10. KD3
“Go Birds.” is an emblematic line used in association with one of the NFL’s most defining teams of the season. It represents the undeniable support and spirit behind one of the most unstoppable forces in the league. Taking flight to the skies, reigning supreme over its opponents.
Kyle “KD3” DiFrank is no different.
The Philadelphia native welcomes us into the top echelon of the 2024 Super Smash Bros. 64 Rankings, cementing himself yet again as one of the most lethal assassins competing in today’s competitive scene. Finishing 13th at SuperNova 2024, one cannot underestimate the ruthlessness that KD3’s playstyle holds. With a single touch, KD3 can take you from zero to death, leaving you staring at the sky searching for answers. Add in light speed reaction times, and opponents will find themselves in the dark, with no way out – that’s why they call him the Boogie Man locally. And if the Captain Falcon was not enough to leave a lasting impact, he has an option in each pocket for the right occasion in the form of Pikachu and Jigglypuff. He’s not just “another Falcon” – he’s a formidable opponent who will take no chance at letting you adapt, and will ensure your inevitable loss as you spawn into Dreamland. Just ask his victims: SuPeRbOoMfAn, Hammerheart, Lowwww, and Josh Brody.
And if you think you can corner him outside of the grand reunion, think again – a 3rd place finish at Keystoned VII and 2nd place finish at Victory Road further define his everlasting presence in the deep depths of brackets. He may only be standing at the foot of the other giants that follow, but that does not mean that you can simply move past him. For every Hall of Fame that exists, there must be a barrier to break through in order to enter it. KD3 is that barrier, and he will continue to work on breaking into that podium himself.
– Cagt
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9. Wizzrobe
It’s 2:37 AM on a Tuesday when a Discord notification lights up my phone. “Yo, does this combo look legit to you?” asks Wizzrobe. The timestamp is three hours and eleven minutes into a VOD featuring top Japanese Yoshi main Kurabba. The video has less than 500 views. It’s far from the first time this has happened, and it will be far from the last.
The relentless desire to analyze and perfect every in-game scenario is what defines Wizzy’s play. It’s what leads him to dive deep into VODs most players wouldn’t bother to watch, carefully studying how the one Yoshi player who has surpassed him handles every situation. It’s what led him in the late 2010s to establish himself as the best Captain Falcon player in Super Smash Bros. Melee, becoming a symbol of the character’s evolution and refinement within the metagame. And after cementing himself as one of North America’s three titans of SSB64 with a legendary win over Isai en route to Grand Finals of Super Smash Con 2016, this desire has led him to retain that status for almost a decade since.
Wizzrobe is the textbook definition of a consistent player. He’s gone years without dropping a set to a North American opponent outside of the top 3 but falls short more often than not in the face of his fellow titans and top international talent. This relatively unchanging floor and ceiling might be viewed as stagnation, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Wizzrobe has stayed ahead of the competition year after year, maturing from a Yoshi known for simple punishes and fundamentally solid neutral play into one of the most robust, versatile and well-optimized players in the game, capable of converting almost any opening into a zero-to-death. He’s done all of this while splitting his focus between multiple Smash titles, usually only preparing for a couple months of the year ahead of the world championship at Supernova.
Wizzrobe finishes the year ranked in the top 10 once again, taking 7th place at Supernova after falling to Japan’s two top representatives in the bracket. In Division 1 Pools, he defeated his sole rival for the claim to #3 in North America, KeroKeroppi, in their first meeting since 2016. Then, however, something very unusual happened. Wizzrobe’s long-standing streak of dominance over NA was ended by the latest player to rise into the region’s upper echelon: Robert. As Wizzrobe continues to refine his theory and elevate his play, the demand for flawless execution grows ever higher. This anomalous loss could be a sign of cracks beginning to form in a once rock-solid foundation, but it might also be the wake-up call Wizzrobe needs—a reminder to dedicate himself to the grind and put theory into practice. Recently, he’s been seen playing 64 on his stream, much earlier in the year than usual. Practice makes perfect, and if this trend keeps up it might just be the last ingredient he needs to finally overcome his toughest opponents. For Wizzy, it has always felt like a matter of when, not if.
– Fray
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8. Lowww
After completing his decade-long quest of building a computer, Lowww finally had the tools necessary to bring his style of content to the community. After hosting a few online tournament series, a focus on streaming, remix, and doubles, it wasn’t clear how Lowww would fare on his return to vanilla singles. In years past, time away from vanilla would sometimes hinder his results, often at Supernova, formerly known as Super Smash Con, where he had never crossed the top 16 barrier there over his 3 past attempts
His newfound focus on content did have a strong side effect. He often found himself streaming intense sessions vs. other top and upcoming players, with a new focus on developing his Pikachu. Lowww was open to discussion on how to improve during these streams, and over time, it was clear he was getting a little better every day.
