Full transcript
0:00It's April 21, 2019.
0:02Competitors and spectators have gathered in Laurel, Maryland for the POUND 2019 tournament.
0:07Today we visit the meeting of two players, competing under the aliases of "Mang0" and "Hungrybox."
0:13They're playing Super Smash Bros. Melee, a video game released in 2001 for the Nintendo GameCube.
0:20Despite the age of the game, this event has managed to attract a live audience of
0:23a few hundred spectators and upwards of 70,000 viewers tuning in from around the world.
0:29Today is Championship Sunday.
0:31After battling past the rest of the competition,
0:34the top 12 players are competing for the title of this year's POUND champion.
0:57Since this is a double-elimination tournament, Hungrybox is kicked down into the loser's bracket,
1:02where he now has to face S2J.
1:04The loser of this set will be out of the tournament in fifth place.
1:21Hungrybox wins, and advances to face Zain in the losers semi-finals.
1:26Quickly, Hungrybox finds himself in deep trouble, about to fall to an 0-2 deficit.
1:31With his back against the wall, he rebounds to win game two.
1:34He narrowly wins the next two games to eliminate Zain at fourth.
2:01Once again, Hungrybox wins, eliminating Plup at third.
2:05After defeating everyone in the loser's bracket, Hungrybox has only one competitor left to face.
2:10Mango, the player who sent him down there in the first place.
3:12In their second encounter of the tournament hungrybox defeats mango three games to one to reset the bracket.
3:18Since it's a double elimination tournament, Hungrybox must defeat Mango a second time to win the tournament.
4:09[COMMENTATORS:] ...HBox is your POUND 2019 Smash Bros. Melee champion.
4:14After an incredible comeback victory, Hungrybox begins to celebrate in front of the stunned crowd.
4:20But unfortunately for him, the celebration he earned is about to be cut very, very short.
4:26[COMMENTATORS:] Hungrybox is the champion, once again.
4:29-What is that? What is he holding? - I'm not sure what that is in his hand.
4:35[HUNGRYBOX:] Who threw this at me?
4:38[COMMENTATORS:] He's saying someone threw it at him? Just because Hungrybox won?
4:41Just ten seconds after his victory, a disgruntled spectator throws a raw crab at Hungrybox,
4:47narrowly missing his head.
4:49In a matter of seconds, Hungrybox is transformed from the most joyful person in the arena...
4:54...to the most miserable.
4:56Most people don't care that much about video games, but some people do.
4:59Out of these people, most don't care about competitive gaming, but some do.
5:04And for all the eSports out there, most spectators don't care about watching a 19 year old game.
5:10But still, some do.
5:12And out of those few people, surely, no one cares enough about the outcome of a match
5:17to throw a raw crab at the winner.
5:20But on this day in Laurel, Maryland,
5:22someone did.
5:24As far as I know, this is the only time something like this has ever happened
5:29in the history of competitive video games.
5:31But if it was gonna happen, it was probably gonna happen to Hungrybox.
5:36Who is Hungrybox?
5:41[HUNGRYBOX:] You know how hard I worked out here?
5:43[MUSIC: Battlefield (Super Smash Bros.: Melee)]
6:01Before we can talk about Hungrybox, we have to talk about the game that made his name.
6:06Super Smash Bros. is one of Nintendo's flagship franchises,
6:10releasing on every console dating back to its debut on the Nintendo 64.
6:14The game was originally conceived by developer Masahiro Sakurai,
6:18who was interested in creating a four player fighting game with Nintendo's most iconic characters.
6:24Despite his vision, Sakurai prepared to field the game with generic fighters,
6:28as he never anticipated that Nintendo would approve of their flagship characters in such uncharted territory.
6:34However, much to a surprise, Nintendo greenlit the most ambitious crossover event in history,
6:40and Super Smash Bros. was borne from the defiance of expectations.
6:51The game released in 1999 to a warm reception from critics and audiences alike.
6:56While the novelty of barbarically pummeling beloved childhood mascots drew people into Smash,
7:02the game's unique mechanics kept them playing.
7:05When first conceiving of the game, Sakurai wanted Smash to stand out
7:08from the typical 2d fighters of the era.
7:11And he accomplished this with the game's fundamental objective.
7:15In standard fighting games, players damage each other to deplete a health bar.
7:19And you win the game by lowering your opponent's health to zero.
7:23Super Smash Bros. alters this formula by instead programming damage to increase knockback,
7:28and setting the wind condition to launching your opponent off screen.
7:34This relatively simple change produced a radically different gameplay from other fighting games.
7:39Instead of prioritizing complex button combinations and precise spacing,
7:44Smash places much more emphasis on movement, platforming, and stage positioning --
7:47mechanics that were rarely considered in other fighting games at the time.
7:53While developing Smash, Sakurai wanted to offer the player a new experience with each session,
7:58and in doing so created a game with incredibly divergent outcomes,
8:03resulting in dynamic, unpredictable gameplay, but most importantly a game that's very hard to figure out.
8:10This design philosophy would serve as the blueprint for the series going forward.
8:14And while Smash 64 brought a lot of ideas to the table, the concept wouldn't realize its full potential
8:20until its successor: Melee.
8:22[Intro to Super Smash Bros.: Melee]
8:36It seems as if Super Smash Brothers: Melee has always been in a race against time,
8:41going all the way back to its development.
8:44After the success of Smash 64, Sakurai was tasked with developing its sequel
8:48in time for the debut of Nintendo's new console, the Gamecube,
8:52giving the team at HAL Laboratory just 13 months to complete its most daunting project yet.
8:58After an exhaustive development cycle, the result was an accidental masterpiece.
9:03Compared to its predecessor, Melee was much faster:
9:06faster movement, faster attacks, faster combos.
9:09The rapid pace of the game contributed to incredibly dynamic and unpredictable combat.
9:14Melee offers the player an immense degree of control over their character.
9:19Mechanically speaking, Sakurai described Melee as the sharpest in the series.
9:23Players seemed to agree, as upon release, Melee was a smash hit.
9:27However, despite the game's tight presentation, Melee would go on to be defined by its loose ends.
9:33The game's hasty development allowed a few oversights to slip through the cracks.
9:37In due time, players would begin to discover numerous exploits to gain a competitive edge over their opponents.
9:44Combined with Melee's already fast gameplay,
9:47these techniques were able to transform an already good game
9:50into a masterpiece.
9:55[Music: Menu 2 (SSBM)]
10:04Super Smash Brothers: Melee was without a doubt a very successful casual game.
10:09But its unique mechanics set the foundation for one of the greatest competitive games of all time.
10:14The discovery of such advanced tactics would push the game's potential
10:18beyond what anyone thought was possible.
10:21Shortly after the game's release, local Melee tournaments began to spring up everywhere,
10:25and thousands of players began contending for the title of the best Melee player in the world.
10:30Starting in 2004, Major League Gaming would sponsor Melee on its pro circuit,
10:36incentivizing the highest level of competition with thousands of dollars in prize money.
10:40As tournaments became more prestigious, so too did the players.
10:45Captain Jack, Isai (Isaiah), and Azen emerged as Melee's top contenders.
10:49But no early player was better than Ken - the undisputed king of Smash.
10:54From 2003 to 2005 he won almost every tournament he entered,
10:59beating Melee's best competition along the way.
11:02Around 2006 new challengers like PC Chris and Korean DJ began closing the gap.
11:08Ken retained his crown all the way through, 2007 where Melee made its first appearance at EVO.
11:13After battling through Melee's biggest tournament yet, Ken would once again emerge victorious
11:19in what many at the time considered to be Melee's last hurrah.
11:22[E3 2006 Super Smash Bros: Brawl Preview]
11:27In competitive video games, it's customary for players to compete in the latest version of their franchise.
11:33After seven years as the Gamecube's most popular title,
11:37Melee was scheduled to be supplanted by the next smash game.
11:42As the franchise moved to the Wii, the competitive Melee scene was expected to follow.
11:48However, following one of the most anticipated releases in video game history,
11:52Super Smash Bros.: Brawl was not at all what people expected.
11:58The combat was slow and plodding.
12:01Lower hitstun severely limited the potential of comboing.
12:05Advanced tactics like Wavedashing were replaced with punishing mechanics like tripping,
12:09where the game would randomly stun players for dashing.
