Season 3

The thumbnail of NO FUN ALLOWED, the first tournament of Season 3.

**Season 3 of the CPUCS** ran from March 17th, 2019 to April 28th, 2019, beginning with NO FUN ALLOWED and ending with ENDGAME. Five episodes aired during Season 3:

1. NO FUN ALLOWED
2. WORLDS COLLIDE
3. TRAINING CAMP
4. THE BEACH EPISODE
5. ENDGAME

By Season 3, the CPUCS had been fully established, with dynamic original characters like Vincent and tournament regulars such as Audible Link. Rivalries between the characters and strong personalities from fighters were common in Seasons 1 and 2, but outside of this there was little plot, with the commentary and action focusing on the battles between the characters in a sports-like fashion. With Season 3, however, Alpharad decided to take a risk with some drastic changes to the plot and lore, through the introduction of a major new character- Dark Vincent.

Alternate timelines had been the subject of a gag in one Season 2 episode, but now they were front and center, being fully explored as part of an ongoing conflict. The villainous Dark Vincent appeared from the Fallen Timeline with his army to replace Vincent and conquer the Light Realm, immediately setting a much darker tone than in previous seasons. For the first time each tournament was directly impacted by the tournament before it, with fighters appearing and disappearing throughout Season 3 as the battle raged between the timelines. Besides the Dark Timeline, a Third Timeline was introduced, making its own unique impact on the CPUCS with two new fighters: Punished Convict, a good alternate ToyConvict, and Major Duncan, a friend of Alpharad who would go on to become a tournament regular. The addition of an ongoing plotline to the CPUCS radically shook up the format, resulting in a much more tense but ultimately very memorable third season to end the Vincent Saga.

## The Poll

In previous seasons, the invitational was for the top fighters of the season based on who made it to semifinals. Season 3 changed this with the reveal of ENDGAME, which had a much different setup- instead of a battle to see who was the best of the Season 3 winners, it would be an all-out attack on the Dark Realm by the Light Realm fighters. Three of these fighters were predetermined. They were:

1. **Vincent**, as the focus character of the CPUCS.
2. **Audible Link**, as the highest ranked fighter by ELO.
3. Whichever fighter won the TRAINING CAMP episode as a third leader, representing new talent. This ended up being **Blue Incineroar**, the start of his rise to fame.

Besides these three, however, a poll was put out by Alpharad containing every fighter that had ever competed in the CPUCS. The idea was that the fans would vote on who they most wanted to see in the raid on the Dark Realm, so that the competitors who went would represent the people. However, two unexpected names appeared on the ballot:

* **Matt**, a memetically strong fighter who had never appeared in the CPUCS before, and
* **Joker**, a favorite of Alpharad released as DLC around the time of the tournament.

There were issues with the initial poll, so a second poll was released with the same fighters on the ballot to fix any issues. The final roster of the Light Realm team was chosen from the top fighters of both polls. These fighters were:

* **Audible Link**
* **Blue Incineroar**
* **Major Duncan**
* **Joker**
* **Matt**
* **Rosalina and Luma**
* **Lucina**
* **Zelda**
* **Luigi**
* **Punished Convict**
* **Ridley**
* **Skillshare Kirby**
* **Piranha Plant**
* **King Dedede**
* **Parsec Captain Falcon**
* **Vincent**

Additionally, **ToyConvict** received a large number of votes, but by executive decision joined the battle on the side of the Dark Realm. **Panda Global Incineroar** was also a top choice, but when Alpharad put together the team he simply forgot to add him.

## Major Events

* **NO FUN ALLOWED**- Dark Vincent makes his tournament debut, defeating Vincent but losing to King Dedede. Dark Ken makes his tournament debut. Audible Link wins the tournament, but Dark Vince, seeing him as a potential asset, defeats the champion during Thug Finals, temporarily merging the Dark and Light Timelines and corrupting Link into Dark Audible Dark Link.
* **WORLDS COLLIDE**- Punished Convict and Major Duncan debut, coming to the Light Realm to fight off Dark Vincent's invasion. Captain Falcon begins to shine, but in his debut appearance Dark Vince's servant Dark Wolf crushes the bracket, including Major, giving Dark Vince control over the Light Realm. In Thug Finals, Punished Convict and Major train together on Umbra Clock Tower.
* **TRAINING CAMP**- Tournament to see who will join Vincent in an attack on the Dark Realm. Captain Falcon gets a sponsorship from Parsec, and Blue Incineroar wins his first tournament. In Thug Finals, Dark Audible Dark Link attacks, and Blue Incineroar frees him from Dark Vincent's control.
* **THE BEACH EPISODE**- A relaxing break, as the fighters go to the beach. Blue Incineroar wins his second consecutive title, but PG Incineroar returns in Thug Finals to ensure he doesn't fall to the dark side.
* **ENDGAME**- The invasion of the Dark Realm, where Dark Vince's forces are crushed and he himself is defeated in the depths of his own lair by Vincent. Rosalina earns her first win in all of CPUCS. Blood Falcon debuts, killing several notable competitors: Parsec Captain Falcon, King Dedede, and even Vincent. After a season and a half of weak showings, Skillshare Kirby returns to form, defeating Blood Falcon and becoming the grand champion of the Vincent Saga. The Agent makes her first appearance on the end card.

## See also

* Season 1
* Season 2
* Season 4

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CPUCS/comments/bgjcw2/