IIPK

''Fandom forces article titles to be capitalized. The proper title of this article is ''iiPK.

iiPK is an American Super Mario Maker 2 player and full-time Twitch streamer. He has held the World No. 1 spot in Multiplayer Versus longer than any other player in history, and was the first to ever attain a rating of 7000 points.

On Twitch he has streamed every Multiplayer Versus match he has ever played, and has garnered a large following from the entire game's community as his viewers watched his incredible skill and him achieving several feats that were thought to be impossible.

Despite the lesser activity from him lately, he is still regarded as one of the greatest Multiplayer Versus players of all time.

Achievements
iiPK's achievements can be separated between those in Multiplayer Versus and those outside.

Multiplayer Versus

 * Running four different prominent accounts, by the names of iiPK (his main account), WaitAtFlag, SenpaiiPK, and KawaiiPK (formerly DpadSux, and before that it was MatePK).
 * All of these accounts have reached a rating of at least 6614
 * Currently, these four accounts possess the top four spots on the worldwide rating leaderboard, with KawaiiPK in first place at a rating of 6622
 * All of these accounts have been #1 on the worldwide rating leaderboard at some point


 * Holding the record for the longest uninterrupted reign of having the #1 highest rating worldwide (31 days)
 * Having possessed the #1 spot on the worldwide rating leaderboard more than any other player in history
 * Holding the record for the longest uninterrupted reign of having the #1 highest rating in the North American region (at least 100 days and counting)
 * Holding the record for the highest peak rating in America, and the second highest peak rating worldwide (6642 on the account iiPK, only behind Yuu's 6683 from Japan)
 * Being the last of only four known American players to have ever attained the #1 worldwide rating and the gold ribbon for Multiplayer Versus (the others being Zimbo, Cpt. Mono and Enviosity)
 * Holding one of six different Multiplayer Versus medals and ribbons for each one of his six accounts: the four mentioned above, plus ButtLickPK, and 2SlowPK - all at the same time
 * Gold ribbon for KawaiiPK
 * Silver ribbon for WaitAtFlag
 * Bronze ribbon for SenpaiiPK
 * Gold medal for iiPK
 * Silver medal for ButtLickPK
 * Bronze medal for 2SlowPK

Miscellaneous

 * Having held multiple former world records in the Super Expert Endless "no-skips" category, his last one at 32 courses cleared
 * Holding the Global Speedrun Association (GSA) tournament record for the most Expert Endless courses cleared in 15 minutes, at 12 courses cleared

Early beginnings
iiPK began playing Multiplayer Versus immediately as the game released. As he was one of the greatest Super Expert 100 Mario Challenge No-Skips players in the original Super Mario Maker, his Endless No-Skip runs in Super Mario Maker 2 initially overshadowed his Versus gameplay. He held multiple former world records for the highest score without skipping in the first month since launch, until finally achieving a run with 32 Super Expert clears.

iiPK's mindset when playing Versus, however, stood out from other early top players. As the game came out, players were trying to work out the kinks of Multiplayer Versus in order to get better as soon as possible. With so many high-level players at the time, and four players in one match at a time, they all simply believed that each of them had little more than a 1 in 4 (25%) chance to win, and had to accept that.

iiPK, on the other hand, was routinely frustrated at his win ratio, displayed as part of his Maker Profile in-game. Despite it being nearly 50% through his first 500 matches, he called it "negative", as if he was playing 1v1s. His prior experience with Super Smash Bros. may have made him this agitated.

Nevertheless, he soon rose to Rank S, and on July 17th, 2019, he reached Rank S+, having played just 491 matches, quite likely lower than any other player up to that point. This was also the same day that he got the 32 clear run in Super Expert No-Skips. The full stream of this day can be watched here. By this point, he realized that he was just as good at Versus as he was at Super Expert.

The climb to World No. 1
Over the following weeks, iiPK continued his Versus success, while still a part of the minority of top players that were not from Japan at the time. On July 24th, for the first time, he became No. 1 in North America, at about 5300 points. He probably traded this spot with Enviosity a few times, but by the 30th, he was a clear runaway, becoming World No. 3. At the time, the top 2 were Japanese players Haruto and Wagyatto, known for wearing the same in-game outfit. It was undoubtedly clear by this point that iiPK was ready to invade them, with his different, but soon-to-be, iconic outfit.

On August 7th, he pulled through to become the World No. 1 player in Multiplayer Versus. On the exact moment he did so, he also became North America's first player with a 6000 rating (both Haruto and Wagyatto did it before but dropped, so iiPK was not the first 6000 worldwide). The dynasty that the Japanese clung onto was no more. iiPK became the first American to be World No. 1 since Enviosity all those weeks back, and now it was his turn to enjoy some dominance.

6000 is harsh...
Continuing through August, although iiPK, Haruto, and Wagyatto stayed firm in the top 3, their permutation within the top 3 never seemed to settle down. More importantly, pertaining to iiPK, he was far ahead of any other American Versus player in skill level, and he continued to grow his rating, which remained as North America's highest.

There was just one problem: the conditions to rank up further through 6000 were incredibly rough. On average, iiPK would gain about 6 points for winning in a 4 player lobby, and 9 points for losing. His mindset of having a win ratio better than anyone else's could not have been more utilized than right now, fighting to take back the World No. 1 spot from the Japanese, which he rightly knew he would never hold for long.

iiPK would stream for several hours a day, grinding Versus extensively. Often, he would turn his facecam off to focus even more. People who had no initial thoughts of the harshness of Versus at this point certainly did now. Sometimes, he would use a VPN to connect to Japanese servers and play with Japanese players, just as part of his strategy, and to see how the Japanese played. It was not met with criticism and it helped everybody out in the end.

With competing for the World No. 1 spot, there was going to be swift ranking up from these three, and Wagyatto would eventually get 6500 first. It was a very close race, though, as iiPK and Haruto all achieved 6500 within about a 7-day period. Of course, iiPK was the first in North America.

...but 6500 is even worse
"'6500 is brutal.""+3 for a 4 player lobby. LOL' -iiPK"Even though people believed 6000 was extremely difficult to climb through, the Big 3 prevailed by the start of September, after the entire month of August. Wagyatto got 6500 first, and chose not to play until he was contested. When iiPK got it, he pushed forward. It did not take him very long to realize that he was basically playing with fire. As a 6500 player, he was basically risking losing even more points for losses relative to what he was gaining for wins. Speaking of what he was gaining, on average it was only about 4 points, while he still lost about 9 for losing.

For a while, this was virtually the killscreen for the top Versus players, including iiPK. Climbing was now slower than it ever was before, and questions immediately arose as to how much further Versus could be pushed.

(still a lot more to write [talk about alts next])