12:21Needless to say, the sluggish pace of Brawl was a drastic change from the fast-paced precision of Melee.
12:27Supposedly, Sakurai felt that Melee's highly technical execution made the game too difficult for casual play.
12:33And he worked to make the sequel much more simple and accessible for new players.
12:37While Brawl succeeded as a casual game, It suffered competitively.
12:41Many of Melee's top players tried to give Brawl a chance.
12:45One year after his final Melee victory, Ken would return to the finals of EVO playing Brawl,
12:51where he would be promptly beaten by a 14 year old kid.
12:54The player who beat him had no prior tournament experience,
12:58and he only entered because his family just happened to be vacationing near the venue at the time.
13:03The tournament result was viewed as a total farce by the competitive Smash community.
13:07The fact that essentially a random player could score a fluke win against a skilled veteran like Ken
13:13served as an indictment against Brawl as a competitive game.
13:16With all of this considered, it didn't take long before many of Melee's competitors
13:20soured on the new Smash game.
13:23For the first time ever, the Smash community was divided over the future of the franchise.
13:28In an era before eSports were commonplace in online culture,
13:32many fans struggled to accept Smash Bros. as anything beyond its original role as a party game.
13:38Most were prepared to write off Melee as a stale, dead game with nothing left to figure out.
13:44And the vast majority of players were ready to move on with the series.
13:48Only a small ragtag community would stay behind in what they considered to be the better game.
13:54And luckily for them, this seven-year-old title was still very much alive.
14:01[PAST HBOX:] Now we are in the Atlanta Airport, and it's like 7:30 in the morning...
14:20Hungrybox started entering local Melee tournaments in the summer of 2007.
14:25In just a few months, he started regularly placing in the top 5.
14:29And by the next year, he started winning.
14:32As HBox kept playing, he found himself conquering tougher and tougher competition.
14:37In 2009, he entered Revival of Melee,
14:40the game's first major tournament since the release of Brawl.
14:44Facing off against the best in the nation, Hungrybox placed 7th.
14:48Four months later at Genesis, he placed 3rd.
14:52Two months after that at Tipped Off 5, he won.
14:55Just two years after he started competing, Hungrybox was already contending for the title of best in the world.
15:02But in addition to his individual success,
15:05HBox was arguably taking part in something much more important.
15:09The rise of Hungrybox was indicative of a new generation of Melee.
15:13By 2010, the old legends of yesteryear had pretty much vanished.
15:17Like most of the old community, they had moved on to new frontiers.
15:22The departure of Melee's old generation left new top players the opportunity to usher in a new era.
15:29In January 2010, the Pound 4 tournament would mark the beginning of a period in melees history,
15:34known as the Era of the Five Gods,
15:37specifically serving as the first tournament with all five gods in attendance.
15:41The story of Melee's gods begins with the first god, Mew2King.
15:46Beginning in 2005, Mew2King would eventually rise and defeat Melee's old legends.
15:51Mew2King's Melee ascent was due almost entirely to his pioneering research into the game's combat:
15:57frame data, character matchups, ko percentages.
16:01Information that's readily accessible today
16:03was originally discovered by Mew2King's exhaustive exploration of Melee's mechanics.
16:08And for many years, no player knew more about the game than Mew2King.
16:12In 2008, Mew2King was widely regarded as the top player in both Melee and Brawl.
16:18To this day, he remains the only player to achieve the concurrent title best in the world
16:23in two different Smash games.
16:25And as impressive as this accomplishment was,
16:27it meant that Mew2King's attention was divided among two very different games,
16:31leaving the door open for many to challenge his throne.
16:34The second of Melee's gods to rise to power would be Mango,
16:38who by 2009 would overtake Mew2King as the top Melee player.
16:43Throughout the history of Melee,
16:44many would argue that no player had a more intuitive understanding of the game than Mango.
16:49Watching Mango perform at his highest level is an experience unlike anything else in Melee.
16:55The way he could effortlessly string together complex combos led to a style
16:59that was as fluid as it was unstoppable.
17:02At times, the only thing that could stop him was how much he was willing to try.
17:07Mango's exciting and aggressive play style made him a consummate fan favorite,
17:11especially through his iconic clashes with Melee's third god, Armada.
17:16As Europe's best player, Armada carried the weight of a whole continent on his shoulders
17:21as he traveled to prove himself in the United States.
17:24Historically, Melee's competitive scene has viewed Europe
17:26as a significantly weaker region than North America.
17:30A stigma that was often used by Americans to invalidate the success of European players.
17:35Armada would defy everyone's expectations by immediately contending with America's best.
17:41His unrivaled dedication and consistency would make him
17:44one of the most formidable opponents Melee had ever seen.
17:47Hungrybox stablished himself as Melee's fourth God through his meteoric rise in 2009.
17:53And last, but not least,
17:55Melee's new generation would be cemented through the rise of the fifth god: DrPeePee.
18:00Although he was the last to develop, PPMD would quickly rise to the highest level of competition.
18:06PP's style relied on tactical execution to pick apart his opponents with surgical precision.
18:11When the doctor was in, you were about to be prescribed your daily dose of destruction.
18:19These are Melee's Five Gods.
18:21Now that we've introduced who they are, we can talk about what they are.
18:25Carrying the title of God in any game entails a great deal of prestige.
18:29And Smash Bros. is no exception.
18:31So what exactly did these five players do to transcend us lowly mortals?
18:36It's unknown who exactly introduced the term five gods to describe Melee's top players.
18:41But the expression started seeing frequent use in the summer of 2014,
18:45most likely used to describe the era of supreme dominance that preceded it.
18:50From 2009 to 2015, a member of the five gods would win every major tournament,
18:56utterly dismantling the rest of the competition in the process.
19:00In any competitive sport or game, It's typical to have one or two elite players
19:04win a lion's share of the competitions.
19:07Chess, for example, has witnessed Magnus Carlsen dominate the competition for the past six years.
19:12A rarer case is currently on display in tennis,
19:15which has seen three players dominate major tournaments over the past decade.
19:20A competitive game with five elite players occupying the same era is almost unheard of.
19:25But if such an unlikely event were to occur,
19:27It's somewhat fitting that it would happen in a game used to defying expectations.
19:31As the legend goes, Melee's Five Gods would hardly ever lose to any other players,
19:37and all were capable of defeating each other in any given competition.
19:41But just how much better were the gods than everyone else?
19:44Well, as a reminder, I like to recall two cases involving the player Hax,
19:48a skilled competitor known for his flashy combos and lightning quick execution.
19:53In 2013, Hax was ranked as the number six player in the world, the best of the non-gods.
19:59He would remain a perennial top 10 player until his hiatus in 2015.
20:03In a 2014 tournament, Hax faced off in a set against PPMD.
20:08In the first game, he got three stocked in about two and a half minutes.
20:19In the second game, he got four stocked in 68 seconds.
20:34Later that year, Hax would compete in a set against Mango, which Mango would win three games to one.
20:40Not the most impressive result, until you realize that Mango doesn't actually main Marth or Captain Falcon.
20:46That's just the difference between a good player and a god.
20:49Even when you're good, you're a long way from the best.
20:54[SCAR:] Did he just walk up slowly, and down smash?
20:59At one point, the gods were so far above the rest of the competition
21:02that they could even win with their secondary characters.
21:05Now would probably be a good time to talk about Melee's characters.
21:09Out of all the Smash games, Melee may have the most interesting character composition.
21:14Some Smash games have one or two characters that outright dominate the meta,
21:17with the most obvious example being Brawl's aptly named Meta Knight,
21:22a character so blatantly overpowered that some tournaments chose to ban him entirely.
21:26On the other hand, the best Melee character has always been kind of tough to figure out.
21:31To put it simply, about a third of Melee's roster are completely unusable in a competitive setting.
21:36Another third are just kind of bad.
21:39And the last third are all capable of winning tournaments.
21:42To this day, the community remains largely undecided on which character is actually the best.
21:47A debate that can be traced all the way back to the beginning of the game
21:51through the history of Melee's tier lists.
21:53That's right - this widespread facet of modern internet discourse
21:57originated from the niche purpose of categorizing characters in fighting games.
22:01In the early days of Melee, Sheik was considered the best character with her rapid attacks and movement.
