Smasher:Hurt

From SmashWiki, the Super Smash Bros. wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
Hurt
Hurt.jpg
Character info
UltimatemainSnake
Ultimatedoubles mainsMii Brawler
OtherUltimatecharacterSonic
RetiredUltimatecharacterGreninja
Team info
Sponsor(s)ENTER FORCE.36
Former sponsor(s)flat-gaming
Rankings and results info
Most recent rankingSuper Smash Bros. UltimateUltRank 2025: 4th
Best historical rankingSuper Smash Bros. UltimateLumiRank Half Year 2025: 3rd
Best tournament resultSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate 1st / 924 atGENESIS X2
Personal and other info
Birth date(age 22)
LocationKagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu Japan

Hurt is aSuper Smash Bros. UltimateSnake player fromKyūshū, Japan who is considered the greatestUltimate Snake player of all time, as well as one of the bestUltimate players in the world. Beginning his career as an onlineGreninja player onSmashmate, he started seriously competing offline in 2023 with Snake, when he became one of biggest rising stars of that year alongsideSHADIC, winning a slew of superregional events throughout 2023, and culminating in his victory atBattle of BC 6 in 2024. Since then, he has won several other majors and is the onlyUltimate Snake player to win more than one. His achievements include winningGENESIS X2, becoming the first Japanese player to win a non-Smash 64 GENESIS event, and being the sixth player to achieve theUltimate Triple Crown. With his success, he is considered one of the best Japanese players in the post-pandemic metagame.

Tournament history[edit]

Smashmate beginnings[edit]

Similar to many of Japan's best players in the post-pandemic metagame, Hurt'sSmash career began on the Japanese online ladderSmashmate, where he near-exclusively playedGreninja. He immediately became one of the most successful Greninja players in Japan's online metagame, eventually claiming his first tournament victory atMaesuma #71 afterdefeating 8Mitsuki and Hero in top 8. Hurt frequently ranked in the top 20 on theSmashmate Rankings and eventually peaked at 3rd on the 26th rankings in the post-pandemic metagame. In addition, he became one of the few players to surpass a score of 2,500, and achieved a highest score of 2,522. With his performances, he was eventually ranked onkenniky'sThe Top 50 Smashmate Players of All Time for Smashmate seasons before season 22.

Despite his strong online tenure, Hurt's early offline events were largely under the radar, in part due to his infrequent appearances during the early years of the post-pandemic metagame. His first recorded offline event took place in late-2021, where he placed 5th atFukuoka Smash Brothers KAGOSHIMA, while his first major, 2022'sKagaribi 7, ended in Hurt barely missing out on the Top 96, being defeated in Top 256 byEim andTsumusuto. As such, Hurt remained an unknown player outside of Japan.

Snake and Kagaribi 10[edit]

In 2022, Hurt eventually switched to playingSnake, though he initially kept Greninja as a secondary. It is with this combo where Hurt achieved his first notable offline performance atKOWLOON 4 in January 2023, ultimately finishing 7th. After floundering at aMaesuma TOP 11, Hurt finally broke out onto the national scene during Japan's 2023 Golden Week events. His first event wasKOWLOON 5, where after being knocked into Losers byMoneyright, Hurt made a notable Losers run, eliminating players such asYamanaction, before falling toShuton in a game 5 set for 13th. He then had a relatively underwhelming 33rd atDELTA 4, and initially was projected to have an underwhelming run atKagaribi 10 after being knocked into Losers early byYez. Following this loss, however, Hurt embarked on a lengthy 9-set Losers run, taking out players suchsssr,Oi, George,Ly,takera, andTaikei in either a 3-0 or 3-1 manner. Though his run was cut short byDabuz, Hurt still went game 5 against him and bowed out at 13th as the #133 seed, the lowest seed to make top 16 at one of the largest events of the year.

This run became Hurt's breakout event and marked a sudden change in Hurt's career. Following Kagaribi 10, Hurt dominated or placed highly at every event he attended for the rest of the half-year season, winning his firstLumiRank event atMidobura SP 3 as well as his first superregional atKOWLOON 6, where he defeatedAtelier,Kome, andYaura twice. His final run of the half-year season took place at theIndonesian eventACE-HIGH, which he won over the #1 seedNeo. This sudden explosion of strong performances and wins was enough for Hurt to be recognized on theLumiRank Mid-Year 2023; however, as his sudden rise mainly took place in the second half of the mid-year ranking, he was ultimately ranked in the 61st-70th tier.

