Full transcript
0:01[Music]
0:17today a friend of the producer is coming
0:20over to play Smash Brothers Melee how
0:23you doing Prett
0:25good he considers himself to be pretty
0:27good having played the game for several
0:30years what he doesn't know is he's about
0:32to play Korean DJ one of the greatest
0:35melee players of all
0:43time
0:45oh whoops each player has four lives or
0:48stocks and must take all of his
0:50opponent's stocks to win kdj will lose
0:54three on
0:58purpose oh box is so
1:03awesome
1:04oh so excited I'm playing this game
1:07again voice is really good now you will
1:14[Music]
1:22[Music]
1:28try
1:35oh my
1:40[Music]
1:53[Music]
1:58God what
2:00[Music]
2:02oh games I want to introduce you to
2:05Korean DJ who is one of the greatest
2:08smash feathers players of all
2:13time kdj then invited the cameraman to
2:20fight
2:24what and then the producer oh there's
2:27got to be enough of us here
2:37nice my
2:44God how is it possible for someone to be
2:47so fast and so precise that even three
2:50opponents would be no
2:55match this is about a game that was
2:57never designed to be played at a compe
2:59competitive
3:03level and the people who discovered just
3:05how far the game could go well I never
3:09heard your name before so go suck a dick
3:11tons of people behind me just screaming
3:13he goes there ready to die best feeling
3:15ever but mostly this is about the seven
3:19greatest players who in their time ruled
3:22the
3:24[Applause]
3:25world you want me to wrap up smash like
3:28as a whole the whole thing the whole
3:33thing John salty snacks presents a brief
3:37history of Smash It was the turn of the
3:39century and everyone was bored bored
3:42that is until Masahiro Sarai invented a
3:44brilliant new way to legally beat your
3:46children Super Smash Brothers Melee for
3:48Nintendo GameCube since then everything
3:51has been just hunky
3:54dory when Smash Brothers Melee was
3:56released it was intended to be a party
3:59game
4:00something your family could play
4:02together something designed with the
4:05Casual
4:07Gamer the game was stocked with Nintendo
4:10characters most people would recognize
4:12Donkey
4:13[Music]
4:15Kong
4:20Mario
4:24Bowser and some few would recognize
4:28Captain Falcon
4:30[Music]
4:35Chic
4:37[Music]
4:39Mar
4:43Fox the game itself was unique in world
4:46of 2D Fighters I liked that it was easy
4:50to pick up like Street Fighter you had
4:52to know AIT combos this game you could
4:55just play and have fun there's just a
4:57fluidity to it that normal 2D Fighters
5:00don't have not to say 2D Fighters are
5:02bad or anything disclaimer you know
5:05other games you got the charge moves
5:07quarter Circle smash you make up your
5:09own combos is you know it's all about
5:11the physics it's a big it's it's almost
5:13like a Sandbox fighting game of course
5:15because I had fun I then started taking
5:17it seriously it's like there are
5:19combos in this too and it's actually a
5:21lot broader I guess than most fighting
5:24games cuz it isn't just memorizing
5:26inputs you have to think a lot more JRE
5:29people are going
5:32everybody's like it's going up it's
5:35supposed to go the other way and then
5:36they die yeah it's confusing oh yeah
5:38yeah the percentage it's not at all like
5:40any other fighting game when you get hit
5:42or when things hit you or like when you
5:44fall or whatever your percentage goes up
5:46and that means that the next time
5:47someone hits you you'll go a little bit
5:49farther and then when you go far enough
5:51that you leave the box that is the stage
5:53cuz every stage is really a box then you
5:55die there's a lot of strategy in just
5:58making sure people don't come come back
5:59onto the stage once you knock them off
6:01you can kill people at 0% or like 1% if
6:05you just play it really smart and trick
6:06them into doing something whereas other
6:08fighting games you can't really have
6:10that small tactical Advantage like you
6:11have to kind of chip away at them
6:13constantly out of 649 GameCube games
6:17melee was by a wide margin the most
6:19popular but despite the insistence that
6:22it should be a casual experience a few
6:24players saw it as much more than that
6:27and they took it to another level I I
6:29mean I first picked up the game when it
6:31came out obviously I was uh there
6:33waiting in line and I guess it would
6:35have been Best Buy and brought it back
6:37and played the um all the challenges you
6:39know one by one event mode fell in love
6:42instantly it was brilliant it was even
6:43better than 64 which I also played all