22:07As the meta progressed through the rest of the 2000s, more characters would emerge as top tier contenders.
22:13Peach, with her strong aerial attacks.
22:16Marth, with his chain grabs and huge spacing.
22:18Captain Falcon with his heavy combos.
22:21The Ice Climbers with their infinite combo.
22:24And the space animals, Fox and Falco, with their great mobility and high damage.
22:28And then there's Puff.
22:35In any competitive video game your character is far more important than just a colorful avatar.
22:41It's an extension of the self and an integral part of a player's identity.
22:46In Melee, perhaps no player is more intertwined with a character than Hungrybox and his Jigglypuff.
22:52Jigglypuff is the most confounding character in all of Melee.
22:56She arguably should have never existed as a smash character at all.
23:00Puff is not even among the most popular characters in her own franchise.
23:04But she wound up in Smash anyway because of her similar character designed to Kirby.
23:08The Smash 64 developers would recycle Kirby's character model and animations
23:13to fill out the game's 12th and final character slot.
23:16And thus, the Balloon Pokemon would remain as a mainstay for the rest of the franchise.
23:22At a glance, Jigglypuff in Melee seems like a rather mediocre character.
23:26She has 5 jumps and great mobility, but her ground game leaves much to be desired.
23:31Most of her attacks do unimpressive damage and have a short range.
23:35Combined with the slowest dash speed in the game, Puff has a hard time approaching other characters.
23:40Two of her special attacks are practically useless in a competitive setting.
23:44She's the second lightest character with the slowest falling speed,
23:48meaning she tends to die much faster than any other character in the game.
23:52With all this considered, it's difficult to imagine this character seeing any kind of competitive success.
23:57This sentiment was echoed during the early parts of the game with Melee's inaugural tier list,
24:02which placed Jigglypuff firmly in the bottom half of the cast.
24:06However, as the game progressed,
24:08the Melee community found that Puff was a lot better than what they initially anticipated,
24:12due in large part to two moves.
24:15Back-air is Jigglypuff's strongest aerial attack.
24:18Thanks to a disjointed hitbox, this move provides Jigglypuff with her only powerful ranged option.
24:24Its relatively low end lag makes it spammable, granting Puff her only real way to space out opponents.
24:30And while back-air may be puffs most versatile move, It doesn't come close to her most game-changing move.
24:37[COMMENTATOR:] REST!!! Rest! It's over!
24:43The premise of Rest is quite simple.
24:45Hitting the move deals massive damage and knockback, killing most characters at very low percents.
24:51Missing the move will stun you for three seconds, basically guaranteeing your own demise.
24:56Scoring a Rest is very difficult, due to the move's small hitbox,
25:00basically requiring Puffs to be on top of the opponent's character to connect.
25:04But at the highest level of competition,
25:05the threat of getting Rested forces other characters to treat Puff like a ticking time bomb.
25:11Rest prevents opponents from aggressively rushing down Puff
25:14and smothering her with their otherwise superior attacks.
25:17It forces other players to back down and keep their distance,
25:20as one slip-up could lead to devastating consequences.
25:24Throughout the 2000s, players would begin to discover the power of Puff,
25:28and the character would gradually move up Melee's tier list,
25:31peaking at number three overall in 2010,
25:34after Hungrybox and Mango showed that Puff could dominate at the highest level.
25:38However, on the cusp of what looked to be a Jigglypuff uprising,
25:42the character was about to run into a major roadblock.
25:45Midway through 2010, Mango unexpectedly dropped Puff as his main,
25:49choosing instead to move forward with Fox and Falco.
25:53Mango's character swap marked the beginning of a trend in Melee that would go on to be known as 20XX.
26:17By 2011, the Melee meta game had undergone more than ten years of evolution.
26:22And its combat was starting to get very optimized.
26:25For Melee's community, no character represented the game's optimization more than Fox.
26:30Ever since the beginning, Fox was always considered to be a character with incredible potential.
26:35But no one could truly harness it until the meta game had progressed
26:39beyond a high enough threshold of technical skill.
26:42To put it simply, Fox in Melee is the fastest character in the fastest Smash game.
26:47If played perfectly, Fox's rapid movement and attacks
26:50should theoretically overwhelm any other character in the game.
26:54Optimal execution with Fox pushes the limits of what's humanly possible with a controller.
26:58But that wouldn't stop many players from seeking the holy grail of peak Melee performance.
27:03One of those players was Hax, the originator of the 20xx meme,
27:08and widely regarded as the best Captain Falcon player in the world before switching to Fox,
27:12much to the dismay of Captain Falcon fans who viewed the switch as a betrayal.
27:17Mango's infamous set versus Hax supposedly came as a result of Mango trying to teach Hax a lesson
27:23that Fox was not quite the Melee messiah that everyone envisioned.
27:27Some of you may see this as ironic since Mango himself abandoned his original character for Fox.
27:33But it starts to make more sense when you consider the scale of sickness.
27:37The Melee community loves to throw around this idea of players and characters being sick.
27:42A sick character roughly translates to a character being cool, dynamic, and generally fun to watch and play.
27:49Arguably more important than Melee's tier list is its Sick List, which, by my estimate, looks something like this.
27:55You see, Hax switching from Falcon to Fox may have improved his standing on the tier list,
28:00but he kicked himself down a peg on the sick list and the move was somewhat unpopular.
28:05On the other hand, when Mango switched from Puff to Fox, he upgraded his sickness by a huge margin.
28:11Because, in the realm of Melee, no character is lamer than Jigglypuff.
28:21[commentators booing Jigglypuff player on mic]
28:27For many fans of the game, Jigglypuff represents the antithesis of everything that makes Melee great.
28:33She requires lower technical skill than the rest of the high tier characters.
28:37She's floaty and hard to combo.
28:39Her play style is inherently slow, campy, and defensive.
28:43Spectators often accuse her of being boring to watch and play.
28:47These are many of the same points that Melee players used to claim why Brawl is an inferior successor.
28:53And yet, sitting right inside their otherwise flawless masterpiece, is a little pink blemish.
28:58For this fundamental incongruity,
29:01Jigglypuff is Melee's black sheep.
29:03But even the most despised character in all of Melee can still find support from some players.
29:08One of those people was Hungrybox, who all of a sudden found himself
29:12as the number one Jigglypuff player in the world.
29:14Unlike Mango, who had always demonstrated proficiency with a variety of characters,
29:19Hungrybox only played Puff.
29:21Whether it was out of loyalty or necessity,
29:24Hungrybox would show up year after year, game after game, rain or shine,
29:28with the same tried-and-true character.
29:31Most Melee players consider Jigglypuff to have a solid matchup spread,
29:34having winning or even matchups with most of the other high tier characters.
29:39But without a doubt, Jigglypuff's most difficult matchup comes against Fox,
29:43whose powerful vertical attacks are capable of launching Puff into the stratosphere at low percents.
29:48Fox versus Puff is quite possibly Melee's most intriguing matchup,
29:53pitting the strongest offensive character against the strongest defensive character.
29:57For ages, Fox stood mightily as Jigglypuff's only hard counter.
30:01And as Fox began to dominate Melee's meta, the game was about to get a lot harder for Hungrybox.
30:11By 2011, the era of the five gods was well underway.
30:15Despite HBox's impressive 2010, his tournament results would stumble a bit in the following years.
30:21He would grab the occasional first place at smaller events,
30:24but would struggle to win at tournaments with more than one other god in attendance.
30:28Although around this time, he hardly had much of an opportunity.
30:32Melee was still very much in the midst of a competitive dark age,
30:36and nationally organized tournaments were few and far between.
30:39Despite its small, underground, following, the Melee community held steady,
30:43persisting through sparse events and prize money fueled almost entirely by the love of the game itself.
30:49Their patience would pay off when, unbeknownst to anyone at the time,
30:52Melee would once again be thrust into the spotlight.
30:592013 was arguably the most influential year in Melee's history.
31:03A year that was marked by three monumental events.
31:062013 oversaw the release of Project M,
31:09one of the most ambitious video game mods of all time, which sought to reimagine what Brawl could have been
31:14had it retained Melee's fast paced mechanics.
31:17For the first time ever, Melee players could enjoy what they felt was a true sequel to Melee.
