This is a bit late, but I can finally present the conclusion of OrionRank 2017 – a look back, 101-140, and how 2018 is going so far.

Table of Contents

1.0: Improvements

2.0: OrionRank 2017: 101-140

3.0: Region & Character Data

3.1: Regions Unrepresented in the Top 140

3.2: No Longer Ranked from 2016

3.3: Dropped Out of Top 100 from 2016

3.4: Tidbits of Info

4.0: OrionRank 2018 Qualification & Changes

5.0: Conclusion

1.0: Improvements

OrionRank’s 2017 iteration was clearly superior to the 2016 listing. The biggest differences were a result of:

The decision to remove most non-database tournies.

Very few instances of weekly events being used.

Freezie’s idea of scaling win values based on event categorization.

I can’t call this a postmortem mostly because the project was successful in its goal and showed significant improvement over its predecessor.

2.0: OrionRank 2017: 101-140

101: Regi Shikimi (357.98)

Character(s): Mr. Game & Watch

Region: Mexico

2016 Rank: 140th (+39)

102: Ri-ma (356.12)

Character(s): Toon Link

Region: Kansai

2016 Rank: 64th (-38)

103: Lea (348.43)

Character(s): Greninja

Region: Kanto

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

104: RFang (343.50)

Character(s): Mario, Cloud

Region: Atlantic Southeast

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

105: LingLing (340.51)

Character(s): Peach

Region: New England

2016 Rank: 133rd (+28)

106: Ryo (338.13)

Character(s): Ike, Roy, Corrin

Region: Florida

2016 Rank: 40th (-66)

107: Raffi-X (337.10)

Character(s): R.O.B.

Region: New England

2016 Rank: 127th (+20)

108: Pink Fresh (334)

Character(s): Bayonetta

Region: MD/VA

2016 Rank: 30th (-78)

109: Aarvark (326.65)

Character(s): Villager

Region: Southern California

2016 Rank: 73rd (-36)

110: KOSSismoss (324.95)

Character(s): Mr. Game & Watch

Region: Pacific Northwest (U.S. Northwest)

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

111: Captain L (324.40)

Character(s): Pikachu, Jigglypuff

Region: Pacific Northwest (British Columbia)

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

112: ImHip (310.5)

Character(s): Olimar, Duck Hunt

Region: Southern California

2016 Rank: 94th (-18)

113: Day (308.78)

Character(s): Lucario

Region: Florida

2016 Rank: 55th (-58)

114: Dath (305)

Character(s): Robin

Region: Florida

2016 Rank: 37th (-77)

115: SS (302.68)

Character(s): Villager, Ness, Cloud

Region: Southwest

2016 Rank: 65th (-50)

116: Frozen (298.28)

Character(s): Corrin

Region: Tristate

2016 Rank: 86th (-30)

117: Mekos (297.94)

Character(s): Lucas

Region: Atlantic Southeast

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

118: Stroder (297.00)

Character(s): Greninja, Various

Region: Southwest

2016 Rank: 166th (+48)

119: Elexiao (292.25)

Character(s): Greninja, Pac-Man

Region: France

2016 Rank: 61st (-58)

120: JJROCKETS (292)

Character(s): Diddy Kong

Region: Midwest

2016 Rank: 58th (-62)

121: BestNess (290.66)

Character(s): Ness

Region: Southwest

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

122: The Great Gonzales (285.00)

Character(s): Ness, Diddy Kong

Region: Tristate

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

123: Seagull Joe (284.92)

Character(s): Sonic, Diddy Kong

Region: MD/VA

2016 Rank: 79th (-44)

124: Some (278.32)

Character(s): Greninja

Region: Tohoku

2016 Rank: 99th (-25)

125: Big D (271.50)

Character(s): Mario, Captain Falcon, King Dedede

Region: Pacific Northwest (British Columbia)

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

126: Angel Cortes (269.67)

