PPMD | |
---|---|
Current team | |
Team | none (free agent) |
Status | Inactive |
Personal information | |
Name | Kevin Nanney |
Nickname(s) | PPMD, Dr. PeePee |
Born | September 25, 1990 |
Career information | |
Games | Super Smash Bros. Melee Project M |
Playing career | 2009–present |
Team history | |
2013–2014 | VGBootCamp |
2014–2021 | Evil Geniuses |
2021–2023 | Golden Guardians |
Career highlights and awards | |
Twitch information | |
Channel | |
Followers | 79,400 |
Last updated: April 12, 2024 |
Kevin Nanney, also known by his gamer tag of PPMD and formerly known as Dr. PeePee, is an inactive American professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player. Nanney is one of the "Five Gods" of Melee, alongside Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Joseph "Mango" Marquez, Adam "Armada" Lindgren, and Juan "Hungrybox" DeBiedma. [1] He is a two-time champion of the Apex tournament series and was ranked as one of the top six players in the world from 2010 to 2015, after which he was removed from rankings due to inactivity. Nanney uses Falco and Marth and is known for his intelligent and patient playstyle. [2] A 2021 list compiled by Melee Stats, which was hosted on PGstats, ranked Nanney as the seventh-greatest Melee player of all time. [3]
Nanney entered into a hiatus from professional competition in 2016, citing health issues, and has not entered a singles tournament since. However, Nanney has remained active on social media and Twitch and has insisted that he has not permanently retired from competition. [4]
Nanney garnered attention in 2009 after placing higher than Mango at Revival of Melee 2 and finishing runner up to Hungrybox. Nanney won the tournament's next incarnation in 2010. He placed 5th at Apex 2012 after losing to eventual 4th place Javier "Javi" Ruiz. Next year at Apex 2013 he placed 2nd after losing to Armada in the Grand Finals. On July 16 Nanney became sponsored by Twitch streaming channel VGBootCamp.
In 2014, Nanney won Apex 2014, the second largest tournament at the time. In June Dr. PeePee won SKTAR 3 beating Mew2King in the finals and automatically qualifying for MLG Anaheim 2014. He finished 4th at MLG Anaheim despite being the favorite to win. [5] Nanney was invited to the Nintendo organized Super Smash Bros. Invitational at the E3 2014 to play Super Smash Bros. for Wii U , pre-release, and received the Fan-Favorite Award. [6]
In May 2014 he left VGBootCamp and became a member of Evil Geniuses as their first Super Smash Bros. player. [7] [8] [9] In 2015 Nanney became a repeat Apex champion when he beat Armada after Armada forced a bracket reset. [10] [11] Nanney then placed 5th in doubles at Bad Moon Rising on March 14–15, 2015, with his good friend and former rival Adam "L0zR" Jones. Nanney and Jones performed very well as a team in doubles tournaments earlier in Melee's life. Nanney competed only in doubles, and not singles, at this event. [12] He placed third at EVO 2015, only his second singles tournament of the year. He was sent to losers in a rematch with Armada and then eliminated by Hungrybox in the Losers Final. [13] Nanney won Canada Cup 2015 on October 30-November 1, 2015, over notable Samus player James "Duck" Ma. [14] He placed 5th at Smash Summit on November 5–8, 2015. On January 15–17, 2016 he got 6th at GENESIS 3. [15]
At the Battle of the Five Gods tournament on March 17–19, 2016, Nanney won two sets and lost one in Group B of the group stage, qualifying for the Playoffs Group. There, Nanney won no sets and lost four, leading him to not qualify for the finals Bracket, and finish in 10th place. [16] At this event, Nanney also participated in a recorded panel where the rest of the "Five Gods" besides Hungrybox, who was not available for the session, discussed their thoughts about each other. [17]
Nanney announced he would not be attending EVO 2016 citing health issues as the reason for this decision. [18]
On July 1, 2017, Nanney participated in the doubles tournament at Bad Moon Rising 2, competing only in doubles and teaming up with Adam "L0zR" Jones once again. Nanney decided to enter this tournament to support his friend in Jones' decidedly final tournament appearance. [19] The duo eventually finished at 4th place in the tournament, including a remarkable come-from-behind victory over Team Liquid's team of Hungrybox and Hungrybox's coach, Luis "Crunch" Rosias, in the Losers Quarterfinal. [20]
On April 2, 2021, Nanney was announced as a new signing by Golden Guardians, along with fellow Super Smash Bros. Melee player Edgard "n0ne" L. Sheleby and commentator Kris "Toph" Aldenderfer. [21]
Nanney trains an hour a day on average. He has cited one of the reasons for his success as a player due to his ability to outplay his opponents psychologically by forcing them to make bad decisions. [22]
Nanney struggled with depression over the years, which has limited his ability to travel to events and at times he has found motivation in the game difficult. [23] [24] Nanney is a 2009 graduate of Crest High School in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. [25] He has a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. [8] Nanney currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. His younger brother Alex "Twitch" Nanney is also a competitive Smash player. [26]
Nanney has expressed interest in playing competitive Melee for a living. [27]
After a hiatus, Nanney began streaming on his Twitch channel again on April 23, 2019. [28]
Only Majors and Supermajors are listed.
