GeezerVisonThe World Wide Web, restored to 800 pixels of glory. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home|About|Gaming cabinet|Archives|How it works|Starter sites | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
GeezerVison is showing www.ssbwiki.com — Smasher:ProtoBanham Smasher:ProtoBanhamFrom SmashWiki, the Super Smash Bros. wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
ProtoBanham (プロトバナム) is an inactive Smasher from Kantō, Japan. Although he began competing in Smash 4, he wouldn't gain global recognition until Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where he played Lucina and Inkling in the early metagame before picking up Min Min in 2021. He is widely considered the greatest Lucina player of all time and one of the greatest Min Min players of all time, alongside Doramigi, and is known for frequently switching between the two mid-set. He was also considered the best player in Japan from 2021 to early-2022, winning several majors and supermajors during this time including Kagaribi 4, Maesuma TOP 6, and Eastern Powerhouse Invitational 2, and despite becoming inconsistent in Japan afterwards, was still able to win the American events Double Down 2022 and Smash Ultimate Summit 5. He eventually went into an indefinite hiatus from competitive play in 2024 due to health issues.[1] On January 5th, 2021, ProtoBanham joined the newly founded Japanese organization Team Vrilliant (Vrilliant Owl X at the time) as their first Smash player, along Lea, and stayed with them until their Smash division disbanded on July 7th, 2022.[2] He later joined Crazy Raccoon as their first Smash player on July 10th, 2022, and left the group on October 31st, 2024.[3] PlaystyleWith both Lucina and Min Min, ProtoBanham is known for being extremely aggressive and utilizing an excellent advantage state. He uses Lucina's Dolphin Slash's intangibility during the beginning frames and fast startup to escape combos as well as an edgeguard (by hitting recovering opponents towards the ledge). He is well known for his Shield Breaker mix-ups, often catching opponents off-guard. ProtoBanham is famous for his incredible movement with Lucina, in particular being the only top player to heavily utlize wavelanding into his neutral game. With Min Min, ProtoBanham utilizes her large hitboxes to accumulate damage by ledgetrapping and suppressing his opponent in neutral with the Ramram and Dragon. He is also known to go off-stage with Mega-Watt to finish off a stock, as well as using her up special to hit opponents above him and keep them in disadvantage. A notable aspect of ProtoBanham is his unique creativity in both his playstyle and his gameplans. An example of this was during EVO 2019, where when grabbing his opponent, instead of the typical throws, he would instead grab release, opting for better positioning due to Lucina's lackluster throws. Another aspect of this is his counterplay game: he is well-known for switching his characters against his opponent even when winning games, either to switch up the tempo of his opponent or heavily utilize stage advantage. Tournament historyEarly careerProtoBanham's competitive career began in Super Smash Bros. 4 in 2014. However, for most of Smash 4, he was a Wi-Fi Warrior and a relatively unknown player offline, as the majority of his offline tournament presence was in doubles. On the rare occasion he competed in singles, he often did not make it too far into bracket, with the lone exception being Umebura 30, where with Cloud he defeated Nietono, T, and Somé to place 9th. As such, ProtoBanham was never ranked on any notable power ranking during this time. This all changed at the start of competitive Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where ProtoBanham initially played Lucina and Inkling. Although his first major, Umebura SP 2, was somewhat of a bust, he became a growing threat in the early months of competitive play thanks to his performances at weeklies, where he was able to defeat several Smash 4 veterans. This rising threat culminated in ProtoBanham's having back-to-back breakout performances, first at Umebura SP 3, where he defeated Smash 4 veterans Umeki and Abadango to place 4th, and then at the Golden Week supermajor Umebura Japan Major 2019, where after losing to Cosmos in Winner's Quarter-Finals he ran through the Loser's bracket, defeating Tea and Raito and winning the runback against Cosmos, before falling to kameme to place 2nd. Many players were first introduced to ProtoBanham through his performance at Umebura Japan Major and his win over Cosmos, who at that time was one of