GENESIS X3 guide: tournament lineup, players to watch, schedule and streams

Fighting game fans with nothing to do on Valentine’s Day weekend can look forward to GENESIS X3, a long-time Super Smash Bros. Major with plenty of tournaments and fan activations from February 13th to the 15th.

Taking place at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, GENESIS X3 features over 200,000 square feet of fighting game culture, from competitive brackets to an Artist Alley. If you are unable to attend, you can still watch the action unfold on Twitch. Esports Insider will give you everything you need to tune in and celebrate Valentine’s Day with the FGC.

The main event at GENESIS X3 is the Super Smash Bros. Melee and Ultimate tournaments. Despite many setbacks from Nintendo heading into 2026, GENESIS X3 managed to keep Smash in the lineup, making it even more meaningful than past GENESIS events. This will include Melee Doubles, Melee Singles, Ultimate Doubles and Ultimate Singles.

There are also Super Smash Bros. 64 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournaments, bringing classic titles into the fray.

GENESIS X3 is also a Masters II-tier event on the SNK World Championship 2026 circuit for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, meaning this will also be a stacked tournament. GENESIS X3 is also hosting a Challenger event for Season 1 of the 2XKO Competitive Series.

“These officially recognized brackets solidify the event as a must-attend tournament for professional players looking to secure their qualifying seats and build a presence on the world stage,” GENESIS stated in a press release.

While these are the highlights of the weekend, GENESIS X3 will also feature Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Guilty Gear -Strive-, Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising and more. There will even be tournaments for DanceDanceRevolution and Pump It Up in the “Rhythm Zone.”

Co-founder Sheridan Zalewski stated: “Our goal for every GENESIS event is to create the most cohesive and high-energy environment possible. Every year, we learn a little bit about what programming really sticks with our attendees and what we can replace with new ideas.

“This year wasn’t just about sifting through that programming, though. It was really about seeing how far we can push those great ideas. Getting to put all that under one roof at the McEnery Convention Center means I think we’re really offering a level of immersion and connection that’s tough to come by elsewhere.”

Things get a bit overwhelming when you try to narrow down who to watch at an event as massive as GENESIS X3. However, it’s easy to say that the Smash tournaments should get most of your attention. The brackets are stacked, with the best players in the world coming to GENESIS X3 to prove themselves as more and more Majors disappear from the circuit.

In Melee, Zain Naghmi is currently at the top of the SSBMRank, moving up from second place in August 2025. His consistency at Majors makes him a definite competitor to watch. However, Cody Schwab (second) and Juan ‘Hungrybox’ DeBiedma will also be competing at GENESIS X3, likely looking to get that top spot. It’s tough to say who will be dominant at the event, but there is no question that the salt levels, intensity and skills displayed during those matches will be an unbeatable experience.

Justin ‘Wizzrobe’ Hallett, Kurtis ‘moky’ Pratt, Jake ‘Jmook’ DiRado and Joshua ‘Joshman’ Lyras will also likely shake up the Melee bracket. Said Wizzy after getting 9th in the SSBMRank: “There is a lot more work left to do, let’s keep it going and reach NEW peaks in 2026 and beyond.”

Over in Ultimate, Mexico’s Leonardo ‘MkLeo’ Lopez and Edgar ‘Sparg0’ Valdez will be exciting to watch, especially if they face one another. MkLeo, formerly the best Ultimate player in the world, has fallen to 17th place in the LumiRank but is looking to have a redemption arc in 2026 after being a bit MIA.

Paris ‘Light’ Ramirez, Gavin ‘Tweek’ Dempsey and Tyler ‘Marss’ Martinez will be representing North American Ultimate players. Tweek recently returned to Ultimate after a short retirement, making his storyline quite interesting.

However, the competition from overseas is super tough at GENESIS X3. Shuto ‘Shuton’ Moriya from Japan and France’s William ‘Glutonny’ Belaid will be looking to climb the ranks at this Major. I am personally rooting for Takuma ‘Tea’ Hirooka, with his incredibly high IQ Pac-Man and Kazuya plays. He is always extremely entertaining to watch.

Steve ‘Supernoon’ Carbajal is here to get a W after losing in Frosty Fausting’s Grand Finals to 16-year-old prodigy bleed. He is one of the most prominent 2XKO fighters in the bracket, although it’s still a very new scene. Expect to see a lot of newcomers and upsets as 2XKO’s esports circuit continues in 2026.

The Fatal Fury bracket is going to be insane. I expect pure chaos as top fighting game pros from a wide range of titles clash in this relatively new scene with big money on the line from SNK.

Top SF6 pros Victor ‘Punk’ Woodley and Goichi ‘GO1’ Kishida are going to be top contenders. GO1 won Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’ first-ever Evo tournament in 2025 and the Esports World Cup that same year. This is the man to beat.

Ultimate pro Michael ‘Riddles’ Kim has turned a lot of his attention to Street Fighter 6. It will be interesting to see how he fares against other SF6 competitors, including GO1, Punk and Nemoto ‘Nemo’ Naoki.

As always, these larger fighting game events have a pretty confusing schedule. There may be times when you have to choose which game to watch over another due to overlapping schedules.

Unfortunately, the schedule for GENESIS X3 has not been revealed just yet, but we have a pretty good idea of how it may look based on last year’s tournament schedule. However, 2XKO and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves are missing from GENESIS X2, so there may be some changes.

We will update when the schedule is revealed, but here is the likely Smash schedule:

Melee Doubles

Melee Singles

Ultimate Doubles

Ultimate Singles

Since there are overlapping tournaments happening throughout the weekend, GENESIS X3 will have multiple Twitch channels. These have not been confirmed for 2026 just yet, but it may be the same as GENESIS X2 last year.

If so, here are the channels to watch:

There will also be channels for Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, 2XKO, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves and all of the other tournaments. Last year, GENESIS had six streams going at once, so expect something similar this time around.

Each stream will feature commentary from two hosts. These commentators will switch out throughout the weekend.