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. 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 sponsorship and Third Party relations.
Apex 2015 was officially sponsored by Nintendo of America and was the largest tournament for Super Smash Bros. in history until it was surpassed by EVO 2015. Apex has been described as the "Super Bowl of 'Super Smash Bros.'" by Ben Lindbergh of sports website Grantland.
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
Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Adam Lindgren CT.EMP|Armada 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.
Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Isai Alvarado CT|Isai Jigglypuff 2nd Moyashi Pikachu, Kirby 3rd Daniel Hoyt SuPeRbOoMfAn Captain Falcon, Fox, Pikachu, Kirby 4th Arturo Hernández Mariguas Captain Falcon, Pikachu 5th Eduardo Tovar tacos Captain Falcon, Yoshi, Kirby 5th Justin Hallett CT|Wizzrobe Yoshi 7th Ruoka Dancho Captain Falcon, Kirby 7th Jaime Rodriguez JaimeHR Fox, Captain Falcon, Samus
2015 Apex 2015, which ran from January 30 to February 1, included Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. 64, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Ultra Street Fighter IV, Guilty Gear Xrd, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Killer Instinct. It was initially hosted at Clarion Hotel Empire Meadowlands in Secaucus, New Jersey and featured the first Melee tournament with over a thousand entrants with 1037 players participating. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U included over 800 entrants.
The tournament was officially sponsored by Nintendo and included a playable demo of Splatoon. Apex dropped Brawl fan mod Project M from its 2015 lineup and all of its qualifiers. Streaming for fangame, Super Smash Bros. Crusade, has also been denied. Lugo alleged he received death threats for the dropping of Project M from some members of the community. In January 2015, Lugo announced he was stepping down from Apex after multiple media reports alleging sexual harassment by tournament attendees.
After a false fire alarm occurred on the morning of January 30, fire marshals discovered that parts of the hotel were in violation of safety codes. The marshals removed access to the ballrooms, which had a partially collapsed roof. The main tournament was delayed for a day and was moved 40 miles away to the Garden State Convention Center in Somerset, New Jersey.
Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Kevin Nanney EG|PPMD 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. 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. The event was considerably smaller the previous incarnation and even had to cancel its Brawl event due to low turnout.
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