the best players in North America. These players began questioning whether ProtoBanham could replicate his strong performances in North America. This inquiry was answered with ProtoBanham's trip to CEO 2019, and although he only finished 13th, spectators were still satisfied with his performance, as he was not only the closest person to defeat MkLeo that event, bringing MkLeo to last stocks on game 3, but was also only one of two players who was even able to take a game off him at the event. Ultimately despite only appearing at a few PGR-ranked events, ProtoBanham's strong major performances led to him being ranked 23rd on the Spring 2019 PGRU. The following season further catapulted ProtoBanham as one of Ultimate's first rising stars, as his first few major and supermajor performances cemented himself as a top level threat. This included EVO 2019, the largest offline Smash event of all-time, where he won his runback against kameme and defeated yet another one of North America's best players, Light. Further top 8 performances and top player wins at the next two Umebura events led many players to believe ProtoBanham could become one of the best players in the world. Unfortunately, his last two events of the year stagnated his overall season. At Umebura SP 7, ProtoBanham unexpectedly lost his first match of the tournament to Yamanaction in an upset factor of 14, which remains the biggest upset in competitive Ultimate, and then drowned in pools after losing to Daiki for 257th, by far his worst performance at a tournament. He then followed it up with a disappointing 25th-place finish at 2GG: Kongo Saga, where he once again fell short of expectations after being upset by Big D before falling to Kome for 25th. Further hurting his season was ProtoBanham's limited attendance at PGR-ranked events, which not only meant he had less opportunities to defeat players ranked above him, but also meant any major underperformance could greatly negatively affect his final standing. Ultimately, ProtoBanham's negatives weighed down his Fall 2019 PGRU season, as despite having placed top 8 at three of the five majors he attended that season, he was only ranked 19th. The best in JapanSeeking a shift in misfortune, ProtoBanham eventually dropped Inkling to focus on just Lucina. This initially allowed him to have a small rebound, reflected in him placing 4th at EGS Cup 3 and 9th at EVO Japan 2020; however, the COVID-19 pandemic caused competitive play to shut down worldwide, cutting the season short. During the pandemic, Min Min was released as a DLC character, and ProtoBanham eventually picked the character up, initially as just a solo-main in the online metagame, where he most notably qualified for the offline Smash World Tour regional final by placing 4th at SWT: Japan Ultimate Online Qualifier. With offline competitive play slowly returning in mid-2021, ProtoBanham chose to play both Min Min and Lucina as co-mains. This decision led to the peak of ProtoBanham's career. At his first notable offline event, the supermajor Kagaribi 4, ProtoBanham used a mix of both characters to defeat Shuton, Tea, Yoshidora and Zackray twice to win the event, claiming his first-ever major/supermajor win and becoming one of five players to win a major while being seeded outside the top 16 (he was seeded 25th). He then followed it up with two more major wins, all the while defeating veteran Japanese players and up-and-coming rising stars, and although he only placed 5th at the next major, Kagaribi 5, he then followed it up with yet another major win at Eastern Powerhouse Invitational 2 before qualifying for the Smash World Tour finale by winning SWT: East Asia Ultimate Regional Finals. ProtoBanham's string of victories and his strategy in frequently switching between the two characters, often times seemingly without reason, not only allowed him to take the throne as Japan's best player in 2021, but also helped establish Min Min as a strong character in the new metagame. ProtoBanham's season concluded with the Smash World Tour 2021 Championships, where he ultimately placed 7th, losing to Kola and Dabuz in the main bracket; however, this rather disappointing finish did not dampen an otherwise stellar 2021, which allowed ProtoBanham to soar into the top 10 for that season, ranking 4th on the OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse. North American ProtoBanhamProtoBanham had finally established himself as one of the best players in the world, and with COVID-19 restrictions winding down throughout 2022, players were eager to see where he would go next. Unfortunately, 2022 marked