Tournament [29] | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
---|---|---|---|---|
Revival of Melee 2 | November 21–22, 2009 | 2nd | 13th | tag$ |
Pound 4 | January 16–18, 2010 | 9th | 3rd | L0zR |
Apex 2010 | August 6–8, 2010 | 4th | 5th | everlasting yayuhzz |
Revival of Melee 3 | November 20–21, 2010 | 1st | 3rd | everlasting yayuhzz |
Winter Game Fest VI | January 22–24, 2011 | 1st | 1st | Mew2King |
Pound V | February 19–21, 2011 | 1st | 4th | L0zR |
GENESIS 2 | July 15–17, 2011 | 7th | 2nd | Mew2King |
Revival of Melee 4 | November 19–20, 2011 | 2nd | 5th | everlasting yayuhzz |
Apex 2012 | January 6–8, 2012 | 5th | 3rd | L0zR |
Zenith 2012 | May 26–27, 2012 | 1st | 2nd | everlasting yayuhzz |
IMPULSE | June 30 – July 1, 2012 | 2nd | 1st | Mango |
Smashers' Reunion: Melee Grande | July 13–15, 2012 | 2nd | 2nd | Leffen |
Kings of Cali | November 10, 2012 | 1st | 3rd | Ken |
Apex 2013 | January 11–13, 2013 | 2nd | 7th | L0zR |
Zenith 2013 | June 1–2, 2013 | 4th | 3rd | Unknown522 |
EVO 2013 | July 12–14, 2013 | 5th | — | — |
The Big House 3 | October 12–13, 2013 | 3rd | 2nd | Hax |
Apex 2014 | January 17–19, 2014 | 1st | 9th | Leffen |
Civil War VI | April 12–13, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
SKTAR 3 | May 31 – June 1, 2014 | 1st | 2nd | Mango |
MLG Anaheim 2014 | June 20–22, 2014 | 4th | — | — |
EVO 2014 | July 11–13, 2014 | 4th | — | — |
Apex 2015 | January 30 – February 1, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
Bad Moon Rising | March 14–15, 2015 | — | 5th | L0zR |
EVO 2015 | July 17–19, 2015 | 3rd | — | — |
Canada Cup 2015 | October 30-November 1, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
Smash Summit | November 5–8, 2015 | 5th | 5th | Plup |
GENESIS 3 | January 15–17, 2016 | 6th | — | — |
Battle of the Five Gods | March 17–19, 2016 | 10th | — | — |
Bad Moon Rising 2 | July 1, 2017 | — | 4th | L0zR |
Ken Hoang, also known as Kenny, SephirothKen, or Liquid`Ken, is an American professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player and television personality. Hoang was widely considered the most dominant Melee player in the world during the early years of the game's competitive scene in the early to mid-2000s. Hoang primarily plays Marth in Melee and is credited for pioneering several gameplay techniques integral to the game's competitive play, including the "dash dancing" movement technique and the "Ken Combo", an effective Marth combo for which he is the namesake. Hoang's dominance in the game earned him the nickname "The King of Smash".
Joseph Manuel Marquez, known by his gamertag Mango, is an American professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player and streamer from Norwalk, California. Known for his aggressive, high-risk playstyle, he is widely considered one of the game's greatest players of all time, and is one of the "Five Gods" of Melee, along with Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma, Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Kevin "PPMD" Nanney, and Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman. Marquez began his career playing Jigglypuff, however he has primarily played Falco and Fox since 2011. He has been part of the Cloud9 esports team since 2014.