31:22Also in 2013, independent filmmaker Travis Beauchamp
31:26would release the Smash Brothers documentary to critical acclaim.
31:29The film would bring unprecedented exposure to Melee's underground scene,
31:33and would go on to inspire a new generation of players to compete in the coming years.
31:37But without a doubt, 2013 saw perhaps the most important event in the history of competitive Melee.
31:43Where after six long years of slumber, Super Smash Bros.: Melee would return to EVO.
31:49The announcement quickly drew in over 700 competitors,
31:53making EVO 2013 the biggest Melee tournament to date.
31:56And heading into the event, all eyes shifted towards the five gods of the game.
32:09[PROG/D1?:]...and he can't make it back! And Mango is gonna take it over Dr.PeePee...
32:36[D1:] Still recovering in the edge, positions--Oh! And 2-0, Armada knocks out Mew2King...
32:56[D1:] Mango has knocked him out! He's taking his shirt off! Shirt to the crowd!
33:01To everyone's surprise, Hungrybox found himself in winners finals
33:04of Melee's most important tournament to date.
33:07Even more shocking was his opponent, Wobbles:
33:10an Ice Climbers player in the twilight of his career
33:13who managed to slay two gods on his way to one of the most improbable runs in Melee history.
33:18Hungrybox was in prime position to become EVO champion.
33:21All he had to do was beat Wobbles in a favorable character matchup.
33:25And then win just one more set in Grand Finals, and he would claim Melee's most coveted title.
33:54[COMMENTATORS:] But this time-- - Oh, he got it this time!
33:58- Wow! WOW!
34:01-We're done! Hungrybox down to his last stock perhaps, winners side!
34:12- That's it! Wobbles is in Grand Finals!
34:15Astoundingly, Wobbles did the unthinkable by conquering a third God in a row.
34:19To make matters worse for HBox, the moment he lost, he didn't even know that he had.
34:24[COMMENTATORS:] - Do they know it's 2 out of 3? I think they think it's three out of five.
34:27- I don't know if they know. Do they know? - I don't think--
34:31- Yes, I think they think it's three out of five because that's the standard.
34:35- And there's a handshake. Hungrybox is not happy about this. There's a handshake. And Wobbles...
34:43After this discouraging moment, Hungrybox had to imagine
34:46that his golden opportunity to claim the EVO crown had slipped right through his fingers.
34:51The rest, as they say, is history.
34:59[COMMENTATORS:] ...Hungrybox needs a miracle right now. He needs to go--
35:01-Ohhhhhhhh! -He read that roll! He read that roll!
35:06- ...3-0 in that first set, to get revenge against the man who sent him in the losers' bracket.
35:14-...and there it is! The up smash! And Wobbles is gonna go down 3-1, Mango has come all the way back...
35:23We may never know just how influential Mango's EVO 2013 win was.
35:27But the game's most popular player winning its biggest event
35:31was enough to catapult Melee out of the dark ages and into a renaissance.
35:35It breathed new life into the game as a competitive spectacle,
35:38during a time when eSports were just beginning to enter the public consciousness.
35:43In the coming years, viewership attendance, sponsorships, and prize money would skyrocket.
35:49After EVO 2013, Melee would never be the same.
35:53While the game was booming, Hungrybox was slumping.
35:57With his loss at Evo, HBox only added to his three year long major tournament losing streak.
36:03And he did so in gut-wrenching fashion, not just getting upset by Wobbles,
36:07but also handing the tournament win to Mango, who was, at the time, Hungrybox's biggest rival.
36:14Following his EVO victory, Mango hosted a now infamous Reddit AMA,
36:18on which Hungrybox voiced some scathing remarks
36:21about how Mango had disrespected him for his entire career.
36:25Mango's response? "Come up and get me."
36:342013 also saw the release of Melee's first annual player rankings.
36:39Mango, following his monumental win at EVO, scored the number one rank.
36:43Hungrybox, in a lackluster year, sat fifth - the worst of the best.
36:49As 2014 rolled around, things would only get more tumultuous for hungrybox.
36:53This was the year that 20XX began to tip the scales of the Melee metagame.
36:58In addition to the other gods of the game,
37:00Hungrybox now to face a rising generation of highly technical Fox players,
37:04like Hax, Leffen, and Lucky.
37:06With each tournament, the Puff main was dealing with more threats than ever before.
37:11If the Fox revolution wasn't enough, Hbox also faced challenges that few others could have anticipated.
37:18During this time, Armada would frequently thwart HBox by using Young Link,
37:23an obscure mid tier who is only really viable at countering Puff.
37:27Hungrybox's losing streak would continue deep into 2014,
37:31where he would once again enter Evo in desperate need of a win.
37:35In his most impressive performance of the year, Hungrybox would play valiantly,
37:40beating PPMD and finally vanquishing Armada's Young Link,
37:43only to be double eliminated by Mango, who won the tournament for the second year in a row.
37:49What hungrybox lacked in winning, he made up for with his flair for the dramatic.
37:53[D1:] ...Oh, man. Hungrybox still alive, Leffen...
37:56[OTHER COMMENTATOR:] He's got his confidence back!
37:58a few moments later
38:01- Uh-oh. Wow. - Is this it?!
38:03- He DI'd out of the way. - Nice DI out of the--
38:05- Oh my-- That's the set! Hungrybox, humongous comeback!
38:09Around this time, Hungrybox started developing a penchant for making ridiculous comebacks.
38:14These clutch displays reminded everyone of his skill, and earned him the moniker of Clutchbox.
38:20But improbable comebacks weren't the only dramatic traits of HBox's play.
38:24Much like his in-game character, HBox too was a bit theatrical and emotional.
38:30During this time, he was most often characterized by his explosive pop-offs after close wins.
38:35Perhaps it was his way of confronting the growing pressure from Melee's new wave of spectators.
38:40The combination of his god status and defensive play style caused many fans to actively root against him.
38:46By the summer of 2014, Melee was no longer just a ragtag bunch of players
38:51competing mostly for bragging rights.
38:53It was becoming a legitimate eSport, with its players falling under the scrutiny of thousands of spectators.
38:59You have to imagine that any player would have a tough time adjusting to such a drastic change,
39:04especially in Hungrybox's case, where more often than not the crowd was firmly against him.
39:102014 marked a year of tremendous growth and change for Melee,
39:13but Hungrybox ended the year exactly where he started, ranked 5th.
39:18After a disappointing finish at The Big House,
39:20some began to question whether he still deserved his god status,
39:24or if it was even worth it for him to continue sticking to Jigglypuff.
39:28Fortunately for Hungrybox, the world of melee was about to realize
39:32that he performed the best under pressure.
39:59[D1:]...And Mew2King gives up game 1.
40:03- ...you know, I really feel like Hungrybox's tag is applicable for a--
40:14- Back air. That's gonna be it. - Double back air.
40:18- Look at him-- - Mew2King is so upset right now.
40:24- ...and that is it! Beautiful job, Hungrybox beats Mew2King yet again...
40:29Hungrybox opened 2015 with a bang by winning Paragon Orlando in dominant fashion.
40:35At long last, Hbox won a tournament with multiple other gods and attendants,
40:40snapping a losing streak dating back to 2010.
40:43The celebration would not last long, however, as through his victory, Hungrybox had just awoken a sleeping giant.
40:53- Just like that, Hungrybox up 2-0.
40:56- Fox? Did I hear Fox? Okay. Let's see. Let's see what Armada can do here.
41:06Throughout the rise of Fox in the Melee metagame,
41:09Armada was one of the few remaining holdouts who did not pick up Fox in any capacity.
41:14That all changed in 2015, when he determined that solo maining Peach was no longer a viable option.
41:21Over the past several years, Hungrybox had been slowly, but surely improving at the Puff-Fox matchup.
41:27The abundance of Fox players in the meta gave Hungrybox a matchup nightmare at first,
41:32but it also provided him with plenty of practice to learn how to counter it.
41:36The prior years of frustration gave him enough experience
41:39to turn a daunting matchup into an increasingly winnable one.
41:43Armada's Fox, however, was different than anything Hungrybox had ever seen before.
41:48It was as technical as any other player's,
41:50but matched the patience and discipline of Hungrybox's own playstyle.
