Hungrybox is a professional Super Smash Bros. Meleesmasher from Buenos Aires, Argentina who currently resides in Orlando, Florida. He is considered a Melee "God" and is widely considered to currently be the best of the top eight players in the world: Leffen, Mango, Axe, Wizzrobe, Zain, aMSa, Plup, and himself along with being widely considered the greatest Jigglypuff player of all time. Hungrybox is also widely considered to be the best Project MJigglypuff as well, with placings such as 4th at Paragon Los Angeles 2015 and 5th at Smash 'N' Splash 2, and was ranked formerly 20th on the PMRank 2016. He was one of the smashers to be sponsored by Team Curse before it eventually merged with Team Liquid, being picked up by said team on April 17th, 2014. Hungrybox was also previously sponsored by CLASH Tournaments. He is currently ranked 1st on the 2019 MPGR and was formerly ranked 1st on the Central Florida Melee Power Rankings.
After becoming known as one of the best smashers in Florida, due to his high placings at events around his area, Hungrybox made his first international appearance at Revival of Melee. He lost to PC Chris in winners' bracket, and then defeated KoreanDJ in losers' bracket to make it to losers' top 8, before losing to ChuDat, placing 7th.
His breakout performance occurred at GENESIS, where he placed 3rd. Although he lost to Mango early in winners' bracket, he swept through losers' bracket, defeating several notable smashers such as Darc, DaShizWiz, Darkrain 2-1, Scar 2-0, and finally Zhu 3-2 in losers' semis before losing to Mango 0-3 in losers' finals.
Hungrybox won his first national at Revival of Melee 2, where he defeated Hax 2-0, Cactuar 2-0, and Kage in winners' semis to make it to winners' finals, where he defeated Dr. PeePee 3-1. He defeated Dr. PeePee 3-1 again in grand finals to take the tournament without dropping a set. He also placed 2nd at Pound 4, where he defeated Zhu, Hax, SilentSpectre 2-0, and Mew2King to make it to winners' finals, where he lost to Mango 2-3. He defeated Amsah 3-0 in losers' finals, but ultimately lost to Mango 1-3 in grand finals.
Hungrybox won Apex 2010 without dropping a set, defeating Kage 2-0, VaNz 2-1, Armada 2-0, Mew2King 3-0, and Armada 3-0 in grand finals. However, he did not perform as well at Revival of Melee 3, where he lost to Mew2King 0-2 in winners' quarters. He made it to losers' quarters, where he lost to Dr. PeePee, placing 5th.
At Pound V, Hungrybox lost to Armada 0-2 in winners' quarters. In losers' bracket, he defeated Shroomed, Cactuar, and Axe 3-0 in losers' semis after Mew2King forfeited to him in losers' quarters. He lost to Dr. PeePee 2-3 in losers' finals, ending his run at 3rd place. At GENESIS 2, Hungrybox defeated Wobbles 2-0 in winners' quarters before losing to Armada 1-3 in winners' semis. He defeated Mew2King 3-2 in losers' quarters, but lost to Mango 0-3 in losers' semis, placing 4th.
At Apex 2012, Hungrybox was upset by KirbyKaze 1-2 early in winners' bracket. Despite this, he was able to make an extremely long run through losers' bracket. He defeated Silent Wolf 2-0, Zhu 2-0, Wobbles 2-0, Shroomed 2-0, KirbyKaze 2-0 in a rematch, JAVI 3-0, and finally Mango 3-1 in losers' finals. In grand finals, he was able to win the first set against Armada 3-2, though he still lost the second set 0-3, placing 2nd at the tournament.
Hungrybox placed 4th at Zenith 2012, where he lost to ChuDat 2-3 in winners' semis and Dr. PeePee 2-3 in losers' semis, 3rd at IMPULSE, where he lost to Dr. PeePee 1-3 in winners' bracket, then defeated Mew2King 3-0 in losers' semis before losing to Mango 2-3 in losers' finals, and 2nd at both MELEE-FC10R Legacy and The Big House 2, losing to Mango in grand finals of said tournaments.