Jason Sheldon Zimmerman, known by his gamertag Mew2King, commonly shortened to M2K, is an American professional Super Smash Bros. player from Cinnaminson, New Jersey. He has won more than 70 tournaments during his career, primarily in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Zimmerman is one of the "Five Gods" of Melee, along with Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma, Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Kevin "PPMD" Nanney, and Joseph "Mang0" Marquez and is also widely considered one of the greatest Super Smash Bros. Brawl players of all time. He has also competed at a top-level in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Project M.
Apex is an annual esports tournament held in New Jersey that is focused on Super Smash Bros. The event's first incarnation was in 2009 with Jesus "Jman" Fernandez as the champion of Super Smash Bros. Melee and Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyarce as champion of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Each year the event grew with more competitors entering. Apex 2014 garnered 629 entrants and was the 2nd largest tournament for Melee at the time after EVO 2013. Though the tournament initially focused on Brawl, the feature game has since switched to Melee due to its popularity. In 2010, an event for Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 was added. In 2014, the fan modification of Brawl, Project M was added for singles only. Project M has recently been removed as an official event out copyright concerns under Nintendo of America sponsorship and Third Party relations.
Adam Lindgren, known by his handle Armada, is a Swedish professional Super Smash Bros. player from Gothenburg. He is widely considered one of the greatest Super Smash Bros. Melee players of all time and the greatest Melee Peach player of all time. Lindgren has won several major tournaments: he is a three-time champion of GENESIS, two-time champion of EVO, two-time champion of Apex and one-time champion of The Big House. Considered one of the "Five Gods" of Melee, alongside Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Joseph "Mang0" Marquez, Juan "Hungrybox" DeBiedma, and Kevin "PPMD" Nanney, Lindgren was ranked one of the top two Melee players in the world every year from the beginning of formal rankings in 2013 until his retirement from singles tournaments in 2018, with Lindgren ranked as the number one Melee player in the world in 2015 and 2016. A 2021 list by PGstats ranked Lindgren as the second-greatest Melee player of all time. Lindgren retired from professional Melee singles tournaments in September 2018, citing declining interest in the game, although he still occasionally enters doubles tournaments teaming with his brother Andreas "Android" Lindgren. He also runs a YouTube channel with over 125,000 subscribers.
The Smash Brothers is a 2013 nine-part documentary series written and directed by Travis 'Samox' Beauchamp. The documentary series examines the history of the competitive Super Smash Bros. community, in particular the game Super Smash Bros. Melee and seven of the most dominant players throughout its history up to that point: Christopher "Azen" McMullen, Joel "Isai" Alvarado, Ken "Ken" Hoang, Christopher "PC Chris" Szygiel, Daniel "KoreanDJ" Jung, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, and Joseph "Mango" Marquez. The film also features extensive commentary from other community figures including Chris "Wife" Fabiszak, Wynton "Prog" Smith, Kashan "Chillindude" Khan, Antoine "Wes" Lewis-Hall, Daniel "ChuDat" Rodriguez, Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma, and Lillian "Milktea" Chen. The series was crowdfunded through Kickstarter, receiving US$8,910. The series had a total budget of US$12,000. The series has received a combined total of over 10 million views on YouTube.
Juan Manuel DeBiedma, better known by his alias Hungrybox, is an American and Argentine professional Super Smash Bros. player, streamer, tournament organizer and commentator. Recognized as one of the greatest and most successful Super Smash Bros. Melee players of all time, he is one of the "Five Gods of Melee" along with Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Joseph "Mang0" Marquez, and Kevin "PPMD" Nanney, and is regarded as the greatest Jigglypuff player in history. He is also an active competitor in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and has been a member of Team Liquid since 2015, becoming its co-owner in December 2021. He is currently ranked as the 8th best Melee player in the world for 2023.
William Peter Hjelte, better known by his gamer tag Leffen, is a Swedish professional fighting game player and streamer. Although mostly known as a Super Smash Bros. Melee player, he has also competed in Dragon Ball FighterZ, Guilty Gear Strive, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In Melee, Hjelte plays the character Fox, and is considered one of the best players in the world, having been ranked as one of the top seven Melee players in the world every year since 2014. A 2021 list compiled by PGStats ranked Hjelte as the sixth greatest Melee player of all time.