41:54Following Paragon, Armada's Fox would beat Hungrybox at Apex 2015, then again at Sandstorm.
42:01After the character change, HBox would fall to Armada seven out of the next eight sets they played.
42:07But despite this new setback, Hungrybox was rising.
42:10His tournament results were gradually improving,
42:13but more importantly, he learned how to adapt to the spotlight.
42:172015 featured the debut of Heel Hungrybox where he learned to embrace his role as Melee's villain.
42:25[SCAR?:] I don't know if you can hear this in my headset, but listen to the crowd.
42:28[TOPH?:] Yo, the crowd is not happy.
42:30Hungrybox developed a cocky, brazen persona that he used to taunt hostile audiences.
42:35And perhaps no other tournament showcased Heel HBox better than EVO 2015,
42:40where, for the third year in a row, Hungrybox faced off against Mango.
43:41-Hungrybox walks off. I don't even think he shook hands with Mango...
43:54[SCAR:] He has Mango right where he wants him!
43:56[TOPH:] And Hungrybox defeats Mango, there will not be a three-peat.
44:00- Mango's out of the tournament in 5th place.
44:16Hungrybox would then go on to beat PPMD and return to EVO grand finals,
44:20before losing once more to Armada's Fox.
44:23Although he equaled his placement from the prior year, EVO 2015 felt different.
44:29Hungrybox had finally bested his greatest rival on the biggest stage.
44:33He looked stronger and more confident in his game than ever before.
44:37Evo 2015 represented a major turning point in HBox's career,
44:41where he toppled one rival for another to take their place.
44:45From that day on, Hungrybox had his sights set on Armada.
44:50[TOPH:]...this tournament is looking pretty, unless Armada blows it pretty hard.
44:55[SCAR:] Oh.....and Armada. [TOPH:] That is it!
44:59A few months later, the two would once again meet at The Big House,
45:02where Armada would double eliminate HBox, who looked no closer to solving his Fox.
45:07He may have been totally stumped if it weren't for a little help from Captain Crunch.
45:17Crunch was a fox player from Hungrybox's hometown of Orlando.
45:21After a disappointing finish as CEO 2015, their hometown tournament,
45:25HBox and Crunch started talking about how to deal with Puff's most difficult matchup.
45:30Soon after, Crunch assumed the role of Hungrybox's full-time coach.
45:35And after losing to Armada at The Big House,
45:37HBox and Crunch made it their mission to analyze Armada's play style and find a way to beat him.
45:43For weeks, Hungrybox dedicated himself to study and grind the matchup,
45:46so that the next time they met in bracket, he would be prepared.
46:11[D1:] Congratulations to Hungrybox, making history here on European soil!
46:17With his win against Armada, Hungrybox had proven that he could conquer anyone and everyone
46:22that Melee had to offer.
46:24He had spent a whole year building himself up as Melee's unstoppable villain.
46:27But after perhaps the most monumental win of his career so far,
46:31the pompous, arrogant HBox unexpectedly broke down in tears.
46:36[HUNGRYBOX:] D1, I've wanted this for so long.
46:40- You know, my dad just passed away, you know.
46:44- It was my biological dad and we--
46:46- I know it's personal stuff, but he told me you'll never be the best.
46:50- "You'll be good, but you'll never be the best."
46:58There's an interview segment somewhere on Youtube featuring four of the five gods.
47:03Hungrybox was supposed to be there too, but due to a scheduling conflict, he couldn't participate.
47:08The producers decided to replace Hungrybox with a cardboard cutout of Hungrybox.
47:13An amusing prop, but also a disturbingly accurate metaphor
47:17of how many in the Smash community view him.
47:19[D1:] It looks like you might know something about him? [MANGO:] I know nothing.
47:21[D1:] Do any of you guys have any experience hanging out with him?
47:25[ARMADA:] I'm actually not entirely sure what to say...
47:27because I feel like I know Hungrybox more than I know Juan.
47:37It seems that Juan has always had a hard time fitting in,
47:40dating all the way back to his childhood when his family emigrated from Argentina to the United States.
47:45You have to imagine that it's not exactly easy to make a lot of friends at school,
47:49when most of your classmates don't even speak the same language as you.
47:53Things at home weren't much better for him, either.
47:56Juan's domestic life was often thrown into turmoil by his father,
48:00who would mismanage his family's wealth and outright abandon them
48:02in pursuit of his own fruitless business ventures.
48:05Juan's complex relationship with his father in the world around him
48:08ultimately created the competitor you see today.
48:11For better or for worse, the conflict Juan faced growing up instilled in him a powerful work ethic
48:17and unparalleled mental fortitude that he used to excel in Melee and in life.
48:21All those losses over the years suddenly become a lot more reasonable when you realize that
48:26HBox was balancing Melee with a full-time student workload, and then a full-time job as an engineer.
48:32[HBOX:] Here's the amazing thing about going through school, and working your ass off.
48:40[MANGO:] The only times I did my homework? (gestures a zero smugly)
48:42- I have more EVO wins than I did my homework.
48:44There's another video on YouTube that intercuts Hungrybox's graduation speech
48:49with Mango's high school stories.
48:51The juxtaposition here is fascinating.
48:53Unlike HBox, Mango never tried at school.
48:57He risked all of his life's prospects to become the best Melee player in the world,
49:00and ultimately succeeded.
49:02That part of Mango's personality represents the spirit of competitive Melee as a whole.
49:07A community that was never supposed to succeed.
49:10Never supposed to make it as far as they did.
49:12Never supposed to outlast the other Smash games.
49:15And yet, against all odds, they did.
49:18Some Melee fans like to imagine that Hungrybox would still be successful
49:22even if he never picked up a controller.
49:24That Hungrybox never needed Melee and that Melee doesn't need Hungrybox.
49:30[HBOX:] This game has been my escape for over a decade,
49:33- from whatever else life offers.
49:35- And for everyone else if that's the same for you, I love you and thank you for coming.
49:40After moving to America, Hungrybox used Melee as a way to fit in, as a way to make friends,
49:45and as a way to seek refuge from the turbulent environment around him.
49:49Hungrybox needed Melee as much as anyone else.
49:52His passion for the game is undeniable.
49:54But soon enough, he would find that the very community from which he sought comfort and acceptance
49:59was beginning to reject him.
50:01Like everything else in his life, it only gave him a bigger chip on his shoulder
50:05[HBOX:] And they hurl insults at you and they they tell you,
50:10- you know, all the worst things you could imagine.
50:12- With no respect or no care for what's going on in your personal life.
50:18- No, they don't give a rat's ass about that.
50:21- They just care that you play a really gay Jigglypuff.
50:26- I came close.
50:28- You know? Came really close to just giving up, to quitting.
50:33- I did.
50:36- I'll play this game for 20 more years if that's what it takes to be the best player in the world.
50:47Hungrybox ended 2015 ranked second behind Armada.
50:51Fueled by his newfound belief that he could beat anyone, Hungrybox entered 2016 on a warpath.
51:03The first half of the year was marked by Hungrybox and Armada swapping tournament wins.
51:08Both competitors were playing at the highest caliber of their entire careers,
51:12and they looked to be on a collision course heading into EVO.
51:18Evo 2016 would represent the absolute peak of Melee as a competitive game.
51:24The tournament drew more than 2,300 entrants, a figure not matched before or since.
51:30For Hungrybox, his path was clear: make it back to grand finals, where, more likely than not,
51:36Armada would be there waiting for him.
51:39This time, however, Hungrybox would know how to beat him.
51:46Truly, it would be a battle for the ages.
52:07[D1:] Whoa, alright! Hungrybox with the 2-0 victory over Chillindude.
52:26[HMW?:] Being down this much, even without time is hard. Classic Hungrybox, my man's in top 8.
52:54[TOPH:] The needles right now--! He's trying to snipe his jumps, what's he gonna get?
52:58[SCAR:] Hungrybox is dead! 2-0! [TOPH:] Oh my god!
53:00[SCAR:] And Plup advances to the winner's side!
53:04[SCAR:] Hungrybox going down to the losers' bracket...
53:07As the story goes, following his loss to Plup in winner's semi-finals,
53:12Hungrybox was so discouraged that he almost checked out of the tournament entirely.
53:16All of a sudden, the memories of his past failures all came rushing back,
53:21along with the bleak realization that this year would be no different.