Lowww debuted his newly trained Rat at Victory Road, where placed 1st in dominating fashion, capping off the tournament with a 3-0 victory over KD3 during the Grand Finals reset that started with a JV5 stock over his rival. Even though Lowww is kind of a bad guy for that, it seemed to launch a period where he was separating himself from his peers.
The New York tri-main rode this momentum into a very strong Supernova performance, finally cracking not only into top 16, but into top 8 of the tournament. Lowww’s tournament ended at the hands of Robert, where he almost forced a game 5, crawling back from a 4-1 deficit to make it a one stock game.
In all, Lowww’s year was defined by separating himself from the pack, boasting a ridiculous 85% win percentage on the year, including a 7-1 record over Josh Brody, KD3, and Dogs_Johnson combined. Whether he’s focusing on streams, content, TOing, or competing, Lowww has developed into one of the scene’s best leaders and players – on either side of the tournament.
– Andykins
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7. HAMMERHEART
Its hard to describe our next competitor, so ill use a quote from a random Twitch chat,
“The mans name is Living La Fetus Loca, he’s wearing a shirt saying ‘the mushrooms are calling, I must go’ and he apparently is from Kiribati based on the flag?”
Landing at #7 is none other than The Man, The Myth, The Legend with many names, HAMMERHEART. Although Gammelnorsk’s hairline may be receding, his game is mushrooming, and he remains one of the most dangerous players in the world. PowerSteeringFluidDrinkr can play the full cast at an extraordinarily high level, but chooses to be a solo Kirby main for tournament play. This is for good reason, Hammy’s Kirby is absolutely demonic. Despite Kirby’s lack of speed, FidelCastro22’s silky smooth plat movement and top notch tech skill will fool you into thinking Kirby is an Olympic track star. When he’s not botching fist bumps, or getting swirlied by KD3, Orangutanicus can be found gripping food with force, or playing with his dog Wendell. Over the years “tod” has amassed a long list of great wins, but none more impressive than his recent win over SuPeRbOoMfAn at SuperNova ’24. Jar Jar Breaks breakout performance proves what everyone already knew, that The Lord of the Corn Horn ain’t someone to mess with. Dylab is a true mentch, and its my honor to recognize him as the #7 player in this years Super Smash Bros. 64 Rankings.
Mazel Tov Victor Bictor!
– Closenberg
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6. Nax
July 2024: Smash 64’s world championship is less than a month away. Noticing my struggles to combo after landing Pikachu’s down air, Nax sends me a playlist of 10 extremely tough 0-to-deaths that start with the move. Many are so hard they take me 50+ tries, but after a day of attempts I proudly send him back completion videos for all ten, to which he responds, “you’re meant to be able to do them every time.” There’s no better summary of Nax’s approach to the game. To him, Smash is a quest for perfection, and he more than anyone is willing to put in the hours and years of practice to reach it. It’s a journey he’s happy to share, coaching domestic and international players and hosting tournaments at his house to energize the Chilean scene.
The road to the summit is not an easy one. For years, Nax’s roadblock has been Kurabba, who denied him wins at back to back Smash Cons and Peru’s major Inkafest. Nax has approached the challenge with his trademark determination, and after 2023 he redoubled his efforts, studying every Kurabba vod with a fine-tooth comb, optimizing combos from every conceivable position, and grinding the matchup with his frequent practice partner, Peruvian Yoshi JeyKeyAr.
Unfortunately, in 2024 that practice would not be tested. In a cruel twist, Nax was double-eliminated in his strongest matchup, first losing a game 5, last hit Pikachu ditto to KeroKeroppi in Winner’s Quarters, then being denied a Loser’s Semis shot at Kurabba by Japanese Pika Wario in a rematch from Inkafest. Although wins against top NA Falcons Crovy and Lowww secured him a respectable 5th-place finish, it’s clear Nax won’t be satisfied until he can bring an international gold medal in his carry-on back to Chile.
– Robert
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5. Robert
Robert is the embodiment of ruthlessness. His stone-cold expression is unwavering as he takes down the opposition in bracket. His unyielding pressure allows him to eat up stage control and force opponents into the corner. He capitalizes by never giving his foes an avenue to escape, leaving a sinking feeling of hopelessness when you play him. Robert has been a stone cold killer for a long time, landing in the top 10 back in the 2019 rankings and building his reputation as a player to be feared. Wearing his hoodies like a cape, when Robert walks up to play, he leaves a cold breeze behind him that sends shivers down your spine.
