Things of Beauty: Super Smash Bros. as Spectator Sport

RIP HAX$

This video aged phenomenally! It’s amazing that we went through the period of nearly every top level player maining or counter-picking fox during 2014-2018 to win tournaments and deal with the “puff uprising” despite only HBox being the one top player getting the best results with that character. Fast forward to now and we’ve seen a Pikachu win a smash summit, a Falcon win Smash’n’Splash, a sheik win genesis, a Yoshi win The Big House and a Marth win SSC/SuperNoVa. All from a generation of players who realise that 20XX doesn’t work, that chasing perfection can be outdone by characters that don’t follow that system, and these players went back to the drawing board to match the patience and skill of Hungrybox and have made their own mark on the game. I love that this video basically prophesied the end of 20XX and the rebirth of the Meta with anyone and everyone able to win with their character. I think the fact that Fox whilst supposedly the best character, hasn’t dominated as expected during the five gods era, and paired with all the new generation evolving the character meta, is why Melee continues to go on. Whilst Smash 4 died with a character deemed as perfect and unbeatable, and Ultimate has the same issues with another character that is perfect and unbeatable. Fox and puff in melee are just toned down enough so that the meta can keep evolving and be entertaining

Im such a big fan of jwong and that daigo clip legitimately almost makes me emotional everytime i watch it 💔

Crazy how the only thing that isn't relevant in this video today is Lord who just went inactive and was only mentioned for one second

Wow this video is art in itself. Thanks for showing me such a cool story

This video changed the course of my life

just wait till this guy finds out about wizzy

I am still solidly in the yellow circle.

Returning here in the time of the Donkey Kong Renaissance

Almost 9 years later and this game has only gotten weirder. I haven't practiced it in years but man I love seeing how the game meta evolves, with Low Tiers rising up the ranks and more people trying out characters other than Fox. 20XX may have passed, but this game has a bright future ahead

What are your thoughts on rivals of aether and other non melee platform fighters?

fun fact! wavedashing likely wasn't intended, but it was absolutely known about before the game's launch by HAL. Sakurai posted about it on a Japanese forum very early in the game's lifespan, explaining in detail how it worked. See AsumSaus's video about this, "Is Wavedashing a Glitch?". In another video, "Melee's "Glitches" (that aren't really glitches)", AsumSaus talks about some other "glitches" that were intended, like L-Cancelling aerials

Hello from the future. DK is following in Jigglypuff, Pikachu and Yoshis footprints.

Kof is better than SF in that regard xd

This video changed my life, this video introduced competitive smash to me. Since then the struggles I faced trying to get better taught me life lessons I will never be able to fully explain. From teaching me how to improve myself and not rely on talent (which I had none for smash). I have no idea where I would be. So thank you for making this video man. You changed my life. And Thank you to the lord for recommending it to me.

DK is beating top players and winning tournaments now. Melee is so fuckin good

crazy how much aMSa’s Yoshi has improved, bro went from camping like Samus to comboing like Fox, mad respect

to carry on the baseball metaphor; Fox is a power pitcher. So many guys throw 100mph now that it's not special anymore. Yes it's still really hard to hit, but when a good hitter does connect with a 100mph fastball, it gets annihilated. Occasionally you get a guy like Verlander who is throwing 102mph in the 8th inning on his 112th pitch of an outing, with flawless location. I guess that's Armada's Fox.

HBox's Puff would be more like Greg Maddux. Maddux didn't throw the hardest, didn't have the most break on his pitches, but mentality and punishing mistakes was *everything*, and he had probably the best control of any pitcher ever. Maddux would challenge hitters constantly. He'd generate weak contact, and the dude was a really good fielder, so anything back up the middle (usually the best case scenario for a ground ball), he covers when most pitchers wouldn't. As a hitter against Maddux, you cannot slack off, you cannot make mistakes, because he will punish you, and sometimes make you look really, really stupid. How many majors did Hbox win by being patient, having a good mentality, and punishing mistakes by opponents who got too greedy?

everything in every sport translates. Mentality is what won Jose Mourinho so many league titles in soccer, and patience and playing safe is how the Patriots won so many Superbowls. We can talk about Jorge Lorenzo's race management and consistency in MotoGP, or how the Tour de France allows many different disciplines of cycling (from sprinting, to time trial, to climbing, to descents) to thrive, and you don't win by being exceptional at one of them, you win by being pretty good at some of them. There's the debate as to whether competitions in skateboarding matter more than video parts, direct competition versus one-upmanship in creative works.

Sport is beautiful, and it's so intrinsically human. Leave a bunch of humans alone long enough, and they will come up with something approximating a competitive sport. I love this shit.

"Something the game can't stop you from doing" is something the Magic: the Gathering metagame became emergently contigent on that the designers have had no choice but adopting into the actual game design. Famous old legacy decks like Griselbrand, Dark Depths, dredge, even non-combo decks like abzan in 2017 standard and the extremely tight synergies in Delver of Secrets decks. This is our bread and butter.

This video came out the same year To Pimp a Butterfly did. Both masterpieces and perfect forms of art full of passion and love.

Diversity is overrated
You don't need to white knight for women either buddy

This video has aged phenomenally

Just watched a dk from upstate NY beat Cody Schwab.

one note, wavedashing is 100% on purpose

You're actually wrong about wavedashing being unintentional the developers obviously knew you can do that during development and the meant you too because it raises the skill ceiling

It's crazy looking back at this video every few years and considering all of the developments.
In 2019, Wizzrobe won the 1st Supermajor with Falcon since 2005.
And in 2022, aMSa actually won a Supermajor with Yoshi and has gone from the hero of 1 set in this video, to a straight up contender for the #1 spot. It's surreal, and watching this video reminds me JUST HOW SURREAL it is!

this video has aged intrestingly

This video has aged absolutely beautifully

DAMN THIS VIDEO IS 8 YEARS OLD??? THIS WAS AMAZING THANK YOU SO MUCHHH

here from the future, amsa is crazy

:)

Yo mr innuendo studios if you see this do you still watch melee?

Beautiful video!

Hey man I’m from the future your channel is not fun anymore 😂

Why does this only have 10 likes

Coming back in 2023, it's crazy how much has changed, but it's also crazy that we're still playing this jank ass party game that's old enough to legally drink. There is truly nothing else quite like Melee.

Wow, I got into this game about the time this video came out but this is my first time watching it. Your takeaway about understanding why people like sports as someone who doesn't give a fuck about them is pretty much my exact story too. I didn't give a fuck, thought they were pretty much for jocks and meatheads (typical anti-sportsball nerd shit) but after getting into melee I suddenly found traditional sports much more interesting and got why people enjoyed them so much.

2023 amsa won big house baby!!!!

i think someone should shove this guy in a locker

Sports are very fun to watch. Different strokes. 😅

I miss the old Mang0

This aged well.