53:25Although he adorned the nickname of clutch,
53:27he had never actually won a major tournament from the losers' bracket.
53:31For a brief moment in his mind, his fate was sealed.
53:35For all the progress he made and as far as he came,
53:38Hungrybox could not win on the biggest stage when it mattered the most.
53:42He likely would have been finished too, if it weren't for a little help from Captain Crunch.
53:47Sometime in the interval between matches, Crunch was able to calm HBox down
53:52and refresh his mindset for the next match.
53:55Sometimes, before you can learn how to win, you have to learn how to lose.
53:59It was at this moment that Hungrybox truly became clutch.
54:03Because, after all, there was still so much Melee left to play.
55:28[SCAR/TOPH:]...and he is not turning around!
55:29[TOPH:] There's the Rest, bouncing off the wall, doesn't get the tech!
55:33- HBox sending Mango out of the tournament in 4th place!
58:02[SCAR:] EVO 2016 is on the line right now.
58:05- One more big hit from Armada is gonna end this tournament.
58:07[TOPH:] Oh my go--! [SCAR:] He just goes for a read!
58:09[TOPH:] The rest has kind of no point right now, because if he rests Armada...
58:16And then, the moment that changed Melee forever.
58:21[TOPH:] Smash DI!
58:23[SCAR:] He gets him off the ledge! An airdodge! No punish!
58:26[TOPH:] Way too high of a percentage to get anything off of that up-throw.
58:28- But that back-air is probably gonna close off the stock.
58:32[TOPH:] Armada not giving him anything. [SCAR:] But he gets hit!
58:35- That could be it!
58:37[TOPH:] And he gets the Rest to reset the bracket! [SCAR:] The reset!
59:00[TOPH:]...crouch cancels into a shine. Not a KO move.
59:04- What's he gonna get?!
59:06- And the Rest!
59:28[SCAR:] and that's the end of EVO 2016!
59:36Sometimes the only thing you need to win is believing that you can.
59:40In Melee, the difference between winning and losing can often come down to just a few pixels and a few frames.
59:46But the difference between winners and losers feels far, far greater.
59:51For years, Hungrybox embodied the competitor who was never quite good enough.
59:55He was always so close, yet so far.
59:58EVO 2016 changed all of that, and Hungrybox walked out of that building a completely different player.
1:00:04After accomplishing what he did nothing could stop him from becoming the best in the world.
1:00:09From that moment on, Hungrybox would never be the same, and neither would Melee.
1:00:19After conquering his greatest challenge yet, Hungrybox fell into a bit of a slump.
1:00:24After starting the year on fire, he would not win another tournament after EVO,
1:00:28finishing second in the rankings, once again trailing Armada.
1:00:32Following a disappointing loss in The Big House, he would take a moment to pause and reevaluate his life.
1:00:37Perhaps guided by those discouraging words that haunted him for his entire career,
1:00:42he knew what he had to do.
1:00:44At the end of 2016, Hungrybox quit his job to play Melee full-time.
1:00:51At first, his newfound commitment to the game didn't seem to change much.
1:00:55It didn't help that it coincided with possibly the most dominant stretch of Armada's career.
1:01:00But then, late in the year, Hungrybox started winning, and then he kept on winning.
1:01:05If he could score a victory at The Big House,
1:01:08HBox could put himself in serious contention for the number one ranking.
1:01:12His rival Armada would fall to Plup, who was in the midst of an incredible winners' bracket run.
1:01:17Hungrybox would stumble early, then proceeded to tear through the losers' bracket to meet Plup in grand finals.
1:01:24As the crowd rallied around the underdog Plup to complete his fairytale run,
1:01:28the glass slipper broke.
1:01:34[HMW:]...and Hungrybox closes it out.
1:01:37There was no pop-off after Hungrybox double eliminated Plup to capture his first Big House title.
1:01:43He just slowly turned his gaze towards the now lifeless crowd.
1:01:47A few people clapped. A couple cheered.
1:01:50Most had already begun filing for the exits without saying a word.
1:01:54[HBOX:] Man, I'm in a weird mood.
1:01:56[HMW:] In what way? [HBOX:] Usually, when I win an event,
1:02:00- I'm ecstatic and I jump off, but like... [HMW:] Right.
1:02:04[HBOX:] I think I feel like I left part of me on that stage today.
1:02:08- You ever have everything you ever wanted, and then when you finally have it, you're like, now what?
1:02:13One year ago after the very same tournament,
1:02:16Hungrybox decided that he was ready to become Melee's best player.
1:02:20He never stopped to consider whether Melee was ready for him.
1:02:24Be careful what you wish for, Juan.
1:02:59And so, we enter the era of HBox as the number one Melee player.
1:03:04An era characterized by two remarkable shifts in Melee.
1:03:07The first of which being the end of the five gods dominating the game.
1:03:11The untouchable status of the gods had been in decline ever since 2016,
1:03:16after PPMD was forced to take an indefinite leave of absence due to medical issues.
1:03:21To this day, he has still not returned to competitive play.
1:03:25The four remaining gods continued to hold the keys to the kingdom through 2017,
1:03:29but many were beginning to tell that the end was near.
1:03:37[SCAR:] Leffen is our EVO 2018 Super Smash Bros.: Melee champion...!
1:03:432018 saw the year's two biggest events fall to new contenders,
1:03:47with Plup taking Genesis and Leffen taking EVO.
1:03:50Midway through 2018, Armada seemed poised to retake the number one rank from Hungrybox,
1:03:56only to shock everyone by announcing his sudden retirement from Melee singles competition.
1:04:01Although never explicitly mentioned,
1:04:03many have attributed his retirement to the constant stress he suffered
1:04:06from trying to keep pace with Hungrybox.
1:04:09[ARMADA:] For me, I feel like if I can't have fun doing it,
1:04:14- Then it's no point in doing it.
1:04:17At around the same time,
1:04:19Mew2King started shifting his focus away from melee in favor of streaming and writing his book.
1:04:24In 2019, Mew2King only competed in four events,
1:04:28and looks unlikely to return to full-time competition anytime soon.
1:04:32Mango, perhaps the most dominant player ever in his prime, failed to win a tournament in 2018
1:04:38And while he can still crank out the occasional epic performance,
1:04:41his inconsistency has relegated him to a shadow of his former glory,
1:04:46placing his god status in serious question.
1:04:49These days, it seems that hungrybox is the only god left who can still strike fear into the hearts of his opponents
1:04:54through his sheer dominance alone.
1:04:56In his time, there were four others like him.
1:04:59Now, there's just one (Juan).
1:05:03The current state of melee is represented partly by the decline of the gods,
1:05:07but mostly by something far more confounding.
1:05:10Hungrybox always wanted to become the best in the world.
1:05:13He struggled through years of frustration,
1:05:16gradually improving and eventually defeating the best players that Melee had to offer.
1:05:20But when he finally achieved his life's goal,
1:05:22he began to realize that the promised land didn't exactly come as promised.
1:05:27Becoming number one in the world was the hardest thing Hungrybox had done in his entire life.
1:05:31He was about to find out that being number one was even harder.
1:05:35It's common for sports or games to generally dislike their most dominant competitors.
1:05:41But in all these cases, most of the hatred never strays far from the confines of the competitive landscape.
1:05:46You hate Tom Brady when he destroys your favorite team in the playoffs,
1:05:51but if you saw him walking down the street, you'd probably want his autograph.
1:05:55In Melee, the hatred for hungrybox has progressed far beyond a simple competitive rivalry.
1:06:00A large fraction of the Melee community seem to treat Hungrybox with utter contempt.
1:06:05A lot of this comes from the idea that by simply being the number one player,
1:06:10Hungrybox is killing the game.
1:06:12Much of this rhetoric stems from players like Leffen,
1:06:15who has assumed the role of Hungrybox's archrival following Armada's retirement.
1:06:20Leffen is perhaps the biggest proponent of the Puff doomsday theory,
1:06:24a scenario I have unofficially labeled 20FF.
1:06:33Leffen believes that Jigglypuff is not only the strongest character, but the easiest to play.
1:06:39In the year 20FF,
1:06:41no one plays Fox anymore because everyone has switched to Puff in order to beat Hungrybox.
