Darkrain
Character info
Meleemain	Captain Falcon
OtherMeleecharacters	Marth,Fox
Project Mmains	Captain Falcon,Ganondorf,Falco
Team info
Crew(s)	Kansas City/Midwest
Rankings and results info
Most recent ranking	SSBMRank 2015: 61st
Best historical ranking	RetroSSBMRank 2009: 8th
Best tournament result	1st / 73 atTipped Off 4
Winnings	~$6,112.20
Personal and other info
Real name	David John
Birth date	August 6, 1987(age 38)
Location	Overland Park, Kansas

Darkrain is aMeleeCaptain Falcon smasher fromKansas City. He is considered the original solo Captain Falconmain (asIsai, then the best Captain Falcon main, dual mainedSheik). He was formerly ranked 61st on the2015 SSBMRank and 8th on the2009 RetroSSBMRank.

Play style[edit]

Darkrain popularized down throwtech-chasing onspacies. He will down throw, fox trot, and then react to his opponents tech. He has an aggressive play style and will go offstage to edgeguard, but this can backfire. He has high knowledge of combo setups knowing what he can and can't follow up with and knows the ins and outs of Captain Falcon.

Tournament history[edit]

Darkrain has a long standing history with the midwestMelee scene. He placed highly at the events of the 2006 season of theMidwest Circuit, including winning CoKII, which caused him to be ranked 3rd on theMidwest Power Rankings in October 2006. Darkrain also participated at various MLG events throughout 2005 and 2006. AtMLG Chicago 2006, he placed 17th, losing toThe King in the first round of winners' bracket, then defeatingThe_Doug, but losing to The King again. He then placed 9th atMLG Orlando 2006, where he once again lost to The King in the first round of winners' bracket, but proceeded to defeatKeepSpeedN,Eddie, andCaveman before losing toMew2King.

Darkrain then managed to place 7th atMELEE-FC Diamond, the largestMelee tournament in the world at the time. He repeated this performance by placing 7th atPound 3, where he defeatedTope andDoll in winners' bracket before losing toChuDat, and then defeatedDrephen to reach losers' top 8, where he lost toVidjogamer. One year later, he placed 7th atGENESIS, defeatingMexican,Sensei,Romeo, and Tope in winners' bracket before losing to Mew2King, then defeatingLambchops before losing toHungrybox 1-2 in losers' top 8.

Darkrain attendedPound 4 and teamed up with fellow Falcon mainSilentSpectre and got 2nd place in teams. In singles he lost to Tope in round 1, but made a run in losers beatingDarc, Vidjogamer, andKa-master, before losing to Zhu to place in the top 16. After years of not appearing at a national, Darkrain made a return atMELEE-FC10R Legacy in August 2012, where he made top 8. In the round robin top 8 bracket, he lost toKels 2-3, Hungrybox 0-3,Hax 2-3,SFAT 2-3,Axe 1-3, andMango 2-3, though he defeatedKage 3-0. Due to having the lowest score among the players in the bracket, he placed 8th. Darkrain's set withMango made an appearance in the 2013 documentary film,The Smash Brothers.

AtEVO 2013, Darkrain made it to the losers' quarters pool, where he defeatedBaka4moe,L,Bacon, andBladewise 2-1, before being eliminated byFiction, placing 25th. The next year atEVO 2014, he once again placed 25th. He defeatedSilent Wolf 2-0 in the winners' quarters pool, before losing toShroomed 1-2. He defeatedCyrain to make it into the top 32, where he was eliminated by Fiction 1-2. AtHungrybox'sDon't Take My Stock 3, he was beaten byGahtzu 0-5 in aCaptain Falcon ditto money match.

At CEO 2015 he didn't make it into bracket after getting double eliminated byTafokints. AtFC Smash 15XR: Return he teamed up with fellow Falcon mainWizzrobe and got 3rd place. In singles he made it into the top 32 bracket on losers side. He beat Drephen before losing to Duck to place in the top 16.

Darkrain again returned next year for EVO 2015. He lost to Plup in round 2 of pools, but he was able to make it to day 2 beatingEval,4%,Redd, and Wizzrobe in a Falcon ditto. He lost toWestballz 0-2 to get 25th again at EVO. After EVO he attendedLow Tier City 3 in Texas. Darkrain lost toMojo in winners. After making top 8 in losers side he lost to Axe to get 5th place.

Darkrain's next big tournament wasThe Big House 5. He captained the Midwest in the crew battle and they ended up losing to Europe by one stock in a heartbreaker. He playedS2J in a exhibition Falcon ditto for the first time, but he lost 1-3. He teamed up with S2J, but they only got 25th place. In singles he lost toThe Moon in pools, but was able made it to day 2 on losers side by beatingVro. In bracket he beatMafia 2-1 then lost toHomeMadeWaffles 1-2 to get 33rd place.

After a long hiatus Darkrain went toEVO 2016, but couldn't make it to day 2 as he was double eliminated byZhu and received 49th place.

Rankings[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

RetroSSBMRank[edit]

Ranking	Time period	Rank	Character(s)	Notes
RetroSSBMRank 2005	2005	HM
RetroSSBMRank 2007	2007	HM
RetroSSBMRank 2008	2008	HM
RetroSSBMRank 2009	2009	8th

SSBMRank[edit]

Ranking	Time period	Rank	Character(s)	Notes
SSBMRank 2013	January - November 2013	39th
SSBMRank 2014	January - October 2014	44th
SSBMRank 2015	January - November 2015	61st

Top 100 Melee Players of All Time[edit]

Ranking	Time period	Rank	Character(s)	Notes
First List	January 10th, 2004 - January 21st, 2018	33rd
Second List	January 10th, 2004 - February 3rd, 2019	36th
Third List	January 10th, 2004 - February 16th, 2020	35th
Fourth List	January 10th, 2004 - September 12th, 2021	37th

Tournament placings[edit]

Super Smash Bros.[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[edit]

Project M[edit]

Gameplay videos[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

• "Mind Reader" A Darkrain Combo Video

External links[edit]

• Twitter account
• Smashboards profile
• Interview

• Retired players
• Missouri smashers
• Kansas smashers
• Texas smashers
• Captain Falcon players (SSBM)
• Captain Falcon players (PM)
• Ganondorf players (PM)
• SSBMRank ranked players