Following in the footsteps of the major Smash Bros. tournament, Riptide, Mainstage has also announced they will not be holding a Project+ tournament. The announcement comes after Riptide tournament organizers were approached by Nintendo, the publishers of the Super Smash Bros. series, telling them to not host tournaments for Project+. Project+ is a fan-made mod of Super Smash Bros. Brawl that aims to make the game more competitively viable.
Project+ is a spiritual successor to the widely popular Super Smash Bros. Brawl mod, Project M. Nintendo has a long history of shutting down that mod as well. In 2015, Nintendo strong-armed the development team for the mod into ceasing further development. Five years later after Project M disappeared, Project+ came to be. The new mod is actually a patch of the latest Project M build before it went down in 2015. The new patch fixed bugs, brought balance updates to the roster, and more. With a popular resurgence, Project+ was set to make its Smash Bros. major debut at Riptide in mid-September.
Riptide announcement causes a ripple effect
On August 27, the Riptide staff took to social media to explain that Nintendo had contacted them. After discussions, they concluded that they had to cancel all Project+ events. In the same post, they explained that they were sorry for the inconvenience and have started to issue refunds.
— Riptide (@RiptideSSB) August 27, 2021
Nintendo and the competitive community have been at war with each other for nearly a decade with Nintendo trying multiple times to shut down events including Evo 2013. When it comes to mods of their original games, Nintendo has feverishly been against any modifications or emulations. Melee had one of its biggest events of the year, The Big House, shut down last year due to using an online emulator for the 20-year-old game.
— The Big House 11 (@TheBigHouseSSB) November 19, 2020
The staff behind the Mainstage event said they haven’t been contacted by Nintendo. But they are taking precautionary measures to prevent further conflict. They also stated that they will be issuing refunds to anyone who has already signed up for Project+ at their event. Mainstage will take place on the weekend of November 12.
