Combo Contest.
Supernova is the biggest Smash occasion on this planet, that includes tournaments for Melee, Final, Brawl, 64, and even Mission M (not less than previously). It additionally has a Smash awards present, cosplay contest, friendlies, and all the wonderful stuff you’d count on from a community-focused occasion. Meaning professionals doing cash matches and followers taking bets on the Prime 8 and all the opposite chaos.
And one in all my favourite tournaments begins off the lengthy weekend: the Combo Contest.
The magic of the Combo Contest (and Huntsman’s ft)
The Combo Contest takes place inside Smash 64, buried within the coaching mode. The aim: get as many hits on an NPC earlier than KO’ing them. You will need to by no means drop the string and also you have to be as artistic as attainable. Then, judges offers you a rating as much as 10 primarily based on innovation, expertise, and madness.
Up to now few years, there have been some insane stand-out moments. Blake “Huntsman” Davis had everybody shook when he whipped out two controllers to regulate two totally different characters for one in all his combos. And he managed one of many characters together with his ft. I witnessed this in particular person, and I can say it was each gross and unbelievable to observe somebody be barefoot on a Smash stage.
He stepped it up in 2025 and had three characters, which suggests three controllers. One in his hand, and one for every foot.
Then there’s the Japanese participant, Prince, who is without doubt one of the most flawless Combo Contest contestants on the market. He can pull off extremely complicated combos with a better success price than different gamers, even when there are a number of gadgets and loopy trajectory angles to maintain monitor of. He wasn’t there the previous few years, however I managed to get him to signal my Smash Con shirt some time again.
The hype from the judges – particularly Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma standing up in disbelief – and the cheers from the entertained crowd make this one of the vital electrical moments of the weekend. However what makes the Combo Contest the very best Smash match is that it completely embodies the spirit of the scene.
It might’t be recreated, it may well’t be faked
The Combo Contest received’t get you any fame and barely any cash. You can be even much less of a well-known title than the highest gamers in Melee and Final. There are individuals inside the Smash scene itself who received’t know you. That is really for the love of the sport.
The Combo Contest is about ardour, talent, dedication, and innovation. You’re taking a recreation from the Nineteen Nineties and persevering with to seek out new exploits, new combos, new methods, and new methods to indicate your talent that’s past everybody else who has been grinding for many years. That is like Melee on steroids. It’s the identical handful of characters, the identical gadgets, the identical levels, however you could discover a method to be additional artistic and further proficient to face out. Years later. That’s why you’ll see the naked ft come out (free of charge) and the additional controllers.
After you provide you with an insane, never-before-seen combo in a recreation over 30 years previous, you must grind that combo for a complete yr. You must dedicate a ton of time to perfecting the combo in hopes that will probably be executed as near excellent as attainable come Supernova. Meaning learning precisely how far an NPC falls again at a sure share, how briskly an NPC flies when hit with a sure merchandise at a sure harm share… It’s insanity.
And also you’re practising that each one yr only for a small group of bizarre Smash followers. No one else on this planet even cares. And that doesn’t hassle you. You simply wish to show your self. You simply wish to pull off one thing loopy for the few that get it.
The Combo Contest is Smash in its rawest type. It’s the sort of magic that may’t be replicated anyplace else. In truth, in case you threw extra money on the Combo Contest, it might even threat killing it utterly. It’s not about an enormous manufacturing. It’s not about viewership on a stream. There isn’t a compelled hype right here. There’s no particular second that may be clip farmed. It’s a kind of issues that may only happen in the Smash community, in its present bubble.
As a result of the magic of the Combo Contest is in its realness. Its rawness. The willpower to win after grinding a combo all yr, even when it means no cash, no recognition. Take that facet away, and it’s destroyed. That is the epitome of Smash tradition and its obsession with ardour and sweatiness. Gamers that grind all yr, put their whole life and soul into an previous recreation, collapse to their knees and cry once they win a match… This can be a tradition that may’t be bought and formulated.
That being stated, who can’t wait to observe Huntsman whip out his ft at Supernova 2026? I can safely say that I’d moderately see that than all the hypercars on this planet. So I’ll be there subsequent yr. I’ve to be. It’s value flying throughout the nation. It’s one thing which you can’t expertise or really feel anyplace else.
I’m speaking in regards to the Combo Contest, BTW. Not simply seeing his grippers on a N64 controller.
