Below is a listing of up to date tournament rules that the ARFGN uses for its events. Tournament standards are essentially the same as used by organizations such as the Evolution Tournament Series, Smashboards, and MLG but may be slightly modified to suit our purposes.
Universal Rules
- All brackets are double elimination.
- Double-Blind Select can always be chosen to begin a match.
- The winner of a game must stick with the same character used to win for the following game, except in the case of Smash Bros. Loser can always change characters.
- Player’s Choice: All rules are subject to be ignored if agreed upon by both parties, however due to time constraints, matches cannot be extended longer than their allotted time (i.e. cannot play best 3 out of 5 when supposed to play 2 out of 3, or cannot change timer limits to infinity)
- Players have six minutes to report to and begin their matches and will be disqualified if unable to do so.
- It is the player’s responsibility to notify a staffer of the results of his/her match or a dispute on rules.
- Unless explicitly stated, all DLC characters are allowed. Console exclusive characters (such as Kratos in MK9) are NOT allowed.
Controller Rules
- Please Bring Your Own Controller: While there will probably be many players willing to lend you a controller/stick, there is NO guarantee.
- Button mapping and converters ARE allowed while turbo is NOT.
- Wireless sticks/pads/remotes will be allowed. However, we require that you pull out your battery when you are not playing to avoid disrupting tournament matches.
- In addition, pausing or restarting the game/match for any reason, except with the consent of the opponent will result in a forfeit of that particular game/round (whichever is smaller). This includes battery/controller problems.
- Every person is responsible for the functionality of their controller. A “button check” may (and should) be asked for prior to every match. If a controller is non-functional or is functioning incorrectly, the player must receive consent from his or her opponent before pausing the match.
- Any supicions of cheating or any tool (physical or in-game) used to gain an unfair competitive advantage is subject to banning and disqualification.
Super Smash Brothers Melee
- 4 stock, 8 minute time limit
- 2/3 games, 3/5 games Loser’s/Winner’s/Grand Finals
- Items off
- Games decided first by lives, then %. Sudden death is used to break ties.
- Stage Knock Out: Stage Striking will be in effect for the first match of the set. The player with the lower port will get to choose the first strike. Loser chooses ban before next match.
- Modified DSR: You cannot go back to the last stage you won in a set, unless agreed upon by the other player.
- Advanced Slob Picks: Loser may choose the next stage or select to go random. The winner may then change their character, followed by the loser.
- Controller Mods, Glitches (IC Freeze Glitch, Mewtwo Soul Stunner, etc), Wobbling, and tactics used to stall a match (wall-bombing, rising pound), are banned.
Neutrals:
FD
Yoshis
Dreamland
Battlefield
Fountain of Dreams
Counters:
Kongo Jungle
Brinstar
Rainbow Cruise
Pokemon Stadium
Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Unity Ruleset v1.4
- 2/3 games, 3/5 games Loser’s/Winner’s/Grand Finals
- 3 Stock, 8 minute timer; Items set to “Off” and “None”
- Infinites are legal until 300%.
- Banned: Metaknight’s Infinite Cape and Extended Cape Glitches, as well as anything that may hinder the game from continuing (such as freezing, disappearing characters, game reset) or stalling (examples include becoming invisible, continuing infinites past 300%, and reaching a position that your opponent can never reach you).
- There is a Ledge Grab Limit of 35 for Meta Knight and 50 for all other characters. If a game goes to time and one player goes over the Ledge Grab Limit for their character, they will automatically lose the game. If both players exceed their Ledge Grab Limit, then this rule is ignored. In the event of a tie, a Ledge Grab Limit of 13 is used for Meta Knight, and 18 for all other characters.
- Games are decided by 1) Ledge Grab Limit, 2) Stock and then 3) by Percentage. In the event that both players die at the same time or if both players have an equal percentage at the end of time, a one stock, three minutes overtime will be played on the same stage.