But, in the past few years, Robert has been off and on again about entering tournaments, opting to pick up a new character, Jigglypuff, in favor of his trusty Pikachu; taking a more relaxed approach to competing. Robert performed solidly with Puff, scoring 41st at Super Smash Con 2022, but not competing at all at Super Smash Con 2023. In the meantime, he was growing a newfound passion for commentating. He grew quickly as a commentator, mirroring his growth as a player. His focus on commentary paid off; viewers enjoyed his commentary, and he has since commentated notable events, including this past year’s Supernova 2024. In the last few years, when Robert chose to compete, it would primarily be at Rochester’s premier tournament series, Frame, or occasionally at a random Midwest tournament.
In 2024, this all changed and he returned to the blade. Despite not entering many events in the years prior, Robert was grinding mercilessly behind the scenes and improving his skills. Those who played online knew this all too well. When you played a Pikachu on the Chicago server that you couldn’t take a single game off of, you knew it was Robert. Robert told me himself that “someday being mistaken for Robert online will be the ultimate compliment.” In 2024, he competed in nine online tournaments and won every set except one (let’s go Fray!). When it came time for Supernova projections, people were questioning how far Robert could make it after he lost to Josh Brody twice at the Frame pre-local and to KD3 at Frame 14, finishing in 4th place. These are not bad losses by any stretch of the imagination, but those making predictions rated him lower than most of the players in his skill tier. Huntsman, known for creating a series for his predictions, put Robert at 13th but paid him a nice compliment stating that, “he reminds me of an anime character.” He proved everyone wrong with regard to their lower expectations for his performance; At Subnova, the Supernova 2024 pre-local, Robert defeated the fabled SuPeRbOoMfAn, who was using his main this time: Captain Falcon. At Supernova, he defeated other top North American talent such as Wizzrobe and Lowww. Finishing in 5th place, he knocked it out of the park. The hard work paid dividends and then some.
Robert has love for the scene he created when he went to college in New York. Strong players have continued to come out of the region under his tutelage, and he always makes an appearance at Frame. He helps the new players to learn and appreciate the game while guiding them happily. Though he still isn’t afraid to roast you to a crisp on occasion. He enjoys returning to Rochester to play Smash, but the real fun is the time he spends with his friends. A broad and bright smile at Jay’s Diner on the Sunday after Frame is a common sight at our table, when we sit down again and share stories.
Robert is a person who puts the keys in the car and is excited for the engine to run. It doesn’t matter where he’s going at the time or how spectacular of a ride it is; he is simply content to be.
– Grain
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4. KeroKeroppi
After cementing himself as the best remix player in the world in 2022 by beating Isai exactly how he called it out over a decade before, KeroKeroppi set his sights on vanilla to dethrone SuPeRbOoMfAn in North America. While Kero began his rise to the top over a decade ago with what many would describe as arrogance, he has matured into one of the most disciplined players in the world showing exemplary sportsmanship and hard work.
A family man, Kero’s time is split between his two true loves: his wife and kids, and Smash 64. It is truly remarkable how talented he can be with so much to attend to at home which makes his run at the prestigious Supernova even more impressive. Kero ran through a gauntlet of top players and after beating Nax (2022 runner up) then Robert he was vaulted into Winners Finals, a spot he hasn’t been familiar with since the first ever Super Smash Con, and setting up what felt like a Hollywood reboot of him vs Boom from so long ago.
The only impedance to Kero claiming the title and cementing himself as the best in the world was the one thing he has never done, beat an unrestricted Boom. Unfortunately for Kero he was unable to pull off that unprecedented victory and ran into Kurabba in Losers (another player where victory has eluded him), but his performance and how close he was to that championship shows that he’s nearly there. The slow and steady improvement Kero has shown through the years matches his maturity, and maybe America’s best will soon earn the title of being the best player in the world, or maybe he’ll set his sights on being crowned the best dad in the world. He can certainly achieve both.
– Shears
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3. Wario
Wario’s story is defined not so much by his ascent to the top, but rather tribulations of what it takes to say up there. His introduction to the North American scene was a Genesis 3 win all the way back in 2015 over SuPeRbOoMfAN, considered by some to be the strongest player in the western hemisphere at the time. Wario was also clearly the #1 in Japan at the time, winning 4 of 5 Japanese majors in a 2 year period. In many ways, Wario is the godfather of modern Rat play, creating the blueprint for many match ups, and a style defined by an incredibly consistent neutral, punish game, and meta defining up-b play.
Wario has not quite been able to reach that echelon again, but has gotten very close – including a 2nd place finish at Super Smash Con 2019, and a 5th place finish at SSC 2022. Fast forward to Supernova 2024, where Wario made quick work of his adversaries before running the gauntlet against some of the strongest active players in the game. After a par for the course win over Wizzrobe, Wario went on to a rematch against Boom, almost a decade after their initial brawl. Boom, determined to show it was his tournament to lose, sent Wario to the losers bracket.
