Sudomemo Flipnote Fight Competition Results

Hey everyone! Austin and Meggo here with our second newsletter of the week, and this one packs a serious punch. We're here to celebrate the champions of the Spring 2025 Sudomemo Flipnote Fight Competition. From high-flying combos to frame-perfect dodges, your Flipnotes brought the heat of battle and left us stunned. The energy was off the charts! You can view all of the submissions for this topic on its Weekly Topic channel by clicking this link Spring 2025 F.F.C. So let's cut to the chase. The moment you've all been waiting for: the winners are in! Well done to everyone who entered. You made this a showdown for the history books.

Spring 2025 FFC Sudomemo Flipnote Fight Competition

First of all, let's introduce the judges:

CerealBowlby

Animation enthusiast, flipnote animator, Sudomemo supporter, and Hatena veteran.

Hatena360

Animator, collab host, Alan Becker's LP/PM, and flipnote veteran.

Hyun

Founder of Hyun's Dojo Community and grew up enjoying fight animations / stick figures. Animating for over 10 years now.

Sopple

More importantly a cat, hat, and Hatsune Miku enthusiast. Less importantly a Global Mod on Hyun's Dojo's animation community.

Yunero

Flipnote veteran. Animator in Hyun's Dojo for 10+ years, and a diehard fan of stick figure animations for even longer.

Competition Results

After an action-packed showdown full of creativity, flair, and frame-smashing skill, the champions of the Spring 2025 FFC have been crowned! Let's dive into the top entries and check out what our judges had to say about each electrifying animation:

First Place

1. Maxus

This electrifying animation was awarded first place with 3 gold medals from CerealBowlby, Hyun, and Yunero, and a silver medal from Hatena360.

CerealBowlby: This animation blew me away. The visual contrast between black and white backgrounds colliding, the incredible effects, and stylish fight choreography were already excellent, but watching the fighters invert and become enveloped by the color of their enemy on multiple occasions was brilliant. I don't believe I've ever seen a fight take this much advantage of the invert tool. I also loved the use of the advanced eraser tool to create the smoke blend, which made for an awesome blur between the two colors!

Hyun: This animation I believe hit all the criteria really well. Using the simple idea of contrasting colors and implementing that into a fight while setting up insane compositions to tell a story was executed really well and it's the only animation that really fully had me impressed on all the different ways he represented both characters throughout the animation.

Yunero: A masterful animation that skillfully plays with black and white as a visual tool. When the black stick figure appears, the ground is black with a white background. Cut to the white stick figure appearing next with the ground being pure white on a black background. Amazing premise with the contrast between the two fighters, but when they have to actually come in contact? I think the animator portrayed perfectly the clashing between black and white, with the smoothness that those who are skilled in working with Flipnote generally achieve.

Hatena360: This one left me wanting more, but in a good way! I just wish it could have been longer! It was such a great execution of an idea I haven't ever seen done before. It was so fresh and so well animated in that classic flipnote stick fight style. For as complex as some of the action was, it was still super easy to follow everything. Very satisfying movement all around, but my favorite thing was that I literally could never predict what was going to happen and I love it for that!

Second Place

2. HALU

Coming in second place is HALU, who was awarded the gold medal from Hatena360, a silver from Sopple, and a bronze medal from Hyun. Hatena360: This is one of the best examples of story. It reminds me of the classic RHG battles that give some purpose for a fight to be occurring and that's something I'd love to see a lot more of. On top of that, the characters' abilities were unique and had visual characteristics that made it easy to follow who could do what. I love that it took place in an actual environment and not just on a flat plane like most flipnote stick fights. All around I have no critiques, just a very fun fight!

Sopple: I can see the great amount of effort put into this entry! The great character and background design combined with solid animation fundamentals make for spectacular visuals. The choreography in this animation did not score the highest, but its effort and unique designs were well paid off, enough to secure the second highest score for me.

Hyun: This had me fighting over 2nd or 3rd place just cus of how much substance and entertainment this animation had. I loved all the transitions, movements, and dynamic angles during the fight. Showed an impressive understanding of speed, zoom cuts, effects, and just a really well rounded fight animation. Characters were interesting and I just enjoyed this animation overall.

Third Place

3. BosS

This dramatic action-packed fight from BosS was awarded 2 silver medals from Hyun and Yunero.

Hyun: This animation I believe had the most visual appeal and polish. The level of detail of the effects, backgrounds, and animation was really just masterful and had me wondering how this is even a flipnote animation. Just simply raw talent in regards to animation and appeal, but it did fall short on complex choreo which I would've liked to see more of. I believe that was the only thing holding this animation back.