Joel Isai Alvarado, professionally known as Isai, is an American Super Smash Bros. 64 player widely regarded as the game's greatest player of all time. He is credited with developing the modern Smash 64 metagame and is renowned for his ability to play the game's entire character roster at a top professional level. His major tournament victories include Apex 2014 and Super Smash Con 2023.
Gonzalo Raúl Barrios Castro, known by his gamertag ZeRo, is a Chilean professional Super Smash Bros. player and streamer. He was considered the best Super Smash Bros. for Wii U player in the world throughout his career, with a record-breaking 56 consecutive tournament wins in the game from November 2014 to October 2015, including high-profile tournaments such as EVO 2015 and The Big House 5. Prior to the release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, he was a top ranked Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Project M player. His best known characters are Diddy Kong in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Pit in Project M, Meta Knight in Brawl, and Fox in Melee. He is the only player to have earned more than US$100,000 playing Super Smash Bros. for Wii U competitively.
Professional Super Smash Bros. competition involves professional gamers competing in the Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games published by Nintendo. Organized tournament competition began in 2002 with Super Smash Bros. Melee, released for the GameCube in 2001; however, in the series' native Japan, there have been tournaments as early as 1999 with the original Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. Later tournaments have featured the other games in the series, with the two largest and most popular Smash Bros. scenes revolving around Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch. Smaller scenes exist for the original game and Project M, a popular fan modification of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii, and to a lesser extent, Brawl itself. Major Smash Bros. tournaments include the GENESIS, Evolution Championship Series (EVO), Super Smash Con and The Big House annual series. Major League Gaming (MLG) has also previously included Smash Bros. games in its Pro Circuit.
Nairoby Quezada, better known as Nairo, is an American streamer and retired professional Super Smash Bros. competitive player. He is widely considered one of the best players in the history of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. After starting his career on Brawl in 2011, he quickly established himself as one of the best players in the United States, and became regarded as one of the best Brawl players in the world the following year; he would remain seen as a top Brawl player for the rest of his career, and would achieve similar success on Wii U and Ultimate following their respective releases.
Weston Dennis, better known as Westballz, is an American professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player from Burbank, California. Widely considered one of the game's best and most technical Falco players, he has defeated several top professional players in tournament including Joseph "Mango" Marquez, Juan "Hungrybox" DeBiedma, Kevin "PPMD" Nanney and William "Leffen" Hjelte. A 2021 list compiled by PGstats ranked Dennis as the 26th-greatest Melee player of all time.
The Big House is an annual Super Smash Bros. tournament series held in Michigan since 2011. It is considered one of the largest and most prestigious Smash Bros. tournament series alongside GENESIS, Evolution Championship Series (EVO) and Super Smash Con.
Genesis, stylized as GENESIS, is a series of annual Super Smash Bros. tournaments occurring in the San Francisco Bay Area of the US state of California. The first Genesis tournament took place in 2009 in Antioch at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds.
Justin McGrath, better known as Plup, is an American professional Super Smash Bros. player from Orlando, Florida. McGrath is considered to be one of the best Super Smash Bros. Melee players in the world, having been ranked as one of the top 10 Melee players every year since 2015.
The 2016 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 15–17. Being hosted on the twentieth anniversary of the Evolution Championship Series, the event offered tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Pokkén Tournament. Participation reached record-breaking numbers, with over 5,000 people registering for the Street Fighter competition alone. 2016 was the first time the Evo Grand Finals were held in an arena and were broadcast by ESPN2 in addition to Twitch.
The 2015 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 17–19. The event featured a major tournament for nine fighting games, including the largest Super Smash Bros. tournament up to that point and a highly popular Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament. The Street Fighter IV tournament was won by Yusuke Momochi, defeating GamerBee in the Grand Finals.
Jeffrey Williamson, known professionally as Axe, is an American professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player. As of 2023, he is ranked as the 17th best Melee player in the world and has finished in the top ten of formal rankings presented by Red Bull and esports team Panda Global every year between 2016 and 2022. Some of his notable tournament placements at major Melee tournaments include first place at Smash Summit 8, second place at GENESIS 6, and fifth place at EVO 2014.