The best Snake player and Japan's newest rising star[edit]

It wouldn't be long before Hurt would crack into the global top 50, especially as his string of amazing performances continued after the rankings released. Following his first B+ tier victory atMaesuma TOP 13.5 "U-22" and a 4th-place finish atKOWLOON 7, Hurt found the greatest performance of his season atDELTA 5. ThoughKameme sent him into Losers in top 32, Hurt clawed his way into Grand Finals by going on an 8-set Losers run, where he finally defeatedShuton after losing to him in their last 3 sets, knocked outKEN, and defeatedMiya, a contender for the best player in the world, in a matchup considered one of Snake's worst. Most impressive, however, was how Hurt defeatedacola, recently crowned the best player in the world, in the first set of Grand Finals, and although acola was able to win the reset, the set still went to game 5. This not only began Hurt's dominance over acola and acola's mainSteve, but also marked the greatest Snake performance in the post-pandemic metagame up to that point. With Hurt's wins over Japan's top echelon and him being just one game away from winning a supermajor, many players wondered whether Hurt had it in him to win a major, which would make him the first Snake player to win one sinceAlly wonPound 2019.

Though Hurt remained an incredibly strong player for the rest of the season, the major win never came to fruition, as he fell to 7th and 9th at his final 2 majors,Kagaribi 11 andPort Priority 8, respectively. He also failed to win another ranked event after Maesuma TOP 13.5, and notably came in 2nd atChest 2, losing toProtoBanham. In spite of these shortcomings, Hurt still managed to put up strong performances at all of them. At Kagaribi 11, he was once again knocked into Losers early, this time byEtsuji, but clawed his way to top 8, defeating Shuton once again, before falling to Zackray in game 5. He then traveled to his first North American event at Port Priority 8, where he defeatedLima but lost toLight in yet another game 5 before being eliminated byUmeki. These performances made him one of the biggest rising stars of the year, alongsideSHADIC. As such, even in spite of the weaker start of the year, Hurt ended theLumiRank 2023 season at 19th, the highest player debut of that season, and making him the best Snake player in the world.

Rise to the top 10[edit]

Though he was not ranked in the top 10 on LumiRank, several alternative rankings, such asLunaRank Zenith, placed Hurt within that position in the second half of the year. Thus, many players believed that Hurt was already a top 10 player — he just needed to prove it on LumiRank. His first few majors of the season, however, seemed like nothing was going to change. At bothKOWLOON 9 with Sumabato andMaesuma'U22, Hurt was knocked into Losers relatively early, leading him to claw his way through the Losers bracket to 4th in both instances. Though great performances, both of Hurt's early losses resulted in a relatively high upset factor, with his loss toMiru at the latter event being an upset factor of 8. This highlighted a repeating pattern in Hurt's tournament runs, in which he often started out slow before picking up as the bracket progressed, a pattern that had existed since Hurt's initial breakout event at Kagaribi 10.

This all changed at Hurt's second North American event,Battle of BC 6, where for the first time in his career, Hurt was able to enter top 8 at a major on the Winners side, staving off an upset byToriguri right before it. Eventually, he made it into Winners Finals to fightSparg0 in a highly anticipated set. Hurt dismantled Sparg0 3-0 before moving on to Grand Finals, where he eventually faced off against Sparg0 once again. Though their second set was closer, Hurt was still able to soundly defeat Sparg0 3-1, finally winning his first major. Emphasizing Hurt's incredible skill level despite his relatively-short career was Sparg0's statement after the set, where, despite having experience in the Snake matchup thanks toAlanDiss, Sparg0 mentioned how he did not know how to fight Hurt.[1]

The rest of the first 2024 season remained around the same for Hurt. He claimed additional major victories atSumabato SP 48 andUltCore Third and placed 2nd atKagaribi 12, where he double-eliminatedacola but lost to Miya in Grand Finals despite being up 2-0 at one point, an unfortunate6 to 9 Judge combo effectively reversing his fortunes. Though he had a few underperformances, including a disastrous 49th atSeibugeki 17 to end his season, players widely considered Hurt a shoe-in for the top 5, let alone top 10. Ultimately, Hurt was ranked 4th on theLumiRank 2024.1, making him the highest-ranking Snake player to date.