1:06:46Melee games have devolved into boring, unwatchable stall fests
1:06:49where the only measure of winning is determined by which Puff player can outcamp the other.
1:06:54A compelling theory, until you realize that Hungrybox is the only puff player in the top 35,
1:06:59and has been for basically the past decade.
1:07:02Even now, entering year 3 of Hungrybox as Melee's top player,
1:07:06Jigglypuff mains are still few and far between.
1:07:09If Puff was truly such an unskilled, overpowered character as many of its ardent critics like to claim,
1:07:16then surely someone,
1:07:17anyone else could have risen to the top of the Melee metagame besides HBox.
1:07:2220FF theorists will often counter this by saying that playing Puff is so boring,
1:07:26that hardly anyone is willing to play as the character
1:07:30even if they could vastly improve their tournament results.
1:07:33They say this despite the great number of Ice Climbers players
1:07:36who only practice wobbling setups for the sole purpose of cheesing tournament wins.
1:07:40In a competitive game, it's no surprise that people will do anything to win.
1:07:46"You play to win the game"
1:07:52"Hello?!"
1:07:53And at some point, you have to account for the fact that Hungrybox is the only Puff player in the modern era
1:08:00who has been able to consistently win.
1:08:02"That's the great thing about sports!"
1:08:05"You play to win!"
1:08:07"You don't play to just play it"
1:08:09The same critics also like to claim that Puff is as boring to watch as it is to play,
1:08:14and that Melee is hemorrhaging viewers for as long as HBox is on top.
1:08:18Even though in 2019, during Hungrybox's most dominant stretch,
1:08:23peak viewership actually increased across most tournaments.
1:08:26This is consistent with many other spectator sports.
1:08:30By and large, audiences tune in to watch juggernauts.
1:08:33Michael Jordan was possibly the most dominant player in NBA history.
1:08:38As he led the Bulls to their sixth championship in eight seasons,
1:08:41the NBA set their all-time record for television viewership.
1:08:45The next season, after Jordan's retirement, ratings plummeted.
1:08:49The same pattern can be observed in golf,
1:08:51whose ratings are notoriously dependent on whether Tiger Woods is in contention.
1:08:56The trend even holds true in games you wouldn't expect.
1:08:58During James Holzhauer's 22 game Jeopardy! winning streak, ratings skyrocketed.
1:09:03Do you think the same number of people tuned in a month afterwards
1:09:07when the show returned to its regular, unremarkable contestants?
1:09:10When people watch stuff they want stakes.
1:09:13They want to follow a story.
1:09:15They want antagonists to root against.
1:09:18Dominant players are inherently interesting because they fulfill all of these things.
1:09:22But that still doesn't stop a vocal portion of the community from zealously believing
1:09:27that Hungrybox is single-handedly killing Melee.
1:09:30[AXE:] I'm basically trying to say hungrybox deserves more credit,
1:09:33- and people discredit him because he's been winning for so long.
1:09:37Hungrybox victories are treated like funerals while his defeats are celebrated like God's gift to the game.
1:09:43The goal of the game for many has devolved into stopping HBox.
1:09:46The Smash community as a whole has a tendency to rally hard against their top players.
1:09:52In Smash 4, the sequel game to Brawl, no one was better than ZeRo.
1:09:57At one point, he won 56 tournaments in a row,
1:10:00a record that will likely never be broken by any other Smash competitor.
1:10:04His staggering winning streak also spawned an insatiable desire to see him lose.
1:10:08And after three years of constant pressure and harassment from the smash 4 community,
1:10:13ZeRo lost all passion for the game and retired from competition entirely.
1:10:17Even Armada at his peak faced a considerable amount of hate in Melee
1:10:22despite being one of the most widely respected players of all time.
1:10:25Even though he also dominated with a pink, floaty, defensive character,
1:10:30not many people considered Armada to be a threat to the game itself.
1:10:34Nothing Armada faced ever came close to the amount of bitterness and vitriol
1:10:38that Hungrybox tolerates on a regular basis.
1:10:41His eternal reward for struggling and clawing to Melee's top rank
1:10:45is to be perhaps the most ostracized top player of any game ever played.
1:10:49At least perennially hated teams like the Patriots can return to their home crowd and be cheered.
1:10:55It doesn't matter where Hungrybox goes today.
1:10:58Nobody cheers him.
1:10:59He can never be applauded for his achievements.
1:11:02Many in the Melee community say he deserves the hate.
1:11:05In addition to the prevailing belief that he's ruining the game,
1:11:08many are quick to express their sheer disgust for HBox as a person.
1:11:13Some decry his unwillingness to play friendlies or mentor other players,
1:11:16as he tends to guard his Jigglypuff gameplay as a trade secret.
1:11:20Others cite instances of his infidelity in past relationships as an indictment against his morals.
1:11:26Most just accuse hungrybox of being generally rude or egotistical based on interactions from years ago.
1:11:32There's a saying in the Melee community that everyone has an HBox story, me included.
1:11:37I mean, this one time I saw Hungrybox at a grocery store in Gainesville.
1:11:41But I won't get into that here.
1:11:43The point is that Melee players can usually pull out a laundry list of reasons
1:11:47for why they detest HBox on a personal level.
1:11:50And for that reason, he gets scrutinized more than any other player in the game.
1:11:54Athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods each had their own share of personal demons.
1:11:59But their respective audiences were both able to look past that
1:12:02and appreciate their accomplishments as competitors.
1:12:05It seems that the Melee community has an all too difficult time applying the same treatment to Hungrybox.
1:12:11They'd like to assume that everything hbox does has some nefarious, self-serving plan behind it.
1:12:17It got bad enough to where Hungrybox couldn't even look at his watch on stage
1:12:21without facing backlash and drama.
1:12:23It's as if Melee people have such a low opinion of HBox
1:12:27that they couldn't give him the benefit of the doubt that he may have been running late for a flight
1:12:31and wanted to keep track of the time.
1:12:33It doesn't matter how much he reforms his actions and attitude today.
1:12:37Hungrybox has always been held to his lowest standard and he's never allowed to overcome his past reputation.
1:12:43Perhaps the community's apparent zero-tolerance policy for rudeness and ego would make a little more sense
1:12:50if they also applied it to Leffen,
1:12:51who publicly disrespects other players, games, and communities on a weekly basis.
1:12:57But alas, Leffen, like every other player, gets cheered wildly over Hungrybox.
1:13:02After a while, the whole list of grievances against Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma
1:13:06reads like sour grapes, double standards, and empty excuses.
1:13:10At the end of the day, the Melee community stigmatizes hbox for the same reason they always have.
1:13:16He doesn't fit into their idea of what Melee should be.
1:13:19The mere existence of Hungrybox challenges the fundamental identity of the game itself.
1:13:25Melee prides itself on its fast-paced gameplay,
1:13:28yet its top player uses one of the slowest characters.
1:13:31Melee celebrates these highly skilled technical mechanics,
1:13:35yet its top player uses the character with the most simplistic controls.
1:13:39Melee relies on its risky and aggressive play styles to wow its spectators,
1:13:43yet its top player plays patiently and defensively.
1:13:47Hungrybox can never be truly respected because Hungrybox isn't Melee.
1:13:52But allow me to explain to you how he is.
1:13:58It's July 9, 2013.
1:14:01After raising more than $90,000 for charity,
1:14:04the Melee community punched a ticket for their beloved franchise to return to EVO.
1:14:09After 6 long years of waiting, the biggest Melee tournament in history was less than a week away.
1:14:14This could be Melee's big break.
1:14:16If the talent can put on a good enough show,
1:14:19Melee may finally be recognized for the brilliant, competitive masterpiece it is.
1:14:24With less than three days to go before the tournament,
1:14:26Nintendo blocked EVO from streaming Melee, to the absolute shock of the Smash community.
1:14:32Eventually, after a sizable amount of backlash,
1:14:35Nintendo allowed the event to proceed as normal, but the message had been delivered loud and clear.
1:14:40Nintendo would never truly respect Smash as a competitive game.
1:14:44No matter how popular competitive Melee got, the community would always be on their own.
1:14:50It didn't really make much of a difference because that's how it had always been.
1:14:53But in an age where most game developers embrace competitive play by bankrolling huge tournament pots,
1:14:59it's discouraging to realize that Melee will never have that privilege.
