50. Beef_MN – East Coast Rank #25
49. 8bitBishop – West Coast Rank # 25
48. NewbTube – East Coast Rank #24
47. SotoH – West Coast Rank # 24
46. grandma – East Coast Rank #23
45. DANKEYKANG69 – West Coast Rank #23
44. FranK – West Coast Rank #22
43. Guapo88 – West Coast Rank #21
42. n8s – East Coast Rank #22
41. Dr Berl – West Coast Rank #20
40. Big Red – East Coast Rank #21
39. ReefyBeefy – West Coast Rank #19
38. near – West Coast Rank #18
37. miniohh – East Coast Rank #20
36. FAdE – West Coast Rank #17
35. Mssngn0 – West Coast Rank #16
34. LETSGO – West Coast Rank #15
33. cobr – West Coast Rank #14
32. Box – East Coast Rank #19
31. Antwon420 – East Coast Rank #18
30. K_Ruel – West Coast Rank #13
29. Sombrero3000 – West Coast Rank #12
28. The Yid – East Coast Rank #17
27. Janco – East Coast Rank #16
26. Killer – East Coast Rank #15
25. freke – East Coast Rank #14
24. YoshiFanGM – East Coast Rank #13
23. pikashy – West Coast Rank # 11
22. Param0 – West Coast Rank #10
21. Yobolight – East Coast Rank #12
20. KrisKringle – West Coast Rank #9
19. lordnarwhal – East Coast Rank #11
18. eL maN – West Coast Rank #8
17. Crovy – West Coast Rank #7
16. Zuber – West Coast Rank #6
15. B33F – East Coast Rank #10
14. Shihman – West Coast Rank #5
13. Spongy – East Coast Rank #9
12. emptyW – West Coast Rank #4
11. Dogs_Johnson – East Coast Rank #8
10. Finio – East Coast Rank #7
Finio has been one of the best tristate players for years leading up to the COVID era, getting 4th at Keystoned IV in March of 2020. With no in-person tournaments for the pika main to go to, he turned his attention to online play. Thankfully for him, pikashy’s weekly online netplay pools proved to be a great competitive outlet for finio where he would show off how clean his gameplay is to the larger 64 netplay scene. In the 4th week of the east coast weekly pools finio managed to get 2nd place, only to top that by getting 1st a week later beating Dogs_Johnson, B33F, Janco, and SKG. Although he entered few events, he managed to only suffer losses to three people: Hotline, lordnarwhal, and SKG. Unlike some competitors, finio proved during the 2020 online period that he was able to transfer his prowess and consistency on console to netplay with few issues.
– Dogs_Johnson
9. Hammerheart – East Coast Rank #6
Hammerheart had an ephemeral online season where he would mysteriously come and go as he did when he was known on netplay as COOLBLADE_1992. Trading in his SNES controller for an OG 64 stick, he managed to make it to grand finals where he’d succumb to the legendary Superboomfan but not before beating low-tier hero (disguised as a racecar driver) Fray and double eliminating rainshifter, aka the famous fox main, LD. Later in the season, he’d lose to Boomfan again and fellow North-east rival BarkSanchez but between his three losses to Boom and a single loss to Josh Brody, Hammerheart lost to literally no one else. There’s no telling if the Kirby main will come back to netplay tournaments, but one thing is for certain: if he does, he will land some goofy down smashes on platforms on almost everyone he plays against.
– Dogs_Johnson
8. Fray – East Coast Rank #5
Fray may not attend many console events, but he has long established himself as one of the top online players. Being the phenom that he is, Fray managed to not only best puff main CTG in one puff’s best matchups with Ness, but also Kirby main SKG; a match up that’s considered one of the very hardest in the entire game. He is generally viewed as the premier Ness main of NA, but his skill as a player extends far beyond that. He demonstrated exceptional competence with other characters during this quarantine period, namely that of Captain Falcon. Most players that utilize this character tend to struggle against Kirby, or even avoid the matchup outright. Fray proved himself to be an outlier in this sense by taking multiple sets against high level Kirby players, including Qapples and SKG.
– SKG
7. Isai – West Coast Rank #3
Isai only entered a handful of events during this 2020 era, but it was more than enough to leave a lasting impact. He is well known for experimenting with various characters at any given time, and this quarantine era was no exception. Between Pika, Samus, Kirby, and Luigi there were multiple memorable sets that took place. Including himself vs JaimeHR, which became somewhat of a west coast showdown during this time. Despite his primary usage of lower tier characters, Isai did not drop sets to individuals outside of JaimeHR and BarkSanchez.