Character(s): Diddy Kong

Region: Tristate

2016 Rank: 70th (-56)

127: Child (268.86)

Character(s): Bayonetta

Region: Florida

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

128: Chag (267.50)

Character(s): Bayonetta

Region: Mexico

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

129: Xaltis (264.5)

Character(s): Rosalina & Luma

Region: Florida

2016 Rank: 89th (-40)

130: Venom (258.54)

Character(s): Ryu

Region: Quebec

2016 Rank: 63rd (-67)

131: Aperture (258.36)

Character(s): Sonic

Region: United Kingdom

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

132: Black Yoshi (255.55)

Character(s): Bayonetta

Region: MD/VA

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

133: Rain (249.72)

Character(s): Bayonetta, Cloud, Diddy Kong

Region: Kanto

2016 Rank: 45th (-88)

134: Griffith (246.25)

Character(s): Bayonetta, Fox

Region: France

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

135: Mystearica (245.93)

Character(s): Bayonetta

Region: Midwest

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

136: takera (245.59)

Character(s): Ryu

Region: Kanto

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

137: Blank (245.04)

Character(s): Sheik

Region: Florida

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

138: Deathorse (240.93)

Character(s): Mewtwo

Region: Quebec

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

139: LoNg0uw (240.63)

Character(s): R.O.B., Cloud

Region: Germany

2016 Rank: 123rd (-16)

140: Saiki (240)

Character(s): Sheik

Region: Southwest

2016 Rank: 76 (-64)

3.0: Data Points

Kanto notably leads in all snapshots (Top 50, Top 100, Top 140) making it the most represented region in 2017. Midwest, Florida, and SoCal consistently bounce around 2-4 in Top 100 and Top 140, while Tristate goes to 5th in the 100 and 1400 snapshots.

This represents a swap from 2016 where Kanto was consistently #5 while Tristate was consistently #1. This is due to a large number of players moving from Tristate, a large influx of ranked players moving to Kanto, and Kanto itself getting large amounts of exposure throughout 2017 both in and out of region.

3.1: Regions Unrepresented in Top 140

Oklahoma

Hawaii

Alaska

West Canada

Atlantic Canada

Carribean

Central America

South America

Italy

Spain

Switzerland

Norden

Austria

Middle East

Southeast Asia

China

Australia

Hokkaido

Chugoku

Out of 43 currently recognized regions, 19 remained unrepresented in this iteration of the player ranking, with very few of these regions even having unscored qualifiers. The reasons for this vary, but more often than not boil down to a chunk of these regions not currently being viable at the international level.

3.2: No Longer Ranked from 2016

Taiheita, 42nd (Low attendance/falloff)

SlayerZ, 71st (Retired)

Sodrek, 77th (Low attendance)

Ksev, 81st (Falloff)

Kie, 90th (No major attendance)

RiotLettuce, 95th (Falloff)

DJ Jack, 96th (Falloff)

Prince Ramen, 97th (Retired)

The Reflex Wonder, 100th (Low attendance/retired)

3.3: Dropped Out of Top 100 from 2016

Ri-ma (102nd)

Ryo (106th)

Pink Fresh (108th)

Aarvark (109th)

ImHip (112th)

Day (113th)

Dath (114th)

SS (115th)

Frozen (116th)

Elexiao (119th)

JJROCKETS (120th)

Seagull Joe (123rd)

Some (124th)

Angel Cortes (126th)

Xaltis (129th)

Venom (130th)

Rain (133rd)

Saiki (140th)

Nicko (141st)

Ito (146th)

IcyMist (150th)

San (154th)

3.4: Tidbits of Info

Rain had the most substantial decline at 88 places dropped.

Taiheita was the highest ranked player in 2016 to cease being ranked in 2017, being ranked 42nd in 2016 and never qualifying for 2017.

Credible top 100 threats such as Ron and Rizeasu never qualified for OrionRank 2017, albeit this is already rectified for the 2018 iteration.