Unfortunately, perhaps foreshadowed by his run at Seibugeki, the second half of the season was not particularly kind to Hurt. Throughout the late-summer and early-fall, despite notable highs such as 3rd atSumabato SP 50 and 5th atSupernova 2024, Hurt found himself often being upset early but failing to make a strong Losers run, a contrast to his performances earlier in the year. This began with a disappointing 25th atKowloon 12 with Kagaribi, where he was upset byalice and before being eliminated byLea. Following a few successful events, Hurt then found himself with three back-to-back underperformances at North American events, first with his run atRiptide 2024, where he lost toCandle andSnow for 17th; then atLitvitational 3, where he lost his Round Robin toTea andLight and was eventually eliminated by Miya for 7th; and finally atCirque 4, where he lost toPeabnut in Top 32 before being immediately eliminated byDominator for 17th. Though Hurt ended off his season with two great performances atThe Throne II andUltCore Fourth, the low points of his season, as well as a lack of major wins, ultimately left him outside the top 10 on theLumiRank 2024.2, and he was eventually ranked 12th.

Contender for the best[edit]

Though he had a weaker second half of 2024, Hurt was able to bring it back in his last few performances. This resurgence continued into the new season where he won the supermajorSmash Awesome!, the first supermajor of theLumiRank 2025 season and the last supermajor of 2024. This began Hurt's greatest season yet, as he was able to make Grand Finals at every ranked event he attended for the following 2 months. This string of performances included his run atGENESIS X2: following a game 5 set againstKola, which Hurt won in a reverse 3-0, he cruised through the entire top 8, winning every single match along the way. This included a devastating 6-0 onacola, whom Hurt defeated in Winners Finals and Grand Finals to win his first-ever P-tier. Not only was this considered the greatest Snake performance up to that point, it made Hurt an early frontrunner for the #1 position that season, or at least for the half-year season.

This success, however, was immediately cut short in March. Following revelations that Hurt had been playing onlineSmash on a delay mod, Hurt went into aself-imposed 2-month ban afterBattle of BC 7, an event where he lost toSyrup'sNess andMonte for 9th. Hurt's ban meant that he was unable to attend the two P-tier eventsLVL UP EXPO 2025 andKagaribi 13; the latter was especially devastating, as it went on to become the largestUltimate tournament of all time. His season was further worsened with his performances at the events he attended after his ban was over; though he placed highly lower-stake events and majors, he found himself eliminated early atDELTA 11 for 33rd, his lowest placement of the season by far. While he ended the season with a respectable 7th place atGet On My Level: Forever, the ban and the low points of his season ended Hurt's chances to be #1 for the half-year season.

Fortunately, Hurt's performances rebounded in the second half of the year. Following an underperformance atS Factor 12, where he lost toSisqui andMkLeo for 13th, Hurt returned to form by placing no lower than 4th at all of the events he attended after S Factor 12. These performances include winningUltCore 5th andSmashMania 2025, and he became the sixth player to achieve theUltimate Triple Crown with his latter victory. However, he was never able to become a serious contender for the #1 for the entire year, as his chances were thwarted byDoramigi andMiya, two players who consistently made Grand Finals at every event they attended that year and had good records over Hurt: Miya never dropped a single set against Hurt while Doramigi won all but two of their sets. This gatekeeping was evident by Hurt finishing 3rd at 3 of the largest events of the second half of the year —Supernova 2025,Riptide 2025, andKagaribi 14 — while Doramigi and Miya outplaced him at all 3 events. Nevertheless, these performances meant that, even in spite of the hiccup in the middle of the season, Hurt was still one of the best players in the world that year, and he ended the season ranked #4.

Rankings[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

UltRank/LumiRank[edit]

RankingTime periodRankCharacter(s)Notes
LumiRank Mid-Year 2023December 19th, 2022 - July 23rd, 202361st-70thSnake (SSBU)
LumiRank 2023December 19th, 2022 - December 17th, 202319thSnake (SSBU)Greninja (SSBU)
LumiRank 2024.1December 18th, 2023 - July 15th, 20244thSnake (SSBU)
LumiRank 2024.2July 16th - December 16th, 202412thSnake (SSBU)
LumiRank Half Year 2025December 17th, 2024 - July 7th, 20253rdSnake (SSBU)Sonic (SSBU)
UltRank Delta 2025July 8th - December 15th, 20253rdSnake (SSBU)Sonic (SSBU)
UltRank 2025December 17th, 2024 - December 15th, 20254thSnake (SSBU)Sonic (SSBU)