1:15:032019 saw a Fortnite player earned 3 million dollars by winning a single tournament.
1:15:09That's nearly 10 times the prize money that Hungrybox has won in his entire career.
1:15:14A career in which he consistently placed top 5 at more than a dozen tournaments per year for over a decade.
1:15:20It's sad to think that top Melee players who are so talented and draw in so many viewers
1:15:26often have a hard time affording rent from tournament winnings alone.
1:15:29Melee fans love Mango because Mango represents how they see Melee.
1:15:34What many of them don't consider is that Hungrybox represents how the rest of the world sees Melee.
1:15:39Other Smash players often regard Melee players as rude and arrogant,
1:15:44and they actively root against Melee's success.
1:15:47Casual players are often hostile to the idea that Smash is even played competitively at all.
1:15:52Much of the Smash fandom can't even comprehend the reasoning behind turning off items in tournament play.
1:15:58When Melee was removed from the EVO lineup in 2019, many people celebrated,
1:16:03saying that Melee no longer deserved the spotlight.
1:16:06Lots of people in the general fighting game community believe that Melee never deserved the spotlight it got.
1:16:12The Smash Bros. franchise and Nintendo games in general have been stigmatized as kids' games
1:16:17ever since they censored blood in Mortal Kombat.
1:16:19Many traditional fighting game players don't respect competitive Smash for this very reason.
1:16:25They can't take a game seriously if it was never intended for serious play.
1:16:29Because Smash is a kid-friendly, casual-friendly game,
1:16:32the FGC likes to assume that it's easy,
1:16:35and claim that competitive Smash players don't have the skill to lace their boots.
1:16:39As long as Smash players don't have to memorize button combinations with quarter circles,
1:16:43that must mean that their controls are crude and basic,
1:16:46and that you don't need to put in any real effort to win a Smash tournament.
1:16:50All this sound familiar?
1:16:52Well, that's because Melee sees Hungrybox how the rest of smash sees Melee.
1:16:56The fighting game community treats Smash how Melee treats Hungrybox.
1:17:00You may not want to believe it, but Hungrybox is Melee in the most literal sense.
1:17:05Both spent years being told they weren't good enough,
1:17:08that they would never achieve what they would eventually become.
1:17:11Both were constantly disrespected, stigmatized, and ridiculed
1:17:14because they didn't quite fit into what others thought they should be.
1:17:18Both were able to succeed, even though everyone else wanted them to fail.
1:17:22Both have a huge chip on their shoulder because no matter what they accomplished,
1:17:26how many challenges they overcome, and how much they proved themselves,
1:17:30they will never get the respect they deserve.
1:17:33In the countless, endless online arguments between the FGC and Smash,
1:17:38Melee fans will always defend their game by saying just because it's different doesn't mean it's easy.
1:17:43Every time this happens,
1:17:45Hungrybox just shakes his head and sighs.
1:17:49[HBOX:] It's hard for everyone.
1:17:51- It's not easier for Puff, or for Falco, or for Fox; it's all hard to win tournaments.
1:17:56- So just get better.
1:18:01Hungrybox is Melee.
1:18:04And you know what else? Hungrybox is the best in the world.
1:18:08And as much as some people would tell you otherwise,
1:18:11Melee has never been more interesting.
1:18:132019 saw Hungrybox win 12 of the 20 tournaments he entered.
1:18:17It also saw a Pikachu main and a captain falcon main win majors for the first time in the history of the game.
1:18:23So despite Melee entering its 20th year of competitive play, it appears to be far from a solved game.
1:18:29And that's because despite how many people buy into 20XX,
1:18:33Jigglypuff is the meta.
1:18:35While the rise of Fox encouraged many players to get increasingly faster and more aggressive,
1:18:40the rise of Hungrybox has forced many of them back to the drawing board.
1:18:44Even though the new era has been tough on Foxes,
1:18:46It has led to the rise of a new generation of players with more patient, strategic play styles.
1:18:52Players like Zane, Wizzrobe, and aMSa have all demonstrated the capacity to beat Hungrybox
1:18:57without a favourable character matchup.
1:18:59At times, despite his recent dominance, Hungrybox has never looked more vulnerable,
1:19:04frequently losing to players and characters that he never has before.
1:19:07This is mostly due to how, at long last,
1:19:10the rest of Melee's competition is finally catching up to the level of the gods.
1:19:15In present day Melee, the gods are the old generation, and Hungrybox is the last of the gods.
1:19:21Melee is approaching the precipice of an entirely new era,
1:19:25and Hungrybox remains the last stickler of the old days.
1:19:28In a way, Hungrybox carries the torch of all the gods.
1:19:32Newer players will never know the satisfaction of challenging a prime Mango, Armada, or PPMD.
1:19:37For them, facing Hungrybox is the next best thing.
1:19:41He represents one of the few remaining links between old and new Melee.
1:19:45And as much as some melee fans would like to forget,
1:19:48he's an integral part of the game's history and legacy.
1:19:51Hungrybox, like Melee, is still going strong all these years later.
1:19:56In 2018, Nintendo released the fifth installment to the Smash franchise with Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.
1:20:02So far, it has been the first smash title to successfully appeal to both sides of the competitive community,
1:20:08with players like Armada, Leffen, and even Hungrybox frequenting Ultimate events.
1:20:12However, despite the popularity of Ultimate, Melee still consistently surpasses it in viewership.
1:20:18Even in its advanced age, Melee is the future and shows no signs of dying off any time soon.
1:20:25There will come a day when hungrybox stops playing Melee,
1:20:28and in his absence, the game will become that much less interesting as a result.
1:20:33And now at long last we return to the crab,
1:20:37perhaps the most enduring symbol of Melee's relationship with Hungrybox.
1:20:41Crab mentality refers to the unwillingness of a community to let its individuals succeed.
1:20:47It's based on the behavior of crabs in a bucket,
1:20:50who will often prevent their peers from escaping by pulling them back from the brink of freedom.
1:20:54Thus, dooming them all.
1:20:56If Melee is to survive in the future, they'll have to learn to tolerate their top player.
1:21:02By trying to destroy HBox, they're only destroying themselves.
1:21:06Because at the end of the day, Hungrybox is Juan DeBiedma.
1:21:10Despite playing for the past decade with the status of god,
1:21:13he's only human.
1:21:14[HBOX:] It is my personal belief that human beings are naturally meant to persevere.
1:21:19- No matter what happens, as long as we simply make the decision not to give up,
1:21:24- It simply does get better if you believe it will.
1:21:28- There are certain experiences that even thinking about, even the act of thinking about it,
1:21:34- sets you back, maybe all the way back to all the work you've done just by thinking about it.
1:21:40- But that's not the point.
1:21:41- The point is, you need to focus on the fact that you overcame it.
1:21:45- And if you're going through it, focus on the fact that you are choosing to overcome it.
1:21:49- You're pushing through, and that's more than anyone can ask of you.
1:21:54Will HBox ever ovecome the hate?
1:21:57That remains to be seen, but until that happens, he will always have a reason to keep fighting.
1:22:02To overcome perhaps his greatest challenge yet.
1:22:05And if there's one thing the Melee community has learned over the years,
1:22:09it's to never count out Hungrybox.
1:22:11The one player in melee who spent his entire career doing stuff that couldn't be done.
1:22:16[HBOX:] I said I'll be top-5 jigs in Florida. I'll be best taking Florida. I'll be top 3 in Florida
1:22:20I'll be the best player in Florida one day. I'll be the best player in the East Coast, maybe.
1:22:23One day, I'll be the best player in the world.
1:22:26Just how did Hungrybox get so good?
1:22:29The truth is that Hungrybox became the best in the world not because he learned how to win,
1:22:33but because he learned how to lose.
1:22:35So, yeah, he may get upset by unranked Albert or four-stocked by Zane or 6-0'd by Leffen,
1:22:41But after every defeat you can count on HBox to pick up the pieces, come back later, and win.
1:22:47Hopefully one day, Melee will learn to appreciate Hungrybox while they still can.
1:22:51Because there will Never Ever be another player like him.
1:22:57[crowd cheering, "Hungrybox!"]
1:23:06[Music: Multi-Man Melee 2 (Super Smash Bros.: Melee)]
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