Raito had the largest increase, going from a shaky 3rd best Duck Hunt to he undisputed best, moving 110 spots.

Mistake was the most significant rise of any non-Hidden Boss player, going from unmentioned in the 2016 iteration to becoming ranked 23rd.

3.5: Character composition of the Top 140

Most of this jives with the character data I went over in the Bayonetta article, albeit Bayonetta eventually climbs over Diddy Kong 17-16 in the Top 140 portion, and Bayonetta has a more definitive 9-6 lead against her closest competitor in the top 50 snapshot, Cloud.

I’ll be divulging a lot of extensive character information in the coming weeks, so I won’t spend too much time on this one since it’s pretty accurate to the meta information communicated so far.

The biggest discrepancy is a few characters that are high/top tier immediate missing, but they often only have 2-3 (if that) mains in the Top 100. This problem gets a lot worse for most upper tier characters, where Mega Man is an exception and Donkey Kong skirts by on a lot of noteworthy secondary usage.

4.0: OrionRank 2018 Qualification & Changes

The standards for qualification have undergone a couple of significant changes from 2017 to help make the system more objective.

Category 6 has been discarded, as has the concept a Top 96 qualification possibility.

Under 2017’s rules, placing 65th at EVO, GENESIS 4, and Civil War granted players qualification. The vast majority, if not every single person, who qualified through that 65th placement alone had no chance of breaking the top 100 and were thus never scored.

Score multipliers and other factors in the scoring methodology have led to the retraction of Category 6, as it strongly inflated wins even for the scale of the tournament involved.

Categorization for 4 & 5 is no longer as subjective

Freezie’s idea proved the best for helping to make the system for objective. Using OrionRank 2017’s Top 140, we now can determine what is and isn’t a major based on those attending by giving them point values based on their place in OrionRank itself.

Rank 1-10: 140 points per player

Rank 11-20: 130 points per player

Rank 21-30: 120 points per player

… etc

Rank 131-140: 10 points per player

Category points:

Category 5+ = 5000 Point Sum (Top 64 Qualify)

Category 5 = 4000 Point Sum (Top 48 Qualify)

Category 4+ = 3000 Point Sum (Top 32 Qualify)

Category 4 = 2000 Point Sum (Top 24 Qualify)

Notes:

International events get a x 1.25 multiplier to their final score. This, so far, has been applied to EVO Japan.

All entrants to any future Boot Camp events and NicoNico Tokaigi are automatically qualified. Zackray, Shu, Ron, Rizeasu, and others have qualified for OrionRank 2018 through this method

Majors thus far

GENESIS 5 – Category 5 (Top 48 Qualify)

Frostbite 2018 – Category 5 (Top 48 Qualify)

EVO Japan – Category 4+ (Top 32 Qualify)

NicoNico Tokaigi 2018 – Special Case (Top 16 Qualify)

Attendance Difference Multiplier will now be selective

A concept introduced as far back as 2016 was the idea of multiplying points scored based on tournament attendance. The proto example, Ranai, attended 6 tournaments in 2016 and thus would get his player win value boosted depending on the number of tournaments that player attended.

As an example, if he beat a player worth 40 points but they attended 12 tournaments, Ranai would get 80 as a way of balancing his low attendance out.

This system was applied broadly in both ranking iterations. This will no longer be the case and the difference multiplier itself may be capped to x2 when it previously held no cap.

It will be selective to top level players or players who otherwise accomplished a lot but did not attend very many events, likely totaling under 10 if an average is 20, or something to that effect.

5.0: Conclusion

OrionRank 2017 was a significant improvement over the 2016 rankings in terms of its methodology & results. As Freezie is currently busy & also focused on the all-time ranking, I will divulge OrionRank 2018 information on the regular and likely update you with the current qualified players every three months, starting at the end of March.

Thanks to people who read all of this! As stated many times before, Freeziebeatz deserves most of the credit for helping save the 2017 iteration since I had a lot of personal problems going on towards the end of 2017.