Yunero: I had no idea BosS would participate in FFC, I didn't even think he had a DSi as his youtube content mainly focuses on FS3D stuff. Nonetheless, his entry was amazing, as he excels in 2D like he usually does, and even if brief, a glimpse of some “lore” at the end to give some atmosphere. I felt like he was always really good at that, even way back then. (Go watch Avenger!)

Runners-Up

Fourth Place - Tied

4. VS Entity 2 by Arancia

Closely tied for fourth place, we have Arancia, who was awarded a silver medal from CerealBowlby, along with two bronze medals from Hatena360 and Yunero.

CerealBowlby: This has one of the best uses of the DSi's toolbox in all of the entries I've seen, that being the use of the DSi camera. Hands, a mouth, and a blinking eye really add to the unusual and otherworldly powers of the Entity. The motion blur and arcs are smooth as butter, especially the sequence with the Entity swinging the hammer around. My favorite character moment? When white smacked his fist on the ground in frustration/anger. Such a small action that tells you so much.

Hatena360: This right here is what I've been waiting for in the FFC. Pure creativity. I love how they tackled smears, their perspective shots were fun transitions, and the use of the camera feature is VERY fresh! Take notes! My only real complaint is the audio. I know it's Flipnote, but there are ways to get clearer audio. This one to me felt like a better experience muted because of how badly the music was compressed. I don't even know how the music ID system caught what song was even playing lol. This wasn't enough to lessen my experience and I still really enjoyed this one. Great job!

Yunero: I was immediately pulled in with the cool transition from black stick figure to white stick figure, then onto the 2D fight. I felt like I was in for a good watch, and so the animator proved it so with their grasp on choreography and impact with each hit. My favorite parts were the trails on some attacks, and the use of the DSi Camera for the hands and other body parts that one of the characters had. It was very unique!

Fourth Place - Tied

5. Cycle of Inspiration by Ninry

This action-packed inspirational entry was awarded a gold medal from Sopple.

Sopple: For the Flipnote Fight Competition, this animation got first for me, ironically, not because of the fight choreography, but because of the story. The visual shift of animation quality as years go by, representing the animator's journey as they are fighting, gave me a lasting impression. The fight choreography and polish did not score the highest in this animation, but all the other categories scored very high in my book, enough to deserve my highest score.

Sixth Place - Tied

6. SF by C2

Tying for sixth place, this smooth-as-butter fight scene was awarded a bronze medal from CerealBowlby. CerealBowlby: Smooth, clean, and precise. The grounded combat between the two stick figures at the end was fantastic, a lot of back-and-forth, and while not hugely flashy, it was VERY well-animated. The use of the minimal background and the way it bobbed up and down gave a lot of weight to the action. Loved how the two seemed to almost put on powered “suits” for their final duel. With flipnote studio only having two layers, the close-proximity of that final duel seeing the two colors clash and almost dance around each other without any sort of clipping or gaps that affected the readability of the fight was perfectly executed.

Sixth Place - Tied

7. Spring 2025 FFC Entry (unfinished) by Hi5byeeee

This creative fight animation was awarded a bronze medal from Sopple.

Sopple: My jaw literally dropped when I saw this entry. The creative use of the tether ball incorporated in the choreography made for a memorable story and a ton of rewatches. The animation, although a little speedy, shows great fundamentals with complicated movement, AND syncs to music. The only thing preventing this from getting a higher score, for me, is the fact that it is unfinished.

Prizes

1st Place (Maxus): $700

2nd Place (HALU): $500

3rd Place (BosS): $300

Congratulations to the winners! We wonder what you'll do with your prize money! Maybe you could buy a new drawing tablet or other digital art tools. Hyun's Dojo's "The Chosen One" tournament (https://youtu.be/Wx5JXfjW9_0) is ongoing and will conclude in several months, so maybe you could use your prize money for tools with which to enter that contest!

All three winners will also receive a full year of Sudomemo Plus and a special trophy that will be displayed on their Sudomemo profile.

Congratulations to all the winners, and well done to everyone who entered! Winners will be contacted with their prizes in the following days.

Upcoming

Mark your calendars! The next Sudomemo FFC will be held from 5th-19th October 2025. It's time to practice and sharpen your skills because next time, the battles will be bigger, bolder, and more intense than ever. The arena's only getting hotter... so get ready to bring the FIRE!

Special Thanks

Thank you so much to Meggo, who played a big part in organizing the FFC this season.

A huge thank you to our judges for their time and effort in judging this competition. We appreciate your hard work and dedication to the Sudomemo community!

An extra big thank you to James, who helped a lot with the graphic design for our banners and poster. He brought some amazing designs to life and we super duper appreciate it!

We couldn't have brought the FFC to its current heights this season without our anonymous donor who made the prize pool possible. Thanks so much! While remaining anonymous, they wanted to encourage the community to check out the Hyun's Dojo community and their ongoing "The Chosen One" tournament. You can find more information about that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx5JXfjW9_0