6:46the time with my friends it was
6:47fantastic and I've been playing it for a
6:49couple of years when we found out about
6:52tournaments that they hosted tournaments
6:53for the
6:58game
7:01around m in my
7:04[Music]
7:06hand I thought it was just a it was a
7:08one-time thing it was for it was for fun
7:10it was silly and we went to liver diey
7:13was our first tournament it was a um it
7:16was a kind of a it was a crap show
7:17honestly it was crowded and it was
7:19smelly and I did really really really
7:21poorly and it was frustrating but but
7:24that was it you know it was just like
7:26turning on a
7:28light
7:30oh let me grab that we were trash
7:33just trash compared to these people and
7:35that was very exciting for us once I
7:37realized where I was on the spectrum of
7:39this game how how far down I was that
7:42the training started right
7:45away Welcome To Smash Brothers training
7:49today you will learn the first Advanced
7:51technique ever discovered wave dashing
7:54wave dashing what the hell is a wave
7:55Dash wave
7:58dashing this is
8:01Samus besides being a robot Bounty
8:03Hunter she is also an accomplished
8:06[Music]
8:08Dancer by jumping and then quickly
8:11dodging into the ground she can transfer
8:13her momentum into a slide speeding up
8:16her Combos and increasing her movement
8:19options despite this she still cannot do
8:22the robot that's all for now see you
8:26next
8:28time
8:31players learned how to use wave dashing
8:33and other Advanced Techniques to speed
8:35up the game to the point where it
8:36basically got ridiculous most people
8:38figure that we put in about six or seven
8:40inputs per second which is roughly about
8:42the same as professional Starcraft it
8:44kind of broke the boundaries that people
8:46expected to see in
8:47Smash there aren't set combos there
8:50aren't a list that somebody somewhere
8:51decided what you can do you can do
8:53whatever you want to with your character
8:55you compare it to sports you compare it
8:56to basketball or football where a person
8:58is in control of every movement of their
8:59body and while the video game is just a
9:01series of zeros and ones everybody looks
9:04different I can watch a video of a mar I
9:06can tell you whether it's Ken or Neo or
9:09aen you can see the style in a person's
9:12character and that to me is incredible
9:14you know I've ran tournaments for MLG
9:16I've ran men challenge I've R ran Tekken
9:19I've ran Halo I've ran Gears of War
9:21Rainbow Six Shadow run Smash Brothers
9:23Melee Smash Brothers Ball so I've ran
9:25and been around a lot of High Caliber
9:27games and I've seen them all and I think
9:28melee is one of the deepest um and most
9:31intricate games you can ever play
9:33competitively which is crazy for a game
9:35made by Nintendo that wasn't supposed to
9:36be competitive with cartoon characters
9:38but uh it just kind of was like a
9:39beautiful accident although melee has
9:42advanced considerably for the first few
9:44years there were no guidelines the first
9:47to uncover and master these techniques
9:50would instantly become the most
9:53dangerous
9:58player
9:59did you just call him
10:01Chris holy
10:03Shing
10:05not come on come on a cool with a we
10:10weren't really serious about it I mean
10:11we we had fun with it but the moment
10:13where it changed from like just casual
10:15play to competitive was when uh my
10:18brother met aen at school the biggest
10:20thing about him that I've gotten over
10:22now which I guess is why I didn't start
10:24with it but it's just the fact that he's
10:25like freakishly good at video games like
10:27he just has this knack for
10:29being able to figure a game out and
10:31apply the best tactics immediately this
10:34old school MMO RPG called growl he was
10:37like top two ranked he said in the PVP
10:39servers of that worldwide Pokemon Puzzle
10:42League top scores in almost every mode
10:44it was also just different genres I mean
10:46you got an MMO you got a fighting game
10:48and then you got a puzzle game like and
10:49he's just nailing like all three genres
10:51we would just go to Fest and we' be
10:53playing games for fun and he's still
10:54like whooping our ass in them like we're
10:56playing Mario party over here and he's
10:58just like winning in all the
10:59mini games it's something like I said
11:01that I'm used to now but it's still like
11:03when I go back and think about it it's
11:04like incredible to think about
11:06it seems like any game that he puts time
11:08into and cares about he will get sick
11:13at Crews weren't really like heavily
