No Items, Fox Only, Final Destination

About

No Items, Fox Only, Final Destination is a catchphrase parodying the strict and “serious” behavior of competitive players of the video game series Super Smash Bros., or “Tourneyfags,” as they are known. The memetic phrase was turned into a series of MS Paint comics on 4chan in which these players interrupt other events. The phrase is commonly edited through the snowclone“No X, Y Only, Final Destination!”

Origin

In competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee, common tournament tier lists regularly rank the character Fox McCloud as the top rank, currently occupying his own special rank of SS over the 25 other characters.[`] This is commonly attributed to Fox’s high levels of versatility and speed, and is commonly proven to be a “jack of all trades, master of many.” This makes Fox a very popular character among tournament players, making high level tournament play include an overabundance of Fox, oftentimes creating an impression that Fox is the only character allowed to be played.

In competitive tournament play, the focus on skill over random chance and environmental exploitation oftentimes leads players to turn off randomly spawning items and impose self restrictions on many stages that provide any form of significant hazard banned from being played at events due to the unbalanced nature of the game. One of the most balanced stages in the game is Final Destination, which is simply a flat panel. These rules commonly leak into Casual Play, where open Stage Selection and Items are normally welcome, creating tension between the casual and tournament player.

Spread

In early 2007, MS Paint comics appeared on 4chan parodying the “Final Destination” player,
often creating a situation where one character says “No X, No Y, Final Destination” (examples shown below).

On December 18th, 2007 Youtube user Swordsman3003 uploaded the video “Final Destination,” featuring vocal readings of a number of the Final Destination comics. The video gained over 722,000 views. He has since made 2 (and a half) sequels to the video with other Final Destination comics.

For Glory Mode

During the Super Smash Brothers Nintendo Direct, series director Masahiro Sakurai revealed the included online modes for Super Smash Bros 4. One is a For Fun mode, with all stages and items turned on, while the other is For Glory. Drawing inspiration from the meme, For Glory turns Items off by default and limits the players to only playing on Final Destination. Sakurai, feeling that the common tournament play commonly restricted content such as the games soundtrack, added the ability to turn every stage into a flat, simple “Omega” mode that matches Final Destination in flatness and size.