OrionRank/LumiRank Japan[edit]

RankingTime periodRankCharacter(s)Notes
LumiRank 2023 JapanDecember 19th, 2022 - December 17th, 202310thSnake (SSBU)
LumiRank 2024 JapanDecember 18th, 2023 - December 16th, 20243rdSnake (SSBU)

Tournament placings[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

TournamentDate1v1 placement2v2 placementPartner
Maesuma 12OnlineMarch 10th, 20199th
Maesuma 17OnlineMarch 26th, 20199th
Maesuma #34OnlineJune 4th, 20193rd
Maesuma #38OnlineJune 25th, 20199th
Maesuma #47OnlineAugust 11th, 20195th
Maesuma #59OnlineSeptember 24th, 20193rd
Tamisuma SP 78OnlineNovember 4th, 20199th
Maesuma #71OnlineNovember 14th, 20191st
Maesuma #83OnlineDecember 24th, 20195th
Tamisuma SP #102OnlineJanuary 25th, 20205th
Maesuma #94OnlineFebruary 2nd, 20202nd
Tamisuma SP #108OnlineFebruary 14th, 20203rd
Maesuma #94OnlineFebruary 13th, 20205th
Tamisuma SP #112OnlineFebruary 27th, 20203rd
Maesuma #101OnlineMarch 13th, 20205th
Tamisuma SP #118OnlineMarch 17th, 20203rd
Maesuma #104OnlineMarch 22nd, 20205th
Tamisuma SP #132OnlineApril 28th, 20202nd
Tamisuma SP #133OnlineMay 1st, 20205th
Voyage Qualifier 2OnlineMay 3rd, 20209th
Tamisuma SP #134OnlineMay 7th, 20209th
Maesuma #118OnlineMay 20th, 20205th
Fukuoka Smash Brothers KAGOSHIMAOctober 31st, 20215th
Tamisuma SP #377OnlineMarch 3rd, 20221st
Kagaribi 7May 4th-5th, 202297th
Maesuma #333OnlineMay 20th, 20223rd
Tamisuma SP #411OnlineMay 24th, 20225th
Fukuoka Smash Brothers KAGOSHIMA IIJune 18th, 20222nd
Kagaribi 8July 30th-31st, 202265th
KOWLOON 4January 21st, 20237th
Maesuma TOP 11March 5th, 202365th
Maesuma Champion Series 25OnlineMarch 28th, 20235th
KOWLOON 5April 8th, 202313th
DELTA 4May 4th, 202333rd
Kagaribi 10May 6th-7th, 202313th
Maesuma Champion Series 26OnlineMay 20th, 20235th / 16
Midobura SP 3May 27th, 20231st / 155
KOWLOON 6June 17th, 20231st / 309
tamasuma kyokkan 3July 15th, 20233rd / 157
ACE-HIGHJuly 22nd-23rd, 20231st / 114
Maesuma TOP 13.5 "U-22"August 5th, 20231st / 314
KOWLOON 7August 26th, 20234th / 298
DELTA 5September 23rd-24th, 20232nd / 292
Kagaribi 11October 7th-8th, 20237th / 1,472
Chest 2October 28th, 20232nd / 106
Port Priority 8November 11th-12th, 20239th / 7109th / 165ApolloKage
Grand Slum 16December 9th, 20234th / 256
R smashDecember 16th, 20231st / 128
KOWLOON 9 with SumabatoJanuary 13th-14th, 20244th / 895
Chest 3January 20th, 20241st / 99
Higobura SP 24January 28th, 20241st / 132
Maesuma'U22March 23rd, 20244th / 262
The Pregame - BOBC6 Pre-EventMarch 28th, 20243rd / 173
Battle of BC 6March 29th-31st, 20241st / 4947th / 98Gorioka
Maesuma'GRAND WARSApril 27th, 20243rd / 318
DELTA 8May 3rd, 20249th / 516
Kagaribi 12May 5th-6th, 20242nd / 2,030
KOWLOON 11May 11th, 20241st / 278
Sumabato SP 48June 15th, 20241st / 340
Chest 4June 29th, 20241st / 83
UltCore ThirdJune 30th, 20241st / 320
ITSUKUSHIMA 4July 6th-7th, 20241st / 127
Seibugeki 17July 15th, 202449th / 295
Kowloon 12 with KagaribiJuly 27th-28th, 202425th / 1,428
Dr Insanos BonfireAugust 7th, 20245th / 24
Supernova 2024August 8th-11th, 20245th / 2,2815th / 497Miya
Maesuma'U22 2August 17th, 20242nd / 274
Sumabato SP 50August 24th, 20243rd / 384
Riptide 2024September 6th-8th, 202417th / 1,0241st / 145Miya
