As SSBMRank 2016 comes to a close, let's take a minute to celebrate some of the most notable facts and figures around this year's Top 100. 2016 featured several veterans that returned to the scene along with new talent that impressed and surprised. Check out the movers and the shakers below!

New players emerge

In 2016, 21 new players made it into the Top 100. Alvaro "Trifasia" Garcia Moral from Europe made the highest debut at rank 44. Due to a lack of European exposure he went under the radar in 2015. Adam “Armada” Lindgren , a fellow Peach main, gave Trifasia nothing but the highest praise and totes him as one of the best Peach mains in the world right now.

Along with Trifasia, Griffin "Captain Faceroll" Williams and Jason "Infinite Numbers" Gauthier made their debut in the Top 50. Both players have made massive improvements through consistent hard work. Hopefully, more new players follow in their footsteps in the coming years.

Biggest jumpers

The climb up the rankings becomes more difficult the closer players come to the top. Jumping from rank 150 to 100 is easier than moving from 75 to 25. With that being said, we’ve seen people that were on the ranks last year continue to make gains in 2016.

Kyle "dizzkidboogie" Athayde made the biggest jump this year, starting at rank 84 in the beginning of 2016 and ending the year at rank 27 for a 57 rank jump. Edgard "n0ne" Sheleby from Canada also made an impressive jump of 40 ranks from 58 to 18 in the year. Which of those gains is more impressive? It's up for debate. What is not, however, is that both of these massive improvements are worthy of some serious praise.

USA Representation © Melee It On Me

International Representation © Melee It On Me

Regional representation

In 2016, we continue to see the California and Florida regions dominate the annual rankings with representation in the double digits. Other regions such as Tri-State, Maryland/Virginia, the Midwest and New England continue to bring a steady force into the annual rankings as well. Thankfully with the growth of international events, we see a total of 21 international representatives on the power rankings. As Melee continues to grow, this trend should continue as we continue to discover hidden bosses all across the entire world.

SSBMRank Character Usage © Melee It On Me

Characters

Excluding seldom used secondaries, exactly half the cast (13 out of 26) were represented on the Top 100 this year. Fox topped the charts with nearly 30 percent of the total representation. This closely aligns with his game representation in Top 32 of most majors. Sheik comes in at second, followed by Marth. Interestingly enough, Captain Falcon and Peach beat out Falco by the slimmest of margins. Had Kevin "PPMD" Nanney been considered active, then Falco would have tied Peach and Captain Falcon at number four.

Wrapping it up

Only three players remain, and everyone knows who those last three are — the only mystery is who will end up where. But this year has showed that even with all of the veteran players holding strong, there is plenty of room for hungry new players to take their place.