Here, Wario had to play Nax. Nax was likely considered the favorite to win this match, as he had won the Pikachu ditto at Inka Fest. Wario seemed to determine that the match was a fluke on their now neutral field. Wario forced Nax off of Pikachu in their set after a 2-0 lead, and splitting games with Nax’s secondary falcon was enough for Wario to move on with a 3-1 victory.
Wario’s next match was against the first seed of the tournament, Kurabba. These 2 players have a storied history, as Wario is one of only 2 Pikachu players to take a set off Kurabba on US soil, while Kurabba, otherwise, would be considered the closest thing to a bracket demon for Wario.
I was lucky enough to talk to Wario after his strong SSC performance, where I congratulated his placement and told him he played well. He didn’t mince words with me, telling me he didn’t think he played well at all. As his biggest fan, I’m eagerly awaiting the day he plays well by his standards.
– Andykins
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2. SuPeRbOoMfAn
On one random evening, I played a friendlies session for an hour with Superboomfan. Mentally drained and picked apart – I mustered enough energy to ask him how he looks at the game.
“I just think of it like a puzzle to solve.”
The fact of the matter is that boom is quite conventional, and what sets him apart is his well-roundedness and measured objectives with competition. Boom’s adaptability and resourcefulness doesn’t come from a secret ‘how to get better immediately’ book– it comes with time and experience. Boom’s been at this whole Smash 64 thing for about two decades.
What creates myth and wonder is not only how long he’s been doing it, but how consistent he’s been. This consistency has commentators dubbing him the “Iceman”. One-off color commentary quips like him just having a “giant bag of BS” to pull from. Heck, people who match up with him at local or majors already submit that he’s likely to go the distance. Often he does– with minimal stopping factors, perhaps other arguable “Smash 64 GOATs.”
We can talk hyperbole all day about him. We could talk further about his accolades, achievement, and unparalleled dominance in the western hemisphere.
What more to be said that isn’t already? Just watch the guy. Play him. Look at how he dismantled top 10 talent with a low-tier in Donkey Kong. Watch how he did it with Mario, too.
For the up and coming – conceptual learning becomes a herculean task in relation to the field. Everyone is getting bigger and better as every day passes.
Yet, Boom is still here, being the proverbial line between ‘high level’ and ‘world class.’
– Supa & Closenberg
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1. Kurabba
No one will forget the 6-0 sweep Isai pulled off to hand Kurabba a crushing defeat in grand finals of Super Smash Con 2023. It seemed Kurabba may be cursed from holding on to such a strong lead when the sets got tough. Does Kurabba have what it takes to win the hard fought sets? Isai 2023, wario and Wizzrobe 2019, Fukurou 2017 — all hard sets Kurabba couldn’t pull through in the end when it all mattered.
However, a poetic end to a good story starts with a hero’s rise from anonymity into a star, then meeting a great struggle and defeat, and finally when the hero seems to have no way out and failure is imminent they overcome the greatest odds in the hardest fought battles to come out triumphant.
Kurabba entered into the scene unknown to many years ago only to debut as a rising star with a shocking upset over KeroKeroppi at his first Super Smash Con. Shortly after our hero found himself as one of the best players in the world, finishing in the top of SSC for years then finally assuming victory in 2022 with relative ease, our hero’s journey had only just begun. Kurabba was then tested and humiliated, a 6-0 sweep from Isai in 2023 exposed a weakness that hadn’t been seen in Kurabba and like sets in the past, when faced against the best of the best in a hard fought battle he crumbled.
Supernova found Kurabba struggling once again in tough matches with an early arrival to the losers side of bracket, but this was the moment where our hero would find redemption.
After an early loss to SuPeRbOoMfAn, Kurabba went on to demolish his Losers opponents making swift work of fellow top 10 players Lowww, Robert, wario, and KeroKeroppi finally setting up his rematch with Boom in Grand Finals. Back against the wall, needing to overcome the odds to reset bracket on Boom and win two sets in a row Kurabba would undergo the ultimate test. Up 2-0 in the first set of Grand Finals, Kurabba begins to choke and Boom evens it to game 5 giving doubts to whether Kurabba could pull it out. Without breaking down Kurabba regained his composure and reset the bracket, and with only one set left Kurabba’s journey to the top began to materialize.
The final set went the distance in a back and forth manner ending with him pulling out arguably his toughest bracket run ever. He fought a long grueling 10 game Grand Finals to reclaim the throne and find resilience under duress through 2 very hard fought sets. At #1 in the world, our hero is triumphant and now no one will forget the 10 game reset win Kurabba had at the first ever Supernova.
– Shears
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