At Apex 2013, Hungrybox defeated Overtriforce in winners' quarters before losing to Armada 1-3 in winners' semis. He ended up losing to Mango 1-3 in losers' quarters, placing 5th. Hungrybox did, however, place 1st at NorCal Regionals 2013, an EVO 2013 qualifier event. He defeated PewPewU 3-0 in winners' finals, and although he lost to Mango 0-3 in the first set of grand finals, he still won the second set 3-2. Hungrybox then attended Zenith 2013, another EVO 2013 qualifier event, where he defeated Abate 2-0 in winners' quarters, Dr. PeePee 3-2 in winners' semis, and Mew2King 3-0 in winners' finals. He lost to Mango in both sets of grand finals (both 1-3), placing 2nd.
Hungrybox made it to top 8 at EVO 2013 through winners' bracket, defeating Leffen 2-0 in the winners' quarterfinals pool. He defeated Mew2King 2-0 in winners' semis to make it to winners' finals against Wobbles, though he ended up losing this set 1-2. Notably, neither Hungrybox nor Wobbles knew that the set was best of 3; EVO founder Tom Cannon had to inform the two to prevent a fourth game from starting. In losers' finals, Hungrybox lost to Mango 0-2, placing 3rd at the tournament.
Hungrybox placed 2nd at both The Big House 3 and Revival of Melee 6. At the former, he lost to Mew2King 1-3 in winners' finals and 0-3 in grand finals, and at the latter, he lost to Mew2King 2-3 in winners' finals and 0-3 in grand finals.
At Apex 2014, Hungrybox made it to the top 8 bracket through losers' bracket, defeating Axe 2-0 to do so after losing to Leffen 1-2 in winners' quarters. He defeated Fiction 2-0 in losers' top 8 before losing to Mango 0-2 in losers' quarters, placing 5th once again.
At Shuffle V, an MLG Anaheim 2014 qualifier, Hungrybox placed 2nd, defeating Swedish Delight 3-0 in winners' semis before losing to Mew2King 0-3 in winners' finals. He defeated The Moon 3-0 in losers' finals, and won the first set of grand finals against Mew2King 3-2, but still lost the second set 2-3. He placed 3rd at Revival of Melee 7, losing to Mango 0-3 in winners' quarters, then defeating Darc 2-0, DJ Nintendo 2-0, KirbyKaze 2-0, and Darrell 3-0 before losing to Mew2King 1-3 in losers' finals. Hungrybox successfully qualified for the MLG Anaheim 2014 championship bracket by winning CEO 2014 Prologue. He also attended Get On My Level 2014, where he placed 2nd, losing to Mew2King 2-3 in winners' semis, then defeating Duck 2-0, KirbyKaze 3-0, and MewKing 3-2 in losers' finals, before losing to Mango 2-3 in grand finals, and Pat's House 2, where he once again placed 2nd, defeating Westballz 3-1 and Fly Amanita 3-0 before losing to Mew2King 1-3 in winners' finals, then defeating Fly Amanita 3-0 again in losers' finals before losing to Mew2King 0-3 in grand finals.
In his pool at MLG Anaheim 2014, Hungrybox defeated PewPewU 3-0, Fiction 3-1, Westballz 3-0, ZeRo 3-1, and aMSa 3-0, but lost to Armada 0-3 and Mango 2-3. Despite having the same set win-loss count as Mango (5-2), his loss to Mango caused him to be seeded in losers' bracket in the championship bracket. In the championship bracket, Hungrybox defeated Plup 3-1 to make it into top 8, but he lost to Axe 1-3 in losers' top 8, to finish at a disappointing 7th place.
Hungrybox later attended CEO 2014, where he lost to Armada 1-2 in winners' semis, and then defeated Wizzrobe 2-0 in losers' quarters and Mew2King 2-0 in losers' semis before losing to Armada 0-3 in losers' finals, placing 3rd.
Despite his disappointing performance at MLG Anaheim 2014, Hungrybox surprised many with a stellar performance at EVO 2014, where he finished at 2nd place. He defeated PPMD 2-1 in the winners' quarterfinals pool to make it to top 8 through winners' bracket, and then defeated Armada 2-1 in winners' semis, before losing a close set against Mango 2-3 in winners' finals. He defeated Armada 3-2 in losers' finals, and then lost to Mango 2-3 again in grand finals.