-SKG
6. BarkSanchez – East Coast Rank #4
Donning his former tag of BarkSanchez, the console mainstay Josh Brody was quick to exceed expectations when he exploded onto the online scene with a 2nd place finish behind SuPeRbOoMfAn at the year’s largest tournament: Quarantined Rapport. The Pikachu main would later repeat this feat at Quarantined Rapport 2 and continue to put up strong performances in large brackets throughout the year, proving himself to be a constant threat even against well-seasoned netplay veterans. Although his placement on this list was hurt slightly by some shaky performances at online weeklies, in 2020 Josh made something abundantly clear: BarkSanchez is far more than just an “online Samus main.”
– Fray
5. rainshifter – West Coast Rank #2
Rainshifter, also known as LD, has long been a staple of the online scene. For many years LD dominated east coast netplay, looking nearly untouchable and only ever dropping tournaments to Boom. During this time he became well known and endeared for his unique persona, unorthodox game opinions, and one of a kind reactionary Fox with a bar-none punish game. When the 2020 pandemic hit LD had moved westward and was granted an opportunity to prove his bracket prowess against new challengers like JaimeHR and Isai. Unsurprisingly, LD excelled as usual taking 1st place at Quarantined Rapport 1 and 2 with his signature clean Fox play and finishing the year off as the only player with a winning record against Jaime in west coast events. He did falter a couple of times through the year, dropping sets to up-and-comers eL maN and Crovy, but Fox is Fox after all… and we’re sure he could have 4 stocked them if he had just gotten a little more sleep.
– Fray
4. SKG – East Coast Rank #3
SKG, SmashKindaGuy, has been an integral member of the smash 64 netplay scene for years before the 2020 online era. The thousands of hours of games over the years helped hone his skill in a way that culminated in an Armada-like performance in 2020 where he would not drop a single set to anyone outside the top 10. The Kirby main had at least one set win on everyone he played against aside from the great SuPeRbOoMfAn. During the weekly pools, SKG managed several of the pools between the east and west coasts combined. Although he didn’t have a big break-out tournament during the Quarantine Rapports or Boss Battle Online, SKG’s consistency proved that he is the gatekeeper of top echelon play of online 64.
– Dogs_Johnson
3. Qapples – East Coast Rank #2
By far the most unexpected player on the top 10 list, Qapples, was a high schooler at the time and trumped almost every single player in the head-to-head in the 2020 online era. He had a positive set count on everyone aside from BarkSanchez and Superboomfan, and won many of the east coast weekly pools. Getting 3rd in Quarantine Rapport East 1 and 2, the Virginia Kirby managed to make up for his inexperience with his lightning fast gameplay. Between the two tournaments he took out big names like Zero, SKG, and BarkSanchez. Although the young legend has shifted his focus to Rivals of Aether (where he’s also a top-level player), we will never forget his come up in the quarantine
– Dogs_Johnson
2. JaimeHR – West Coast Rank #1
It’s no surprise that Señor Patience himself is our #2 spot on the list. JaimeHR’s careful neutral, ingenunity, and ability to detect mistakes makes him a tough opponent to get in on. Jaime dictated the pace of the Weekly Pools held in 2020 by playing various characters against his opponents. He maintained a general consistency that placed him no less than 4th throughout the whole season, and just shy of 1st by placing 2nd at Quarantined 1 and 2 West Coast Bracket. Jaime showed his love for Dale by competing with a frame delay disadvantage in the east pools and tournaments as well. Some of Jaime’s most notable sets took place against that of LD, whom he battled back and forth throughout the season. It looks like Jaime will not be moving from his top-level position anytime soon.
– goon
1. SuPeRbOoMfAn – East Coast Rank #1
What more can be said about SuPeRbOoMfAn that isn’t already said by watching him compete? While no longer at the forefront of the console scene, Boom competed online in the COVID era and showed that he remains a step ahead even if he’s “messing around” with low tiers. Boom often found himself plowing through to winner’s side or waiting for an opponent in grand finals. While competitors like BarkSanchez made Boom switch off DK momentarily, Boom still demonstrated that he could just do it with a different low tier like Samus. He proved his skill against KeroKeroppi and other top 10 players as well. Boom hardly needed to use any high tiers to achieve phenomenal results against an ever-improving NA scene. Just to put this in perspective for everyone: Boomfan’s record in the season was a 100% winrate. He won every set he played in, and got 1st at every tournament he participated in, and having a staggering 75-9 win/loss on individual game count. This Boomfan guy is pretty good
– goon