11:15established at the time we were kind of
11:18one of the four runners actually cuz we
11:19wanted to show that as a group we had
11:22the most skill compared to any other
11:24group of players Chu had joined our crew
11:26cuz we had met him at another tournament
11:28he started coming to our F and that's
11:29pretty much what started like the whole
11:31crew rivalry aspect probably was the
11:33fact that we had this other group of
11:37players and they were you know they also
11:39had like a
11:41name they were very like
11:46established we we had seen their
11:48placements over
11:50tournaments at the time when um when
11:53melee came out um this game called
11:55Mortal Kombat Deli Alliance came out and
11:57we was just being silly about it he like
11:59like yo we should just call ourselves
12:00dead Alliance everyone was the king of
12:02their town like Mike G he was like the
12:04King of Queens Kamal he's like the king
12:06of Brookland and me and Jason we was
12:08like the kings of Manhattan and then we
12:10also met K he was the king of Harlem it
12:12was this guy named Brandon his name is B
12:15he pretty much knew about H2 and then
12:17he's like yo these guys they real good
12:18and everything and he was the pretty
12:19much person networking between you know
12:21both Crews he's just like yeah they're
12:23all like 20-year-old dudes from like the
12:25Bronx and we're like wow like I like
12:28forget this man we going we going to go
12:30over there we going to destroy the whole
12:31crew we're just like these high school
12:33kids playing Smash Brothers and like
12:34these are like 20-year-old like
12:37inner city people just like bringing out
12:39like hardcore trash talk if I ever told
12:41people at school or anything about like
12:43oh I go to tournaments and they're like
12:44oh that's lame I'm like oh yeah well let
12:46me show you this West that
12:48goes to these tournaments he's a
12:49badass we talking smack to each other
12:51you know we actually meet and then next
12:53thing you know um
12:56aen he's pretty much beaten
12:59my whole my whole team that whole night
13:02Asen was like wrecking them but they
13:04actually beat the rest of our crew for
13:07you know overall it was funny he was
13:08even beating Dave with like Pichu Pichu
13:11cuz he would do like gimmicks like just
13:12throwing you off the ledge and just
13:13gimping
13:14[Music]
13:18you he just do stuff like that to Dave
13:20and Dave was like oh as's too good I
13:22can't beat him cuz that's how Dave is
13:24like once a play is good and starts
13:25beating him he starts like sucking their
13:27balls or whatever you want to call it
13:29and the thing that aen had over us at
13:31the time is because he knew he knew
13:33about L cancelling before us so he was
13:35able to do moves like you know um El
13:38cancel his moves to stop the delay on
13:40moves before like before
13:43us with his smart play in technical
13:45Mastery aen had emerged as the best
13:48player on the East Coast but across the
13:50country a battle was brewing for best in
13:53the Golden
13:56State Tournament go was one of the very
13:59first tournament series it was really
14:00the first kind of National Tournament
14:01series we ever had in our community and
14:03it was Matt D who would just throw
14:05tournaments in his house and you know
14:07it'd be some setups on the middle floor
14:09some setups on the bottom floor and
14:11everyone would sleep there like this guy
14:12would just house anyone that would fly
14:14in from anywhere or drive in from
14:15anywhere he would give you a place to
14:17say they'd set up tents outside in his
14:19backyard and it was like I don't know
14:21like Woodstock of gaming or something
14:23where like all these people would show
14:24up and he'd be super friendly and open
14:26his house to them and house him for a
14:27weekend just to throw some tournaments
14:30rfus you know was a guy who played Chic
14:32back then and was just the strongest
14:34player like he had won tournament go was
14:36the first couple of them um by default
14:39he was you know considered the best
14:40player in the nation I think we kind of
14:42had not an arrogant Community but like
14:44we we definitely knew we were really
14:45good at we what we did and uh the first
14:48story about Ken is like you know this
14:50guy like randomly posts that he won a
14:51GameStop tournament or some random
14:53tournament and he can't be beat in this
14:54game and the thing about that saying
14:57that is everyone says that like they
14:58beat their friends and they're
