Overview

Gimr Tech refers to a supposedly game-changing technique discovered by Video Game Boot Camp runner and influential Super Smash Brothers personality Gimr that would revolutionize the way Super Smash Brothers Ultimate is played competitively. In late April of 2022, Gimr announced that he would share the technique with the world on Twitch on May 4th and created several trailers in order to hype up the stream. When the time for the stream came, many players flocked to Gimr's Twitch channel, only to be greeted by a looping song and animation for over an hour. Gimr later explained he had technical difficulties right before the start of his stream, and the tech wasn't revealed that day. The debacle led to memes and commentary from Super Smash Brothers fans on social media.

Background

On April 24th, 2022, Video Game Boot Camp runner and influential Smash personality Gimr released a trailer video^[1] hyping up a new technique he'd discovered that would change the "meta," or how the game is played competitively, of Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. The tweeted video gained over 410 retweets and 4,300 likes in 10 days (shown below).

Ultimate's Meta finally changes May 4th at 5PM EDThttps://t.co/zhLBmkDl8G pic.twitter.com/EPZOFfVnhw

— GimR ➡️ 5PM EDT ➡️ twitch.tv/gimr (@VGBC_GimR) April 25, 2022

Gimr continued hyping the new tech ahead of its 5 p.m. EDT May 4th reveal date. On May 3rd, he released a trailer showing several top players reacting to his new tech, and all of them react with awe and excitement at the possibilities the tech introduces^[2] (shown below). The tweet gained over 670 retweets and 6,400 likes in two days.

What do top Smash Pros think about my new tech?All will be revealed live, tomorrow at 5 PM EDT:https://t.co/zhLBmkDl8G pic.twitter.com/zdIQsr2cvJ

— GimR ➡️ 5PM EDT ➡️ twitch.tv/gimr (@VGBC_GimR) May 3, 2022

Developments

On May 4th, 2022, over 159,000 viewers tuned in to Gimr's stream^[3] to see the reveal of his new technique. However, the stream was late to begin, and when it finally went live, it showed a looping animation of Gimr's avatar walking while the song "Back to the Lab Again" from Dexter's Laboratory played on loop (shown below). This continued for over an hour until the stream ended.

From 5 p.m. EDT to when the stream ended anti-climactically, Smash fans fired off memes about the unfolding debacle. For example, Twitter user @AnthranCS^[4] posted a King Harold Dying meme about Gimr, gaining over 300 retweets and 3,400 likes in one day (shown below, left). Esports organization Panda Global^[5] posted a meme about the stream, gaining over 330 retweets and 4,200 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Several copypastas emerged during the stream as well, as people sarcastically described the important life events they were missing in order to watch Gimr's stream. For example, top player Void^[7] wrote:

"I'm actually so mad atm, I let an assignment go overdue, skipped a group presentation, and an online final exam to see Gimr's tech showcase, and if after all this it doesn't happen today I'm going to be so pissed. Actually don't know what to do with myself right now

Void's tweet gained over 490 retweets and 8,400 likes in one day.

At 7 p.m. EDT, two hours after he was supposed to reveal his fabled tech, Gimr^[6] posted a note explaining that he had technical difficulties right before the presentation was about to begin and he attempted to salvage it by playing the looping animation until he could broadcast. The note read:

I'm gonna keep this brief because I have to get a message out right now since all of you are waiting on me. Honestly I'm not ok, I had a technical issue today when I was ironing out the final kinks of my presentation. I hyped this thing up so much and felt so much pressure that I made the wrong decision to try and put it back together with literally no time. It got to the point where I put the wait screen live on my laptop and kept pushing myself until I finally accepted it. I'm really sorry for letting y'all down. I promise you this tech is awesome. If you're someone I showed the tech to I ask that you please still keep it to yourself and give me time. I'm done for the night. I'm not gonna look at social media. I'll get back to y'all with an update tomorrow. Again, I'm sorry.

The Slingshot

The tech, which Gimr dubbed the "Slingshot," was revealed on May 6th, 2022. The technique allows for players to approach opposing fighters with aerial moves but land a safe distance away from their opponent should the opponent block them.

Search Interest

External References