Hungrybox ended up winning DreamHack Winter 2015, over Armada and several other top European and US players.
At Pound 2016, Hungrybox took 1st place in Melee singles without dropping a set, dropping only one game to Mango and also got 1st in Melee doubles with Plup.
Despite being in winner's side of grand finals at Smash Summit 2, Hungrybox failed to take his fourth consecutive major, losing to Armada 3-2 in the first set of grand finals, and 3-1 in the second set, placing second.
At DreamHack Austin 2016, Hungrybox defeated Mew2King in a close Winners Finals set 3-2, advancing to Grand Finals, however, he ultimately failed to defeat Mango, losing 3-1 first set, and 3-2 second set, placing second in the tournament overall.
At EVO 2016, Hungrybox took first place after rampaging through his pools and bracket to make it to Winners Top 8. His first round in Top 8 was against Plup, where he was upset with a 2-0 defeat, knocking him into Losers bracket. In his first round, Losers Quarters, he defeated S2J 2-0, and was pitted into a rematch against Mango in Losers Semis, where he won 2-1, eliminating Mango from the tournament. In Losers Finals, he ran into Plup again, but this time, Hungrybox won 3-1, giving him his ticket to the Grand Finals against Armada. After forcing a bracket reset 3-2, Hungrybox clutched out the next set 3-2 as well, to win EVO 2016.
While Hungrybox didn't actively play Brawl during its popular days, he was known to have a rather competent Jigglypuff in it despite Jigglypuff's drastic nerfs and his own lack of practice in it, to the point that he was considered one of the best Jigglypuff players in Brawl. Hungrybox was once ranked on the Florida Brawl Power Rankings using a combination of King Dedede and Jigglypuff.
He regularly registered for Smash 4 tournaments during its popular days, though he didn't play as seriously in them as in Melee. At first playing Jigglypuff, he later dropped the character, commenting on how it was unfitting for his playstyle. He has commented he would enter tournaments more frequently, and would be playing as Ness, but he instead committed himself to using Mario. Despite saying that he would use Mario in tournaments, he returned to using Jigglypuff, and occasionally used King Dedede as well.
His most notable performance in Smash 4 was his 3rd placing at CEO 2015 when he teamed with ZeRo. They performed various team combos leading into Jigglypuff's rest, defeating high-level teams such as Larry Lurr and Tyrant and StaticManny and Dabuz. He even managed to defeat Dabuz in a 1v1 situation. He has also taken a set off of Fatality in singles.
Hungrybox was one of the 16 players who participated in the Super Smash Bros. Invitational, placing 2nd with Kirby. At the tournament's end, he challenged Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aimé to a "for glory" match after he had teased possible future Nintendo-sponsored tournaments. Fils-Aimé declined, admitting that he "sucks at Smash", but that his "opportunity was coming with Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS." He concluded his response by saying he would "come back next time and kick [Hungrybox's] ass," to the amusement of the audience. One year later, Fils-Aimé and Hungrybox made a special appearance in the 2015 Nintendo World Championships, and played the promised for glory match, Hungrybox using Jigglypuff, and Fils-Aimé using Ryu. Hungrybox took the win by a very large margin.
Hungrybox had also participated in several Ultimate tournaments playing Jigglypuff. Although he doesn't take Ultimate as seriously as Melee, he had some notable placements such as 25th at Smash Conference United, where he had a close set with Salem. He also regularly commentates in Ultimate tournaments, most noticeably at CEO 2019. After the buffs given to Jigglypuff in Update 6.0.0, he stated that he's more optimistic about his future performance in Ultimate; shortly after he placed 13th at GENESIS: BLACK. He notably upset RFang in pools at Frostbite 2020 en route to a 97th place finish. In his pools at CEO Dreamland 2020, he notably competed against Samsora and brought him to last game, although he ended up losing 2-1 and placed 65th.