- Players are allowed to ban ONE Starter/Counter stage prior to a match.
- At the beginning of the first game, players alternate “slashing” starter stages (at a 1:2:1 ratio) until one stage is left.
- In the event of a dispute, controller ports or stage striking initiation will be selected via Rock-Paper-Scissors or a coin flip.
- Whoever gets first stage strike does not get controller port selection and vice versa.
- Slob Picks: Loser may choose the next stage or select to go random. Loser also may opt to redo the port selection process with that player picking his or her port first. The winner may then change their character, followed by the loser.
- No player may choose a stage they have already won on in that set unless agreed upon by both players.
Neutrals:
Battlefield
Castle Siege
Final Destination
Smashville
Yoshi’s Island (Brawl)
Lylat Cruise
Pokemon Stadium 1
Counters:
Battleship Halberd
Brinstar
Delfino Plaza
Frigate Orpheon
Pokemon Stadium 2
Rainbow Cruise
2v2 Teams:
- Team Attack On and Life Stealing allowed
- If time limit is reached, check Ledge Grab Limit. If this does not apply, then lowest combined percentage wins.
- If a team has Sonic, Lucario, or Pokemon Trainer then either team may request a color change to distinguish teams.
- Port selection goes 1-2-2-1
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition
Default Settings
2/3 rounds, 2/3 games (Loser’s/Winner’s/Grand Finals are 3/5 games)
Marvel Vs. Capcom 3
Default Settings.
2/3 games (Loser’s/Winner’s/Grand Finals are 3/5 games).
Simple Mode: OFF
DLC Characters: ALLOWED
Tentative ruling on all game-breaking glitches which make it impossible for at least one player to continue fighting (such as the Zero glitch):
- If the instigator of the glitch is winning before he performs the glitch, the game is to be replayed as if it never happened. If he/she is losing, the game counts as a loss.
Other glitches (i.e. TAC canceling and damage scaling reset glitches) are ALLOWED.
Mortal Kombat 9
Default Settings.
2/3 rounds, 2/3 games, 99 seconds (Loser’s/Winner’s/Grand Finals are 3/5 games).
All non-exclusive DLC characters ALLOWED
No game-altering Kombat Kodes (leads to restart of game)
Banned: Kratos, Kratos’ Stage, Alternate Costumes, The Street, Freddy
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II
Round Time 99 Seconds
2/3 games until Loser’s/Winner’s/Grand Finals which is 3/5 games.
Beginner Mode: OFF (Beginner Mode involves the use of the right analog stick to perform instant specials with zero effort).
Unlimited Characters in BlazBlue BANNED.
DLC Characters ALLOWED
Additional Details
We encourage everybody to bring any and all equipment if possible. This will speed up tournaments and help everything run more smoothly.
We require all incoming equipment be labeled at Check-In to avoid theft and accusations thereof. Even so, we encourage all people to keep their sticks/controllers/battery packs on-hand at all times as we are not responsible for missing equipment.
Photography of the event and recording of matches is allowed and even encouraged. However, flash photography is not allowed during matches, due to obvious concerns of distraction. If you record videos or take pictures, please contact me and I will upload the videos to my Youtube account and pictures to my Photobucket account, accessible to everybody on the results page (credit given to you, of course).
All tournaments will either be on CRTs or community-tested “lagless” monitors (most likely the ASUS VH236H).
We appreciate everybody that travels and we know that players are just looking for competition. If you inform us of your party, we will do our best to ensure that you do not play each other in the opening round of the bracket (location-based seeding).
Attendees are encouraged to participate in multiple tournaments. The brackets will skip you if you are currently in a match.
Any game with sufficient interest (via vote-in) will be run as a minor tournament. We reserve the right to cancel tournaments at any time if there is no “real” interest.
Results will be posted within 48 hours following the event. Pictures, brackets, standings, and pay-out will all be posted accordingly.