15:00unbelievable at this game and they will
15:01never lose and I've seen it at so many
15:03tournaments and these guys just get
15:04absolutely like crushed like torn apart
15:07like leave it with like you know tail
15:09between the legs like it was the same
15:10thing for Ken like some guy that wasn't
15:12part of our community was like I'm
15:14really good this game there's no way
15:15you'll beat me I wasn't I was just a a
15:19small fish in a in a pond I was I didn't
15:21know anything about the ocean yet so uh
15:24Matt Dey you know he saw that post and
15:27he actually conted my brother on a.m
15:30afterwards and wanted to to do a money
15:32match they thought it was going to be
15:33easy money so $25 became $50 $50 became
15:36$100 and then eventually I came the $200
15:39money match off the bat to tell you the
15:41honest truth I didn't even have the
15:42money at the time and I still money
15:43matched them he actually drove down like
15:46six seven hours NorCal to SoCal I played
15:48reciproc
15:50[Music]
15:52first he was like doing all these
15:54Advanced Techniques like L Dash catching
15:57items on air I was I was like how did
16:00you do
16:02that I just had to rely on my instincts
16:05to take me
16:06[Music]
16:08through I ended up beating recipherus
16:11Matt Dey and recipherus is face it was
16:14priceless it was funny thing cuz Matt D
16:16is like oh okay I guess I'm next Matt
16:18Dey would pick cornia and then run to
16:21the one side of the Chip And just
16:22constantly spam lasers at me and I
16:24couldn't I couldn't hit him every single
16:26time i' approach him he'd run to the
16:28other side and shoot more lasers at me I
16:30realized like I had to adapt to that so
16:33um I found out that once I grabbed Matt
16:34Dey he wasn't able to run so once I
16:36grabbed them I was able to hit
16:40him I asked him I like I beat you guys
16:42aren't you guys the best I beat you guys
16:44doesn't that make me the best now and
16:45Matt D said no just because you beat us
16:47in a money match doesn't make you the
16:49best you have to win tg4 I host tg4 you
16:51have to win that that that's what makes
16:53you the best so I was like oh okay I
16:56guess I'll have to go to tg4 and win
16:58that
17:00I don't know about underground
17:01tournaments you know I thought it was
17:03going to be like Evo where they hosted
17:04like you know at a Auditorium or
17:06something there was there's like stages
17:08and whatnot but it was hosted at Matt
17:09dz's house like I saw these Smashers he
17:12was housing like most of them so they
17:14were like I saw him sleeping on the
17:15ground I was like walking in there I'm
17:17like trying to avoid Smashers they've
17:18heard of me like Matt Dey and recipherus
17:20were telling people about me like how
17:22you know how it was so they wanted to
17:24see it I tore through the whole entire
17:27tournament
17:31after people saw my skill a lot of
17:33people actually dropped out of the
17:35[Music]
17:40tournament the hype was like almost gone
17:42this is like the last match of the day
17:43is me versus recipherus
18:07I I ended up beating him my parents
18:09really never supported me playing video
18:11games especially at a competitive level
18:13they would always tell me like there's
18:14no way you're going to be the best the
18:16best at this game you know there's
18:17always going to be someone better than
18:18you I'm one of those guys who want to
18:20prove people wrong you tell me I can't
18:22do any I can't do that I want to show
18:24you that I can do it so when I came home
18:26from tg4 and I showed them a lot of cash
18:29they're like oh that's beginner's luck
18:31that's beginner there's no way you can
18:33win another
18:34tournament Ken emerged from tg4 as the
18:37Undisputed champion of the West so it
18:40seemed that Ken and aen were set on a
18:45collision course with only a matter of
18:47time before they faced one another in
18:49The Ultimate
18:53[Music]
18:57Showdown
18:58[Music]
19:27you
19:32[Music]
19:40what's a John today's winner is Dr peepe
19:44come on it was very ugly but he won and
19:47he won a lot ridiculous things would
19:50constantly happen you can watch it and
19:52just see the level of like mind games
19:54going on we own do we scared of the jobs
19:57we want
20:07Revenge I figured I'm like I'm
20:09definitely not playing a noice
20:11right I've been playing for 10 years and
20:13I still can't
20:16[Laughter]
20:20that he just go straight go yeah I go up
20:24and
20:26down that's why people I think it's
20:28tight if I beat them this can't even
20:30wave
20:32that