Umebura SP 11September 14th-15th, 20245th / 1,023
Sumabato SP 51September 22nd, 20249th / 375
KOWLOON 13October 5th, 20241st / 309
Litvitational 3October 18th, 20247th / 16
Cirque 4October 19th-20th, 202417th / 1451st / 29Miya
The Throne IINovember 8th-10th, 20244th / 16
UltCore FourthNovember 24th, 20245th / 367
THE SHIBUYA "FIST" TOURNAMENTS 2December 14th, 20244th / 16
Smash Awesome!December 21st-22nd, 20241st / 722
Luminosity Makes BIG Moves 2025January 3rd-5th, 20252nd / 83233rd / 124Sho
Maesuma'HIT ChampionshipFebruary 1st, 20252nd / 32
KOWLOON 14February 8th, 20251st / 227
Pre-Genesis X2 at Guildhouse (Thursday)February 13th, 20253rd / 159
GENESIS X2February 14th-16th, 20251st / 9243rd / 178Miya
Kyokkan 9March 8th, 20251st / 241
KOWLOON 15 with SUMABATO OIKOMIMarch 16th, 20251st / 29
Blast Zone #170 Pre LocalMarch 21st, 20251st / 71
GAUNTLET OF GLORY IVMarch 22nd, 20251st / 190
Battle of BC 7March 28th-30th, 20259th / 4331st / 89Miya
Maesuma'LANDMARK 6June 21st, 20251st / 80
Sumabato SP 59June 22nd, 20252nd / 341
DELTA 11June 28th, 202533rd / 443
Get On My Level: ForeverJuly 4th-6th, 20257th / 7512nd / 127Shuton
S Factor 12July 26th-27th, 202513th / 1,051
Supernova 2025August 7th-10th, 20253rd / 2,4323rd / 434Miya
UltCore 5thAugust 16th-17th, 20251st / 423
Umebura SP 12August 23rd-24th, 20254th / 987
Riptide 2025September 5th-7th, 20253rd / 9524th / 169Miya
INNOSUMA!! GRANDSeptember 15th, 20251st / 96
SmashMania 2025September 27th-28th, 20251st / 416
KOWLOON 17October 18th, 20251st / 248
Sumabato SP 63October 26th, 20253rd / 346
Kagaribi 14November 2nd-3rd, 20253rd / 1,520
Sumabato SP 65January 11th, 20262nd / 242
Vars Ultimate Summit 1January 22nd, 20263rd / 38
Let's Make BIG Moves 2026January 23rd-25th, 20261st / 9265th / 133Asimo
Maesuma'TOP 2January 31st-February 1st, 20265th / 572
Cavalier Clash 7February 7th-8th, 20261st / 3181st / 60Miya
Dr Insanos Bonfire 3February 10th, 20262nd / 25
GENESIS X3February 13th-15th, 20265th / 7905th / 139Miya

Temporary ban[edit]

On March 27th, 2025, a Twitter user made a post questioning whether Hurt was using a delaymod on his Switch in a match uploaded to YouTube weeks prior. When investigated, Hurt confirmed that he had modded two of his Switches but only used those mods when playing private matches and did not use the mods for competition. Following this revelation, Hurt chose to ban himself from offline play andSmashmate for two months, beginning from April 1st and ending on May 31st, and as such de-registered from every event during his ban, which includedKagaribi 13.[2] In addition, an apology from both Hurt and his esports team,ENTER FORCE.36, were posted onto the latter's Twitter account.[3]

Though mods are heavily discouraged in Japan, they are relatively common in other regions, especially in North America. As such, Hurt's delay mod controversy was met with confusion from audiences outside of Japan, many of whom were also upset at the ban due to Hurt being the leading player for #1 at that time. Conversely, several players in Japan believed the punishment was not severe enough.[4]

Gameplay videos[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]