Hungrybox is well known for his defensive playstyle, relying heavily on Jigglypuff's ability to weave through opponents in the air and set up blockades with several consecutive and well placed back aerials. He compounds this playstyle with his very consistent punishes once given an opening, utilizing grab combos and deadly Rest setups to take stocks abruptly, and excellent DI and SDI to stretch out each of Jigglypuff's stocks by escaping KO setups that lesser Jigglypuff mains may fall into. All of these factors allow him to grind down most matches to his preferred slow pace, often forcing the match to be very focused on spacing, and grants him dominating control over the flow of a match.
Hungrybox was often seen as a very one-dimensional, "campy" player up to EVO 2015, where he would easily and consistently defeat opponents outside of the top 5, but faltered against players of his level who could adapt to situations more effectively than he could. Hungrybox has since improved his adaptation skills and incorporated semi-aggressive grounded approaches into his playstyle, often leading to grabs or aerials that send his opponents off-stage. This change of play gives him far more variety and further promotes his control over the flow of the match, as opponents must be ready to change focus on a moment's notice, all the while being very aware of the looming possibility of a Rest. His improvements as a player have seen him much greater success in recent years, to the point where he was considered the best player in the world from 2017 to 2019. He credits much of his success to working with Crunch, his coach and longtime friend, who helped him optimize his decision making and come up with gameplans for all of his main rivals.[1]
Hungrybox is well known for his ability to "clutch", or win by what seems an impossibility, in a last-game, last-stock, usually last-hit fashion, most famously at EVO 2016 against Armada in grand finals, when he came back from the brink of last-stock elimination to reset the bracket and win the tournament. This has earned him the nickname of "Clutchbox".
Hungrybox 4-stocked Mew2King in a Meleemoney match on a large projection screen at Event 52: Kansas prior to the finals. Mew2King won the set, but Cactuar gave him a dollar anyway, stating "Hungrybox 4-stocked Mew2King, and here is his dollar," as he delivered it to Hungrybox.
Hungrybox used to play standing up on occasion, which usually resulted in player cams showing his torso or zooming out.
Hungrybox had a 500+ set winning streak on Smash Ladder netplay until he was beaten by SmashG0D (now known as Rishi) on October 8th, 2015[2].
Hungrybox received the largest prize check in a Melee tournament and a Smash Bros. tournament in general, earning $29,231 for winning Smash Summit 5.
Hungrybox and Armada are the only two players that have won more than $300,000 in a select Smash title, being Melee.
Hungrybox was nominated for The Game Awards 2016 in the category "Best eSports Player".
Hungrybox was part of the Forbes "30 under 30 - Games" 2017 list.
Salem was similarly recognized in their "30 Under 30 - Games" 2018 list.
On August 15th, 2017, Hungrybox attained his status as an American citizen after 20 years living in the US (having been born in Argentina).[3]
Shortly after winning the Grand Finals of Pound 2019, a spectator from the crowd threw a raw crab at Hungrybox, which didn't harm him too much but has since become a running joke in his community, and the competitive Super Smash Bros. fan base as a whole.
At GENESIS: BLACK in 2019, Hungrybox entered the Melee Singles tournament under the name "Genghis Juan" and acted out of character, playing Fox and Sheik the entire tournament. This was part of a promise for a Twitch sub goal.
On October 1, 2020, shortly after the reveal of Steve for Ultimate, Hungrybox posted an image of Kirby in the style of Minecraft's models in Smashville on Twitter. This led to a widespread misconception that Steve's Copy Ability has been revealed by Nintendo or leaked; in reality, it was actually a graphical mod for Smash 4 released by GameBanana user Jory Satana in 2018, as evidenced by IGN's official Twitter account, which coincidentally posted the same picture 3 hours later, with the image being one of the screenshots available on the mod's GameBanana page. Furthermore, Kirby was nowhere to be found in the advertising materials regarding Steve at the time of spread of the misconception, including his reveal trailer and screenshots on the official Ultimate website.
Two days later, the official Copy Ability for Steve has been revealed during his Mr. Sakurai Presents presentation; while Kirby's model does change to a cuboid like the image Hungrybox posted, it has a much less complex shape and a less saturated color scheme.