a severe downturn for ProtoBanham's performances in Japan, as he became infamously prone to upsets. This streak began with Kagaribi 6, where he lost to Lea in bracket before being eliminated by Zackray for 9th. He then missed top 8 at both Golden Week events, losing to showers and Hero for 17th at Maesuma TOP 7 and then losing to Asimo and Kome for 13th at Kagaribi 7. He finally reached the top 8 again at Maesuma TOP 8; however, he claimed no notable wins at that run. With these underperformances, ProtoBanham lost his throne just as quickly as he had obtained it. Fortunately, ProtoBanham's performances in North America were a completely different story. His first international appearance was at Smash Ultimate Summit 4, where after having a poor Round Robin and Gauntlet phase, where he was only able to defeat Goblin, ProtoBanham tore through the Losers bracket, which included eliminating Dabuz, Tweek, and MkLeo, before losing to Light for 3rd. ProtoBanham's win on MkLeo especially not only made up for his close loss to MkLeo at CEO 2019, but also made ProtoBanham the first player to eliminate MkLeo prior to Grand Finals since Get On My Level 2019, therefore ending MkLeo's streak of making it to Grand Finals at every event he attended. ProtoBanham's prowess over MkLeo was further present at Double Down 2022, where ProtoBanham defeated MkLeo's Corrin in Winner's Finals and then his R.O.B. in the Grand Finals reset to take his first-ever North American major win. ProtoBanham's two international performances and his 3-1 record over MkLeo saved his season, and although he fell to 15th on the OrionRank Mid-Year 2022, he remained a top 20 player and a top 10 player in Japan. The rest of the year was a similar pattern to ProtoBanham: he failed to place higher than 5th in Japan, but won his third and final international tournament of the year, Smash Ultimate Summit 5, defeating many of North America's best players along the way. As such, many players began joking that ProtoBanham was a completely different player in North America than he was in Japan. Without a severe underperformance during this time and with strong records against North America's best players, ProtoBanham was able to reclaim his top 10 spot for the full-year, ranking 7th on the OrionRank 2022, while the half-year ranking UltRank 2022 ranked him as 10th. Activity decline and hiatusThroughout ProtoBanham's career, health problems had plagued him. For example, he had to drop out of Super Smash Con 2019 to treat his kidney stones, and due to the kidney stones, he has to use the bathroom frequently, which led some commentators and players to incorrectly believe ProtoBanham was "icing" out his opponent. His health issues were most apparent in 2023: it became common for him to throw up every five or ten minutes, and there were times where ProtoBanham had to go to the hospital during a tournament. As such, ProtoBanham's activity declined sharply, and he appeared at a total of four events. His tournament performances as these events were roughly the same as they were in the previous year: his worst performance was in Japan, where he placed 25th at Kagaribi 11 losing to Flow and Yaura, while his best performance was at the North American event Smash Ultimate Summit 6, where he defeated Tweek and Riddles to place 5th. Still, health issues prevented him from traveling further, and although he initially accepted the invite, ProtoBanham was forced to drop out of Watch The Throne. Because of his low activity, ProtoBanham was only ranked as an honorable mention on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023 and the LumiRank 2023, with player point data implying he would have been ranked between 11th and 15th on the mid-year ranking and between 16th and 20th on the full-year ranking. ProtoBanham's last notable event was Chest 2, which he won over Hurt. Months later on April 23rd, 2024, he announced his indefinite hiatus from competitive play, and has only attended a couple of events since, where he played Min Min and Steve. RankingsSuper Smash Bros. UltimatePanda Global Rankings Ultimate
UltRank/LumiRank
OrionRank Ultimate
OrionRank Japan
Japanese Power Rankings
LumiRank Japan
Tournament placingsSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Trivia
ReferencesExternal linksGameplay videosSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You are visitor 01402503 — GeezerVison does not store the pages you look up. Best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.7 or Internet Explorer 6 at 800×600. No cookies required. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
