One other 12 months, one other missed Combo Contest. I’ve sadly determined to go to Monterey Automobile Week this summer season, which suggests I gained’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 most important Smash occasion on the planet, that includes tournaments for Melee, Final, Brawl, 64, and even Challenge M (at the very least prior to now). It additionally has a Smash awards present, cosplay contest, friendlies, and all the superb stuff you’d count on from a community-focused occasion. Meaning professionals doing cash matches and followers taking bets on the High 8 and all the opposite chaos.
And one among 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 purpose: get as many hits on an NPC earlier than KO’ing them. You need to by no means drop the string and also you have to be as artistic as attainable. Then, judges provides you with a rating as much as 10 based mostly 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 manage two completely different characters for one among his combos. And he managed one of many characters along with his ft. I witnessed this in particular person, and I can say it was each gross and unbelievable to look at 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 likely one of the most flawless Combo Contest contestants on the market. He can pull off extremely advanced combos with a better success fee than different gamers, even when there are a number of objects 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 probably the most electrical moments of the weekend. However what makes the Combo Contest one of the best Smash event is that it completely embodies the spirit of the scene.
It could possibly’t be recreated, it may’t be faked
The Combo Contest gained’t get you any fame and barely any cash. You may be even much less of a well-recognized title than the highest gamers in Melee and Final. There are folks inside the Smash scene itself who gained’t know you. That is actually for the love of the sport.
The Combo Contest is about ardour, talent, dedication, and innovation. You’re taking a recreation from the Nineties and persevering with to search 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 objects, the identical levels, however you will need to discover a solution to be further artistic and additional gifted to face out. Years later. That’s why you’ll see the naked ft come out (at no cost) and the additional controllers.
After you give you an insane, never-before-seen combo in a recreation over 30 years previous, it’s important to grind that combo for a complete 12 months. You need to dedicate a ton of time to perfecting the combo in hopes that it is going to be executed as near good as attainable come Supernova. Meaning learning precisely how far an NPC falls again at a sure proportion, how briskly an NPC flies when hit with a sure merchandise at a sure harm proportion… It’s insanity.
And also you’re practising that each one 12 months only for a small group of bizarre Smash followers. No person else on the planet even cares. And that doesn’t trouble 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 wherever else. In actual fact, in case you threw extra money on the Combo Contest, it might even danger 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 type of issues that may solely occur within the Smash neighborhood, in its present bubble.
As a result of the magic of the Combo Contest is in its realness. Its rawness. The dedication to win after grinding a combo all 12 months, 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 12 months, 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 mentioned, who can’t wait to look at Huntsman whip out his ft at Supernova 2026? I can safely say that I’d relatively see that than all the hypercars on the planet. So I’ll be there subsequent 12 months. I’ve to be. It’s price flying throughout the nation. It’s one thing that you may’t expertise or really feel wherever else.
I’m speaking concerning the Combo Contest, BTW. Not simply seeing his grippers on a N64 controller.
